Monday, February 28, 2011

WHAT IS TRUTH?

BY CHARLES WOODRUFF
Johnny Cash is said to have infuriated President Richard Nixon on one occasion- by performing his anti-authority song “What is Truth?” during a performance at the White House. Johnny wrote the song in 1970. He gave no answer to the question in the song, but essentially was saying somebody better tell the truth to the youth of that day, because they would be tomorrow’s leaders. Well, it is “tomorrow”, and they are the leaders of today! That may explain a little why we are in the mess we are in today.

Someone else much further back in history asked the same question that Johnny Cash asked. Bible historian Orville Nave tells us that by our calendar today it was the year 30 A.D. when Pontius Pilate asked Jesus this same question; what is truth? He had already asked Jesus if He was indeed the King of the Jews. Pilate, getting no satisfactory answer said “Art thou a king then? Jesus answered; Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto Him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all” (John 18:37-38).

Pilate could not discover the truth, even though the very embodiment of truth was standing before him! (See John 14:6). All Pontius Pilate wanted to do was wash his hands of this problem of what to do with Jesus. As we know, he really did wash his hands thinking this would free him of responsibility, but it did not. How could a man be so blind? He was willfully so. Also, consider for a moment the foreordained purpose of God in which Jesus was “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).Take a look at Isaiah 53:5-6: “But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him: and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one unto his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” This definitely speaks of Christ, and was written over 700 years before his birth!
In those verses we see that long before Jesus was born, His death was described in perfect detail. Also, Psalm 2:2 says: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed.” Here His anointed is definitely Christ. Christ means Anointed One, or Messiah, and is spoken of Him over 1000 years before His birth! I urge you to compare Psalm 2:1-5 with Acts 4:25-28, and you will then surely “get the picture”.

These verses show us the divine plan of God, yet since Pilate was the government official involved, wouldn’t we say that Pilate was not looking at all the facts in this case? Yet so many through history have Pilate’s problem, they ask; “what is truth?”

So much is said about truth in the book of John. Not only the previously mentioned John 14:6, where Jesus says to Thomas, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me.” Wow! Either Jesus was who He claimed to be, or He was the biggest egomaniac that ever lived! He said He is the only way, He said He is the only truth; He said He is the only life! He was saying no one, no matter how good, no matter how educated, no matter how famous, no matter how religious, no matter how much they prayed, no matter how much they gave to the synagogue, or the church, no matter how young or how old; No man(or woman) comes to God the Father except through Jesus Christ! Sounds like a King to me! And He is all the rest He claimed to be! He said: “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11); “I am the door” (John 10:9); I am the bread of life (John 6:35). He declared Himself to be God: “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). I hear religious liberals today say Jesus never claimed to be God. It always makes me a little angry. I’ll let God take care of them though, not me. But just read this one scripture: “Jesus said unto them, verily, verily (truly, truly), I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). The Amplified Bible gives this rendering: “Jesus replied, I assure you, I most solemnly tell you, before Abraham was born, I AM.” When He said I AM, He was identifying Himself with God. “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:14). That was why the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus so badly. He was claiming to be God Almighty in the flesh! He was telling the truth! He is God in the flesh!

Well, Johnny Cash later gave testimony he had returned to God whom he had known and served as a young man. I hope he did. I know when he went into Sun Records in 1955; he wanted Mr. Sam Phillips to record him on some gospel music he wrote. Sam told him no, because he already had some black gospel groups, and they didn’t sell that well. He already had Elvis Presley, a new sound who had also tried to get into gospel music with his friend Bill Blackwood and the Blackwood Brothers. Sam wanted a new sound, so Johnny cut Cry, Cry, Cry with that deep voice and boom chica boom guitar, and the rest is history. Later, he recorded some gospel music.

Even though Johnny was testifying that he knew Christ, Pontius Pilate never did. Yet he was a man who stood in the physical presence of not only The King of the Jews, but also, The KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (capitalized because this is one of His titles). See Revelation 19:16.

There is another guy today making a bit of a stir, a Mr. Michael Baigent. He wrote a book more than 20 years ago titled Holy Blood, Holy Grail. In it he claimed that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, and fathered a child. He sued Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code (a book and movie that has made fairly recent news), which deals with similar, unproven, conjectures. Baigent lost his suit, but an article in The Atlanta Journal dated May 1, 2006, states that his latest book at that time, The Jesus Papers, has Baigent claiming Jesus didn’t really die on the cross. He thinks Pilate was involved in a plot to remove Him from the cross before He died to get Pilate “off the hook”. He claims to have seen a document owned by a businessman that was alleged to have been written by Jesus himself after he was revived and whisked away. Mr. Baigent said he only saw the document once during a 20 minute meeting with the businessman! No death, burial and resurrection in his story! According to Baigent, Jesus hadn’t died and arose before he wrote “the document”. This is not new, but essentially what Muslims teach about Christ’s crucifixion.

Okay, somebody needs to tell Pilate! He denied that the truth was standing in front of him, gave in to the mob, allowed Him to be crucified, and washed his hands of it all. He suffered a lot of things afterward, and history records that one of the most despised people that ever lived is Pontus Pilate. No one has more infamy, except maybe Adolph Hitler, or Judas Iscariot, and there are those who have theories that excuse Judas, such as in the movie; Jesus Christ Superstar.

I have recently heard interviews with several well-known show biz personalities talking about “my truth”, as if there are variations of the truth. This seems to be a popular concept today, maybe from Psycho- Babel. It sure doesn’t come from God’s word! What we must have today is not “my truth” or “your truth”. I trust you agree with me, dear reader; we need The Truth today more than ever, and we know who He is! It is Jesus Christ!

Soli Deo Gloria!
Originally written by Charles Woodruff May 4, 2006; edited and expanded February 25, 2010.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

WHAT IS A TRUE REVIVAL?

BY CHARLES WOODRUFF

I have placed this message on this blog before, but to find it you must scroll all the way down to some 2006 messages. I believe it is so important for our day that I updated it very slightly and brought it to the front for this week. I have a short companion message which I preached last Wednesday night, and it was placed at Sermon Audio today. If it does not yet appear on the left side here, go directly to Sermon Audio and look for it. Just type the title, or my name in the search directory. The title is Revive Thy Work. Ihope it a blessing to you.

Revival! June 1- June 6th Special singing each night. How often we have observed similar advertisements in front of various churches. Also we have seen such wording in the media announcing the special meeting. Because of this type of promotion, the average American would equate having a special meeting with revival. But, is this a true definition?

When the late missionary Dr. James A. Stewart first came to the U.S.A. from Scotland, he spotted such a sign in front of a church. He was riding on a bus at the time and was excited by a sign that said “REVIVAL— HERE EACH NIGHT THIS WEEK AT 7:30!” Upon seeing this, he grabbed his wife by the hand and went to see the pastor of the church.

An explanation was given that here in the Southern U.S.A., it is the custom for a church, when it has a special meeting for a time, to call it a revival. Then Brother James Stewart asked a very valid question: “If what you’re having at 7:30 each evening is a “special meeting”, why don’t you call it that, instead of revival?” You see, he had been in a real revival in Europe for much of his ministry and to call a series of meetings a “revival” was shocking to this man. He called it prostitution of the word “revival”.

He was right. Today, many things pass for revival. Sometimes a spirited gospel song is considered a revival. Perhaps when a few people shout, “Amen”, or “Hallelujah”, it is considered a revival. When several folks get saved in one meeting, some call that revival. These are all good things, but not necessarily revival. Others have had the audacity to proclaim that we are in a mighty revival now; called the “Charismatic movement”. Yet the major fruit of the movement has been a watered down gospel of ecumenism, hardly a true revival! Actually, the Charismatic movement has done more to bring about the one world church than any other force in history! Even when you consider that the Charismatics have called our attention to the work of the Holy Spirit, something often neglected in the churches, we are compelled to renounce it, as a movement. I say this because as a movement, the Charismatic movement has produced much division among true Christians, especially the current “name it and claim it” variety. Perhaps the most striking proof of its failure is the fact that there is generally little holiness, or biblical separation, or true godliness associated with the movement. Too often, standards are thrown to the wind! Some of the Charismatics’ own leaders have said this, so I am not trying to slander them. I do hasten to add that non-charismatics can’t throw any rocks here! When we speak of holiness, we all fall short! But shouldn’t a movement that sweeps the country and purports to be true revival be touching all around? Yet today we have more bars, more pornography, more

prostitution, more homosexuality, more child molesting, more abortion, and more nakedness, more divorces, more illegal drugs, more rebellious children in general, more sin, in spite of any movement! A real revival would certainly change all that! Study the history of the Great Awakening, and other revivals and you should see this clearly.

The Foundation for Revival: Truth

Since 1968 when I was called to preach, I have seen the need for revival. I titled my first awkward newsletter in 1970-71 “Revival for Survival”. I still believe revival is the only answer for our survival.

There has been a resurgence of Puritan literature in our day. Also, the works of sound evangelicals of yesterday such as Charles Spurgeon, J.C. Ryle, John Brown, J. Gresham Machen and many others are abundant as perhaps never before in history if you know where to look for them. The average Christian book store doesn’t stock too much “meaty” reading. Some declare this abundance of good literature as revival. While I certainly count it as a wonderful thing to see all this good literature published at a time when we also have more shallow, carnal, religious books available, in itself, this is not revival. It is foundational to a revival! Before we can have revival, we must know who God is! We must see Him in His awesome majesty. He must be glorified in His attributes. These old writers have a way of pointing us to this omnipotent God. This has been strengthened by many present day writers such as J.I. Packer, R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, John Piper, Sinclair Ferguson, Jerry Bridges, etc., who seemed to have picked up the torch from earlier writers now gone such as D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, William Hendriksen, A.W. Pink, etc..

Because of this renewed interest, many preachers have come to appreciate the sovereignty of God. For many years this truth has been pushed aside. I have personally noticed that in the last 25 years there are many more churches and pastors boldly declaring the old paths. Churches have openly declared to adhere to the Westminster Confession (Presbyterian-Reformed), and the London, or Philadelphia Confessions (Baptist). These are definitely “Old Paths”, and is a reformation of sortsin progress”, which must come before a real revival. It is hopefully a beginning. I am grateful to God for this revelation to His called servants, but this is not, in itself revival!

Revival Is The Work of God!

The book of Habakkuk is one book that deserves our careful study in these wicked days. It is not my purpose at this time to expound all three chapters, but I do want to take a brief look at the whole book.

Chapter one deals with the prophet’s complaint. Sin and violence had covered the land. The situation was much as it is today. Evildoers needed to be punished, yet, justice is forgotten and the guilty go unpunished.

God’s answer is startling. He tells the prophet in chapter 1, verses 6.and 7, “For, Lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.” In verse 9 He goes on to say “They shall come all for violence.

The prophet cries out about the sin and God sends the Chaldeans! This is equivalent to us today in the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia and other free-world nations crying to God about our sinful nations, and having Him reply by sending the Russians or Chinese! A strange answer, we would say!

Then in verse 12, Habakkuk cries to God again and asks the question, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity: Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?” In other words, “God, can you use evil people to chastise those who are not as wicked as they?”

Chapter two shows us the prophet waiting (something we all have a problem doing). He climbs upon his watchtower to wait upon God’s answer, but, indeed God does answer when we patiently wait upon Him. The reason Habakkuk could wait patiently on God is that he had an understanding of God’s attributes. He saw that:

  1. God is eternal — “Art Thou not from everlasting?” (1:12) As the late Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “He is forgetting for a moment the immediate problem, and asking himself what it was he was sure of about God. The first thing was, ‘Art thou not from everlasting?’ He is not like the gods whom men worship; He is not like the god of the proud Chaldean army. He is God from eternity to eternity, the everlasting God. There is nothing more consoling or reassuring when oppressed by the problems of history, and when wondering what is to happen in the world, than to remember that the God whom we worship is outside the flux of history. He has preceded history; He has created history. His throne is above the world and outside time. He reigns in eternity, the everlasting God”.1
  2. God is self existent — “‘Art thou not from everlasting, O, LORD?’ — He uses the great name ‘Jehovah’ — ‘art thou not from everlasting, O, Jehovah?’ That name tells us that God is the self existing One, the eternal I AM.”2
  3. God is holy. “‘Art thou not from everlasting, O, LORD my God, mine holy One?’ He is sure, not only of His eternal existence, not only of His self existence, and His independence of everything and everybody, but that He is the ‘Holy One’, utterly and absolutely righteous and holy, ‘a consuming fire’ ‘God is light and in Him is no darkness at all’ and the moment you consider Scriptures like this, you are forced to ask: ‘Can the Lord of the earth do that which is unrighteous?’ Such a thing is unthinkable”.3
  4. God is almighty. “‘O, Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment and O, mighty God, thou has established them for correction.’ God can take care of all His enemies when it pleases Him.”
  5. God is faithful — “‘My God, mine Holy One, we shall not die.’ He is recalling that God is the God of the Covenant. Though He is independent and absolute, eternal, mighty, righteous and holy, nevertheless He has condescended to make a covenant with men.

For those saintly men, the prophets, and all who had spiritual understanding in Israel, this fact was more significant than anything else. While believing in the eternal attributes of God, they might have been chilled by the thought that such a God might be far away in the heavens, and oblivious of their need. But what linked Him to them was the knowledge that He was a faithful covenant-keeping God. God had given His word and He would never break it”.4

So, because of these attributes which the prophet recognizes in chapter 1, we find that he is able to wait upon the Lord in chapter 2. In this chapter Habakkuk pronounces woe concerning seven major sins of his day. It really sounds like our day, though. Listen to this list:

  • covetousness v. 9
  • murder v. 10
  • oppression v. 12, 13
  • drunkenness v. 15
  • adultery and/or homosexuality v. 15
  • violence v. 17
  • idolatry v. 18

While realizing the historical setting of this chapter, and that these sins primarily refer to the Babylonians, clear spiritual principles can nevertheless be found here. God is always against sin in every age and sin does not change.

For instance, as Edward Marbury says “Drunkenness itself is a horrible sin; it is one of the fruits of the flesh” (Gal 5:21). “Drunkenness is confessed of all men to be a sin; and they who love it best and use it most will be very angry with you if you call them drunkards.”5 Also, drunkenness leads to immorality, as Edward Marbury recognizes. “Lot was drunk when he committed incest with his daughters (Gen 19) and so overcome with wine, that he neither knew of their coming to his bed nor of their going from him.”6 As in Leviticus 18, both heterosexual (outside marriage) and homosexual (abnormal) relationships are forbidden, so Hab. 2:15 could mean either. Sin never changes, it is always sin and exceedingly sinful!

Habakkuk recognizes the awful problems of his day and future days and this brings him to the prayer room. Note that chapter 3 begins by saying a Prayer of Habakkuk the prophet on Shigionoth, “It was a prayer accompanied with music, neither mournful, nor joyful, but expressive of profound and strong emotion.”7 Like so many of the beautiful Psalms of David, this chapter is as much poetry as prayer, yet it has a profound theological lesson for us.

Habakkuk heard God’s voice. Like others such as Isaiah, who heard, or saw a vision of God, He became afraid. Men are in our day so flippant regarding God. They are not afraid to take His Holy name in vain! Even professing Christians speak of the Lord Jesus in such casual terms as if to say “He’s my buddy.” They try to treat Him as a “spiritual bellhop,” catering to all their needs and wants. They speak of Him as if He were all sentimental, soft, lovey-dovey; as if He would even wink at sin! This is not the God of the Bible! The God of the Bible, as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is majestic and Holy! He is angry with the wicked every day! As Habakkuk said. He will not look upon sin.

My friend, if you ever see God, you’ll be in the dust before Him. Read of John the beloved in Rev, 1:17. No flippancy here! He fell at His feet as dead! Thomas, who got a glimpse of the resurrection glory, and who had been an intimate friend, a disciple, cried when He saw Him. “My Lord and My God!”

One of the greatest problems today, even in our churches is that “there is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18). A healthy fear of God is needed, even for Christians. In the old days a “God-fearing man” was a man who understood that “His commandments are not grievous”. Professing Christians today scoff at the commands of God, but I have news for you, even in the New Testament there are commandments. I realize we cannot keep them except in Christ, but “He worketh in you” and He says “if you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

It is awesome. There is a famine in the land “for the hearing of the word of God.” The word is here but we don’t hear it. It is preached in many places, but who takes heed? Ungodly humanist “law” is exalted above God’s law.

Habakkuk heard from God. He was God’s prophet. Yet he was afraid. When is the last time you heard from God, preacher? I mean, really heard from God. We all need to hear from Him. The need for God is desperate!

Revival Comes To God’s People

Revive thy work. Revival is a restoration. It presupposes a declension. In times of spiritual lull, sin runs rampant and we need a renewal.

  1. It is a renewing of His work in the Church. Churches are dead without God’s breath, no matter how orthodox they may be!
  2. Renewal in the home — our homes are falling apart. What home in America has not been touched, either directly or indirectly, by divorce?
  3. Revival is a renewal in God’s people. To reach the lost, Christians must be renewed first in their prayers, then in their love for God, above all things. Then God becomes the number one topic. He is worshipped and appreciated and the ball games, the theaters and the other amusements and things of the world become “strangely dim”. In other words, God gets our worship and all our attention. How can we give Him less than all and claim to be Christians? Jesus said we are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. However we cannot do this in the natural man. We must be divinely enabled.
  4. Revival is awakening (Eph. 5:14). Oh, how we need to be awakened! It is bad enough that sinners sleep the sleep of death, but professing Christians also are sleeping, and it is going to take a loud voice, indeed, God’s own voice, to awaken them!

Read the history of some of the revivals of old and you will find the same thing each time. Before an awakening swept through the heretofore unconcerned world, it first arrested the Christians. Even genuinely born again people need revival. They, too, have to be on fire for God.

Hear these words of Duncan Campbell, who was used of God in the revival of 1949 and after, in the Scottish Hebrides Islands:

“What have been the outstanding features of this movement? Three stand out clearly.”

“First: an awareness of God. To be fully realized, this has to be felt. A rector of the Church of England, referring to his visit to the Isle of Lewis, said, ‘What I felt, apart from what I saw, convinced me at once that this was no ordinary movement.’”

“Second: the main feature has been deep conviction of sin — at times leading almost to despair. I have known occasions when it was necessary to stop preaching, because of the distress manifested by the anxious, and many would find expression for the feeling in their hearts and burden of their guilty conscience, in the words of John Newton:

‘My conscience fell and owned its guilt
and plunged me in despair:
I saw my sins His blood had spilt
and helped to nail Him there.’”

Third: Physical manifestations and prostrations have been a further feature, I find it somewhat difficult to explain this aspect; indeed. I cannot. But this I will say: The person who would associate this with satanic influence is coming perilously near to committing the unpardonable sin. Lady Huntingdon on one occasion wrote to George Whitefield respecting cases of crying out and falling down in meetings, and advised him not to remove them from the meetings as he had done. When this was done, it seemed to bring a damper on the meeting. She said, ‘You are making a great mistake. Don’t be wiser than God. Let them cry out. It will do a great deal more good than your preaching”’8 (emphasis mine).

If you are really interested in revival, there are several books I will recommend. But if you read no other, you should read Jonathan Edwards’, Narrative of Surprising Conversions. Here is an excerpt from it:

It was very wonderful to see how persons’ affections were sometimes moved — when God did, as it were, suddenly open their eyes, and let into their minds a sense of the greatness of His grace, the fullness of Christ, and His readiness to save, after having been broken with apprehension of divine wrath and sunk unto an abyss, under a sense of guilt which they were ready to think was beyond the mercy of God. Their joyful surprise has caused their hearts, as it were, to leap, so they have been ready to break forth in laughter, tears often mingling a loud weeping.

Sometimes they have not been able to forbear crying out with a loud voice and expressing their great admiration. In some, even the view of the glory of God’s sovereignty, in the exercises of His grace has surprised the soul in such sweetness, as to produce the same effects. I remember an instance of one, who, reading something concerning God’s sovereign way of saving sinners, as being self moved — having no regard to man’s own righteousness as the motive of His grace, but as magnifying Himself and abasing man, or to that purpose, felt such a sudden rapture of joy and delight in the consideration of it: yet then he suspected himself to be in a Christless condition, and had long been in great distress for fear that God would not have mercy on him.9 (emphasis mine).

“Revive thy work!” — It is God’s work and as the Sovereign of the universe. He controls the keys. “Ministers knock at the door of men’s hearts; the Spirit comes with a key and opens the door” (Thomas Watson).

Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). This is true in the Salvation of a soul, of a preacher in the belly of a whale, and of His church. Did not Jesus say in Matthew 16:18, “Upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”?

When God begins a work, He will bring it to fruition. God is not abandoning His church. We must remember however that...

Revival Comes in God’s Time

Habakkuk says “Revive thy work in the midst of the years — just as in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son. Christ came right on time, just at the exact moment God had chosen to fulfill all the prophecies of His first coming. He will come again and “will not tarry” — just at God’s appointed time the Son of Righteousness will appear with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2) God has also appointed times of refreshing for His people. The day of Pentecost came when God had decreed it should, and likewise revival will come in God’s time and in God’s way. The Great Awakening came at just the right time. Reliable reports are that in the 20th century Korea, Romania, Russia, Indonesia, and the Scottish Hebrides were places that experienced a measure of revival. Will God do it in Century 21? It is all in God’s time. You can’t work it up or even pray it down. But, prayer is the place to begin to be ready for revival. God controls the time. He has decreed that one day time shall be no more. As for now, we must “redeem the time for the days are evil” (Eph 5:14).

“In the midst of the years make known!

Revival is God being really known, not just the abstract truth about Him. Systematic theology has its place, but theology cannot replace God! True theology is the study of God. We must see the veil lifted and really study God, not just about Him. Oh, to really know Him, and the power of His resurrection!

Revival is a shaking of the dry bones. The dry bones were once alive, so we can apply it to today’s dead church. When the dry bones live, we can see the church again reap a harvest. True soul-winning can only be done in the power of the Holy Ghost.

Why Is There No Revival?

As the thundering preacher from Wales, John Elias, pointed out: “We don’t have revival because “The Church does not feel the need for revival as it should.”10 Elias, in one of his famous letters, makes it clear that the reason the word of God has so little effect in our lives is that we do not consider it is the Word of God.

We can have revival in any age. There is nothing in Scripture to forbid it. We must, however, apply the word of God to ourselves, We must pray expecting great things from God. We can casually say we want revival without being also willing to pay the price. Can we really cry with Habakkuk, “Revive thy Work in the midst of the years.”?

May this be our heart’s cry! Amen!

Notes

  1. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, From Fear to Faith (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1953), p. 29.
  2. Ibid, p. 29, 30.
  3. Ibid, p. 30.
  4. Ibid, p. 31, emphasis mine. (All headings, ‘a’ through ‘e’, also by Lloyd-Jones.)
  5. Edward Marbury, Commentary on Habakkuk (Minneapolis: Klock and Klock, 1979 reprint. Originally written 1650) p. 506.
  6. Ibid, p. 506.
  7. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, op. cit., p. 57.
  8. Duncan Campbell, God’s Answer (Belfast: The Faith Mission, 1960), pp. 88, 89. Hymn quoted, “In Evil Long I Took Delight”, John Newton.
  9. Jonathan Edwards, The Narratives (Asheville: Revival Literature, 1957 abridged edition, James Stewart, Editor) p. 55.
  10. John Elias: Life and Letters (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1980)

By Charles Woodruff Email: oursong2000@yahoo.com Originally written in August, 1989 and published in Suffering Church Ministries newsletter by Simion Motz Edited by http://www.the-highway.com/ for Word of Truth, June 20, 2006.

Click link for more articles on various subjects.

This edition slightly re-edited. It may be copied and distributed freely as long as there are no changes made in the article. “Freely you have received, freely give”


Monday, February 14, 2011

REVIVAL NOTES

(Compiled by Charles Woodruff)

"REVIVAL is GOD'S FINGER POINTING AT ME !!"- D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"A Revived Church is the only hope for a dying world."-Andrew Murray

"The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God give to us an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost!"
- A. B. Simpson

"Without the Spirit of God, we can do nothing. We are as ships without wind. We are useless."
- Charles Spurgeon

"The greatest need of this generation is a wholehearted return to the plan and purposes of God."
- Dr Richard Owen Roberts

"Revival is simply New Testament Christianity, the saints going back to normal."
-Vance Havner

"Revival is God revealing Himself to men in awesome holiness and irresistible power."- Arthur Wallis

"We Christians too often substitute prayer for playing the game. Prayer is good; but when used as a substitute for obedience, it is nothing but a blatant hypocrisy, a despicable Pharisaism...To your knees, man! and to your Bible! Decide at once! Don't hedge! Time flies! Cease your insults to God, quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame, lying, and cowardly excuses. Enlist!"-C. T. Studd

“Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you“ (Hosea 10:12). Or in more modern language, "It is time to seek the Lord until He comes and rains righteousness upon you."

“If I hear about a true revival anywhere in the world, I want to be there. I don’t have much money, but I have a few credit cards which the Lord has allowed me to have for some reason. What better reason?” - Marion Price Sr.

“Revival and evangelism, although closely linked, are not to be confused. Revival is an experience in the Church, Evangelism is an expression of the church.”-Paul Rees

“One of those unusual visitations of God, in which a whole community becomes vividly aware of his immediate, overpowering presence.”- John R.W.Stott

“Revival is the going of God among His people, and an awareness of God laying hold of the community.”- Duncan Campbell

“Revival has always been, and remains to this day, God dealing with the sin of His own -- not the world.” -Henry Blackaby

"I see the churches expanding their building facilities; increasing their office space; adding a new wing or new building for a family center, or for educational or recreational purposes; but, I say again, I never see a church having to increase the size of the prayer room. This, I am convinced, is because the preachers themselves are shrunken in the habit of prayer. A revival of prayer in the pulpit would mean a revival of prayer in the pew."-Leonard Ravenhill

"I do not understand Christian people who are not thrilled by the whole idea of revival."- D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"When revival becomes a reality, it is always manifested in a devotion to be like Jesus.
What would happen in our day if believers were to get honest about their sin and serious about pursuing holiness? Might we not once again experience the manifest presence of God in our churches?"-author unknown

“The word revival means the gracious visitation of God to His people in the ordinances of the gospel and by the outpouring of the Spirit. The results of revival include the bringing to life of that which was spiritually dead and the converting of sinners. In addition, the work of the church (Habakkuk 3:2), the hearts of God's people (Psalm 85:6), the Spirit's sanctifying work (Isaiah 57:15), and the prayers, sermons, and worship of the church are profoundly benefited. There is no true revival except of God's doing. He "quickeneth all things" (1 Timothy 6:13, KJV). When the Holy Spirit works in a special way through the ministry of the gospel, then the unregenerate are raised to spiritual life, the sleeping are awakened, backsliders are restored, and lives are renewed and rearranged.”

“Some false things may pass under the name of revival: excitement unrelated to the fear of God; fear without a clear view of being lost without Christ; decisions apart from the power of spiritual life. Some may make a decision to join a denomination of Christians, yet they remain without the Spirit despite their profession of faith.”-From an article titled
Revival by John Elias. (1774-1841)

Monday, February 07, 2011

NOTES FROM MY BIBLE-PART TWO

CHARLES WOODRUFF


Some of you enjoyed the notes from one of my old Bibles that I published last month, and I also enjoyed seeing them again. I found some more in another of my old Bibles. I thought I would share some of them as well, with some editing, as before. Most of these were found in my first “preaching Bible” I was given in 1968 after answering God’s call on March 15th. It is an Old Scofield Reference Bible KJV. I hope you enjoy reading them. If so, please write and let me know. I have enough in other Bibles to publish a few more if you like them. Comments welcome.

Holy Bible = Sanctified Book, which means “set apart”. The Bible is set apart from all the world’s books. This is truly the word of God. The Bible stands alone. Since it is God’s word, when you stand on the Bible, God stands with you. (See 2 Timothy 3:16).

Crossing the sea will not make one a missionary, but seeing the cross will.

God is holy. The Seraphims did not say “just, just, just” or “loving, loving, loving” regarding the LORD of host, though He is these. Instead it is recorded “And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). God’s holiness is uncompromising!

When it comes time to die; be sure all you have to do is die!

If anywhere in this Bible you should not find Jesus Christ (somewhere in each book), you have not studied it with your eyes on Him.

Warning to America (and all sinful nations): The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17); “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).
 
Everything you find written in the front, or the back of this Book, or in its margins, may not be absolutely accurate; but everything you find in its text is the Word of God. Handle accordingly!

I used to have preachers sign my Bible. Many godly men did so. One who signed this one was the late Dr. James W Crumpton of Maranatha Baptist Missions of Natchez, Mississippi. He wrote under his name “John 3:30” which reads “He must increase, but I must decrease” I adopted that verse as my own “life verse”. My late son, Chuck, when he was in school, made a plaque for me with those words, which I still have, and treasure very much.

The Bible will keep you from sin-or sin will keep you from the Bible (Psalm 119:11; 119:105).
 
God can send a revival in any dispensation (James 4:2; 4:8).