Sunday, December 28,
2014, 8:00 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “Trust Him.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Psalm 74:1-4 (NASB).
Remember Us
A
Maskil of Asaph.
O
God, why have You rejected us forever?
Why
does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
Remember
Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
Which
You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance;
And
this Mount Zion, where You have dwelt. ~ vv. 1-2
The people of God were under the hand of God’s judgment.
God, in anger, had handed them over to the desire of their foe. So, the
psalmist was appealing to God for mercy, based upon the covenant relationship
God had with his people. He asked God to not forget his people, but to remember
those whom he had purchased for his very own.
We don’t know exactly the circumstances surrounding the
writing of this psalm other than the psalmist described what sounds like the
destruction of Jerusalem and the temple there. In that case, God judged his
people for their idolatry, their spiritual adultery, and their refusal to
repent of their sin; for their refusal to heed God’s warnings and to listen to
the words spoken by his prophets. The people of God had hardened their hearts
against God, and they had turned away from him and had gone their own way. Time
and time again God sent his prophets to warn them of judgment and to call them
to repentance, but they didn’t listen. And, so God had to send upon them the judgment
he had threatened. His goal, though, was to bring them to repentance so that he
could renew them and restore them.
Yet, God doesn’t always discipline in anger. He often allows
us to go through difficult times as a way of maturing us, strengthening us in
our faith, teaching us endurance, and purifying our hearts. In these times of
trouble we learn to put our dependence in God alone, and not in ourselves or in
other humans. We are also humbled during these times of trial and testing so
that we learn to be compassionate towards others who are suffering, and so we
can offer them the same comfort we received from God. Jesus said that, as his
followers, we will be hated and persecuted, mistreated and falsely accused, and
arrested and even put to death for our faith in Jesus Christ and for our
testimonies for him and for his gospel. So, suffering and persecution do not
come our way only because of sin in our lives, but as part of God’s process of conforming
us to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ.
The Perpetual Ruins
Turn
Your footsteps toward the perpetual ruins;
The
enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary.
Your
adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place;
They
have set up their own standards for signs. ~ vv. 3-4
Rather than discuss the circumstances surrounding the
psalmist’s words here, I believe God would have me look at how this passage of
scripture is being realized today.
The temple of God today is the body of Christ, the church –
the heavenly Jerusalem. It is not a physical building or an organization of
humans, but it is a living organism comprised of believers in Jesus Christ
throughout the world. The sanctuary of God is also not within a building built
by human hands, so if someone tells you that walking into a building called
“church” means you are entering the “house of God” or that when you enter the
sanctuary (or worship center) that you are now entering into God’s presence,
they are wrong. That is based off the Old Covenant relationship between God and
his people. We are now God’s house, and his sanctuary is within our hearts. His
presence dwells within us, not in a building. So, if we are believers in Jesus
Christ, we are always in his presence.
So, with that in mind, I would like to look at some ways in
which the true church today is in perpetual (continuous) ruins – where the
sanctuary has been damaged, where our adversaries have roared in our midst, and
where they have set up their own standards for signs.
The Sanctuary
Since the sanctuary of God is in our hearts, and thus it
represents God’s abiding presence in our lives, because of God’s grace to us in
saving us from our sins, how can the enemy do damage to that sanctuary? Well,
the purpose of the sanctuary was a place where God’s people could go to meet
with him, to find refuge in him and to worship him. The sanctuary thus represents
our personal relationships with Jesus Christ, our communion with him, our walks
of faith, and our times of fellowship with him in personal Bible study,
worship, and prayer, and then followed up with obedience to what he taught us.
The enemy has done great damage to this sanctuary, because
he has convinced those who profess the name of Jesus that being under grace is
some kind of easy ride, and that since God has forgiven us for our sins, sin
doesn’t really matter to God. He has convinced those who want to believe in
Jesus that all they have to do is say some prayer and they have their escape
from hell (if hell is even mentioned), their ticket into heaven, and that
nothing can take that away from them no matter how they live their lives from
that point on. In fact, they are taught that God is pleased with them no matter
what they do and that he delights in them even when they are willfully sinning
against him.
God is presented as a doting grandfather in the sky there to
grant their every wish. They are not taught the fear of the Lord, for that
might offend people or drive them away. They are not taught that they have to
die to their sins, for that might be considered too harsh or judgmental. They
are instead taught this happy-happy version of the gospel that requires nothing
of the sinner turned saint at all other than to “believe” - whatever that
means. And, so they don’t take God and his word seriously, they live just like
the world, and they participate in many (or all) of the same sinful activities
as does the world. They are idolatrous and are living in spiritual adultery, if
they even know Christ. And, they are taught a me-centered version of
Christianity rather than the God-centered true gospel.
The Meeting Place
The “meeting place” can represent our personal times of
fellowship and worship of our Lord and/or it can mean our times when we gather
with the body of Christ for worship, prayer, the teaching of the Word and
fellowship.
If the enemy roars in the midst of our meeting place, what
picture comes to mind? To “roar” can mean to rumble, thunder, grumble, or sneer.
This can mean to create some kind of disturbance, persecution, threat, or distraction.
Oh, he is great at doing that when we sit down with our Bibles and we begin to
pray and to study God’s word. He may come against us with an accusing tongue,
or he may get our minds off on tangents, or he may introduce fear or worry into
our minds, or he might get us thinking about all the things we have to get done
that day. Or, he could make us sleepy or whatever might work that would get us
to be unproductive in spending time with the Lord in prayer and in his word.
He will also lie to us and convince us that God is happy
with us spending just 5 minutes a day with him, and he is ok with us having
days go by when we don’t spend time with him at all. He understands. Of course,
these same folks have plenty of time for Facebook, the Internet, TV, and games,
etc. We make the time to do what is most important to us, don’t we?
And, then in the fellowship of the Body of Christ in their
meetings the enemy has convinced believers that they need to invite the world
into their meetings, that they need to focus the attention of the meetings
around reaching out to the world, that they need to make things light, fun and
happy and make sure we have a really good band that will draw in large crowds
of people, etc. He has convinced the church that they need to entertain
everyone so that people will want to come back, and that they need to not be
judgmental or get on people’s case about sin, and that they need to avoid such
subjects as sin, repentance and obedience, because that is legalistic, and they
are “free” from all that. So, what we have here are often theatre productions
in public meetings involving both Christians and non-Christians, and then we
call that “worship” of God and Christian fellowship.
Their Own Standards
Basically what this means is that the enemy has skillfully
and subtly exchanged God’s standards for his own standards. He has convinced
church leadership, across multiple denominations to follow books written by
mere men who then teach church leaders how to grow their churches. This is
where they are taught to dilute the gospel in order to make it more appealing
and acceptable to the world, where they are taught to use human marketing
schemes for how to draw in large crowds of people to their meetings, and where
they are taught to discourage participation from people who hold to the
foundational truths of the gospel and to target the people of the world or
those who have little Biblical knowledge so that they can mold them according
to their pattern.
This has been going on for a very long time. The enemy is
very patient. He takes his time slowly and carefully introducing changes into
the church which are more in line with his plans for the church than they are
in line with God’s plans for his church. The church has thus been on a gradual
decline for many years. I have become aware of this only about 16 years now,
and I have watched how the enemy has lied to church leaders and congregations
and how they have bought into his lies and how little by little he has gotten
them to compromise truth and to accept different standards and a different
gospel from the ones taught by Christ and by his apostles. And, it breaks my
heart!
The psalmist cried out to God in desperation. He appealed to
God’s mercy. He listed off to God all the things the enemies of God had done to
his temple, to his sanctuary and to his holy city. He also mentioned that the
prophets of God also appeared to be no more. Then, he inquired of God as to how
long this must go on. When would God intervene on the behalf of his people? He
asked that God not forget his afflicted forever. He asked God to plead his own
cause.
And, I empathize with him, because I pray to God regularly
for him to bring revival to his church here in America. Yet, I believe revival
will only come through God’s hand of judgment (discipline), and that will come
only when God’s timing is right. Yet, I am not looking forward to that time as
far as what I believe this nation will have to suffer, but oh how my heart
aches to see the church revived and no longer believing the lies of the enemy,
but following God wholeheartedly. So, I wait on the Lord, and I trust him. He
will work out all for good in the life of his church, and she will return to
HIM. Amen!
Trust Him / An
Original Work / August 15, 2012
Based off Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord; be of courage;
Be strong and take heart today.
Do not fear when foes attack you.
Trust in God always.
He will rescue you in times
Of trouble and distress,
He’ll comfort you in all ways
As you trust Him with your life today.
Trust in Him always.
God is with you; He’ll not leave you.
You can always count on Him.
He will fulfill all He promised
Before you began.
His word teaches you
All that you need for this life.
Let Him lead you. Open your heart;
Let his truth envelope you today.
Listen and obey.
Love your Lord God; follow Jesus.
Repent of your sins today.
Make Him your Lord and your master;
Trust Him and obey.
Follow Him where’er He leads you
In His service; be His witness,
Telling others about Jesus’
Price that He did pay
For your sins always.
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