Spurgeon argued yesterday that often feelings come before faith, (having previously denied it!).  In today’s quote after carefully reminding us that not every conversion is a “typical” one he goes on to tell us how he feels the typical conversion occurs:

Some men have the light of God; but they cannot tell when the light first came to them. Let none of you imagine that you are not converted because you do not know the hour when it occurred; otherwise, you would be as foolish as I should be if I said to some old lady, “How old are you?” “Well, I am somewhere about eighty.” “But when was your birthday? Do you not remember your birthday?” “No, sir, I do not.” Suppose I were to tell her she was not alive because she did not know her birthday, I should be very foolish; and if you say to yourself, “Soul, you were never born again because you do not know when the event happened,” you will be very foolish, too. If you can say, “One thing I know, whereas I was blind, but now I see,” be satisfied and grateful, even though you cannot tell when the great miracle was wrought. Conversions, then, are not all alike.

Yet, as a usual rule, the work of grace begins in the heart with a time of gloom. Clouds gather; there is a general dampness round about; the soul seems saturated with doubt, fear, dread. There is something coming, but the soul knows not what; it feels that it is very sinful, and deserves whatever punishment God may send. Perhaps some of you are passing through that stage of experience just now. You get sadder and yet more sad every day; and yet you do not quite know why. You used to go to the theater, and you enjoyed it; but you went the other night, and it seemed very dreary to you, as indeed it is. You went off to some gay company, where you used to be very merry; but you seemed quite out of spirits, you could not join in their merriment, you were glad to get home. Something ails you; something ails you. Yes, the clouds are gathering over your head. That is how grace usually begins to work in the soul that God means to save and bless.

After the clouds, in the next place, the rain falls. The real work of the Spirit of God often follows upon an inward depression of spirit. Now you begin really to repent of sin; now are you sorry for the past; now you begin to sigh and cry for Christ. You wish you knew him; you wish you loved him. Tears begin to drop; or if they do not actually fall from your eyes, yet there are inward weepings, and your soul is getting moist now with deep contrition, hatred of sin, dread of God’s anger, the fear of the wrath to come, and a wish to lay hold on eternal life. Now the rains, the blessed rains, have come, and softened your heart. If we were to water all the fields in summer-time, when the sun is shining with a scorching heat, it would be of very little use indeed. An Irish friend of mine once said, that he had carefully noticed that it did not rain when the sun was shining; but that, whenever it rained, there were always some clouds to keep the sunshine off. There is a great truth in what my friend said. Rain becomes doubly precious to the earth when all the surroundings are suitable for its reception. All the atmosphere becomes damp; whereas, if rain could fall when all is dry and warm, mischief might come of it. Well, now, God’s Holy Spirit loves to come and work in man a congenial atmosphere, a holy tenderness, a devout heartbreaking; then with the clouds he brings a heavenly rain.

What comes after the rain? Then, the sun shines: “clear shining after rain.” I am describing the conversion of a man to God, not in a cast-iron style; for, as I have already told you, experiences differ. But, as a rule, after the softening, saturating influences of the Holy Spirit have come to the man, then the clouds go, the rain ceases, and there comes clear shining. The sun shines out. The man perceives that he is a sinner, but that Christ has come to save him. He sees his own blackness; but he believes that Christ can make him whiter than the snow. He mourns his own rebellions; but he rejoices that he is made a reconciled child, and admitted into the sacred family. Now look at him; his face is full of brightness; he looks as if he would like to dance, he feels so happy. His sins are washed away, he has believed in Jesus, he has rested in Christ’s finished work, and now he is as merry as the birds in May. His cheerful exclamation is, “I feel like singing all the time,” for he is enjoying the clear shining after the rain. I should like to encourage any here tonight who are going through the rain time. Believe me, it will not last for ever; you shall yet say, “Lo, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come.” It will come all the sooner to you if you at once come to Christ. Look to him as lifted up on the cross for you; and you are now saved. God grant that you may do so at once!

Well, now, what happens after this? We have come as far as the clear shining after rain; what follows this? Why, then everything grows. The grass is sure to grow when we have mist and heat together; and when a soul, having felt its need of Christ, at last beholds the light of his countenance, then it begins to grow. I love to see young converts with all the freshness of their new-born faith; they have not borrowed their language from other people. I like to see them with their zeal; they are not quite so prudent as some of us older people are. You will find that they are doing this, and doing that, and doing the other good thing, and the prudent people tell them not to do too much. My dear young friend, do not listen to them! There is many an old saint who has been spokesman for the devil when he has tried to hold a young Christian back from doing more for Christ. I had a number of kind friends when I began laboring for the Lord, and especially when I began to preach; and these kind friends provided me with an unlimited quantity of blankets, and very wet blankets they were, too. They were afraid that I should get too hot in my Master’s service, so they were always ready with wet blankets to damp my ardor. I do think that, sometimes, when Satan wants to repress the zeal of young converts, he finds more efficient servants among good people than he does among bad ones. Brethren, let the young converts grow; they will not grow too fast. Let them serve God zealously; they will not do too much for him. Let them burn with vehement zeal; there are plenty in the world who will try to cool it down. God grant that our young friends may be able to resist that chilling influence, and still may be full of earnest might and spiritual strength in the service of their Savior!

That, then, is the usual method of the progress of a convert; clouds, rain, clear shining, and then growth. We pray that we may see this process perfected in very many.

Charles H. Spurgeon, vol. 38, Spurgeon’s Sermons: Volume 38, NO. 2284, electronic ed., Logos Library System; Spurgeon’s Sermons (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998).

Today’s quote from Spurgeon demonstrates that the man believed two points that many today would disagree with.  Firstly, he argues that intellectual assent to the gospel is insufficient for salvation, indeed that it may make you more worthy of damnation. Secondly, he seems to suggest that experience may well need to come first before faith. How many people do in fact say, “if I could just feel God, I would believe?” Finally he seems to believe that it is possible to have full assurance of faith without arrogance, to be soft-hearted and yet secure. Indeed, he is clear elsewhere in this sermon that the man without  tenderness of heart is not in his view saved.

Give me, then, a man of tender heart, who, at the same time, mixes full assurance with his tenderness. He is the man who will bring forth fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Once again, our text suggests to us the blending of experience and knowledge. Read the Westminster Assembly’s Confession of Faith; by all manner of means get a clear view of the doctrines of grace, so that you can state them to others, and know why you hold them firmly yourself; but, remember, if you do not experience them in your own heart, if you do not know the power of them in your own life, you know nothing at all about them. Dry doctrine, without the damping of the Spirit of God, may only make fuel for your eternal destruction. When a man accommodates his religion up in the garret of his head, and never takes it down into the parlour of his heart, that man’s religion is vain. We must experience the power of the gospel in our own souls if it is to be of real service to us.

“True religion’s more than notion,
Something must be known and felt.”

It is very nice to talk about Christ; but do you trust him as your Savior? It may be very easy to speak about the new birth; but have you felt it? When you get these two things together, first the rain of gracious experience, and then the clear shining of intellectual knowledge of Scripture, then will you bring forth fruit unto God.

Charles H. Spurgeon, vol. 38, Spurgeon’s Sermons: Volume 38, NO. 2284, electronic ed., Logos Library System; Spurgeon’s Sermons (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998).

On the 24th of August, I preached a sermon at Jubilee during our summer series on some famous psalms. I took Psalm 121, which served as a starting point for me to share some of the most important planks of my personal doctrinal framework—a framework that has sustained me through hard times.

As blogging around here at least begins to return to normal—if there is such a thing at adrianwarnock.com—I thought I’d share both the audio to download and a condensed version of the message below. You can also listen right here:

Christians should be characterized by hope, and as a result, should live in such a way that brings up questions in other’s minds. “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect . . .” (1 Peter 3:15).

The question is, how do we obtain such a hope and how do we live in the good of it?

Hope requires a biblical outlook — You will not find real hope anywhere else, other than in the Bible, where we find help to live, help to rescue us, help to have hope.

Hope requires a lifted head — we must first be lowered, and God graciously sends trouble our way to teach us we cannot help ourselves.

Despair of self. Self-help is no help at all. Our solution is not found on earth. It’s found in heaven. Many people expect that their problem is based around what they’re experiencing. And they say something like this, “If only I could find a husband or a wife, then I’d be okay.” Or, “If only I had a different husband or wife, then I’d be okay.” Or, “If only God changed him, then I’d be okay.” Or, “Perhaps I need a new job, then I’d be okay.” “I need to be healed, then I’d be okay.” All of those things are secondary—our help comes from heaven. Our help comes from God. For you to have hope, you have to lift your head. You have to look up. And there’s something about the body language involved in doing that—looking up and praying with your head raised to God, saying, “Help me!”

Many people think Christianity is “Do this! Do that!” Rules. “If I just try harder, I can please God.” None of that counts for anything. There is nothing you can do to make God happy with you in your own strength—nothing! You really are helpless. You really are hopeless. You’re weak, I’m weak. We’re all the same. Don’t we say it sometimes? “I just couldn’t help myself.” Have you ever said that? “I’m so sorry for what I just did to you to hurt you, to upset you. I just couldn’t help myself,” you say. There’s never a truer word said than that. 

“The preacher’s work is to throw sinners down in utter helplessness that they may be compelled to look up to Him who alone can help them” (Spurgeon).

Hope requires a God who is in control — a God who really is in control and a God who can therefore help us. It’s very important that we understand that. Help comes from God, not from other people. Others can help you a bit, but the way in which they’ll help you is simply this: by pointing you to God and by strengthening you in God.

For example, in 1 Samuel 23:16 — “Jonathan strengthened David’s hand in God.”

Any leader will let you down because he is not God. He can’t be there all the time. You’ll try and ring him one day and his phone will be switched off or engaged. You’ll find that God’s phone is never switched off.

But it must be the right sort of God who we can believe in. Some people just say, “Well, I believe in God. Isn’t that enough?” No, we need to understand some things about God. It’s no good, for example, if God is as clueless as the rest of us, is it really? And some people believe in a God like that. But it’s not true. God is the God of all comfort. “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others who are suffering afflictions with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted by God.” ( 1 Corinthians 1)

This is God’s description of himself in Isaiah 46: “I am God.” And YOU are not, by the way. He is, but you’re not. And neither am I. “I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning.” In other words, he knows the end of time from the very beginning of time. He knows everything that will ever happen. “And from ancient times, things not yet done, saying this, “My counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purposes. I have spoken and I will bring it to pass. I have purposed and I will do it.”

That’s the God we worship. There are some people who say that God is surprised by things. They say, well, you know, there are some things that are unknowable and that until something happens, even God doesn’t know what will happen. I’m sorry. That’s not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible knows the end from the beginning. He’s not surprised by anything. And it’s so important because when you’re counseling somebody, you have to bring them to that God, not to some kind of weak God who is surprised. I once heard of a situation—this is a true story apparently, and I think I read it in a book somewhere. (If anyone remembers the reference for this, I would appreciate knowing that.) A lovely young lady married a guy who was also a Christian (they were both Christians). Everything looked fine. And then after a while this guy basically did the dirty on her and went off with somebody else and the relationship broke up and they got divorced. And this woman’s pastor (shame on him) said this: “Well, when God guided you to that marriage, he had no more idea than you did what would happen. He was as surprised and as shocked and as hurt and as disappointed as you by what happened.” Now that might seem cute, but it doesn’t give me any hope. Does it give you hope? If God was like that, I think I’d rather not be a Christian. No, God is not like that. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows what will happen. He will accomplish all his purposes. There is no plan B with God.

God is NOT surprised by anything!

Hope requires a God who is loving — he’s the God who cares for you. If God was all-sovereign and all-powerful and all-knowing, but actually was a bit of an evil, capricious God who hated you, then well, the world would not be a very good place, would it?

But the Bible is very clear. It says that God is love (1 John 4:16).

Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows his love for us in this; that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” So if Jesus died for us, if he would come from heaven to earth, live as a man, the great invincible God becoming a little baby and then living as a man, and then dying a cruel death in our place that we might know God, do you not think that this demonstrates that he loves us?

Paul makes this argument in Romans 8:32 when he says, “He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” If we’re coming to God and say, “Oh, well, God, you know. I’m not sure if you really love me or not,” we’re making God into a liar and we’re just despising the cross. Jesus loved us enough to die for us. That should be enough to give us hope. Hope that this sovereign God is for you, and that this God is in control and knows the future; that he will make sure things map out for your good.

Romans 8 continues: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good” (verse 28). So if you love God, God will work out everything for your good.

He keeps you. He will not let your foot be moved. It says “He keeps you” six times in this psalm. He’s your keeper. He’s your watchman. He watches over you. He doesn’t sleep.

Hope requires a God-centered gospel — some people say, “Well, you know, God is lucky to have me.” There is a sense in which God is knocking at the door. But people can say it sometimes as though Jesus is the needy one; as if he’s a bit lonely and he needs another worshipper or feels insecure or needs a relationship or needs his ego boosted a bit.  No, God isn’t like that. God is the eternal one who out of his self-sufficiency and his joy of being eternally one with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternally a community, lavishes love on us through grace. Through unmerited favor. Through his all-sufficiency.

There are five aspects of the gospel that I think give us a stable foundation. It says in this psalm that God keeps our foot from being moved. It also says in another psalm that God put our foot on a rock. People sometimes call these five points the five points of Calvinism. I would rather just say they’re the five points of a stable view of the gospel, which enables us to have hope. Sometimes people use these points under the acronym TULIP. So if you like acronyms, you can use TULIP to help you remember them.

But sometimes our Christianity is like another flower. I don’t know if, in other countries, people do this, but English children very often find a nice daisy in the lawn, pick it, and usually thinking about a boyfriend or girlfriend, they remove one petal at a time. “He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not. Oh no! He loves me not!”

Some of us approach God like that — if I’m doing well, God loves me. If I’ve just sinned, he doesn’t love me anymore. If I make a commitment to him and follow him, then he’ll love me. But if I backslide, then he won’t love me anymore and I won’t be a Christian anymore. I don’t believe that gives us a stable foundation for hope. So what are these five points? I’ll go through them quite quickly.

T — Total Depravity of Man
Now most people actually have very little problem believing this. I think there are very few Christians who don’t believe this. There are a few who say, “Oh no, people are basically good.” But I don’t think any of them are parents. I’ve got a 16 month old child. We don’t have to train him to hit his brother and sister; to steal from his brother and sister; to scream if we give his brother and sister something and don’t give it to him. And he has already learned how to bite. He’s 16 months! But people say that human beings are born good. They’re not born good. They’re born with a sinful nature. We are born with a bias towards sin, as the Puritans used to say. So basically, if you don’t believe in the total depravity of man, if you don’t believe that we have a sinful nature, then I would suggest that you borrow a two year old for an hour. That’s all you need.

But let’s look at the Scriptures. The Scripture is what we stand on. The Scripture is very clear about this in Ephesians 2: “And you were dead in trespasses and sins . . .” Dead people can’t help themselves. If we’re dead without Christ, we need him to make us alive.

U — Unconditional Election
In other words, God chooses us; we don’t choose him. Ephesians 1:4—he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. John 15:16—You did not choose me (says Jesus) but I chose you. Terry Virgo likes to say he imagines somebody in the congregation saying, “Hang on. But haven’t I got a free will?” And Terry says this, “Yeah, but God’s is freer.” The truth is this: actually we do have a free will, but we all freely choose to reject God. It’s only as God intervenes and woos us and changes our hearts and sends out his grace on us that we actually can be saved.

L — Limited Atonement
This is one that causes a bit of controversy and a lot of disagreement, but it’s mostly about a misunderstanding. I think all Christians will agree with two things about this. The first is this—that everything that Jesus did on the cross, the good of it, the full goodness of it, the eternal value of it, only gets applied to those who are Christians. Obviously, in order to benefit from Jesus’s death, you need to be a Christian, so in that sense it is a limited atonement. It is especially for the believer. It is especially for us. Jesus said this, “He laid down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). There’s a sense in which the death of Jesus was specific to certain individuals.

The second thing that we all can agree on is this: that actually Jesus’ death does have some benefit to everybody, and that the offer of the gospel is available to everybody as well. And it’s an honest gospel that says that if you are willing to repent of your sins and follow God, then you will be saved. So I think we need to be very careful in what we say about this. 1 Timothy 4:10 to me, sums this up, “We have set our hope on the living God who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.” So the very fact that the world is sustained at all and that Jesus didn’t just wipe it out the second that somebody first sinned is because of Jesus’s death. So everybody lives in the good of the cross all the time actually, and the offer of the gospel is a genuine offer to everybody, but the full benefits of the cross are only ever applied to those who are truly saved. I think sometimes this one is expressed in a way in which I would not agree.

I — Irresistible Grace
Jesus said “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). When God sets his mind on you, when God sets his grace on you, your resistance is futile. You can run, but you can’t hide. And there may be some of you reading this who have been running. You’ve been fighting. And God is saying, “Stop fighting. I’m here. Now is the time to surrender.”

P — Perseverance of the Saints
I prefer to state it in this way: the persistence of God. “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:39-50).

Now, we all know people who appeared to be Christians and drifted away. The thing is this—it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27). I believe the balance of Scripture is very clear on this, that there are actually three possible verdicts on that day.

The first verdict is this—You’re not a Christian; you never were a Christian, and that means an eternity without God. It means hell. We do believe in hell. That’s one verdict. The second verdict is what I call a “well done” Christian. What I mean is this. When God looks at you and says, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You’ve followed me. You’ve served me. I’m pleased with what you’ve done.” And that’s what I pray for each of us. The third possible verdict is one that I call the “skin of the teeth” Christian. 1 Corinthians 3 talks about it like this: “As one saved through fire.” All your good works get burned up, but somehow, because of God’s grace, you somehow scrape in.

Now I would say that the difference between the slightly “scraping in” Christian and the person who is not a Christian at all is not one that we can sometimes easily discern. And that’s why we need to make sure really, brothers and sisters, that we are following after God. Because we don’t want to be those who miss it.

So, for those who have appeared to backslide, it may be that they were never Christians. It may be that actually they will be among that “skin of the teeth” brigade, or it may be actually—and this is what we should pray—that God will bring them back because God is in the business of restoring people. God is in the business of bringing people back, people we thought would never ever do it. And God says, “No. I will do it. I will do it. I will bring them back. I will complete the work I started.” And that’s the way to pray. Say, “God, you promised that you would complete the work that you started. I remember what you did in that person . . .”

Hebrews 3:14 actually says something interesting about this idea of perseverance. Because it really isn’t just the idea of “once saved, always saved” in a very simplistic way. You think if you go forward at a crusade that’s it. No! What it’s saying is that we’re expecting God to preserve our faith and keep us until the end. It says this in Hebrews 3:14—For we have come to share in Christ (and that’s the past tense—it has happened to us in the past) if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” So we should expect that God will sustain us to the end, and at the end of our lives, to be able to look back on a lifetime of trusting God.

I don’t want any of us to drift away. Please don’t play fast and loose with God because he’s not mocked. It is appointed once for man to die and afterwards to face judgment.

Hope requires eternal security, but it is not passive — we don’t just say, “Oh well. I’m okay now. Let me sit back and put my feet up and coast to heaven.” 2 Peter 1:3—His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him, who called us by his own glory and goodness. Therefore my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. But if you do these things, you will never fall. And you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Why not aim for a rich welcome?

Hope also requires a resurrection — Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:19 where he says, “If in this life only we have hoped in Christ we are of all people most to be pitied.” Because actually, eventually it will seem as if God has let us down because we’ll die and evil will, in fact, touch us. Well, the truth is this, eternally these words are always true— God will keep our lives. God will keep evil from ultimately harming us. There is a glorious day coming. Jesus promised, “In this world you will have trouble.” I don’t see very many people naming and claiming that promise! And Jesus does keep his promises. But he also said this: “Take heart. I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

So we need to know this—death is coming. We can’t stop it. We can fight it and we can try to delay it, but we must remember that the timing is ultimately in God’s hands. But it’s also okay to walk in faith and obedience, trying to follow God faithfully, because actually, even under the New Testament, God does sometimes terminate somebody’s life early. Look at Ananias and Sapphira. We can pray for healing, and rightly so when someone gets sick. We can eat in a healthy manner. We can try to keep that weight down. We can stop smoking. It’s like playing Russian roulette with your life. Three holes, one bullet—a “one in three” chance of dying early—not a good idea. We can exercise. We can see doctors. But the point is this. Our hope goes beyond the grave because death is coming, even if we do all those things.

One day we will see him face-to-face. And what does that say? It tells me that we will still have a face. It’s not that we’re going to be some sort of ethereal spirit floating in heaven. We will know each other. We will be able to recognize each other. We have a hope that goes beyond the grave, And we will meet our departed brothers and sisters again one day. We will see them. And together we will see God.

Notice this: it says that he will keep our life, and he will also keep our going out and coming in. To me, that’s a physical thing. You don’t go out and come in if you’re a spirit floating ethereally, not even knowing if you’re you. You will be you. Hope requires that there is a resurrection. Hope requires that there is eternal security, and that God will keep us, but it’s not passive in that knowledge. Hope requires that God sends his gospel. Hope requires a God who is loving. Hope requires a God who is in control. Hope requires a lifted head. Hope requires a biblical outlook.

Hope requires an alert God. It requires a God who is keeping us and a God who is not sleeping. God never sleeps so that you can sleep. He’s watching over you. When you’re in the desert and you’re worried about wild animals coming to eat you, one of you needs to stay awake. You don’t all need to stay awake. You just need one to stay awake. One that’s trustworthy. God would say this to you—”I am trustworthy. Cast your anxieties on me. Don’t you realize that I care for you, and that I don’t sleep so that you can sleep?”

God doesn’t sleep when somebody dies. He doesn’t sleep when somebody gets news that they may die. And he doesn’t sleep when somebody gets news that someone they love may die. He’s never asleep. He is aware of all those things and he can meet you in all those settings. He is your keeper. He will protect you through all those things.

God wasn’t sleeping when your name came up in the tally in heaven as to who’s going to get married and who’s not, and how we’re going to sort that out. You weren’t one he missed. He’s controlling your life. He is guiding your steps. And he will guide you, either to the perfect mate or to actually feeling content in the midst of your situation.

We think we can hide our sin from God. We’re fools. We think the darkness will hide it. Maybe we think that if we come out at night we can do certain things that no one else will see, and therefore sometimes God won’t see. But he never sleeps. He doesn’t slumber. He sees everything you’ve ever done, everything you’ve ever said, and everything you’ve ever thought.

He didn’t see all these things with a view to condemning you, saying you’re useless, and telling you deserve hell (although that’s true). He did it so that you might be forgiven. And he wants to highlight that to you right now. Your sin is worse than you think it is. But this is also true—God is better than you think he is, and he’s more gracious than you think he is. He chose David, an adulterer and a murderer, and said, “This is a man after my own heart.”

God can take the shame that you feel, the hurt you may feel, the dirtiness you feel. Jesus carried our shame on the cross that you might be full of hope, that you might be able to stand firm before God, aware of him, and fully in love with Jesus, fully secure in hope.

Before going on a summer break, I ended with a post which expresses clearly the driving passion behind my life—I DON’T WANT BALANCE, I WANT IT ALL!

Other than that, and the posts on the atonement I listed in yesterday’s review, July was totally dominated (and rightly so) by Together On a Mission. This conference is a phenomena that you really ought to experience at least once in your life. The fact that next year we will have Mark Driscoll here in the UK as the main speaker is just one reason to come. There are many, many more! Here are all my posts from this amazing conference and the events surrounding it:

• TOAM07 – Quotable Quotes
• TOAM07 – Pedro Reflects
• TOAM07 – Many More MP3s Now Available FREE
• TOAM07 – Session 1: Stephen Van Rhyn on Exodus 32
• Andrew Fountain Interviews Adrian Warnock
• TOAM07 – Conference Video
• TOAM07 – Final Thoughts Around the Blogosphere
• TOAM07 – FREE Audio Available and a Video Introduction
• TOAM07 – Interview with Rob Rufus
• TOAM07 – Session 9: Terry Virgo on the Sin of Achan
• TOAM07 – Seminar: Sam Poe and Guy Miller – Prophecy: The Battle for Team
• TOAM07 – Video of Prayer Giving and Worship
• TOAM07 – Prophecy From Smith Wigglesworth
• TOAM07 – Interview with John Lanferman
• TOAM07 – Session 8: Rob Rufus on the Glory of God
• TOAM07 – Session 7: David Stroud on the Identity Markers of Newfrontiers
• TOAM07 – Seminar: Guy Miller and Julian Adams On Prophesying in Power
• TOAM07 – Interview With Tom Shaw: Leader of Mobilise
• TOAM07 – Session 2: Rob Rufus
• TOAM07 – Session 6: Dave Devenish on World Mission
• TOAM07 – Session 5: Rob Rufus on Faith and Healing
• TOAM07 – Session 4: P-J Smyth
• TOAM07 – Updates From the Blogosphere
• TOAM07 – Live-Blogging From Andrew Fountain
• Partying For Jesus
• George Whitefield’s Final Resting Place and the Lewis Revival
• TOAM07- Introducing Pedro Anosike
• Newfrontiers – A Family Of Churches Together On A Mission
• Terry Virgo On Apostles Today

In August I also did a mini-series of quotes on the Calvinistic doctrines, otherwise known as TULIP—just in case people thought I was just some kind of wacky charismaniac. The posts were:

• Will I Make It Until the End? The Perseverance of the Saints
• The Unstoppable Saviour – Irresistible Grace
• Limited/Unlimited Atonement – Just Who Did Jesus Die For?
• Credit God, Blame Man, Or Why Double Predestination is Error – Charles Simeon
• How Total Depravity Helps Your Marriage

Another really interesting thing happened during the “silly season” of August. All the big guns got involved with a big debate with each other about baptism. It was a historic first and of great interest to the rest of us who did not dare to express an opinion! I provided excerpts of all the key posts as follows:

• Why Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Church Membership Differences Exist
• Massive Collection of MP3 Messages Made Free
• Lig Duncan On the Great Baptism, Church Membership, and Lord’s Supper Debate
• “Lig Duncan Baptized as a Believer,” Reveals Justin Taylor
• Sam Storms Feels Mark Dever is Confusing on the Lord’s Supper
• Wayne Grudem Says Sam Storms is Right About the Lord’s Supper
• Sam Storms, John Piper, and John Bunyan vs. Wayne Grudem, Al Mohler, and Mark Dever
• Baptist and PCA Agreements About Baptism
• Lig Duncan Speaks Up for Paedobaptists
• The Pipers Respond to Dever in the Baptism Debate
• John Bunyan and the Grudem & Dever vs Piper Baptism Debate
• Mark Dever Joins the Grudem vs Piper Baptism Debate
• Wayne Grudem Replies to John Piper On Baptism
• John Piper Disagrees With Wayne Grudem Over Baptism Graciously
• Wayne Grudem Changes His Mind on Baptism

This is some notes from a sermon I preached last Sunday. You can download the audio or listen to it right here with this player.

Paul begins this second chapter in the context of a glorious description of the power of God at the end of the last chapter – there were no chapter breaks when he wrote it. As we will see that amazing power of God was necessary to bring salvation to us.

1. the state of the sinner: OUR Problem without God – “Dead in sins”
life without God – is death
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
DEAD to God but alive to SIN. Look pretty alive dont we! But, we are not in the doghouse but dead. God made us for himself! Might feed the hungry and it is still sin – coz not done for the glory of God – Rom 1 falling short of glory …..its all sin if God is neglected our righteous acts are as filthy rags….Until we understand this, we willl never apprecaite our need of a saviour

It is not that we have too low a self esteem but that we dont think badly enough of ourselves without God!

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Mat 23:27-28)

What does being dead to God look like?
1. “following the course of this world” (v2)
Lead by peer pressure (the world) Copying others, not wanting to stand out, go with the flow….

Goes deeper than this – behind that peer pressure is the devil.
2. “following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” Enslaved to an alien power! NB devil is as close to us as the air we we cant escape = even as christians easy to embibe satanic attitudes…. This is a world of darkness – how at home do you feel in the world? disobedient to God. We end up with the devil inside us, and become his tool in his battle against God. There are two kingdoms in this world. If you feel at home in the world, you are most likely full of the spirit that inspires it. If it feels alien to you then perhaps you are a believer!

3. “lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind”
In the 21st Century West we live by unfettered desire – our modern culture is based on this! Money (NB the things money reprs), sex, power (promotion, to be the best, etc)
but also FOOD!
NB when we want what we dont get we war with others over it…

So Paul goes on to summarise
“by nature children of wrath” (v3)

BY NATURE sinners BUT WE ALSO CHOOSE TO SIN… FREE CHOICE. NO ONE EVER HAS TO TRAIN a child to sin! Sin has been inherited – “original sin” though there’s nothing original about sin!

NB – “like the rest of mankind” – removes boasting! Helps us to understand history with all its wars etc

Helps us to understand the size of Gods grace and power -its depth
People live a miserable life – uninterested in God….
WE REBEL AGAINST THE HUMBLING CONCEPT OF THE GOSPEL WANT TO BE SELF SUFICIENT…..

One of the greatest phrases in the whole bible – “But God”
2. The MERCY of God – GOD’S Solution – “But God….by grace..through faith”

Not so much a theological theory of salvation, more a description of what happens to us when we believe!

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
-unmerited mercy undeserved. Not about what I have done, but grace from start to finish – he is RICH in mercy
-grace – because of the great love he has for us, made possible by what Jesus has done NOT
to show “the immeasurable riches of his grace”
by faith but THROUGH faith. Faith is a gift!

3. The Position of believer The Results for the Christian- “Saved, raised, seated in heavenly places”
exact opposite – once were dead, now you are ALIVE, once you were earthbound – following the ways of this world, now you are RAISED to heaven, once you were “walking” and if you were even aware of God you were trying desperately to please him whilst all the time failing in sin, now you are “SEATED” with him! ie – rest, completion, and victory!

– our position is now ABOVE the circumstances!
It is like God the Father looked in a grave saw a stinking corpse and said I want him to live and turned to his son and said will you go live on earth, die, and be raised so that he can live (based on Piper) He was UNITED IN OUR DEATH so we were UNITED IN HIS LIFE

Paul doesn’t mention the death of Christ here, partly because he did briefly in chapter one, partly because they would have known about it and partly because the resurrection presupposes Jesus died!

Gods irresistible call that causes rebirth. There are many things I can do, and many things I cannot do. Raising the dead is firmly in the category of things I cant do! I cant save anybody!

BANCRUPTCY AS an example of this…..

Raised together with Christ SYN-Raised etc

How are we united with Christ?
1. as our representative – yes like if our head of state declares war , we are at war even if we disagree! ie he died and was raised on our behalf but also
2. mystical = actually incorporated in Christ’s body in some way… “I have been crucified….I died” (Gal)
3 experiential – We belong to heaven! We have a “second life”….
We can begin to experience the truth of this here and now – that is the role of the Spirit who is the “foretaste” -are you aware of His presence?

NB Must be one or the other….are you spiritually alive or dead? Imagine a doctor “mmm….I think he might be dead” no in between!

ARE you alive to God? Do you have a longing for his presence? Does your heart yearn for him?
If not, how can you be sure that you really are a Christian?

4. The Mission of the Christian “created for good works”
– our evangelism should be driven by a true state of how people are and gratitude for what God has done for us, but more than that for God’s glory.
– there are things about God we would never have known if it weren’t for our salvation! Angels marvel at the church, more than creation!
– NB as we have said dead men cant resurrect themselves. It is ALL from God, and it is designed to stop up boasting!
– Good works don’t make us become a Christian, becoming a Christian makes us able to do good works!
– Tim Keller – religion I obey so I can be accepted. Christianity – I am accepted so I can obey…
DONT TURN FAITH INTO A FORM OF WORKS±
WE are NOT saved by faith. We are saved THROUGH faith. But BY grace.
Faith is not the cause of salvation, rather Jesus is.

We are shaped for righteous living,
–11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6:11-12)
● also a DESIGN to match –

GOALS/Respsonse
1. For anyone unsure of their salvation to become sure – know you are spiritually alive alpha..
2. For the rest of us to be more excited about our salvation and eager to share it

As regular readers will realize, this week I am swiftly working through the glorious doctrines of grace—the so-called “TULIP.” Today we reach irresistible grace.

Today’s first quote comes once more from Charles Simeon:

“A river flowing with a rapid and majestic current to the sea would defy the efforts of the whole world to turn it back again to its source; yet by the returning tide it is not only arrested in its course, but driven up again with equal rapidity towards the fountain-head. It is thus that a sinner, when rushing with the whole current of his affections towards this present world, is stopped in his career of sin, and turned back with an irresistible impulse towards high and heavenly things. Let men, yea, let all the angels in heaven, attempt to effect this change, and their united efforts would be in vain. Who then that witnesses this change, and beholds the believer’s victories over sin and Satan, and his progressive advancement in the ways of holiness, must not adore that power by which so great a miracle is wrought? In this Christ is indeed magnified: “the exceeding greatness of his power is made known;” and the sufficiency of his grace is incontrovertibly established.”

Simeon, Charles: Horae Homileticae Vol. 18: Philippians to 1 Timothy, London, 1832-63, S. 25.

The second is from the Doctor, Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

“. . . it is the internal operation of the Holy Spirit upon the soul and the heart of men and women that brings them into a condition in which the call can become effectual. And when the Spirit does it, of course, it is absolutely certain, and because of that some people have used the term—which I do not like myself—irresistible grace. I do not like the term because it seems to give the impression that something has happened which has been hammering at a person’s will and has knocked him down and bludgeoned him. But it is not that. It is that the Holy Spirit implants a principle within me which enables me, for the first time in my life, to discern and to apprehend something of this glorious, wondrous truth. He works upon my will. ‘It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do.’ He does not strike me; He does not beat me; He does not coerce me. No, thank God, what He does is operate upon my will so that I desire these things and rejoice in them and love them. He leads, He persuades, He acts upon my will in such a way that when He does, the call of the gospel is effectual, and it is certain, and it is sure. God’s work never fails, and when God works in a man or woman, the work is effective.”

Lloyd-Jones, David Martyn: God the Holy Spirit, Wheaton, Illinois, Crossway Books, 1997, S. 73.

The following is a full set of notes, including background information and quotes I used whilst preparing my sermon entitled, “Reviving Prayer,” which was preached at Jubilee Church on the 25th of February 2006. Much of this material was never designed to form part of the sermon — instead it is, if you like, part of the “iceberg” that lies beneath the surface supporting what I actually said. You can download the audio (you may need to right click and save the file onto your PC) or listen right here using the following embedded player:

A. INTRODUCTION

Last Sunday at Jubilee we heard about how we believe that God is calling us to be a people of faith — a people who trust in God to do the miraculous. One way in which we express our faith — and in which our faith can grow — is by prayer. I know that for me, as I look back on my life, there are many times when I have wrestled with God in prayer and seen Him answer me. Times when things have been hard, and I have prayed, and suddenly a corner was turned. The time when attempts at moving to a new house didn’t happen the way I wanted it, but I prayed and God worked it out so we had a far better house than we originally planned. Times when I have been sick, and prayer led to one of those miracles the doctors call “spontaneous remissions.” Times when I felt at the end of my tether, and God intervened and refreshed me, sometimes without even solving the problem.

Sometimes it’s not so much our situations that need changing — it’s us. Sometimes we might be struggling in a job or a relationship and God wants us to suddenly realize the reason He has put us there. Perhaps you face lots of problems at work and it’s getting you down. You might be praying to get out of a job. But God shows you in prayer that if it wasn’t for all those problems, they wouldn’t be paying your salary. It is often WE that need to be revived from our depressed state.

The kind of prayer I want to look at today is THAT kind of prayer — prayer that changes us. Prayer that revives. There are many great promises attached to prayer in the Bible. One of these is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

This is a key verse — one you will have probably heard if you have been a Christian for awhile. It is often quoted when we are talking about prayer. In this verse God makes a glorious promise. It is essentially a promise that He will heal and revive us if we will turn and pray.

Last time I spoke we looked at revival and the example in Acts 2 — several points about that passage reflect the “typical” revival as seen in church history. One of these is prayer. This is a pattern that is repeated in Acts and throughout church history. Every revival I have ever read about in Church history started with a prayer meeting.

This quote from a journal which writes exclusively on revival supports the observation that no revival comes without prayer:

” … let us draw some general lessons from our consideration of the Second Great Awakening . . . It is quite evident that prayer was an essential element in this revival movement, as it is in all revivals. There is no revival without prayer. It would profit us to carefully go over the title of Edwards’ thesis on revival praying: “A Humble Attempt” — Every relationship to God must begin with humility, for God gives grace only to the humble (James 4:6; 2 Chronicles 7:14). “For Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God’s People” — An essential condition for revival, as well as an evidence, is unity (Psalms 133; Acts 1:14; Acts 2:1; Acts 4:24ff; Acts 5:12). “For Extraordinary Prayer” — It was Leonard Ravenhill who said, “A church will never have a revival on one prayer meeting a week.” May God pour out a “spirit of grace and supplication” upon us! We need first a revival of prayer. (Reformation and Revival Volume 6, 1997)

Let me give a couple of examples of this in church history. During revivals, prayer becomes more intense, and all-night prayer meetings are not uncommon. It is often said of revival times: “You did not have to whip them up to prayer meetings; you could not keep them away.” (Martyn Lloyd-Jones).

In revival, even non-Christians come to the prayer meetings and get saved!

Some examples of this:

1. This was my experience at school.

2. Perhaps one of the most striking examples of the place of prayer in revival happened in Coleraine in 1859:
   

   “A schoolboy in class became so troubled about his soul that the schoolmaster sent him home. An older boy, a Christian, went with him, and before they had gone far, led him to Christ. Returning at once to school, this new convert testified to his teacher, ‘Oh, I am so happy. I have the Lord Jesus in my heart.’ These artless words had an astonishing effect; boy after boy rose and silently left the room. Going outside, the teacher found these boys all on their knees, ranged along the wall of the playground. Very soon their silent prayer became a bitter cry; it was heard by another class inside and pierced their hearts. They fell on their knees, and their cry for mercy was heard in turn by a girls’ class above. In a few moments, the whole school was on their knees! Neighbors and passers-by came flocking in, and all as they crossed the threshold came under the same convicting power. Every room was filled with men, women and children seeking God.”

3. Something similar happened that year in New York where a prayer meeting which began with just six people the first week swelled to fill theatres and led directly to 1 million out of 30 million Americans being saved in a year.

This clear link between revival and prayer has led some to think this is an automatic process — that if you do certain things a massive revival is always the result. These words, however, do not remove the sovereignty of God — there is mystery, and the truth is we cannot force God’s hand like that. Nor should we stop everything and just pray! Booth said “work as if everything depends on you. Pray as if everything depends on God.”

BUT, if people turn and pray, in a certain way I do believe it is almost irresistible to God and He will revive them — even if this does not lead to a widespread “revival.” Last time I made the point that I believe that what happens on a global or national scale in revival can be mirrored in an individual church or group of Christians, or even in a single life. God is in the business of reviving those who fear they are almost dead.

So if prayer is what triggers the people of God to be healed and revived, it is also what triggers me personally to be revived as well. How strange it is that we all struggle so much to pray as we ought!

If we were really convinced that prayer changes the way God acts, and that God does bring about remarkable changes in the world in response to prayer, as Scripture repeatedly teaches that He does, then we would pray much more than we do. If we pray little, it is probably because we do not really believe that prayer accomplishes much at all. (Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, p. 377.)

I wish I was more of an expert at prayer. I am not; but I am learning. I wish I knew more about reviving prayer. If there was ever a man who the Bible holds up as an example of fervent reviving prayer, it is Elijah. I would like to introduce us today to a man who certainly knew how to pray. I want to look at the prayer life of Elijah, since the dramatic events of his life are often seen as representing revival — we pray “send the fire” or “send the rain” — he saw both literally. Intriguingly, Solomon, to whom God is speaking in the above promise, had also seen literal fire, as did, of course, the early church in the book of Acts. Fire is very instructive to us about how God the Holy Spirit works.

The New Testament honors Elijah in the book of James:

James 5:16-18. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

So what IS effective prayer? We will look at every recorded prayer of Elijah beginning in 1 Kings 17 where we find the first recorded prayer of Elijah. But before we launch into it, I want you to know that there is no doubt this was not the first prayer of Elijah. We know this for certain because the verse in James we just read tells us that Elijah prayed for the rain to stop. That prayer is not recorded in Scripture, which I think tells us that we must learn to pray in the secret place — I am very sure that Elijah will have prayed for all kinds of small things before he began to pray his “big prayers.”

B. WHAT IS REVIVING PRAYER LIKE?

If there is one prayer in the whole Bible that is an example of reviving prayer it is that first recorded prayer of Elijah found in 1 Kings 17. The widow who has been looking after the prophet Elijah during the great drought probably expected some kind of reward from God for doing so. What happened instead? Her son died. This prayer is a prayer that quite literally brought a corpse back to life — it revived the boy. This should be enough to make us sit up and take notice and say, “So what can we learn about prayer from this?” Sometimes we have to be brought into a desperate situation in which we have no “clever” answer in order for us to be driven to prayer.

“He gave no answer to her expostulation, but brought it to God, and laid the case before him, not knowing what to say to it himself.” (Matthew Henry)

A REVIVING PRAYER . . .

1 Kings 17:20-21. And he cried to the Lord, “0 Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “0 Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”

1. Recognises the situation — doesn’t deny it. For example, Abraham (in Romans 4:19)
   

   “. . . did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb” (or as the NIV puts it) he “faced the facts … ” Essentially, both Elijah and Abraham had one eye on the situation and were being honest and real about it, but also had one eye on God. They both knew that “where God is present, there is nothing that lies outside the realm of possibility.”

   “Abraham was fully aware that his own body was as good as dead (“utterly worn out,” TCNT). He was, at that time, about one hundred years old (cf. Gen 17:1). Furthermore, Sarah was “past the age of childbearing” (Genesis 18:11). From a common sense standpoint, there was not the slightest possibility that she would bear a child. This, however, did not cause Abraham to weaken in his faith. Faith goes beyond human potentiality. It acknowledges the existence of one who is not bound by the limitations of the created order. ‘Conscious of his own utter impotence, Abraham relied simply and completely on the all-sufficient power of God.’ Where God is present, there is nothing that lies outside the realm of possibility. The church of Jesus Christ is in desperate need of those who will insist that God is able to bring to pass anything that is consistent with his nature and in concert with his redemptive purposes. Your God Is too small is a sad epitaph inscribed on all too many ecclesiastical groups who, strange as it may seem, claim to worship the Almighty.” (Robert H. Mounce, vol. 27, Romans (electronic edition, Logos Library System; The New American Commentary, Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, (c1995), p. 129.)

2. Cries to God — has a strength about it — challenging God, which almost reminds me of Genesis 32 (Jacob wrestling with God).

   The great thing is that as Elijah cries out to God passionately, his prayer is answered. The boy lives. But something happened here to Elijah — it was one more lesson in the university of prayer. Elijah learnt something, so much so that by the time we get to the very next chapter, we find a bold Elijah, not now hidden in his room, but before the whole nation, standing next to an altar that is soaking wet and a bunch of religious fanatics who have been cutting themselves with swords, trying to persuade Baal to send fire. To make matters worse, he has been mocking them – in clear proof that there ARE jokes in the Bible! So is he nervous? Not a bit of it! Listen to his clear, bold, prayer:

   1 Kings 18:36-39. “0 Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, 0 Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, 0 Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”

3. Calls on the God of history. When we read about what God has done in the past — both in church history and in the Bible — it should make us conclude that the God who acted then can to do the same today; more than that, He wants to do the same today. All we need do is ask. God seems to delight in the kinds of prayers we see often in the Bible which say “do it again, Lord.”

   Habbakuk 3:2. “0 Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, 0 Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known;” (ESV)

   The NIV paraphrases this nicely here: “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, 0 Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known.”

4. Desires that God be honoured. When we pray we must examine our hearts and say — “Why am I asking for this?” Is it that I can be more comfortable? Or is it that God can be glorified? How will God be glorified in that new Ferrari you are yearning for?

5. Recognises that repentance is God’s work. Some of us have prayed for years for a child who has wandered far away from God, or a friend or relative that never knew Him. Knowing that it is GOD who turns the heart around to follow Him should inspire us to not give up. If we were relying on our friend or family member seeing sense on their own suddenly, how could we believe for that? No, for as 2 Corinthians 4 puts it: “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (v4) — we were all like that once. BUT God didn’t leave us like that “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (v6). If you don’t know Jesus, you must ask him to do the same — only HE can make you a Christian.

6. Asks God to act “answer me.” Too often prayer is simply worrying out loud. We rehearse our woes to God, then feel a bit better for having done so. Like the early church praying for the release of Peter, we are often shocked when our prayers are answered! Peter standing there knocking at the door whilst intense prayer is going on inside has always seemed humorous to me. “No, don’t be silly it must be his ghost!” We must actually ASK God to do something and then not be surprised when He does it! Elijah wasn’t surprised. Nor did he stop there. He had another prayer to pray … almost the next verse:

   1 Kings 18:41-46. “And Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.’ So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, ‘Go up now, look toward the sea.’ And he went up and looked and said, ‘There is nothing.’ And he said, ‘Go again,’ seven times. And at the seventh time he said, ‘Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.’ And he said, ‘Go up, say to Ahab, Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’ And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

7. Gets perspective by going high. “No one will ever live higher than their view of God and their view of Jesus Christ.”

8. Silent recognition of God’s superiority. Bowing before God — in almost every culture, bowing is seen as being subservient — Elijah is recognising God is his king. Of course, any one particular posture in prayer is not critical. It is just as foolish to think we must ALWAYS pray on our knees as it is to NEVER bow our knees before God. When things go well for us — that is the time to make sure we humble ourselves before God once more.
   

   There was no one posture required for the exercise of prayer. Most often prayer was made standing (e.g., I Samuel 1 :26); the great prayer of the Jewish synagogue was to be called the “standing prayer” (Amidah). On occasion, however, one might pray kneeling (I Kings 8:54), or prostrate (I Kings 18:42), with hands spread out (I Kings 8:22,54; Isaiah 1:15), or lifted up.” (Psalm 63:4; 1 Timothy 2:8). (Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia).

9. Is persistent in waiting on God. He doesn’t give up!

10. Has the faith that sees a small sign as settling it. Sometimes there comes a point in prayer where we almost feel we need not pray any more. We don’t stop praying, but a confidence comes that we know God has settled it. In fact, we sometimes even start to thank Him before we have received! Elijah now knew the rain was coming. But even Elijah didn’t live on the mountain top — on a high with God — forever. In the next few words, he is right down in the valley of despair. But even in that despair, he prays.

    We see two prayers that are very different – not entirely for us to copy, but let’s not forget that God honored these prayers with a very rare OT manifestation of his presence – in the “still small voice.” He cannot have been totally disapproving of them. Thus, I do believe we have something to learn from them.

    1 Kings 19:4. “It is enough; now, 0 Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

    1 Kings 19:10. “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

11. When at the end of tether, is at least honest before God and engages with Him. However this is an exaggeration — a “me” centered prayer. Look, the point is this — God does not mind if you get to the end of your own strength and cry out to Him in despair. But He certainly doesn’t want to leave you there in your despair. Now, for Elijah, suddenly it isn’t a dead boy that needs reviving, or a wet sacrifice that needs the fire to fall on it, or the rain clouds that must be summoned. We see here that God is still interested in the man Elijah – who, in this story more than any other, shows us that he was just a weak man like us. When a weak man or woman comes to God, then God is eager to REVIVE them, which is exactly what happened to Elijah. We must remember that it is not merely a matter of what words we use when we pray, or even what emotion we feel. It is more a question of who we are coming to. Elijah comes to the living God. And when the living God meets a man who wants to die, what is the result? Life from death. A new start. A new commission. As I was preparing this, I believe God dropped into my heart that there would be some here who had been this desperate, who like Elijah felt they had been faithful, but like Elijah they believed they had reached the end of the road. Perhaps you even had a “ministry” that is now “over” in your mind. Perhaps you feel you disqualified yourself. God is in the business of restoring and reviving us and wants to do just that to you.

    2 Kings 1:9 “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. ”

12. Declarative prayer. (NB this is an Old Testament prayer – but it did happen to Ananias and Sapphira!)

As I have said earlier, it is NOT a case of “follow this list and you’ll get a global revival” because revival comes through a sovereign act of God. I do believe, however, this kind of prayer connects you as an individual with the reviving Spirit of God – and ANYTHING can be the result!

C. TWO MORE THINGS TO LEARN FROM ELlJAH’S LIFE OF PRAYER

1. The invitation to others. 2 Kings 2:9-10. Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you. ” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.”

2. The successor’s prayer. 2 Kings 2:14. “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?”

Elisha asked, “Where now is the God of Elijah?” We can sometimes ask that same thing today — Where are the miracles? Where are the salvations? Where are the dramatic acts? — Where is God?! The answer is — He is right here in this room! And as we pray, if we are praying in the centre of His will, we can be confident that He will answer. Our God really is the One who answers by fire.

We worship a God who hears our prayers and revives us. I could tell you many stories from my own life. But the one I want to tell you is perhaps close to my mind at the moment because it concerns the first few months of my soon-to-be second youngest son. In my wife’s family, there is a tendency towards deafness. Andrée has a 30 per cent loss herself, but manages to hear something and covers it up quite well. When our son was born, it was soon clear that he was deaf. A screening test confirmed that there was no response to sound. We observed that, unlike our other babies, he never startled to sound. Suddenly it wasn’t just our relatives. It was us! Dreams were shattered. We were clinging onto God, but it was not an easy time. One day I read in the Scriptures a verse that simply said “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book” (Isaiah 29:18). I shared this with my wife and she said, “We know he will hear one day” – meaning, of course, the final day. This is comforting, but something within me cried out, “Why not now!” So we prayed. This church prayed. Then after just a few days, I had a phone call. My wife said “I think he just startled to noise.” I was shocked. To be honest, I didn’t believe it. But, sure enough, a few days after that, when we had more detailed tests carried out, his hearing was perfect! Not only that, but all our children’s hearing was also perfect, and from that day to this, none of them have shown any signs of being hard of hearing. We serve a God who heals. We serve a God who revives. Let’s stand and pray.

If you are looking for another example of a prayer for revival, why not read Psalms 85:

Lord, you were favourable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah.

You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.

Restore us again, 0 God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!

Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?

Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your steadfast love, 0 Lord, and grant us your salvation.

D. WHAT DO YOU NEED REVIVED IN YOUR LIFE?

• Restoring of fortunes – e.g. work and/or relationships.

• Forgiveness of sins? For the first time, or because you have drifted away?

• Renewal of relationship with the God you feel is angry with you?

• Renewal of JOY in God – knowing God brings happiness.

• Demonstration of God’s love to your hearts?

My friend Dave Routlege shows his calvinistic training in his commentary about the history of his blog (which I helped him set up) arose. Astute readers will notice the correspondence to the five points of calvinism which cannot have been accidental (for more on the five points of calvinism follow the links at my post on Calvinism and worship. Anyway here is what Dave said:

1.I was totally incapable of setting it up myself. (Total depravity)

2.I did nothing to deserve it. (Unconditional Election)

3. No one else in the house has got one. (Limited atonement or in this case limited assistance!)

4. Once you suggested the idea, I was powerless to resist. (Irresistable grace)

5. Now that I have it; it will be there forever. (Perseverence of the blogs I mean saints – sadly like many apparent professions of Christian faith, blogs often die young. I predict Dave will make it past the crucial three-post hurdle at least!)

Ales Rarus has now made himself really clear. I can understand what he is saying, but struggle to recognise it as Biblical. You see, Ales seems to have understood instinctively what many an Arminian has tried to deny- if we accept that man really has a totally free will, that gives man some of the credit for his salvation and also makes it insecure. I am not happy with that concept.

His points are logical, but I beg to disagree with what he goes onto say:-

“# God gave man free will so that we might choose freely to love Him.
# Faith is a product of grace, which is given by God. We must be open to receiving that grace. If grace is irresistible, then we have imperfect free will.
# We must accept Jesus Christ by our own free will and live by His commandments.
# By opening ourselves to grace through faith, we become members of the elect who shall receive eternal life.
# That membership is not permanent. If it were, then grace is irresistible and we consequently have imperfect free will.
# Therefore, there are choices we can make (i.e sins we can commit) that separate us from God and remove us from the company of the elect.
# Like Paul, we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling and strive to finish the good race.
# God gives us sustaining grace, spiritual sustenance if you will, if we ask for it and through sacraments.”

Here we are coming almost to the coup de grace of these five points. I g you have understood all of the others and can accept them then this will be as sweet to you as reaching the very sight of the top of the mountain you are climbing. It is not quite the peak for the believer, as that comes in the last point.

Of course, if you find that the system makes you angry at the thought that your will may not be entirely free then this point may make your blood boil. But perhaps more than any of the other points the strongest explanation of this comes from the lips of Jesus in the scriptures. Argue with me all you like, but argue with Him at your peril.



In John 6, Jesus begins by saying “All that the Father gives me will come to me” and this in itself surely makes it clear that not only is God’s choice in saving us is an effective one, and therefore even if we are initially unwilling, if our will clashes with Gods will, then his will wins.

If you are one of those who the father has given to his son, then you WILL come to him. But, notice the assymetry. For Jesus does not say “and those who are not given to me by my father I will cast out” but instead he goes onto say ” and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” Thus the call is going out “whoever comes” may come. But, even if they dont want to come whoever the Father gives to the son will come. If someone doesnt come because they chose not to does that make God responsible for that choice? If God drags some almost against their will to be saved then what does he owe those he passes over and leaves to their own freely expressed will not to come. No one should ever say, but what if I come to Jesus and he says “but you aren’t one of the elect” for he clearly says here “whoever comes” will always be accepted. Jesus goes on as follows.

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.”

Thus the will of God is that none of those given by the Father to the son will be lost, and thus the enabling that God must give for any to be saved must indeed be irresitable grace.

It is grace that will not take no for an answer. It is probably whay many Calvinists considering whether someone is saved are slightly less concerned about a publically expressed “decision” for God and more interested in evidence that this irresistable grace has been at work in a life in an ongoing manner.

Irresistable grace quite simply means that God woos those who he would such that they have an offer they quite simply cannot refuse.