SWEET AND SOUR

 

The Word of God is our spiritual food. In Revelation 10, John is handed “the little book,” and told to eat it. Its contents will taste as sweet as honey to the lips, but sour to the stomach—bitter to digest. The message of Revelation is one that is a sweet word for it speaks to the end of sin and the victory of God, with the new creation. It is about heaven and the saints being in a place where there are no more tears!  Yet, it also presents a sour word for it reveals the end of sinners and the wrath of God, with the end of the old creation. It is about hell and the sinners being in a place where there are endless tears!

This is the double-edged sword of the Word. John was told to proclaim it, and every preacher has this duty. In so doing, there will be those who respond to the sweetness of its promises and rejoice in it. But, others will react with bitterness to its rebuke of their sin. Yet, the preacher is called to faithfulness in expounding that little Book as it is, and let the chips fall where they may. 

Before we ever step into the pulpit, however, we must apply the Word personally. The message must be digested by us, before it is declared by us. The truth is that Word will be often sour as it sinks into our flesh and takes us to the cross.  Our carnal nature will not want to swallow such a bitter pill. Preacher, take your own medicine, for you will find it also so sweet, as the Lord cleanses and comforts, raising you up to walk in newness of life and be joy to your spiritual nature. It is the road that takes us to glory, and we are privileged to preach it, that we might take others with us!  Yet, with a broken heart, we also realize there will be those who reject it, to their everlasting regret.

THEY DID NOT REPENT

 

Surely these are some of the most horrible words we find in Scripture. To think that so many would experience such pain—judgment due to their sin—and yet refuse to repent, chills us to the bone.

How often we may have shared the Gospel as plainly and powerfully as God’s Spirit enables us, yet sinners have resisted the message and turned away. In that turning, judicial hardening comes. The stab of the Spirit’s sword in the conscience, oft resisted, tends to callous the soul and such sharp conviction is not felt in the same manner—perhaps ever again.

The preacher may feel a failure at such point. His yearning is for sinners to repent. While it may be true that a preacher does not always bring his “A” game to the pulpit, the Gospel never fails. It is the sinner who fails—they hear, but do not repent.

Let us pray for the Spirit’s conviction to painfully prick hearts. Let us preach with passion and plead for souls to surrender to Christ. Let us present Jesus as clearly and convincingly as we may, yet know that many will reject the message, harden their hearts, and go to a place where there is weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

THE URGENCY OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL

Six seals of the scroll have been opened by the Lamb, and under each a judgment was revealed. Now, before the seventh is opened, a silence comes—a sacred pause—for opening the seventh seal will bring seven trumpet judgments. As each angel sounds a trumpet, intensified horrors will be unleashed on the sinners of earth.

That is the future God has decreed. But, for now we cannot be silent. The trumpet of truth needs to be placed in our mouths and its message urgently announced. We must warn the lost of the doom that is coming. Should they die before this fire falls from heaven, they will not evade a worse fire into which they will fall!

Paul commanded us to “Preach the word!  Be ready in season and out of season.” (2 Tim.4:2). Preach when people are responsive—in season—and when they reject it—out of season. The Word of God is in season even when some think it out of season. Stephen Olford described this as preaching where we, “take opportunities and make opportunities.”  Find a way to preach the Gospel.  It is imperative!

There will come a day when the Gospel will be out of season. A silence is coming. The trumpets that sound will not be an appeal to good news, but an announcement of bad news. This brings an urgency to our preaching. The witness you speak today or the sermon you share tomorrow might be the final opportunity for some soul to be saved. Their eternal destiny hangs in the balance!

TAKING IN THAT WE MIGHT GIVE OUT

In the book, “Anointed Expository Preaching,” written by Stephen Olford with his son, David, it states: 

Therefore, like Jehovah's Servant (the Lord Jesus Himself), we must be able to say, “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away” (Isa. 50:4–5; see also Mark 1:35). Jesus never missed His quiet time. Dare we do anything less? It is estimated that the average pastor spends less than ten minutes per day in this devotional discipline. God have mercy on us!

To cram in study on a Saturday night for a Sunday sermon, as one might foolishly try to do before taking a big test the next day is as likely to fail!  Our need to study goes beyond even examining the text that we are preaching. There is a need to feed—to take in from God’s Word that we might serve Him productively. Fervent devotion in seeking Christ on a daily basis will yield fruitful delivery in sharing Christ on a Sunday morning. Our cup will be filled to overflow, spilling out grace and truth to the congregation. Otherwise, our soul will shrivel from malnourishment and there will be no power in the pulpit. The ears of men and women might be tickled by a gifted communicator, but the heart of the people will not be transformed apart from one who has experienced that touch of the Spirit from His inspired Word, day after day.

Don’t be an emaciated expositor!  Take in, so you may give out!

MAINTAINING THE MISSION

 

God has given His church one mission—what we call “The Great Commission.”  Part of our duty as leaders in the church is to keep the focus and fuel the fire in the local church for world evangelization.  It is easy to be diverted into many good things, and miss the great task. 

Jesus said that before His return to earth to reign, all nations would hear the Gospel (cf. Matt.24:14). In this passage, we see the fulfillment of the promise.  With or without us, the Good News will be proclaimed, but woe to the pastor and the church who fails in commitment to this assignment!  

A church with no passion for evangelism and missions will be a church that declines and dies. The lights will be turned out and the doors locked for a final time—picturing the spiritual reality that happened long before.  Such a church closed its doors to bringing in the lost. The members did not go into the highways and hedges, inviting people to the Bible banquet (cf. Lk.14:15-24). The house of God became empty, when He desired it full!  The call came ringing over the restless waves, “Send the Light!  The Blessed Gospel Light!”  The church folk were too busy arguing about trivial matters, instead of proclaiming Jesus. The light was turned out in that church.

Preacher, you cannot do all the evangelism needed in your community, but you can be a model. Our Gospel-driven lifestyle can inspire others. In our preaching, we must continually exhort the people to obedience. You can equip them by training them and taking them with you in soul-winning. Do not allow the Great Commission to become the grave omission!

FAITHFUL TO THE FINISH

 

A faithful preacher of the Word is assured that, sooner or later, he will face opposition. It can become fierce. It will be painful. You may be fired. My grandfather’s life was once threatened by a man with a pistol after a sermon he preached at a tent meeting many years ago.   He was not a man to back down. I pray that I will not. 

What does the future hold for those who will hold fast to the Word of God?  This text points to those who will seal their testimony with their blood. It may not be that we will pay the ultimate price, but we must be prepared to do so. Certainly, there have been our brothers across the centuries who have. There are those who are imprisoned, have been tortured, and facing execution in some places today. I am not a prophet, but it does not seem that things are going to get easier.  The winds of this world system are blowing hard in our faces, and the current of our culture that we swim against is strong.

Preacher, you may not face that extremity right now, but some of us are encountering power brokers in the church—those who are wolves in sheep’s clothing, seeking to devour us. We may know the sting of criticism and the lies of accusation. These dragon spawn haunt our dreams at night and make things difficult each day. 

Do not take matters into your own hands. Do not allow the hurt to become hate. Bitterness will only harm your testimony. It will be a cancer to your ministry. What did these martyrs do?  They cried out to God. Vengeance belongs to Him. Now, that does not mean such opponents in the church should not be confronted. Nor does it mean that church discipline need not be exercised—if the people are willing.  All I am saying is that we dare not meet fire with fire, and act in carnal ways to achieve spiritual purposes.

God is sovereign. The text speaks of this persecution continuing until a divinely ordained number of these preachers died. Remember that ultimately God is in control. He may not remove us from difficulty, but he was reward us in eternity. A robe was given and a rest was granted. 

Old Isaac Watts wrote this hymn:

Am I a soldier of the cross,

A follow’r of the Lamb?

And shall I fear to own His cause,

Or blush to speak His name?

Must I be carried to the skies

On flow’ry beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize,

And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?

Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace,

To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign;

Increase my courage, Lord;

I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,

Supported by Thy Word.

Thy saints in all this glorious war

Shall conquer, though they die;

They see the triumph from afar,

By faith’s discerning eye.

When that illustrious day shall rise,

And all Thy armies shine

In robes of vict’ry through the skies,

The glory shall be Thine.

THE INVESTMENT IN INTERCESSION

 

There are many good things a pastor may do, but surely one of the best is the ministry of intercession.  Often, we do not see the immediate results and are tempted to busy ourselves in other matters that seem to pay quicker dividends. Prayer is spiritual and therefore eternal. While God can and does answer with immediacy in some instances, often it is like sowing seed which may yield a harvest much later. It may even be after our lifetime.

The prayers of the saints are described here as being bowls full of incense with their fragrance filling the atmosphere of heaven. I see them as stored up, and in God’s timing and according to His sovereign design, will be answered. So, dear pastor, pray for your family, pray for the church, pray for the community, pray for missionaries and ministries. Pray and pray some more. Invest in intercession and it will pay eternal dividends.

It may be that you die without seeing much fruit. Looking back over a ministry and judging it as largely unproductive can be a discouraging thing. But, God gives the final judgment—and it may be when we get to the other side, that we discover an abundant fruitfulness exceeding our wildest imagination. Those prayers that seemed to rise no higher than the ceiling—the continual pleading when heaven seemed silent—were working powerfully.  Keep on praying!