Seeking a Revival Culture. Allen M. Baker

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Seeking a Revival Culture - Allen M. Baker


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the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies. He spoke of a lake of fire. He spoke of outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. We need to be clear on when this judgment will come. Paul says that due to our stubbornness and unrepentant heart we are storing up for ourselves wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of God who will render to every man according to his deeds (Romans 2:4ff). He told the Jews who were abusing the Thessalonians that they were filling up the measure or container of their sins, that God’s wrath would come upon them to the utmost, (1 Thessalonians 2:16). God is patient with the impenitent, but there is a limit to it. When the measure of any sinner’s sins reaches the top of the container, then death and judgment are soon to follow. And why does God promise an unavoidable and intolerable judgment? For Him to refuse would be to deny His character. He is holy, just, sovereign, good, wise, and gracious (see Isaiah 6, Psalm 103, Psalm 145). The punishment must fit the crime. A poor woman who steals bread from a rich man to feed her starving children is not as guilty as a young man who steals from his rich father to feed his drug habit. Both are wrong, though the latter is more wrong. Why? Because the crime of stealing from one’s father to feed a drug habit is far worse than the first scenario. Your sin is against the great, holy, and sovereign God. You have committed high treason against the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. God, therefore, is perfectly just in punishing all unredeemed sinners with eternal hell.

      Here’s my question to you. Do you really believe all this? Most of you will say you believe it, but do you really? If these things are true, then should we not be all about warning people to flee from the coming wrath of God and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Can there be anything more important than to offer people the only means of reconciliation, the only means of escaping a fiery, eternal hell? I trace the problems in our country (whether they are related to race, materialism, family disintegration, or debauchery) to the decline of biblical preaching in our churches. This problem is not new. It has been with us as early as the 1750’s when preachers began moving away from a God-centered, Christ-exalting, man-debasing theology to one increasingly pregnant with man’s transcendence and self-reliance. Preachers have grown soft on the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, instead embracing a false gospel of man’s autonomy. Preachers have embraced Arminianism, which teaches that man holds the last card, that he decides whether or not he will become a Christian. Preachers have forgotten the basic truth that Christ will build His church, and have thus moved toward manipulation and persuasion to draw a crowd, slowly but surely moving away from the S(in) and H(ell) words. The church therefore is weak, tepid, worldly, powerless to stand against the onslaught of post-modernity. We are like a de-fanged lion.

      I am deeply grieved over the condition of the church in America. What are we to do? We must pray, asking God the Holy Spirit to come upon preachers, granting them boldness to preach the doctrines of God’s holiness, Christ’s atoning death, and the necessity of the new birth. These same preachers must turn away from sin, all the while abiding in Christ, never forgetting their dependence upon the Spirit for everything. They must be sensitive to the Spirit’s indwelling and leading by keeping short accounts with God, repenting quickly and humbly when their sin is revealed to them. They must remember they will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be judged according to their deeds. They will give an account of their labors for Christ. And they must daily surrender everything to Jesus, not holding back like Achan did with the spoil. They must be willing to spend and be spent for the sake of the gospel. They must be willing to be fools for Christ’s sake.

      They must be willing to suffer reproach and false accusations. They must die to self. We must all die to self and seek the glory of God in the face of Christ.

      Confronting Our Neo-Pagan World

      . . . to the saints who are at Ephesus, and who are faithful in Christ Jesus.

      Ephesians 1:1

      Are we really much different today? I remember the Contract with America in the 1994 Congressional and Senatorial elections, sweeping a majority of Republicans into both the House and the Senate, and many Christians were ecstatic, thinking this event would turn the tide of godlessness in our culture. Did it? I remember not being impressed by the results of the election because what drove the voting was money, economics. The Republicans were not interested in social or ethical issues. People get serious about voting certain people out of office when it hits their check book and stock portfolios, but social issues rarely cause the same upheaval in the political process.

      Indeed, as the Fifth Dimension once sang, we are now in the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. The Age of Pisces (the fish, the ancient symbol for Christianity) has given way to Aquarius, the sign of paganism. The evangelical church in America is in big trouble. We simply are not growing, and haven’t been since Time magazine declared 1976 the “Year of the Evangelical.”

      Second, it means that we must be clear on who we are. Paul says three things about us in Ephesians 1:1 that are absolutely essential. First, we must understand experientially that we are saints, second that we are called to faithfulness, and third that we are in Christ Jesus. You have been set apart by God through His grace. A radical transformation has occurred in you if you are a believer. Everything about you has changed. You are not your own. You belong body and soul to your blessed Savior Christ Jesus who redeemed you by His blood. You have a new heart, which now hates sin and loves righteousness. You needed a heart transplant, and Jesus was the donor. He gave you His heart. Never forget it; believe it; live it out daily. To be faithful means that you believe certain things about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, yourself, the nature of the world, and eternity. It means you embrace, contend for, and defend this Biblical truth without compromise in a neo-pagan world. It means you put away childish things, that you are done with lesser things. It means you purpose to live in obedience to the commands of God’s word. And you are in Christ Jesus, which means you are in a vital, organic, and mystical


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