The Love of God

Let's also read Ephesians 3:19, "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." Paul was praying for the Church at Ephesus because there were weaknesses coming in upon them. He prayed that they might be strengthened (verse 16). They were losing sight of many valuable truths which they needed to hold onto to be the Church. He prayed that their eyes of understanding, or their hearts, might be opened. It's a terrible thing when the enemy begins to close the eyes of the Church. The deception is so great that they think they see better than they used to.

Paul prayed that their eyes might be anointed and that they might know the love of Christ. Christ is God, and we cannot differentiate one bit between the love of Christ and the love of God. The love of God is eternal, divine, something far beyond time, and far beyond any understanding of man. Almost everything today, from sickening, sissy love to everything else, is being defined as the wonderful love of God.

Paul's prayer that the Church might know the love of God was exactly the same prayer that Jesus prayer in John, Chapter 17. Let's read John 17:24-26: "Father, I will that they also , whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. [Back in eternity before the world was ever created, this love existed. That is the love that God has for Christ; it's the love of God.] O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou has loved me may be in them, and I in them."

What a love existed back in eternity for the world! Someone may say, "Oh, that's too high." No, our thinking is too low. That's why people are struggling, trying to love. We don't know anything about the love of God, regardless of what we profess or what our position is, if we're having a struggle loving others. We don't understand the love of God. There needs to be a preacher like Paul to pray for us that we might know the love of God that passes knowledge. Jesus prayed that his followers could have that same love, and that prayer was answered on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost was given. We read in Romans 5:5, "...the love of God is shed [not a sprinkle, but covering the whole area] abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." This is a love that passes knowledge, an eternal love, the very love of God working in our hearts.

The Work of God in the Soul

Here's a man praying in Habakkuk 3:2, "O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." Thinking soundly and according to the Scripture, Gods' work was Israel of the Old Testament; but if we read the whole chapter, every one of those prophetic expressions deal with the moving of God into the heart of man in a new, reviving manner. Genuine, true, real religion is the work of God in the soul; it's not the work of man in any way. The work that needs revived is the work of God in the soul.

The work of God in the soul is not theology or ceremony. The supreme love of God burning brightly is the work that God wants in every soul; He will never be satisfied until He gets it. When the supreme love of God is burning brightly, we don't have trouble with people fussing over the Bible standard, wanting to have their own way, quibbling with one another, or setting up their own ideas. Habakkuk wanted that real, true realization of God. He wept night after night because God's people had drifted, and he finally came to the place where he could pray a prayer that would really hit the point. He began to pray, "O Lord, revive they work." Reviving the supreme love of God in the hearts and lives of men and women is one of the greatest needs we have. It's definitely God's work. There's no man who can do that; it's past knowledge.

I believe every true pastor who has his eyes open and looks on conditions, will tell us that we're not as spiritual as we once were. The supreme love of God will give us a different attitude; it will put us in a submissive position. Just as Habakkuk prayed, my prayer is the same. "God, revive they work in the midst of the years." In other words, do it now, while we still have our years, because our years are going to come to an end quickly. I know we have plans for years of retirement, but we may only have days. If we're ever going to be revived, we'd better do it now. It will be too late when life leaves our body. There won't any talk about revivals in Heaven because everybody who makes it there won't need one, and they would surely like to have one in hell, but there won't be a preacher to preach it. No true preacher of the Gospel ever ends up in hell.

Waves of Religious Interest

Whether it's individually or collectively, the devil is working a deceptive work by getting many so busy mechanically that they rest on the efforts they're putting forth, when right down in the core, they've lost the real beauty out of their experience. They're substituting many other things for it. We've never seen a time in our world when there's such a wave of religious interest. We have religious moves and mass evangelism as never before.

Within the local congregations, the devil is deceiving hundreds of people by church activity. He is getting church groups busy as never before. Much of the activity which is going on is leading people further and further away from the true, burning love of God. There is much sponsoring of back-to-religion campaigns on all levels; civic groups have go-to-church drives, news ads, and books coming off the printing presses. Today, more religious books are being printed than ever in the history of the world. But with all these waves of religious interest, mass evangelism and church activity, none or all of these put together add up to a revival in the Church.

The Apostle Paul finally made it to "Hollywood". I never read where he wanted to get there, but I read where he wanted to get to Rome. Moses and Stephen even made it to "Hollywood". All they have to do is throw in the Ten Commandments and put some Bible characters in, and everybody says that the movies are not so bad. We need to look at the devil's program.

Auditoriums are sold out for months ahead to hear religious ragtime and Gospel boogie. Gospel songs which were written in the Sprit are put to a boogie beat and torn asunder; that's an evil work. The Holy Spirit inspired those old songs; He not only inspired the words, but also the tempo and notes. We need to sing them as they are, and they will bless us. It's an old, carnal influence which wants us to put a jigger to them.

We're in a time when even politicians take time out to say a good word for God. They want God in the White House, they want God in the schools, but they don't want Him in their hearts. The devil is getting us to thinking in terms of "way out there", when the need is right here. A lot of people will send thousands of dollars to clean up America, but don't try to clean up their homes.

Many people today are talking religion, while others are shopping religion. Some have called me, wanting to know the time of our services. They tell me that they're shopping around; they're dissatisfied where they are and will probably visit our services. Many religious shoppers are just like other kinds of shoppers; they're looking for a bargain. There are no bargains in salvation---everybody who finds real salvation pays the same price. Whether here in the United Sates, in Africa, in the Philippines, or wherever the truth is preached, it will cost us the same price to get saved.

Too many are shopping around who are not willing to face the Cross of Christ and what it means. Too many are as those who stood at the cross when Jesus hung there suffering and dying. They said, "...let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him" (Matthew 27:42).

The same thing is said today, "Let Him change. Let Him move to our desire and our fancies; then we will join and believe." Some people don't want to attend services here because they don't believe the doctrine of divine healing. Others want me to quit preaching something else. This is the same old spirit as, "Come down off the cross and then we'll believe." If Jesus had come down off the cross, there would have been nothing to believe. Whenever that attitude gets hold of us, the devil is only bringing us to the place where we won't have anything to really believe in.

Let's Keep Our Love Hot!

Too much religion today is just a fad. Church building, attendance, and work is at an all-time high, and morals are at an all-time low. We need God to revive His work in the hearts of men and women. Much of the numerical building today, building greater numbers, is through the recreational area. When the church or the congregation grows statistically and numerically, but not spiritually, we need a revival.

When we turn away from truth, we're heading for darkness. This thing is closer to us that we realize, and it has a deceptive force and power that will take over every one of us. W don't have a lease on truth. The only assurance of having God's approval upon us is to keep the work of God revived in our hearts and lives, and live out the Word of truth.

I was holding a meeting some years ago in a certain state, and I was really amused. It was supposed to be a holiness church, but the pastor said that if there were over five hundred in Sunday School, he was going to jump out the back of a pickup truck, going fifty miles an hour, onto two bales of hay.

Someone said, "Oh, how foolish!" I'm just trying to give you a picture of what's going on. That is the road we're on when our love begins to decay. When our love decays, we lose the true route of reaching God and reaching souls, and we're going to disgrace the great things of God. If our soul is not on fire and we don't desire God, His truth, and the fervency of the Holy Spirit, our flesh is going to cry out, "Entertain me! Entertain me!"

Jesus said in Matthew 24:12, "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." We need to take another look, and we need to let God look. The love of too many people has waxed so cold that it's like putting hot coals and ice cubes together. The Church is the hen; she's the mother. True revival, is when the Church hatches and mothers her own chicks in the comfort and love of the Holy Spirit, and cares for their souls more than they care for their own.

True Revival

It's hard to win to the Church those who are not won through the Church. Campaigns, no matter what we call them or how great we think they are, are not of God if they don't feed right back into the local church. Every person God saves, whether they get saved in the car, along the creek or in their home, God baptizes them right into the body of the Church. Any real work of God will feed right into the local Church. That's exactly the way God, through the Holy Spirit, will direct it. Our supreme issue is not members, money, or even missions or evangelisms in a sense; it's repentance, or revival.

Look at the morning-time Church when the love of God was first shed abroad within their hearts. What a work they did without buildings, radios, automobiles, or newspapers. God put a work in their hearts. The had a vival and as long as they held on to that vival, they didn't need a revival; but when they lost the vival, then they had to have a revival. Vival is the divine life of God, that burning Spirit of God, and love of God within the heart which gives us a soul burden. We can't possess the love of God burning within our heart without also having a burning soul burden. Someone may say, "I want you to pray for me that I can have a soul burden." We need, however, to get to the seat of the thing and pray that God will revive His work in our heart and shed His love abroad. When we receive real salvation and have the love of God shed abroad ino our hearts, we want to go right home and get the whole family and our neighbors saved. Many times the new converts zeal takes them beyond their knowledge. They have a burning zeal of real concern for others burning in their hearts. They didn't have to pray for God to give it to them; it came with the work of God in the heart. I say, "God, revive that work in the midst of the years."

There's too much malarial brand of Christianity: first a fever and then a chill. At first, they are really on fire, but the next thing you know, they go through a chill. We won't get it done that way. If we truly desire it, God is able to keep that fire burning within our souls. He is able to keep our love heated.

Actually what we call revival, in too many cases, is a simple return to normal Christianity, right back to where we ought to have been living all the time. Revival means a real examination on our part as Christians. We examine ourselves according to the Christian doctrine; we think upon repentance, confession, renunciation, restitution, submission, separation from the world, and being filled with the Spirit. Revival is the renewing of the first love of Christians, and when the Christians get their first love renewed, it will result in the conversion of sinners to God. David prayed: "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation...Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee" (Psalm 51:12-13). Revival is a new beginning of obedience to God. Real revival is a breaking of the heart, a getting down in the dust of humility before God and before each other. Revival breaks the power of sin and the power of the world which troubles too many who claim to be Christians.

When God revives His work in our hearts, the very truths which we have been unresponsive to will become living, vital, and beautiful. Revival is when the mind and conscience have consented to truth. Many consent to truth, but obedience to truth is the thing that matters. One dear man said, "Revival is a time for the Church to tune up. If we're not careful, we will get so busy building a bigger orchestra that we never take time to tune up. What good is a bigger orchestra if two-thirds of the members never show up to practice or are off key when we do get ready to work?"

Revival is a time to sharpen the axe. We may be just whaling away with the handle, and have lost the axe head. God tells us in Isaiah 54:2, "Enlarge the place of thy tent...lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes." In other words, make room for expansion, but don't lengthen the cords of your tent a bit more than you strengthen the stakes. The growing is wonderful, but let's keep it according to God and His Word. Our intensive program must match our extensive program.

See Him As He Is

We as the Church, need to face the Christ of the candlestick, the Lord of the lampstand. He is calling the Church to repentance. Too many have an incomplete, inadequate vision of the Lord. Some see Him just as they want to see him, but we need to see Him as He is appearing today. I'll illustrate it this way: Rip Van Winkle awoke from a long sleep to find that time had changed. When he went to sleep, King George III was still ruler of the American colonies. When he woke up, George Washington was President of the United States. Unaware of all that had happened, he began to whoop it up for the king, and he got himself into trouble and thrown into jail. He was yelling for the wrong George. A lot of this had happened while he was asleep

Today, many in religion are trying to follow a Galilean teacher who went about doing good, who was merciful and full of compassion. A lot has happened since Jesus walked on the earth in the flesh: Calvary, Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost. We, as the Church, are not dealing with a meek, lowly Jesus, going around looking for a place to lay His head. No, we're dealing with a crucified, risen, ascended, and glorified King. We read in Revelation 1:14-16: "His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength."

John said, "...when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). We will see Him as He is, not as He was. He is exalted, crowned, and Judge. We need to see Him as He is in the book of Revelation. He is Christ, the Reviver, calling to the Church at each location---seven locations of the Church in Asia. These letters apply to us as congregations of the Church. There are parts of those letters that fit us, and when they fit us, they are written to us. He is calling for revival as never before. He is the Christ of revival, and He is the coming Judge who will completely destroy the powers of evil and reign forever.

"Repent Or Else I Will..."

Matthew 11:28, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". Jesus is still saying that today, along with: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:15-16). He is still saying all these things; but along with those things, His last Word to the Church is, "Repent, or else." This was a commandment to five out of the seven churches in Asia, or the then-known world. I wonder what the proportion might be with churches today as God looks on them. What percentage of them would He tell to repent because they have left the supreme love that the Holy Spirit shed abroad within their hearts? The supreme love of God passes knowledge, takes us beyond, and will move us just as it moved Jesus to leave heaven, come down to this sin-cursed world, be buffeted, beaten, spit upon, and killed.

Paul wrote to the Church at Ephesus, praying for them that they might know the love of God. They needed a reviving of the work of God within them. They failed to do it, and in just a short time, Jesus wrote to them and said, "...thou hast left thy first love" (Revelation 2:4). They had many good works, but God had this one thing against them. All their good works didn't amount to much, if anything.

We continue reading in Revelation, "Remember therefore from whence thou are fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent: (verse 5). The message is repent or else, and it fits our age. Repent, or else what? Repent, or else He will put us out of business because He's going to remove the lampstand. When He takes the lampstand, He's taking the light, and darkness is going to come in.

Jesus meant what He said. Ephesus was one of the most prosperous cities in Asia. It was a city of commerce with a great port, and many ships came in there. Paul spent more of his time as a missionary in Ephesus than any other place. He built a large and great work there. The Lord of the lampstand said, "Repent, or else." They didn't repent. Now, Ephesus is not even a city. Nothing is there but undergrowth; it's just wild. A large metropolis moved out. When God says,"Repent, or else," that's what he means. History tells us that one day, large amounts of silt came in from the sea and filled the harbor full. It came in faster than anyone could handle or move it. The harbor was closed completely; ships couldn't come within miles of it. The places of work went bankrupt. When God removed the candlestick, the city collapsed, and there's nothing there.

My prayer is, "O Lord, O Lord, I have heard your voice. I have seen what you have done to others, and I know what you can do. Revive they work! Show me how to get rid of the things which have worked against the work of God in my heart and life. Help me to drive them out by the grace of God. Lord, I want you to start a fire burning afresh within my soul. I want that supreme love of God, Lord, like you had when you gave your Son. I desire the love Jesus had when he was willing to come, and the love that the morning-time Church had when they reached the whole then-known world in two years. Lord, I want that love burning in my heart and soul."

Let me repeat my Scripture text once more. It's more than words; it's the burden of my heart: Habakkuk 3:2, "...O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years..."

[The End]