AT EASE OR AT REST?

January -- February, 1968 Vol. 46, No. 1

The second message by Mr. DeVern Fromke at the Conference in Switzerland


AT EASE OR AT REST?


The second message by Mr. DeVern Fromke at the Conference in Switzerland

"Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed"(Jeremiah 48:11).

I WANT this morning that we should see the wrong tendency to be at ease, but the right way to be at rest. We will, from a bird's-eye view of the history of Israel, and continuing from what we were saying yesterday, see how she was always wanting to be delivered from, but was hardly ready to be moved unto the purpose of God.

We will begin by seeing Israel after her four hundred years of captivity in Egypt. God heard her cry when she began to be tired of the taskmasters of Egypt, and He delivered her out of Egypt and across the Red Sea. He brought her out from her bondage, or captivity, but, having been brought out, she then had the privilege of choosing: Would she give herself unto the purpose of God?

I think we shall see how even today there are so many who in their bondage cry out to the Lord for deliverance, but are unwilling to go on unto the full purpose that He has for them.

Israel was content to stop half-way instead of moving on unto the full purpose of God, but God seems to say: 'If ye will not go on unto , I have another captivity for you.' And so they wandered forty years round and round the wilderness instead of moving into the land of Canaan. They did not want the glorious captivity in the Lord, so there was imposed upon them a schoolroom captivity. Thus this whole generation died in the wilderness, except for two men, Joshua and Caleb, but God, in His mercy, heard the new generation and delivered them out of the wilderness-wandering into the land of Canaan. He delivers them out from the captivity of the wilderness, and now He waits for them to move unto a full possessing of the land of Canaan -- but you know the story so well. While they possessed and conquered some of Canaan, pretty soon they settled down just to enjoy it for themselves. They were not primarily God-conscious, purpose-conscious, or fulfilment-conscious, but only deliverance-conscious.

So once again there is a captivity imposed upon them: the captivity of the nations of Canaan. God had said to them: "Make no league with the inhabitants of this land" (Judges 2:2), but they did not obey Him. They were fearful of the people of Canaan, and so became captive to them.

What does all this teach us? When we are first saved we are delivered out of the world. It is so wonderful to have a release from our old habits and our old way of life, but there are so many young believers who do not realize that God wants to teach them how to live by His life. They must learn how to live by the bread from heaven and the water that He supplies, but they still have an appetite for the things of Egypt, and there are those who murmur and complain for the onions, the leeks, the garlic! You would think that they would enjoy the manna from heaven, but God has to apply the tree to change our appetites. He says: 'If you will not move unto and live by My life, you will know the captivity of the fleshly life.'

And then there are those who do move into Canaan, as it were, but somehow they make entanglements with the men around them; and we read of the darkest hour in Israel's history during the period of the Judges. They cried out to the Lord, and with each new judge that He raised up there was a bit of revival, but I believe that this would teach us that mere reviving is not the real answer. God must awaken His people to be alive to His larger purpose, not merely awakenings and revivings for themselves.

In due time the people of Israel cry out, and God gives them the prophet Samuel. Then, after a short period of King Saul, King David unifies the people into a nation. Finally King Solomon builds the House of Prayer for all nations, and it seems that for the first time God is maybe getting something out of His people Israel. And yet, once again, they begin to settle down merely to using all the good things for themselves. They had been in the land four hundred and ninety years, and this represents seventy sabbaths, when the land was to rest, and so the Lord tells them that they will be carried into Babylonian captivity for seventy years. He would take them away and enforce a sabbath rest for every sabbath year that they had failed to let the land be idle. Let us go back and see once again what this means.

Taken first out of the world, then delivered from the fleshly life of wrong appetites, then set free from the entanglements and the fears of men, this is the people that should have a ministry unto God and unto the world around, but they began to enjoy [6/7] God's blessing and the temple just for themselves instead of letting them be a means for the blessing of the world. My gift, in my ministry, must never be merely for my blessing, but for the blessing of others.

Feasting and Fasting

Devotional Hours with the Bible, Volume 5: Chapter 11 - Feasting and Fasting

By J.R. Miller


Mark 2:13-22


The first year of Christ's public ministry--was a year of obscurity. He was not yet well-known. Then, as He spoke and served--His fame grew. We are now in His year of popular favor--His second year. One scene of enthusiasm follows another. After the healing of the paralytic the people were amazed, and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" Then the record goes on without a break, telling of the Master's going out from the house where He had been staying, and that all the multitude resorted unto Him. Then He taught them.

In going along the road, Jesus came to a little office or booth by the wayside and stopped by the door. He had an errand there. He was looking for a man whom He might send forth as an apostle, to carry the blessings of the gospel to others. Jesus is always looking for men He can trust to do His errands. If we would have Him choose for us important and responsible work--we should be faithful in our present service, however lowly it may be. We are being tested continually, to show whether we will be faithful. He is looking always for those who are diligent and may be depended on. He never chooses an idle man--to entrust with any important duty. He wants men who have capacity, and who are eager and busy. Then He wants messengers whom nothing can tempt to be unfaithful.

He saw the man He was looking for, sitting in this little office. He was sitting at the place of toll, the place where the people passing by with goods stopped to pay the taxes on the things they were carrying. That seemed a strange place for Jesus to find a man for His work, especially a man who should become an apostle. Those who were engaged in this business of collecting customs, were not reputable men. They were hated by their Jewish brethren, because their work was to gather taxes for the Romans. Usually they were dishonest, or extortionate, taking all they could get. The publicans were regarded as evil and unpatriotic. However, Jesus can take even an evil and disreputable life, and out of it--make an apostle!

One day Michelangelo saw a soiled and cast-away block of marble lying among rubbish. Once it was a magnificent block, with great possibilities. But it had been cut and hacked by an incompetent hand, and seemed to be utterly ruined, so that nothing ever could be done with it--nothing beautiful ever made of it. But to the eye of the artist, as he looked upon the stone, a vision of beauty arose, and from the soiled block--he carved the wonderful statue of young David, one of the masterpieces of art which the visitor sees at Florence.

Just so, many of those who have finally reached the noblest manhood and have done most for the world, have thus been rescued by Christ from what seemed hopeless ruin. Levi or Matthew, whom Jesus found that day in the tax-collector's booth, became in the great Master's hand--one of the worthiest and most honored of the apostles!

A Famine of Hearing

By T.M. Moore


Where the Word is truly being heard, it will bear fruit in the lives of those who are hearing it.

The prophet Amos foresaw a day in which the absence of any hearing of the Word of God would wreak tragic effects:

"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord God, "When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the Lord. And people will stagger from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint from thirst." Amos 8:11-14 NASB

In this grim scenario, people weary and spent stagger in every direction, looking for some sure word to which they might cling, yet without success. The best and the brightest of them are at the point of wasting away. All around, the false gods of pagan nations abound, yet without producing any lasting satisfaction or hope. It is a vision of utter desperation, hopelessness, and despair. The cause of this tragic condition, as Amos foresaw it, was that there was no hearing of the Word of the Lord in the land.

We hardly need persuading as to the relevance of this dour vision for our times. The characteristic features of Amos' prophecy are visible on every hand. Our youth are being wasted in the prime of their years. The gods of comfort, convenience, and success abound, along with the demons of New Age religion, continually mutating themselves into new forms attracting faithful adherents devoted to their peculiar idol for the promise of happiness it holds. Yet there is little in the way of lasting happiness in the land, and on every hand a sad and lonely people looks for someone to blame for their misery, and someone or something to deliver them from their hopeless condition.

In one sense we might think this the most biblically enlightened of times. After all, there is no shortage of Scripture or Scripture versions; the Bible remains the best-selling book, year after year. Churches by the scores of thousands dot the landscape, and, week-in and week-out, ministers of the Gospel proclaim the biblical truth to millions of attendants. Throughout the week supplemental opportunities for additional exposure to the Word of God are available through Bible study groups, radio and television, and individual study. We are, it would seem, awash in the Bible, in opportunities for hearing it, and in people who regularly avail themselves of such opportunities.

Historically, Protestants have identified as first among the marks of a true church the faithful preaching of the Word of God. By this standard, it would seem, we in the contemporary evangelical Church may rejoice and give thanks for the opportunities for the hearing of the Word of God that we presently enjoy. But surely there is a difference between opportunities for hearing the Bible and actually hearing it.

Calvin described this most important mark of a true church in this way: "From this the face of the church comes forth and becomes visible to our eyes. Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard . . ." (emphasis added). For Calvin, the mere availability of the Word, even "purely preached," was no guarantee of a faithful church. Mere opportunities for hearing provided no assurance that real hearing of the Word would actually occur. The Word had to be truly heard, that is, received in such a way as that it would bear fruit in the lives of those who actually heard it. Where the Word was truly being heard it would bear fruit in the lives of those who were hearing it, and where that was happening a true church could be rightly discerned.

But what kind of fruit? What does the Bible expect of those who actually hear the Word of God? For what kinds of responses should we be looking? And where do we in our generation stand in relation to those responses?

The Fruit of Hearing

We may identify several, first among them, repentance. Even the prophet Daniel, who stands out among the giants of biblical characters with respect to personal piety, fell to profound and passionate expressions of repentance for himself and his nation upon reading in the Book of Jeremiah concerning the end of Israel's captivity in Babylon (Dan. 9:1-5).

We evangelicals have established a place of prominence for ourselves in this society by declaiming loudly against the sins of others. We have denounced the secular humanists, chastised the evolutionist, decried the postmodernists, and raged against the blatantly immoral practices of the people of our day. Yet we hear little such passion in the acknowledgment of our own sins before the God of judgment and mercy. This absence of repentance suggests to me that a famine of the hearing of God's Word has set in upon us, that, for all our reading and study, the clean, pure, true, and uncompromising Word of God is not breaking through to our sinful hearts.

A second fruit that Scripture identifies as following from the hearing of God's Word is freedom from sinful practices. "You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:32). Here is promised the life of sanctification, which Jesus prayed that God's Word might effect in us (John 17:17), the life of in-creasing holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). Scripture draws back the veil of eternity, allowing the glory of the uncreated God to shine with transforming power upon our sinful hearts, souls, minds, and ways (2 Cor. 3:17-18). Where that glory penetrates to the heart--where, that is, the Word is truly heard--it burns away the dross of wickedness, cauterizing the wound of sin with searing grace, and setting in place a healing power that obliterates the past and progressively makes all things new (Ps. 103:13; 2 Cor. 5:17).

"The Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him" (Acts v. 32).

  

Days of Heaven Upon Earth



"The Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him" (Acts v. 32).

We can only know and prove the fulness of the Spirit as we step out into the larger purposes and plans of Christ for the world.

Perhaps the chief reason why the Holy Spirit has been so limited in His work in the hearts of Christians, is the shameful neglect of the unsaved and unevangelized world by the great majority of the professed followers of Christ.

There are millions of professing Christians--and, perhaps, real Christians--in the world, who have never given one real, earnest thought to the evangelization of the heathen world.

God will not give the Holy Spirit in His fulness for the selfish enjoyment of any Christian.

His power is a great trust, which we must use for the benefit of others and for the evangelization of the lost and sinful world. Not until the people of God awake to understand His real purpose for the salvation of men, will the Church ever know the fulness of her Pentecost. God's promised power must lie along the line of duty, and as we obey the command, we shall receive His promise in his fulness.

Lord, help me to understand Thy plan.

The money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the house of the Lord. 2 Kings 12:4

  

Our Daily Homily





The money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the house of the Lord. 2 Kings 12:4

THE margin suggests that the thought of giving for God's house would ascend in a man's heart, till it became the royal and predominant thought, swaying the whole man to obedience. It is a beautiful conception!

For the reconstruction of the Temple there were two classes of revenue: the tribute money which each Israelite was bound to give, and the money which a man might feel prompted to give. Surely the latter was the more precious in the eye of God.

Does it ever come into your heart to bring some money into the house of God? Perhaps the sug gestion comes, but you put it away, and refuse to consider it. The thought begins to ascend in your heart, but you thrust it down and back, saying, Why should I part with what has cost me so much to get! Beware of stifling these generous promptings. To yield to them would bring untold blessing into heart and life. Besides, the money is only yours as a stewardship; and the thought to give it to God is only the Master's request for his own.

The great mistake with us all is, that we do not hold all our property at God's disposal, seeking his directions for its administration; and that we forget how freely we have received that we may resemble our Father in heaven, and freely give. Too many, alas! are anxious to hoard up and keep for themselves that which God has given them, instead of counting themselves and all they have as purchased property, and using all things as his representatives and trustees. Let us make a complete surrender to our Lord, and from the heart sing,

"Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.

The Struggle With Temptation

By Charles Stanley


1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Temptation is something with which we are all familiar. No matter who you are, where you live, how long you've been a Christian, or what you do for a living, you have been tempted. And you will be tempted again, probably even today. Therefore, let's stop and ask an important question: What is temptation?

Quite simply, temptation is an enticement to take a God-given desire beyond our God-given boundaries. You may say, "God-given desire? There's no way that this desire came from God!" Well, let me ask you something: Who made you? Who built into you those drives and desires that you feel?

The longings for food, intimacy, and relationships all come straight from God. The problem arises when we take these desires beyond the boundaries God has set for us. For example, He created sex for enjoyment within marriage. However, this God-given desire is horribly misused when the physical act of sex occurs outside of matrimony. Then, something that God designed for His purposes becomes the source of guilt and shame. That is not what God intended.

You may sometimes feel at the mercy of your temptation. Know, however, that feelings of temptation are just that: feelings. They can be controlled, refused, and refocused into some other healthy activity.

God has assured us that He will not abandon us in the midst of temptation, no matter how alone we may feel. When you feel the pressure to sin, call on Him to refocus your energies and attention.

"And being absolutely certain that whatever promise He is bound by, He is able to make good" (Rom. 4:20).

 

Streams in the Desert




Abundantly Able

"And being absolutely certain that whatever promise He is bound by, He is able to make good" (Rom. 4:20).

We are told that Abraham could look at his own body and consider it as good as dead without being discouraged, because he was not looking at himself but at the Almighty One.

He did not stagger at the promise, but stood straight up unbending beneath his mighty load of blessing; and instead of growing weak he waxed strong in the faith, grew more robust, the more difficulties became apparent, glorifying God through His very sufficiency and being "fully persuaded" (as the Greek expresses it) "that he who had promised was," not merely able, but as it literally means "abundantly able," munificently able, able with an infinite surplus of resources, infinitely able "to perform."

He is the God of boundless resources. The only limit is in us. Our asking, our thinking, our praying are too small; our expectations are too limited. He is trying to lift us up to a higher conception, and lure us on to a mightier expectation and appropriation. Oh, shall we put Him in derision? There is no limit to what we may ask and expect of our glorious El-Shaddai; and there is but one measure here given for His blessing, and that is "according to the power that worketh in us." --A. B. Simpson

"Climb to the treasure house of blessing on the ladder made of divine promises. By a promise as by a key open the door to the riches of God's grace and favor."