Fire On Your Head

^“If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Dan 3:17-18, ESV)

I initially wanted to write this article and name it after the life of Daniel, until I realized the major example I want to focus on in the third chapter doesn’t even involve him or mention him at all. I want to glean from some examples found in the third chapter, and challenge each of us to be ‘fireproof’ (yes I am a Pillar fan).

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were ‘fireproof’ because of their resoluteness not to bow to anything other than the God of heaven. Malachi 3:2-3 mentions how in the day of the Lord’s appearing, He comes like a refiner’s fire and a fuller’s soap–and that his ministers are purified like gold.

The reason these three Hebrew men could withstand this earthly fire is because they were made fireproof by heavenly fire, for God makes his ministers a flame of fire (Ps 104:4). These men were of a pure spirit that even the worldly king’s fire couldn’t harm. Just like if you take gold and purify it by fire, different impurities come to the surface, and the gold itself is made purer–likewise these men, in their devotion to God and not bowing to the idol of their age they were confronted with, were made resistant to the flame they were subjected to for their obedience and devotion to the God of heaven.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29).

The fire of this world can’t touch you when you’ve been purged by the fire of God.

Those very people trying to punish them through fire died while Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego withstood the flames and another angelic presence was seen in the flames with the young men. The soldiers who carried the bodies of the three Hebrew men died themselves in the process. What a severe reaction the king had that these young men would dare not bow down to a statue made in his honor–he had the fire heated up 7 times more than normal, and the men who carried their bodies into it died in the process. This fire was a fire of distinction and distinguishing–the pure withstood it while the wicked in heart perished in it. The tares were separated from the wheat and burned up. The dross disappeared while the gold, silver and that which is precious purified, and the Lord of hosts magnified in the sight of all.

There’s many things going on in our contemporary culture, where to take the stand of righteousness makes us look like we’re the foolish ones, and ending our lives or political careers–if even just in the area of reputation. It’s much easier to go with the flow, but the flow itself is perishable and when the flame of the fire of God touches it, it burns up like chaff.

Make no mistake, it was the king who called for the furnace to be the method of death for anybody unwilling to bow to his image, but what the enemy meant for evil, the Lord turned and made work out for His own purposes of exalting the men who remained faithful and loyal to Him despite the threat of earthly death put upon them, and was Himself glorified ultimately. These men knew the God, Who after taking one’s life, had the power to cast their body and soul into hell (Luke 12:4-5). They feared the right King. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego could remain fireproof and imperishable in the midst of this fire, because they’d pledged themselves to the kingdom made of imperishable substance. These men refused to bow to the rulers and authorities.

Can that be said of us in our age? Many ministries boast of their ‘relevancy’, and bow down to kiss the king of Babylon’s ring, but that which is relevant to this age may not necessarily be relevant in the unshakable kingdom. Too many believers are capable of wasting their political vote for parties that will kill the unborn, because they have better financial policies than the party that won’t. The decisions that pertain to the imperishable realm are overlooked for concerns about this perishable realm. Many build their lives and their ministries with wood, hay and straw, which will all perish when touched by the fire of His presence. What are YOU building with?

Wood, hay and straw are substance that grows or is found above the ground and visible in the sight of all. Gold, silver, and precious stones are beneath the surface, and aren’t visible–they are buried and hidden and require seeking. These three Hebrew men were made valuable, precious, and fireproof by their time in the presence of His fire, in their secret place–unseen by men. That is why they could face the threat of death with such confidence because they were made strong in private. Wood, hay and straw on the one hand all burn in such fire, as we happened with the king’s soldiers.

Friend, bow not! Don’t be afraid of them who can harm your body but can’t touch your inner man. Fear HIM who has power to throw both body and soul into hell. Bow the knee to the King of kings worthy of your praise and adoration. The closer we get to HIS fire, His presence presence, the more the impurities will leave from us, and though grueling as this process is, it’s more preferable than anything earthly kings can do to us! The fire in this furnace was not the flames started by a man, but the fiery presence of God, which is why the soldiers were but chaff and burned up in it as they attempted to dispose of the bodies of the men who wouldn’t bow to earthly kings. However, because the three who pledged their allegiance to the King of all kings DID bow the knee before Him, they withstood.

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, though it is tested so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.“ (1 Peter 1:6-7,22-25 )

Please check out these related articles for further meditations on the fire of God:

All Consuming Fire,   No Perishing Point

Finally brothers… (Paul is saying to sum up this whole book) whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:8

I used to be really introspective.

On the outside I was quite happy and fun but I often used to over analyze people’s reactions to anything I said or did. I thought a lot about anything that was wrong in me because I wanted to be pleasing to God.

I went to a bible school that came out of a revival and it was a place where holiness was so important. God definitely changed my life there, I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything. But in that culture of repentance and holiness a lot of us became often introspective. Always looking for new sins to repent of, and trying to look around our heart for anything bad to despair over. There were altar calls twice a week. Through all of this I never really felt good about my relationship with God, I felt there was always so much more sin to get over before I could really be close to God. Then one day I read a prayer.

I was reading a book by Bill Johnson, one of my biggest heroes in the world. He was so hungry for revival and always trying to repent and get closer to God. But he kept feeling so down by how far he felt from God. Then one day he prayed a prayer like this

“God you know I don’t do so well when I always focus on my sin. Would you please convict me when there’s something you want me to deal with? Let me just worship you and keep my eyes on you, that’s what I like the most.”

It blew me away, I felt so much freedom and excitement that such a lifestyle was possible. Here was one of the holiest men I knew of who walks in incredible miracles and the presence of God and he just trusted God to convict him whenever God wanted him to deal with an issue. It was so freeing.

On the race it’s really easy to compare, it’s easy to get frustrated because there are so many amazing people, with really strong giftings, or beautiful personalities and it’s easy to feel like we are missing out. I’ve caught myself a few times this year getting introspective and frustrated with how much I still need to grow. But I feel like God is calling us to be sons and daughters again. Children don’t care much for self-analysis, they just love being with their dad and playing with him. They want to help him at work and they don’t mind if they mess up much because they just love being with him and doing what he’s doing. And he loves that!!!

To sum it all up if you are thinking about your sin you are in fact sinning. Because sin isn’t pure, lovely, or admirable. If God convicts you then just repent immediately and quickly move on to abundant life with Him. I can testify that ever since I let God worry about convicting me and shifting my gaze to God and everything that’s good and pure and admirable in the world my life has changed dramatically. It’s amazing. I remember I used to watch movies with my eyes on the look-out for swears, or sex scenes to look away from then after my Christians friends and I could complain about how bad movies are nowadays and say things like “Why did they have to put that scene in there and ruin the whole movie?”. Never did I realize that the whole time we were focusing on what wasn’t pure. It’s often the people who are the hungriest for holiness that have their eyes most fixed on sin (in order to avoid it).

Now whenever I watch a movie I have my eyes fixed whatever is beautiful in the movie, where courage is displayed or genuine love. I ask God to highlight anything he wants to teach me from the movie. I am so focused on just absorbing everything beautiful and good from the movie that I hardly remember any bad parts. (as a disclaimer, I’m still not perfect and I’m growing in this, but it’s an exciting adventure). Paul would read greek and cretan poets and was trained under Gamaliel, one of the most culturally aware and relevant rabbis of his day. Still regarded today as one of the great rabbis of all time.

I think as Christians we need to start absolutely being committed to beauty, to purity, creativity and life. We can’t retreat any longer into our comfy sanctuaries and churchy lingo. The gates of hell can’t stand against a church on the offense. The armor of God has nothing for our backside, our only protection is continual advance and victory. Let’s not fear creativity and truth, no matter from where we find it. Every good and perfect gift is from above.

Editor’s note:

Currently David Hepting is traveling the world doing “The World Race”.  To learn more about it and to read up on regular updates, visit http://davidhepting.theworldrace.org.

“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.“ Song of Solomon 2:14-15 (ESV)

I originally wrote an article on this a number of years ago specifically about the insights I had at that time about the effects of praying in tongues, but with the revelation and insight into this Bridal paradigm God’s giving me lately–and to flow with the articles I’ve been posting in the last few months–I couldn’t help but feel that a re-working and revisit to this subject were necessary.  Especially in light of our spending significant time lately reflecting on truths of Christ based in the Song of Solomon and talking about “love being more excellent than wine”.  I have always had a profound revelation from this passage about the way speaking and praying in tongues builds up the believer and helps them overcome in their life and ward off the foxes and demons trying to ruin the work of the Spirit in our lives.

The whole book, whether you read it allegorically or just as a song, is about the love between the Bridegroom and His Bride.  We can glean from it in more specific and personal ways for our individual journeys with the Lord, and not just the collective Body of Christ.  When I read these simple yet profound verses in the Song, I’m compelled to think of passages like the following in the Gospel of John:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in Me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. (John 15:1-8 emphasis mine)

We go to the “hiding place”, signifying a place of privacy, but more specifically that of intimacy with Christ in our relationship with Him.   It speaks of letting Him hear our voice, hence re-enforcing that you can’t only think your prayers, but He desires to hear it out of our mouths as well.  Click here for more articles on the importance of confession and just what it is exactly.  Hearing our voice is also applied to our worship of Him.

The Hebrew for the word “ruin” in S.O.S. 2:15, is Châbal: A primitive root; meaning to wind tightly as a rope, or to bind, specifically by a pledge. It also means figuratively to pervert, or destroy; also to writhe in pain, especially of parturition.  The English Standard Version I quote from uses the word spoil, which shows the same concept.

The foxes represent the devil or demons, and could also be applied to our flesh and our carnal leanings & tendencies.  I believe it represents both: in our own neglect of our relationship with Christ, the opportunity is created for outside spiritual and demonic schemes to come in when we’ve let our guard down through neglect or lack of personal devotion.  In either case, if the foxes are not dealt with at this time, they will cause more damage and be more difficult to overcome.  When we’re growing and the vineyard is in bloom and ripe, THAT is the time they are the most vulnerable and sensitive.  Little foxes can destroy the vine that yields fruit. They do this by gnawing and breaking the little branches and leaves, and the bark, by digging holes in the vineyards, and so spoiling the roots by eating the grapes, and any other way to hinder the growth of the vine.

Our First Fruits

What are vineyards for? Grapes.  And what are grapes used for?  To produce wine.  Chapter 5:22-23 of Galatians lists the fruit of the Spirit, and these are some of the evidences there will be in our lives if we’re intimately connected to the vine, we’ll produce fruit and become more like Him whom we’re beholding and Whose image we’re being transformed into. Though many times different symbols are used in different ways in Scripture, the vineyard is often a type or a symbol of the Church in the New Testament, Israel in the Old Testament, and just the people of God in general. And of course, if you’ve been reading my series on “Love, the More Excellent Way” you’d already be familiar with examples of how wine is correlated with the work of the Holy Spirit, and used in chapter 1:2, and 4:10 in the song as representative of GOOD things and finer pleasures of this world.  The devil is always seeking to destroy us in any way he can.  He desires to ruin the work of the Spirit, in our lives individually and collectively as the Body of Christ, and there’s no better way to do it than at the foundational root level, like the foxes seek to do to the vineyard.

More specifically, we know one symbol for the Holy Spirit is new wine–which is made from fresh just-picked grapes, and the passage here in Song of Solomon talks about how the foxes ruin the vineyards that are in bloom–when they’re young, tender or sensitive.  Most plants and trees require that you remove the first fruits as soon as they appear, and then after that the fruit appears in larger size and more quantity.  But if it’s not obtained properly in that first fruit stage, the tree will never grow properly and yield very much fruit–in other words, will never realize its full potential.  I’m sure there’s a sermon in that on giving God our first fruits with all things in our lives, but that’s another post.  Suffice it to say, it’s the first fruits the foxes are trying to spoil, so the vine never comes to its full potential.  Therefore it’s at this crucial moment the foxes must be stopped from doing any damage or else it will be irreparable and the young one in Christ may not fully recover from the damage caused.

Intimacy with God

God calls us through this passage to the hiding place in the rock (the Rock Christ Jesus) and wants to see our face and hear our voice.  This is indicative of prayer, and definitely indicating intimacy.   Viewing these verses in that lens, we see that going and being alone with God and praying, we’ll wind up “catching those foxes” that ruin the Spirit’s work in our lives because we’re bound to them instead of walking in freedom.  When the vineyard is getting watered with the Word of God (Eph 5:26), then the things of the Spirit, such as the gifts and the fruit, and new wine revelation will flow, and it’s THIS the foxes try to destroy, stop or pervert and prevent from happening.

If you are struggling with fleshly tendencies, or overcoming habitual sin, experience and my understanding of this passage encourages me to encourage you to go be alone with Christ and ‘behold Him’ in this manner. Doing so will help you catch the foxes in your life that spoil the work of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit in turn will help you grow strong in your inner man to overcome these areas.

Notice how it states in verse 14 that He loves the sound of her voice, so what better thing to be offering up with our voices than tongues since according to Romans 8:26 we don’t know what we ought to be praying?  Jude 20 mentions praying in the Holy Spirit to build ourselves up in the the most holy faith.  Another way of saying it, is that praying in tongues builds up the inner man and helps keep those foxes from spoiling the vine.  Jude was writing to the early Church–which was young and still in formation like ‘tender grapes’–to contend for the faith because false doctrine (foxes) had gotten into the Church and was rendering it powerless at this crucial moment in its history.  Early on, while the Body of Christ was still young and getting established, much like the vineyard with grapes in bloom in spring time–was the most sensitive and important time for false doctrine to be weeded out from spoiling things.  So the remedy to that is verse 20, praying in the Holy Ghost. Praying in the Spirit is our inoculation against false doctrine (the foxes) because it is how the Holy Spirit teaches us.

The Apostle John stated in his epistle: “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing [of the Holy Spirit] that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.” (1 John 2:26-27, emphasis mine, and parenthesis mine).  The Holy Spirit, and abiding in Him IS the way you’ll avoid and be protected from deception.

So the application of this teaching?  Be intimate with Christ, and pray a whole lot in tongues as well. Not only will it help with your understanding and revelation of the Word of God, but it will help crucify your flesh and overcome the foxes that are holding us back.  As you dwell in the pure Word of God and allow it to ‘water your vineyard’, it will result in wine being produced.

The Holy Spirit is more easily able to flow through those who are intimate with Christ.

Related posts:

What Are You Feeding Your Tree?

How’s Your Connection To The Vine?

‘Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’ -Lev. 10.3

The nations are perishing and the Church is languishing for want of the knowledge of God. This generation of American souls is largely ignorant of the God of the Scriptures, and we have been too preoccupied and distracted by this world to come into that knowledge ourselves. We have preached a hollow message that bears little resemblance to the revelation of God set forth by the apostles and prophets, and the condition of our nation testifies to it.

We have made light of sin, made the faith into a mere subculture, and the cities of America remain mostly unconvinced of the reality of God. We have not demonstrated His love and purity, for we have been functioning along the lines of the world, catering to self and living under the intoxicating influences of a consumeristic society.

This story of Aaron’s sons rattles our presumptuous definitions of God, and while it may seem unsavory or distasteful to consider, it is a vital portion of Scripture that needs to be reflected on. We need to reckon with passages like this until we break into a fuller understanding of who the Lord is, for if we pick and choose passages only of our own liking, we end up forming distorted views of God. Indeed, we all see in part, but to willfully neglect an aspect of who He is according to the Scriptures is to open the gate to deception.

I believe the message of His great love must increase and be shouted from the rooftops, but if He has also shown Himself as holy, and we fail to see Him as He has revealed Himself, what foundation do we have? His attributes are not categories that we can pick based on personal preference, as if the Bible was a menu at a restaurant. His traits are intertwined and tied up with His Person, and every revelation of God given in the Scriptures is a glimpse into His great heart. We cannot discard the portions that seem less appealing. If we do that, we have created our own view instead of receiving His. At best, our revelation of God will be a partial foundation, and that is not sufficient for a life of discipleship, nor will it hold in days of great trial and upheaval. We need to be rooted and grounded in His great love and purity, walking in the joy of communion and the fear of the Lord, for this alone will fit us to glorify Him in the day of His power.

He has revealed both His “kindness” and His “severity” for a reason (Rom. 11.22). It is not merely so that our systematic theology will be accurate. He has revealed Himself in this way because this is who He is, and to know Him and love Him as He is, that alone is eternal life.

Decades ago, A.W. Tozer wrote:

I refer to the loss of the concept of majesty from the popular religious mind. The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshiping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge, and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.

…. The world is evil, the times are waxing late, and the glory of God has departed from the church as the fiery cloud once lifted from the door of the Temple in the sight of Ezekiel the prophet.

The God of Abraham has withdrawn His conscious Presence from us, and another God whom our fathers knew not is making himself at home among us.

(A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy; Harper & Brothers, 1961; pp. 6, 49)

I am convinced that Tozer’s words are profoundly true of the Church in our times, and one of the chief reasons for this loss of majesty is that we have diminished- perhaps unconsciously- the sense of God’s holiness. We need a recovery of reverence, hatred for sin, and a baptism of fire to purge us of the arrogance and strutting that still marks too many of our lives and ministries.

There are wonderful teachings on the love of God in circulation, and I pray they continue to increase as our hearts enlarge in the experience of His kindness and compassion. But we are radically lacking a sense of His holiness, and since He is both loving beyond comprehension, and holy beyond description, the whole counsel of Scripture is essential for a true knowledge of God. Passages like this from Leviticus 10 provide a crucial vantage point for our understanding of Who God is.

Aaron’s sons, along with the people of Israel, had witnessed the majesty of God at the end of chapter 9. “The glory of the Lord appeared to all the people,” “fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering,” “and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.” (9.23-24)

Without a doubt, the scene was exhilarating, and the sense of God’s mercy and holiness was overwhelming for all who were present. Reverence and joy mingled within them, and the people fell prostrate with shouts of praise and awe issuing forth. What happened next is both devastating and sobering.

“Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.” (10.1-2)

We don’t know exactly what prompted Nadab and Abihu to perform what is recorded in chapter 10. Were they trying to reproduce the elation of the previous event? Were they wanting their names to be recognized before the people, rather than being jealous for the glory of God’s name? We don’t have the answer to every question here, but we do know that the fire they offered was not authorized by the Lord. It was offered in their “respective firepans,” and its source was of men rather than of God. It was “strange” and unholy, something “which He had not commanded them.”

It was so offensive to the Lord that “fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.”

At this point it is easy for our hearts to short-circuit. We lose touch with the raw reality of the Biblical passage. We cannot fathom the thought that the very fire of God Himself actually came out from the holy place and devoured the sons of Aaron. Our view of the Lord is casual and light, and the idea of judgment is foreign to most modern believers. If the idea of God’s wrath is agreed to in a credal way, it often bears a feeling of unreality, and the idea of judgment actually touching men on the earth seems fictitious or mythical.

But that does not discount the truth of the passage, and we need to realize that this is an actual historical event. It is not allegorical or symbolic, but a true piece of our heritage in the faith. It is meant to bring to us what it brought to Moses, Aaron, and the people of God; namely, a sense of His holiness, and an awareness that He does not tolerate sin, nor any activity that is carried out in His name that misrepresents His glory.

Just when we might have blamed the event on some demonic attack, Moses gives clarity to what has occurred.

“Moses then said to Aaron, ‘This is what the LORD spoke of when he said:
‘Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’
Aaron remained silent.” (v. 3)

This event of judgment, which gripped the community of Israel with holy fear, is completely intertwined with the revelation of God in the Scriptures. It is just as much a revelation of His personality as was His washing of the disciples feet, His blessing of little children, and His raising of Lazarus from the dead. It is a revelation of God’s holiness, and it is one that we need desperately to recover. He is holy, and we cannot use Him for our purposes.

This hits home in a concentrated way in this present generation. Perhaps the fouls committed against the sense of His holiness are no more flagrant than in certain segments of the Charismatic Church, where charisma and gifting are often elevated while the Scriptures and the character of Christ are undervalued.

My heart aches in this hour of often flippant faith, when silliness and frivolity are equated with “liberty in the Spirit,” and when anyone with jealousy for truth and reality is accused of having a religious spirit.

When I see men placing a low value on the Scriptures, or labeling anyone with passion for the Word a “pharisee,” I tremble on the inside.

When I see men acting as if they are inhaling the Holy Spirit through imaginary marijuana joints, calling it “Jehovajuana” and claiming that they are “toking the Ghost,” I am mortified at the total loss of reverence for God. There is absolutely nothing holy about such activity! It is a deplorable and scandalous example of strange and unauthorized fire.

When I see men boasting of great power and bragging about the international influence of their ministries while the sense of His holiness is absent, it makes me apprehensive.

When a so-called “revivalist” can shed his wife and marry another woman with no Scriptural grounds, only to re-enter public ministry with the blessing of well-known leaders, I am filled with concern. This has happened many times over the years, and I am wondering where the standard of truth has gone!

I want to be merciful towards all men, but there has to come a point where the gullibility and lack of discernment are spoken against. I don’t think we are far from Tozer’s description, that “another God whom our fathers knew not is making himself at home among us.”

A few of my mentors have even encountered a trend among “worship-leaders,” where they will use profanity, or do other wild and crazy things in services, claiming that by this absurdity they are “shaking the religious spirit off of the crowd.” I cannot give words to how far we have fallen.

You may say that I have a religious spirit myself, but I cannot give my soul over to these expressions of spiritual activity that militate against the revelation of God that I have received over the course of my life in God. He is holy, holy, holy, and the line of revelation from Genesis to Revelation does not alter one bit. He is kinder and more loving than we can describe, but He is pure and just as well, His judgments have already touched the earth, and He is still slated to return as both Savior and Judge.

We do need to desire “earnestly” the gifts of the Spirit and the outpouring of His power. We need to be awakened more and more to the depth of His great love and compassion. And indeed, when the Spirit of God moves in power, things will happen that we cannot explain and that take us by surprise. But what has happened to the fear of the Lord?

I am convinced that our unwillingness to come into the knowledge of God, as the Scriptures have revealed Him, has produced the seedbed for our sub-apostolic Christianity. Before the cities of the earth will be “turned upside down,” we need to regain the majesty of the revelation of God Himself. We need to turn from sin and return to the God of glory, to the Scriptures, to prayer and fasting, to worship and obedience.

We have lost the sense of His holiness, and I fear the consequences are much worse than the immediate judgment of two priestly sons. The Lord has permitted many to veer off into their own ideas of Himself, even while chasing supernatural activity, and their stupor grows heavier the more and more men make light of sin and neglect the Scriptures. A widespread famine of the true knowledge of God is even more tragic than the death of Aaron’s sons. Entire movements are chugging along without a sense of His holiness, quite at home with sin, and so intermingled with the world that there is no “distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean.” (Lev. 10.10)

We cannot rightly value the kindness and mercy of the Lord if we have diminished the bright light of His holiness and the radical nature of His hatred for sin.

We are more like the 1st-century Church at Corinth than we realize, and the word of the apostle Paul is the same to us as it was to them. He did not doubt the validity of their gifts, nor did he consider them unbelievers. But he had serious correction to give as well, for they were veering off in the wrong direction:

“Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’ Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.” -1 Cor. 15.33-34

Oh, for the true knowledge of God! For the joy of communion and the trembling of reverence! The salvation of Israel and the nations, and the raising of our sons and daughters depends entirely upon the measure to which we have come into the knowledge of God, as He truly is. He kindly invites us into the purity and joy of union with Himself, for which reason we have been saved. We need to be enlarged in His love. We need the sense of His holiness. May we hear from God Himself in this hour.

Lord, our lips are unclean, and we live amongst a people of unclean lips. We have failed to see You as You are, but You have been so gracious to give us the Scriptures. You have been so gracious to send Your Son. You are merciful enough to send us Your Spirit and to lead us into all truth. You have been so patient with us. Would you wake us up to the reality of Your holiness? We want to turn from silliness and deception, and to come into the apostolic faith of the Scriptures. Make us a people of humility, holiness, love, and power. Let us come into the sense of Your holiness, that a line of distinction may be drawn in the earth again. Let us know You as you are, and let Your name be honored and glorified above all.

Editor’s note:   Britt Williams is the pastor of Consuming Fire Fellowship, in Woodville Mississippi. The following article is something I came across on Facebook when several of my contacts posted this article on their profiles.  I was challenged and convicted by many of the points, and though we don’t agree with every point or feel that some of the ministry methods the author engages in are of our personal preference or style, we did feel enough in common with this article to share with our readers to be given a challenging perspective on the role of conviction.  Any comments and thoughts are welcome.  And we hope and believe it will be of benefit to you as you read.

In this article, we revisit an often overlooked and forgotten fundamental of gospel preaching; the convicting power of God, an essential component in the experience of conversion. Conviction is that divine power that convinces and draws the sinner to Jesus. Thus, unless men are convicted and convinced of their awful sinfulness before a holy God they will never come to the Lord Jesus Christ.

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
-John 6:44

Jesus presents us with an absolute, the theological implications thereof, are often overlooked/neglected in this hour of seeker-sensitive, easy-believism. Sadly, the tendency today is to overlook, redefine, or ignore altogether the necessity of conviction in the new birth experience. If we fail to understand the dynamics of the gospel, and conviction in particular, we are ill prepared to be a witness for Jesus. Now, if conviction is absolutely essential in the conversion of souls, then we must desire to see lost sinners come under conviction, yes? This being true, let us consider what the Bible tells us about true Holy Ghost conviction.

I. FIRST, HOW MIGHT WE DEFINE CONVICTION?

John 6:44a No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…

Now, we’ve heard this term “conviction” many times before, but what does it actually mean? According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, “conviction” can be described as…

The act of compelling one to admit the truth of a charge; the act of convincing of sinfulness; the state of being convinced; the state of being sensible or aware of guilt. By conviction, a sinner is brought to repentance.

Thus, conviction is the experience of the sinner being awakened to the sinfulness, the penalty, and the only remedy of his sin. There is perhaps nothing in the human experience more disturbing, unsettling, and gut wrenching than Holy Ghost conviction. If it were not for its glorious end, it would be accurate to call conviction awful and terrible torment of the mind and soul. And remember, we, above all, must desire/have this happen to those we hope to win to Jesus.

II. AS I MENTIONED, CONVICTION IS AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY FOR CONVERSION.

John 6:44a No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…

Our text irrefutably teaches the absolute: no man will come to Jesus apart from God’s convicting power. Now, contrary to popular thought, fallen humanity has no innate interest in God, but rather, is predisposed to evade and hate Him. And thus, there has never been even one man who sought God of his own accord: not because we can’t, but we won’t.

Psalm 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

I heard a preacher say, “the increased popularity of the occult proves men are spiritually hungry, searching for a God they don’t know.” Such a statement presupposes three unscriptural and illogical concepts:

a. Sinners can seek God apart from God.

Romans 3:11 …there is none that seeketh after God.

b. Sinners can sincerely seek God and not find Him.

Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

c. Sinners are completely oblivious to God, His nature, and His law.

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse…

Such unscriptural notions reveal how little we understand about the gospel and the new birth. No, men infatuated with the devil may mean many things, but certainly not that they are hungry for God. The Bible teaches that sinners, by their sins, are utterly alienated from God. This separation is not merely a difference of opinion, or a philosophical misunderstanding. No, the sinner has willfully set himself against God: his ultimate enemy. The sinner is a rebel against God, His authority, His law, His gospel, and His Son. Sinners are willfully separated from God and have chosen to remain in a hostile position of opposition toward Him.

Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

We no longer believe this, the sinner is somehow, unconsciously seen as some kind of victim. And this one truth alone necessitates the utter need for the prevenient grace of conviction: they will never come, except the Father draw. Thus, as our text teaches, without conviction, no sinner will ever seek God.

III. THERE ARE THREE ESSENTIALS IN HOLY GHOST CONVICTION.

John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove (convict) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…

There can be no Holy Ghost conviction apart from the reproof regarding sin, righteousness, and judgment. And perhaps there are no three topics more rejected in the professing church, and more hated in the world. Should we wonder why there is so little Holy Ghost conviction? Yes, the gospel preacher’s message, if anointed and led by the Spirit of God, will emphasize reproof. And his rebuke will concentrate on the sinner’s sin, his lack of righteousness, and the judgment he will soon face. Now, the world and religious hypocrites hate such preaching, accusing it to be, “judgmental/offensive/counterproductive.” Over the years, the professing church, carnal, backslid, and seeking the approval of man, has been seduced by such reasoning. Above all, they seek to avoid the preachy image, bending over backwards to be non-offensive and make the sinner feel comfortable. There is an obvious denial of Biblical conviction. That leads me to our next point…

IV. THE CATALYSTS FOR CONVICTION.

Romans 10:14 …how shall they hear without a preacher?

Without a true Gospel preacher there can be no Holy Ghost conviction to draw the sinner. Gospel preaching is God’s ordained means to communicate the gospel. And as we pointed out, his message, for the most part, will be a message of reproof: declaring the law to expose sin, lifting up Jesus to define righteousness, and boldly warning of the great and terrible day of God’s judgment. If we don’t get back to preaching the fundamental gospel message, men will never truly be drawn to Jesus. There can never be Holy Ghost conviction without Holy Ghost preaching (not Holy Ghost singing, not even Holy Ghost living alone). No, the human vessel, consecrated wholly to God, filled with God’s Spirit, declaring God’s Word is essential to God’s method of drawing.

John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Yet, the modern church, Biblically illiterate and carnally motivated, has thought to promote the gospel like a bargain rummage sale. They say, “if we are prosperous, joyful, blessed, folks will come to get what we have.” Indeed, they may, but this is not the right motivation (see John 6). Or, they reason, “if they see miracles, they will believe the gospel.” They apparently forget that Jesus, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, renounced such thinking…

Luke 16:31 …if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

Others say, “If they just see Jesus in us they’ll come knocking at our door.” But the Bible says…

Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

In light of the absolute stated in Isaiah 53 how can this be? No, as the Bible teaches, we must first GO, before they will ever be under conviction and then COME.

VI. THE NATURE OF THE CONVICTION EXPERIENCE.

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…

As we’ve mentioned, conviction is synonymous with reproof for sin, which produces a crisis. Holy confrontation always draws a line, gives an ultimatum, and forces a moral choice.

Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous…

Conviction literally compels lost sinners to do what they would never do themselves. To consider what they would never consider otherwise: look at the Greek word translated draw in John 6:44…

Draw: {Greek} hel-koo’-o, Literally or figuratively to drag.

It is a crisis, not a circus: serious, grave, and sober. A man diagnosed with cancer has some hard decisions to make, nevertheless, they are necessary. Likewise, the man under the eternal sentence of divine conviction realizes his latter end. It is no laughing matter. Conviction is, above all, loving, compassionate, and merciful beyond human comprehension: but to the unregenerate it seems tormenting. It is an affront to the sensibilities, a slap in the face of fallen human pride, and an offensive and brutal attack on sinful self-worth. And it will only lift when the sinner either repents or resists to the point of grieving God’s Spirit.

VI. FINALLY, THE DIFFERENT RESPONSES TO CONVICTION.

John 7:12, 41, 43 And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people…Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? So there was a division among the people because of him.

Conviction brings men face to face with the Biblical Jesus, and then they must make a gut-wrenching choice. They must either believe the gospel and therefore forfeit their own life to gain Christ, or reject Christ, so as to justify their sin. There is no middle ground, conviction either breaks a man or hardens him. For those who resist conviction reactions can run from insanity to violent persecution, but react, all men do.

May God help us to get out of the way and allow God’s Spirit to drag sinners to Jesus.

“I have made a covenant with my eyes;
How then could I gaze at a virgin?
…. for that would be a fire that consumes….
and it would burn to the root all my increase.” -Job 31.1, 12

I understand that many would brand my faith antique and my convictions archaic for approaching this subject, but that is a minuscule risk for me to take. God is too glorious, His Gospel too precious, and the fate of our sons and daughters too much at stake for me to worry about the consequences that these themes bring. I am convinced that we have woefully underestimated the damage that is done to the world and to the Church, particularly with regard to the issue of so-called entertainment.

The Church is largely bored with the Scriptures, unwilling to sacrifice for eternal things, unacquainted with the Spirit of prayer, and is harboring such distorted views of God that it is often difficult to tell if the One she is proclaiming is the same Lord that the apostles and prophets set forth. There may be a litany of reasons for this decrease of majesty, but I believe that one of the greatest of these is that Hollywood has a stranglehold on the hearts and imaginations of God’s children.

The pornography epidemic could be driven home here, and to sound the trumpet against that demonic system will require the emergence of a true prophetic voice indeed. Almost 40% of American pastors admit to a current struggle with internet porn, and the numbers are even greater amongst “non-clergy.” This is beyond tragic, and we are in need of a massive overhaul of repentance and mercy. Now more than ever are we in need of awakening, and if you are in this category there is deliverance and freedom from this deathtrap. The Gospel of Jesus sets us free “from all sin,” and He will give you grace to slam the door once and for all on this terribly besetting sin, when you repent and turn to Him with a whole heart, clinging to the Son of God.

Yet as horrific as the pornography phenomenon is, that is not the primary burden of my heart in this writing.

I am convinced that the Church of America, as a majority, has been removed from, or has never known, the kind of trepidation and tenderness of heart that Job was expressing when he declared, “I have made a covenant with my eyes….”

It was part and parcel with the faith of all the saints of old, that what they allowed to pass through the eye-gate, and what they permitted willingly to go into their ears, would taint their souls at best, and find residence in their lives at the worst. I am suspicious of modern “prophetic” men who commonly site movies and shows that contain illicit sex, profane lingo and themes, glorified violence, immoral innuendo, and other defiling examples as points in their messages. The only reason these points hit home with so many church members is that they themselves are given over to the same powers and influences.

Our hearts are too taken up with this world, saints, and there has never been a generation wherein the spirit of this age strikes the soul with such color, such special effects, and such mesmerizing influence as the one we find ourselves in. Yet we are called to an ultimate holiness nonetheless, and it may be said that one of the distinguishing factors between those who will bear the testimony of Jesus at the end of the age and those who will take the mark of beast during tribulational times will be this radical consecration of the eyes to God Himself.

In Eph. 5, Paul declares that there should not even be a “hint of immorality” in the lives of God’s people. Dear believer, I ask you pointedly, what constitutes a hint? How many of Hollywood’s characters, themes and plots can we drink in without receiving a “hint” of darkness?

There is something sleazy about many of our lives, charismatic or not, and while it might not be overt, I believe there is a residue of immorality resting upon those who have freely given themselves to morally compromised entertainment. There is something flimsy about our religion, and the bright burning of holiness that marked John the Baptist, the prophets of old, and Jesus Himself is conspicuously absent in the sanctuary, where His name is declared “holy” in verbal exercise, but the sense of His holiness has become foreign.

“…. it would burn to the root of all my increase.”

While we have boasted in “liberty,” and spoken poetically of our spiritual interpretations of Hollywood flicks (interpretations that Hollywood would largely reject and ridicule), we have too often condoned the spiritual pollution of our hearts.

Would the porn epidemic be so far-reaching and deeply-rooted if the Church hadn’t dropped the ball in areas of more subtle compromise? We have become arrogant in our boasting. And we wonder why our kids are prayerless and numb to eternal reality, buying into agnosticism and atheism when they graduate high-school and make it to their respective Universities. We wonder why thousands of “evangelical” teens are converting to Islam or diving headlong into the “party” life when they get out from under the wing of a youth group, and into the reality of college life. This may not be the only issue, but it is much more prevalent than we know. It’s a battle of ideologies, and hell has no greater method than to slowly dull our hearts to the God of righteousness through cute and subtle, entertaining displays of hellish ideas. As a friend of mine so rightly wrote:

We have so saturated our minds and imaginations with man-created images that we are bound to those images and therefore subject to the agenda of the men creating them.

It has burned to the root of our “increase” in Christ. We have lost the hunger and thirst for righteousness that Jesus encouraged, for we have given our hearts, minds, and pocketbooks to the broken cisterns of carnal entertainment.

It’s staggering to me that when the subject is raised to most believers, the tag of legalism is immediately raised. While there are legalistic souls who lack an understanding of mercy, and who often place heavy yokes upon others, the vehemence and rage of those who dish out accusations that men like myself are “legalistic” is far more widespread, at least in my own experience. I’ve never heard more warnings against “the religious spirit” of “legalism” than I have in the last few years.

In the area of entertainment they say, “Paul said we had liberty in Christ.” Yet these modern warnings are usually employed in a context that is far different from the situation with the Judaizers in the churches of Galatia. The apostles, quite contrary to the liberal ideas of today, addressed issues of righteousness with remarkable frequency and intensity in the New Testament, and I believe they would weep over the Church in our day, that we would be delivered from the murky waters that have tainted and dulled our spirits in the realm of entertainment. Our liberty is not license, but freedom from the death grip of this dying age. It is a liberty to come into the wonderful reality of communion with the Living God, and to taste of the “powers of the age to come.”

This is not about judging our movies based on their ratings. A thousand “PG” movies could be just as detrimental as one “R” movie. Addictions to CNN and social networking must be challenged if they burn up our time and keep us from the place of prayer and worship, diminish our passion for the Scriptures, and blur our awareness of the lostness of humanity. This is about a total consecration of our eyes and hearts unto Him, that we might gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, tremble before His majesty, remain in the loving counsel of His voice, and set Him forth in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

Our eyes have been too opened to the lying glimmers of this age. The time is here for an ultimate consecration of the eyes to the Lord, that we would see the increase of Christ Himself in our lives. We haven’t got room even for a “hint,” friends.

Let us return to Him with weeping and mourning, that so many of us have preferred the fading lights of this age to the glorious light of God Himself. We need not buy into the lie any longer. He longs to pour out mercy upon us, to purify us down to the marrow of our bones, to make us a tender-hearted people, enjoying deep communion with Him, and walking in meekness and holiness unto the day of His return.

Oh God, cleanse and purify our hearts with the fire of Your holiness and love. Catch us up in the Spirit of prayer and the glory of worship, quicken our souls to love the Scriptures, awaken us from fantasy and bring us into eternal reality. For Jesus’ sake.

“…. Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…” 1 Cor. 1.23

The Greek mind is one of loftiness, strength, impressive appearance, political power, and everything that men long for in their most heightened covetousness. The Greek gods of the first century were formidable, musclebound figures who threw bolts of lightning and carried out orgies with multitudes of women and goddesses. They were towering images, gods that evoked the praise of the ancient world by their intimidating tales and legendary feats. They were revered in the minds of their adherers because of their largesse and authoritarian grandeur. That’s what makes up the Greek mind, and modern western culture, though it does not revere Zeus or any of the other Greek gods, is driven by the same spirit exactly.

It’s remarkable to me how the heavenly mind is of a totally different order. The One true God sent His Son, who took on the dust of the earth and was born in Bethlehem, a little Jewish baby. He did not come throwing lightning bolts, flexing huge muscles and frightening men into submission by His domineering right hand. He came as a vulnerable, soft-skinned, breast-feeding infant, and the wisdom of God was here displayed in a manner that the earth had not seen to that point.

The immeasurable might of the Living God was displayed through His Son in every way, but the Greek/Roman mind cannot fathom it. We are much more of that mind than we would care to admit.

We would not have expected the Son of God to take on Jewish flesh and to be born in a stable. We would not have expected that He would experience a mostly normal childhood, growing up in Nazareth, which was a first century ghetto of Israel. We would not have expected that for roughly 18 years He would work in a carpentry shop, promoting no ministry, preaching from no platform, writing no newsletter, holding no healing campaigns. We would not have expected that He would sink Himself into the mirky waters of the Jordan, where all of His kinsmen were repenting of their sins, and that He also would take part in the baptism of John. We would not have expected that He would spend the first half of His publicized ministry telling people that He had healed not to announce that He was the messiah. We would not have expected that He would forgive the woman caught in adultery. We would not have expected that He would bless little children. We would not have expected that He would stoop low to wash the feet of the disciples, men who were often asking the most ridiculous questions about who gets what reward and whose name will be most known. And we, like Peter and the others, would not have expected that this Royal One would be found, whipped bloody and beaten to a pulp, hanging from a cross at the young age of 33. None of this befits authority or power in our Greek-influenced minds.

Yet in the weakness of all these events in the life of the Son, the fullness of God Himself is permanently etched into the annals of eternity and history. The Greek gods, with all of their boasting, flexing and roaring, are only hollow fables and lifeless characters inspired by fallen angels. Their names and words will rot without memory in the age to come. But the One who displayed the fullness of the only powerful God, is the One who showed forth His strength in expressions of holy weakness. 

Are our lives and ministries expressions of His life, or are they dominated by the Greek mindset? Do we look always for what’s bigger, stronger, externally impressive, bringing glory to our names or movements? Are we content with expressions of weakness in hidden places, where no gratification comes to us other than the glory of communion with God? 

The One who expressed Himself through weakness will soon return with fire in His eyes, a sword on His side, and vengeance against all that runs contrary to the love and purity of His kingdom. The “Greek” mindset will be permanently overturned, and the way of righteousness and justice will be established once and for all. How will our lives and ministries stand in the day of His fire?

“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.” -Ps. 51.1

The man who comes to the truest consciousness of his own depravity will be the one to cry out from the deepest place for a total cleansing from God. David the King and psalmist of Judah, after a massive moral collapse, was faced with the word of the prophet Nathan, and the depth of conviction was such that it resulted in a cry for mercy that brought down a speedy answer from heaven. Isn’t the grit of David remarkable? Isn’t it noteworthy how he responds and returns so wholeheartedly?

We tend to fall into one of two traps when our faults are pointed out. On the one hand, we are overcome with embarrassment and shame, and go through extended cycles of remorse and condemnation, wondering how sorry we must feel before the Lord will actually extend mercy to us. On the other hand, we stick our chests out in denial or defense, accusing the bringer of the word of some fault of his own in hopes of shirking our own responsibility before God.

David had a remarkable gift. He had a positive audacity, a repentant grit, and I’m convinced that it had to do with his own deep-seated consciousness that as a man, he could produce nothing without heavenly aid.

Spurgeon writes of David in this event:

My revolts, my excesses, are all recorded against me; but, Lord erase the lines. Draw thy pen through the register. Obliterate the record, though now it seems engraven in the rock for ever; many strokes of thy mercy may be needed, to cut out the deep inscription, but then thou hast a multitude of mercies, and therefore, I beseech thee, erase my sins.

…. The hypocrite is content if his garments be washed; but the true suppliant cries, “wash me.” The careless soul is content with a nominal cleansing, but the truly-awakened conscience desires a real and practical washing, and that of a most complete and efficient kind. “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity.”

(Charles Spurgeon, A Treasury of David; on Ch. 51, p. 450; Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1881)

David was deceived and in grave error in the committing of particular sins, and there was a haze over his heart. The prophet came and seared the veil with a burning sword, declaring “You are the man!” (2 Sam. 12)

David heard the convicting word about his sins, but he heard something further and deeper than that. We could say that in his inner-ear he heard the prophet declare, “You are man.” In other words, not only are you the one who has committed offenses against God, but you are dust, your life is a vapor, and unless you cry out from that place, you may have your reputation restored among men, but you will not know the joy of My salvation.

Rather than tucking tail and running in light of this revelation, he faced the One he had sinned against. “Against You and You only have I sinned…” Rather than looking for prosperity in his political career or hoping for a restored reputation, he cried out for a cleansing of the deepest kind.

The guilt is intolerable; it must not only be softened and diminished but must be eliminated completely: blotted out, washed away, made to disappear from the sight of God. The petitioner knows “that the removal of this intolerable thing cannot be his own work but only God’s: a divine blotting out, cleansing, and washing away…” (K. Barth, CD 4/1, 579)

(PSALMS 1-59: A Continental Commentary, Hans Joachim-Kraus; Fortress Press, p. 502)

David was not content with a surface brushing. He cried out for a new heart, his spirit had been broken, and he knew that from that place of true contrition, God would not despise Him.

David experienced the Gospel before the apostles ever declared it. David experienced the cross before it had been preached. His was not a desire to have embarrassment removed or his name held high, it was a gut-cry for redemption, and he knew that he would be met with mercy in that cry, for the God to whom he turned is the One who desires ultimate restoration.

One of my friends once said, “If you haven’t cried out about being a man, you’ve yet to cry out.”

May we come into this Davidic grit, this grace to turn quickly to the God of mercy, to lean entirely into His heart, and to be transformed and made true “in the innermost parts.”

By Jerry Bolton

Recently on Facebook, I posted a video of Dr. John Piper responding to the question “How should Christian friends respond to a friend who has entered a homosexual relationship and moved to a church that accepts it?”. During the discussion that followed, I realized there’s something much deeper at stake, namely, “How should Christian friends respond to a friend who claims to know and follow Christ but has made a truce with their sin?“. Ultimately, “Holy Ostracism” isn’t about homosexuality in particular, it’s about any mode of sin that we might make habit and be unrepentant of.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 ESV
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people– not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler–not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

The answer? It depends on the person, and what they claim. In both cases, we love them.

If they don’t claim to be a Christian – to know and follow Jesus – we love them. In this case, loving them means that we (among other things) seek to propose (not impose) the Gospel; that God became Man, lived a perfect life, and was crucified by his enemies to save and deliver and redeem them… and arose again 3 days later to prove all of the above.

If they claim to be a Christian – to know and follow Jesus – we love them. In this case, loving them means that we do many things (worship together, “do life” together, bear each other’s burdens, serve Christ together, etc). It also means that, rather than sharing the Gospel with them, we hold them accountable to their claim OF it.

What does this accountability look like? Well, obviously, it’s rooted in relationship. If someone claims Christ and avoids his body (the Church), that’s a separate problem (equally grievous, but separate). So, assuming they’re in relationship with other believers – in this case, you – what does holding them accountable look like?

Simply, it looks like loving them enough to challenge them, question them, confront them, and rebuke them for their sin. Always gently, always in love, always with Truth (ie. the Word of God), always patiently and helpfully. It also looks like committing what Piper calls “holy ostracism” eventually.

Titus 3:10-11 ESV
As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Holy ostracism is something that, prayerfully, we do when someone refuses to deal with their sin (or acknowledge it as such despite the clear teaching of Scripture). It’s not something that happens overnight, it happens in response to a pattern of stubborn and selfish love for sin – a love for sin that eclipses love for Saviour and His Name & Glory. It looks like a severance of relationship because it is – it sounds like this: “We can’t be friends anymore until you either stop claiming to be a Christian, or repent and begin the process of making war with the sin you prize.”

Quite frankly, I have some friends who – because of the way they live – need to stop claiming they know and follow Jesus. They are hypocrites to the n’th degree and, much more than that, their “peace” and “truce” with their sin declares to the world that the Saviour doesn’t save. For this reason and others, “ostracism” is what scripture prescribes for that kind of circumstance.

Of course, I also have many other friends who claim to know and follow Jesus and their lives show it. Not in perfection, but in constantly moving forward and dealing with their sinfulness.

2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 ESV
If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

If someone habitually and stubbornly refuses to deal with – for example – their pride (aka self-idolatry), they need to be held accountable and consider how, and IF, that is acceptable for a follower of Jesus. We present them with loving rebuke and correction – as brothers, not enemies – and if they consistently refuse to see the problem or to move forward against it, we break fellowship (and lovingly give them the ultimatum above). The rebuke is always loving, always geared toward restoration and reconciliation with God.

To refuse to help others in this way (I believe) weakens churches, weakens believers, and gives plenty of weight to outsiders’ charges of meaningful hypocrisy amongst Christians. There is nothing to be gained by refusing to break fellowship with the unrepentant, and much to be gained from “handing them over to Satan”.

1 Timothy 1:18-20 ESV
This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Obviously, one must be in a place in this person’s life to know about their habits and their patterns of living – this of course means that to be in a position to do ‘holy ostracism’, you must be in a place from which to ostracize. Of course, this is complicated by the way that things like Facebook and Twitter make friends who, in past ages, would have been more “stranger” and “acquaintance” than “friend” something much more. From the wonders of social networking, people’s lives are on display, and their attitudes and sinfulness with it. We don’t have to look far anymore to see “friends” who are pregnant (or have impregnated) outside of wedlock, or living with someone they’re not married to, or carrying on with a lifestyle of drunkenness and debauchery… all while claiming to be “Christian”. The trick with this is that although we might have the data, we don’t have the relationship and thus, holy ostracism’s goal (restoration to God) is unattainable in such loose contexts – not to mention we aren’t close enough to them to know if they’re dealing with their sin, repentant and putting themselves under spiritual discipline. It is this which leads me to believe that holy ostracism is something reserved for honest-to-goodness real life contexts where not only will it actually have meaning, but where its purpose can actually be worked out through the division of relationship. This hints at something at the heart – holy ostracism isn’t something done entirely for the sake of the person being ostracized. Why? Simply because holy ostracism isn’t always helpful for the person being ostracized. If it were, we could say that was the reason behind it. Really though, doing ‘holy ostracism’ is about God – it is always helpful for the name of Christ and for the collective integrity of those who claim His Name.

Matthew 18:15-17 ESV
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

We don’t cut off lightly, but we must do it when someone claims to follow Jesus but lives habitually in a “backslidden” state of habitually not battling the flesh, not battling pride, not battling selfishness, not battling their natural, sinful impulses. Believers are marked by war – against sin, against self, against the flesh, against pride, against lust, against everything that arrays itself against our God and Saviour. Those who claim to believe but live in contradiction need to be confronted with the witness their life gives and called to repentance – and if they refuse to agree with God and turn from their wicked ways – they need to either stop claiming to believe, or they need to be subjected to holy ostracism.

Jerry Bolton’s personal blog Resonance of Reforming can be found at http://www.jerrybolton.com

“But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.”

Malachi 3:2-3, ESV

The Bible uses lots of imagery and symbolism to describe the Lord and His ways, such as rivers of living water (John 7:38, Eze 47:1-8, Rev 22:1-2), and mighty rushing wind (Acts 2:2, John 3:8).  Scripture spends significant time talking about the fire of God, but yet, it’s not nearly as popular of preaching material as “come jump in the river“.  I’ve lived for significant amounts of time in four countries now, and I hardly ever see churches naming themselves after–or identifying themselves with–the fire of God nearly as much as rivers of living water.  And the few times I do see it, it’s usually in this cavalier manner of naming a conference after it that doesn’t have much room for the personal purifying holiness that the fire of God denotes, as much as getting Holy Ghost goose bumps, leaving people excited they flopped around on the floor but not have their lives changed by the presence of God.

I have my own ideas for why I think this is: probably because the very concept of fire is more painful than that of water. Granted, too much water results in floods, causes damage and loss of life; tsunamis take lives, or people can drown in water, and so on.  But seldom does being immersed in a fire in the natural realm ever result in anything other than destruction, loss, and death.  Images are forever etched into my mind from magazines and web pages of people who were jumping to their deaths from the Word Trade Towers on 9/11 rather than face the flames of the wreckage from the planes that hit that morning.  Indeed terrifying stuff to think of.

So what then do we make of it when the Bible talks of our God being a consuming fire (Heb 12:29)?  What do we make of the words of John the baptizer who proclaimed:  “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt 3:11).  Do we really know what we’re asking for when we sing songs of wanting to be baptized in God’s fire, realizing that baptism is a total immersion representing death and resurrection?  Are we choosing our words carefully, or carelessly?

John the Baptist and the prophet Malachi were both talking of things that need to take place to prepare the way of the Lord.  Hear this quote from the late Leonard Ravenhill:

People say to me all over the country, “I am interested in revival.” I say, “yes, so are a million other Americans.”   I find all kinds of people interested in it.  I don’t find many people burdened for it.  People are very interested in revival, but don’t start to break the fallow ground.  We don’t prepare the way of the Lord.” (A Time For Holy Fire, by Dr. Michael L. Brown p. 26)

I hear many a person refer to themselves as ‘being on fire’ for Jesus, but are they–or are we–really ‘on fire’?  One of the characteristics of fire is that the closer you get to it, the hotter it is.  When God pours out His Spirit of revival upon a land and its people, there will be this spirit of burning that I really believe way too many believers are not ready for, but asking nonetheless on some level for the revival to come.  The more we are closer to Him and his consuming presence, the less we are like this world we’re surrounded by.  And if our faith is made of substance more pure than gold (1 Pet 1:6-7), then we’re not going to melt or crumble when the fire of God is poured out in our midst over us.  Carefully consider the following as we pray for the revival we badly need in our nations and in our lives, lest we be like Nadab and Abihu whom we read about in Leviticus 10 that the Lord struck down with fire, for offering “unauthorized fire” before to Him, differently than how He commanded it, but had just accepted from their father Aaron in the previous chapter.

I fear we too are not ready for the fire of God…

The Fire Purifies & Purges

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.“  (1 Peter 1:22-25)

“The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.” (Proverbs 17:3)

I think many of us–especially preachers–are fearful of preaching on the fire of God due to the very nature of the fact that a fire consumes dross (Prov. 25:4), and brings to the surface impurities of that which is being burned.  How many of us would be honest with ourselves and admit that we shrink back from the fire, and avoid it lest we may be confronted with secret sins or things we’d need to give up?  Maybe the real reason we’re not praying for revival–and note that real revival will bring the fire of God–is because we’re afraid of what we might be asked by the Holy Spirit to give up? Since the very nature of fire is that it purifies, and as such with gold, it will remove impurities so as to leave the gold in a more purified state, then naturally the result of God’s presence and dealings in our lives would be repentance, purity, and further personal holiness.

The images used in our opening passage from Malachi–refiner’s fire and fuller’s soap–both stress thoroughness and severity.  The heat of the refiner’s fire was so strong, it would separate the dross from the molten pure metal, while the fuller on the other hand washed clothes using strong lye soap, after which the clothes would be placed on rocks and beaten with sticks. The closer we get to the fire of His presence, the more impure stuff will leave from us, and though grueling as this process is, it’s more preferable than judgment.

It cannot be any other way when revival comes.  Therefore, few truly want this fire, and many if not most are content to remain as they are and be content with little spurts and trickles of it that we see and call it ‘rivers’ of revival, but we’re selling short what revival really is.

Granted, the ‘jump in the river of God‘ analogy in itself is Biblically accurate, and a valid concept of God.  But purification talked about with fire, is synonymous with trials and testing.  Both water and fire result in, or are a part of the purification process as noted in Scripture:

“Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified with the water for impurity. And whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water.” (Numbers 31:22-23–read the whole chapter for the context, which is Eleazar the priest speaking to the soldiers of Israel about purifying themselves for battle).  I’m not discounting the anthropomorphism of water, it’s just over preached and I’m taking the time to talk of the fire in this article.

The Fire Distinguishes and Separates

What causes the wicked to be melted in the presence of it, causes the pure in heart to be made purer and more refined in its presence, like precious gold and silver–but yet not perish like the wicked do.  That which is is a baptism for the righteous, is destructive for those not on the right side of the flame.  Fire serves as a method of distinguishing:

John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Luke 3:16-17)

Whether being baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire will be positive–involving the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit as at Pentecost–or negative–involving the divine judgment of fire–depends on the response of the individual person.

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 4:1-3)

When the chaff is separated from the wheat, it is burned up.  The same fire that falls on that day purifies, refines and is “healing’ for the righteous, but yet the wicked are turned to ashes under their feet–very different results from the same fire.

The Fire Destroys Works of the Flesh

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)  In the Old Covenant, when the priests were offering up sacrifices of many specific and prescribed kinds in the Law, they usually would take all the ‘guts’ of and ‘flesh’ of different animals, and this would be burned up and destroyed.  The same is to be of our ‘flesh’ and our fleshly works.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each man’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” (1 Cor 3:12-15)

The Apostle Paul was careful in his life and ministry concerning what he did and ‘built’, because he knew only that which was able to withstand God’s fire would last.  What material are you building with?  How many of us today are building things that, though made of wood, hay and stubble, look large and productive to the modern church and pew warmer, but yet will not last the fire of His testing–resulting in nothing but dust and ashes?  These are works of the flesh and as already stated, don’t last (Rom 8:5-8 )Do you need to be seen by man and have his approval, or is God’s approval more important to you?  I can assure you, much of what will withstand the fire on that day, is hidden stuff nobody knows about on this side of eternity–gold silver and precious stones.  When you melt gold, you still have the same quantity of it, but just different form.  It may not look like much, but its value is great, even in small quantities.  Wood, hay, and stubble burn to nothing when the fire comes to it.  I don’t want there to be nothing left of my life and ministry when the fire comes to it. 

Oh Lord, please let it not be so on that day with my offering to you of my life’s work.

The Fire Begets More Fire…

And finally (for now), as when you take a candle to a curtain and it is ignited and destroyed–and I hope nobody reading this will go commit acts of arson!–so likewise the fire affects and impacts everything it comes in contact with.  The individual’s own heart will determine whether it’s for purifying or for destructive judgment.   Spread what you’ve got if you’re burning with this fire!  Don’t stay where you are.  Your school, your community, your nation needs this fire to burn and purge, and spread the presence of God in it!  It my next post on this subject I will cover the importance of keeping this fire burning.

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More stuff to stoke your flames:

A really good message from Dr Josh Peters, director of FIRE International preached at a past Fire For Life Summer School in The Netherlands.
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