Christ Is Victor

July/August 2000                                                                                                                                                 Vol. 13,  No. 4

"He is Able to Save Them to the Uttermost"

"Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25

We have a Saviour to intercede for us, who is seated on the right hand of the Father. Jesus obtained His present status through the exaltation of God the Father, after having undergone the sufferings on the Cross. What are the sufferings that we endure? Nothing much. Many of us do not know half, or even a microscopic fraction of what our Lord had suffered.

If our Lord learned obedience through suffering, how much more should we learn obedience by following His example? He was hated without a cause, but that did not deter Him from doing the will of God. When things are smooth, we move forward easily enough. When things get rough, we bail out. But our Lord had the Cross before Him, and He set His face like a flint towards Jerusalem.

Many nations are still not harvested, largely because we have not set our faces towards the Cross. We have not set our faces towards our Jerusalem. That is why we are not advancing into the so-called "inaccessible" areas. Millions do not know Jesus. We are printing literature in the thousands when we ought to be printing by the millions. Our faith and vision are limited.

We do not know how to pray, but the Holy Spirit Himself prays in our stead. Romans 8:26 speaks of the Spirit’s intercession: "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

In 1 Thessalonians 3:10, we see St. Paul "night and day praying exceedingly". Oh, for at least a few people who pray night and day like this! The subject of St. Paul’s prayer was that "the Lord will make you to increase and abound in love, one toward another" (1 Thess. 3:12)

God’s love must flow freely from person to person. Suppose we are electrical points in a radio circuit. Electricity has to pass from point to point. If there is a break in the circuit, the radio will not function. Suppose there is a break somewhere, some brother is not able to love another: what happens then? The whole system breaks down!

God has put us in a very big circuit: we are to love all men in this world. That brings us almost to God-like levels. Some people are just naughty and nasty and messy. Their faults are very noticeable. Yet if we study our own nature, we find nothing but dirt, selfishness and pride. Ultimately we can scarcely love ourselves, let alone others! But the Bible says we should abound in love towards all men.

Remember God’s mercy: "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. (Col. 2:14) When a person was crucified in those days, his charges were nailed to the cross. But our record of sin was nailed to the Cross of Jesus. If God is willing to nail someone’s record to the Cross, dare we hold on to it? If God had retained our old record before Him, what would be our plight? But God’s love blots out our record, and we start on a clean slate. We should deal with people in the same way God deals with us.

You should have the mind of Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:5), praying with the mind of the One who prays for you. Pray according to His mind and you will abound in life-giving compassion. Such love and prayer would be an unstoppable force! But if God’s love is absent, money, degrees and everything else will avail nothing.

May God help us to have the mind of Christ, and to intercede mightily for the nations.

-Joshua Daniel

Don’t Blame the Devil!

The slick habit of blaming the devil for conditions in the average church is too smooth to escape suspicion. We do not underestimate the ability of the devil to raise trouble, nor do we believe that he has softened in his attitude toward the followers of Christ. But his power is specifically limited. It is extremely doubtful whether he has any real power unless we give it to him.

At least we know that he could not get to Job without special permission from God, and it is hard to conceive that God took better care of Job than He does of the rest of us. Chrysostom once preached a great sermon to show that nothing can harm a Christian who does not harm himself. The devil has no power over the humble and obedient soul. He can harm us only when we, by unspiritual and un-Christlike ways, play into his hands. We are ensnared, whenever and as long as we harbour unjudged and uncleansed sin within us.

Dispositional sins are fully as injurious to the Christian cause as the more overt acts of wickedness. These sins are as many as the various facets of human nature. Some of them are: sensitiveness, irritability, churlishness, fault-finding, peevishness, temper, resentfulness, cruelty, uncharitable attitudes; and of course there are many more. These kill the spirit of the church and slow down any progress which the gospel may be making in the community. Many persons who are secretly longing to find Christ, are turned away and embittered by the ugly dispositional flaws in the lives of the very persons who profess Christ.

- A.W. Tozer

A Modern Macedonian Call

Duncan Campbell’s trip to nowhere

During the Easter period of 1952, Duncan Campbell was speaking in a convention in Bangor, Northern Ireland.

The Monday following Easter, Duncan was on the platform when the voice of the Spirit said to him, "Berneray!" Duncan bowed his head and prayed silently. Again came the name "Bernaray". He prayed on, and the name rang out a third time.

Berneray is a small island in the Outer Hebrides. Duncan had never been to Berneray. He had never known - or received a letter from – anyone there. Duncan turned to the chairman and said, "Brother, you will need to excuse me. The Holy Spirit has just told me that I am to go to Berneray."

"Why, brother," the chairman replied. "You can’t go there! You’re speaker again tomorrow!"

Duncan responded, "But what can I do? The Spirit says, ‘Berneray.’"

"I guess you’ll have to obey the Spirit."

While the service was in progress, Duncan walked off the platform and returned to his hotel. He packed his two suitcases, took a taxi to the airport, and asked for the first plane to Berneray. He was told there was no flight to this place.

"Well," Duncan said. "Put me on the first plane to the nearest point."

Duncan flew to the airport nearest to Berneray. He proceeded to the seashore and asked a fisherman for the way to get across to Berneray. The fisherman offered the use of his boat, for there was no ferry service. He named a figure that was almost the exact amount Duncan had in his pocket. When Duncan landed on the island, the fisherman immediately returned to his business.

Duncan scaled a steep slope, dragging his suitcases that were heavy with books. He found a farmer in his field. Duncan approached and plopped down on a suitcase.

"Please go to the nearest pastor," Duncan gasped. "And tell him Duncan Campbell has arrived."

"Oh," said the young farmer. "We don’t have a minister for the church."

"Do you have elders?" Duncan enquired.

"Yes," came the reply.

"Alright," said Duncan. "Go to the nearest elder and tell him, ‘Duncan Campbell has arrived.’"

The farmer wondered at him, then started off across the field while Duncan sat resting on his suitcase.

After a while, the farmer returned and told Duncan, "The elder was expecting you. He has a place ready for you. He had already announced meetings beginning at nine o’clock tonight!"

It eventually emerged that while Duncan was ministering in the Bangor convention three days earlier, this elder spent the day in his barn, praying to God for a revival in Berneray. God gave him the promise in Hosea 14:5: "I will be as the dew unto Israel."

The elder claimed the promise by faith. He knew that God was going to send Duncan Campbell, who had been used in a mighty revival in other parts of Scotland. He was so sure of it that he made special arrangements to hold meetings in the local church, and announced the services in advance.

Berneray saw a great revival. When God’s people prevail in prayer and obey the voice of His Spirit, there is no limit to what God can do.

-Selected

Dare to Believe God for Revival!

One day in a northern city of Eastern Europe (now in Russia) I was puzzled because, for no apprarent reason, God had suddenly sent revival. In other cities and countries, it usually comes after several weeks or even months of intense ministry. But here on the fifth day, the heavens were rent asunder, and we were deluged with heaven-sent blessing. One thousand believers packed the church building each morning for Bible study. In the evening, thousands heard the Gospel in a larger auditorium. So great was the hunger for the Word among the unsaved that there was no room for the believers during the evening service. I asked them to go to their own churches and pray and not take up the seats which should be occupied with the unsaved.

The spiritual distress among the unsaved was great: the Sword of the Spirit stabbed their hearts night after night. It was past midnight before I could leave the building. I was greatly disturbed in my mind and could not sleep, being at a loss to explain the "open windows" (Mal. 3:10). I had come only at the invitation of the Holy Spirit, and was unheralded and unknown. The meetings had commenced on a Friday night with only seven people at a prayer meeting!

One evening, the Lord very kindly allowed me to discover the secret of the blessing. Fearing that I would not have sufficient power of the Spirit to proclaim the Gospel to the thousands who had gathered, I made my way to the basement of the auditorium to snatch a few more minutes of prayer. I began praying in the darkness, but soon felt an overwhelming sense of the majesty of God. I knew right away there was someone else in the large basement, praying.

I quietly put on the light, and at the extreme end of the basement there were twelve sisters, flat on their faces before God! They never knew I was there! They were "within the veil", touching the Throne by the power of the Spirit, paving the way for God to work mightily among the unsaved.

Oh, for God to raise up a mighty band who dare to believe God for Revival!

- James A. Stewart

Reality Check!

When we work, we work. When we pray, God works. – Oswald Smith

Son or Friend

After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church’s pastor once again slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit, and gave a very brief introduction of his childhood friend.

With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit to speak, "A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific Coast," he began, "when a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to the shore. The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright, and the three were swept into the ocean."

The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story.

He continued, "Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life…to which boy he would throw the other end of the line. He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian, and he also knew that his son’s friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves.

"As the father yelled out, ‘I love you, son!’ he threw the line to his son’s friend. By the time he pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beyond the raging swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered." By this time, the two teenagers were sitting straighter in the pew, waiting for the next words to come out of the old man’s mouth.

"The father," he continued, "knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus, and he could not bear the thought of his son’s friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son. How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us."

With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room. Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man’s side. "That was a nice story," politely started one of the boys, "But I don’t think it was very realistic for a father to give up his son’s life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian."

"Well, you’ve got a point there," the old man replied, glancing down at his worn Bible. A big smile broadened his narrow face, and he once again looked up at the boys and said, "It sure isn’t very realistic, is it? But I’m standing here today to tell you that THAT story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His Son for me. You see…I was the son’s friend."

-Selected

Faulty conversion

Salvation is far more significant than being delivered from hell and going to heaven when we die. These are incidentals and by-products - bonuses of salvation. God’s real purpose is to make perfect saints out of worthless sinners. There are two types of Christian experience. One is to have salvation and to stop there; and the other is to have salvation and to move forward in a life of power, victory, joy, service, and fruitfulness. It all depends on what we do with God’s gift of salvation. We can develop it or neglect it.

We are faced today with a brand of cheap, shallow gospel. Men are told they have just to "believe", "accept Christ", raise the hand, sign a card, and they are saved. The tragedy is that many misunderstand salvation. In too many cases there is no change evident, for the preaching of separation from the evil world of sin is sadly lacking.

People claiming to be converted carry on with their shady dealings, questionable practices and evil habits. They go right on with their worldly occupations and harmful associations. They continue to heed the ungodly counsel of unbelievers, support Christ-denying organisations and give their endorsement to the enemies of Christ. They still frequent the same places of worldly amusement, indulge in the same habits of entertainment. In short, there is nothing in their lives to indicate that a change has taken place except that they go on Sunday to "a church of their choice".

-Selected