“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.”  (Acts 2:2)

I’m not content with a “sound from earth”- I want to hear “a sound from heaven”.  If the early church had never heard that sound I wonder where we’d be today?  I’m not talking about some of the weird stuff going on today that passes for a sound from heaven.  I don’t recall reading that the early church barked liked dogs, rolled around the floor in uncontrollable laughter, had gold dust falling from the sky or anything like that.  What I’m talking about has nothing to do with this sort of thing at all-  I’m not interested in going to revival meetings where men prance around and make big shows of the “power of God”, creating a spectacle of themselves and the church.  But I do want to hear a sound from heaven…

Jesus speaks from, and of, eternity- and that is what we so desperately need today.

You can take the supernatural circus, I don’t want it.  You can take the coffeehouse “cultural faith”-I’m really not interested in that either.  I’m tired of hearing about a “social gospel”, a “cultural gospel”, and that we’re here to “create beauty” through the arts and on the earth.  Whatever happened to the eternal gospel?  Can someone please tell me about heaven, hell, sin and redemption?  Who will stand up to preach the cross, tell of Jesus’ blood, and preach to win souls?  Will someone please give me that gospel- the one I see saints laying down their lives for in the Book of Acts?

I honestly feel sorry for those who are seeking God and have to wade through the mess of Christian blogs and churches that offer up this pathetic, watered down, twisted mess!  Oh, I know there are some who still faithfully preach the cross and are focused on eternity… but I remember a time before there were hundreds of thousands of blogs with everyone’s religious opinions; a time when the world was a much easier place to navigate.  There has always been bad doctrine, but there’s never been an explosion like what we’re seeing today of confusion and doctrinal error.  We can thank the internet for that- it was the perfect vehicle to usher in every unbiblical belief under the sun and spread it around the earth.  It has given a voice to people who probably never should have been speaking in the first place because they were never called by God to do so.

In the bible men were actually “called by God” to speak and act as God directed- they were sent out by Him, and anointed by the Holy Spirit.  I’m not sure many Christians worry about that today, we just all assume we should speak our mind.  And that’s the problem… I’m tired of hearing the sound of people speaking their minds-  I want to hear a sound from heaven!  I want to hear from those who are called, who speak by the Holy Spirit and cause us to focus on eternal things.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

The man who hears a sound from heaven, who hears Jesus, speaks of eternal things.  There’s a famine of the Word of God today, a famine of hearing from heaven, and because of that, not many people are talking about eternity.  Are we so focused on earthly things simply because we’ve never had a revelation of the glories of eternity?  Have we heard “a sound from heaven”, or are we just parroting the world we live in?  The Christian’s focus isn’t to be about earthly things!

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)

See, it’s not about the arts, it’s not about Christian music, it’s not about Christians getting involved in politics, it’s not about social justice, it’s not about some culturally driven faith, it’s not about a prosperity gospel where God makes us all rich, it’s not about gold dust and holy laughter… it’s not about all this stuff and so many more of the things we’ve been told it’s about.  This world is passing away along with all the things we think are so important.  I’m really tired of sitting in a church (like I did a couple weeks ago) and being told that we should be focusing on this earth.  I don’t appreciate being told that D.L. Moody got it wrong with his notion that this world was a sinking ship, and that we needed to get as many saved as we could before it went under.  Wrong?  Moody got that wrong??  God help us-We need an army of Moody’s!  We are in a desperate hour when the ship is sinking and the Captains of the ship are out taking the world for a pleasure cruise!  We should be on a rescue mission but we’re out “creating beauty”.  Moody said, “You don’t polish the brass of a sinking ship”.  If we could only see what Moody saw- this world is passing away.  He heard a sound from heaven, saw the sinking ship, and tried to bring as many as he could to the safety of eternity in Jesus Christ while they still had a chance to be saved.

Twenty-six years ago, when I was just turning 24, I also heard a sound from heaven.  I heard the Spirit say, “You can be born again!”  I got a glimpse of eternity and saw the world (and myself) for what it was- dead in sin and without God.  I grabbed hold of Jesus with everything I had, and as I looked into His face I began to be changed from one degree of glory to another.  The thing I’d been looking for my whole life was Jesus!  Like the old hymn says,

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.”

Do we see what we’re doing today in the church?  Do we understand where this embracing of the world system is taking us?  Does Jesus really want your eyes off of Him and off of heaven? Does He want you “polishing the brass” of this sinking ship, or looking to eternity?

“For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.” (Hebrews 13:14)

I hope I will stir some of you to think about this.  Read your bible and ask yourself honestly what the focus of the early church was on.  Read Acts and ask yourself if you’re focused on eternity like that?  Are you wanting to reach the lost like they were?  Has it dawned on you and alarmed you that this world is quickly passing away?  Does eternity fill your vision?  Maybe it’s time to sit in your upper room, read your bible, pray, and wait on God until you hear a sound from heaven!

“He’s God’s only forgotten Son
Pushed away by a world gone wrong,
For there’s never a thought
Of the love that He brought
And no thanks for the things that He’s done

He’s the treasure of God’s own heart
To a world living in the dark,
And if they only knew
Even had just a clue
Their denial would tear them apart…”

Do you need any more proof of the reality of sin than that God’s only begotten Son could be so easily laid aside and forgotten?  The world goes on from day to day with barely a thought that it lies under the judgment of God, oblivious to the obvious… we will all one day die and have to face Him.  What’s even more startling though is God’s made a way of escape for all of us and we ignore it:  He sent Jesus to free us from the certain judgment that awaits us, and we don’t even care!  Tell me that sin isn’t real!

Deception and blindness is at the heart of all sin; Adam and Eve succumbed to it in the garden (Genesis 3) and we’re still blinded to this day.  The serpent told Eve, “You will not surely die”.  If there was ever a one trick pony, it’s the Devil.  He hasn’t changed a word since his original lie, and we keep falling for it… hook, line and sinker.

Do you want to know if sin has actual power?  Ask yourself what sane man would willingly board a bus to hell when God is offering a ticket to heaven free of charge?  The very Creator of the universe sent His Son into the world to rescue you from an eternity in hell and you don’t even care? I don’t need anymore proof of the blinding power of sin than that!  God’s Son comes to forgive you, and wash away your sin, and you toss Him aside because you have better things to do with your life than mess around with “religion”?  I hate to say it, but you’ve been blinded to the greatest love the world has ever known!

“The god of this age (the devil) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”  (2 Corinthians 4:4)

The greatest thing that’s ever happened to this world was the entry of Jesus into it.  Do you know Him?  Are you living for Him?  Is He forgotten, or loved by you?

If you’re seeking, go here.

If you’re wandering away from the truth, go here.

“Why did a Holy God
even give us another thought?
He could have held His breath
and the world have died-
Adam by Eve’s own side.
and that would have been the end.”

I heard a preacher recently thunder the wrath of God.  Actually he was very soft spoken, but His words carried the message of God’s judgment.  I’m not totally against that either.  You’ll find that I talk about these things in many of my posts.  There are biblical truths that have been largely discarded, and the message of God’s holiness, wrath, and judgment is almost completely absent in today’s church.  These are truths that need to be taught again.  Scripture teaches, “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”  (Hebrews 10:31)  The NASB version puts it this way:

“It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

I wonder how often you hear that preached today?  It is the truth, and it’s something we need to remember and take very seriously.  Our God is holy and we better be careful to never forget that.  I won’t mention names, but there are some who have appeared and taken up that message, and taken it up very strongly.  You can find their videos on YouTube, their messages on various blogs, and maybe you’ve even gotten an email or two from a friend who’s been shaken by the gravity of what they’ve heard, and it’s caused them to sit up and evaluate their relationship with God.  I think that’s a good thing.  If the bible is telling us that it’s a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God while we go about acting like it’s no big deal to encounter Him, we’ve got a problem!

But I would like to mention another problem:  If we get so focused on the message of God’s judgment and wrath that we forget His mercy, we have an even bigger problem!

“He could have held His breath
and the world have died-
Adam by Eve’s own side.
and that would have been the end.”

God could have ended everything with Adam and Eve.  He could have withheld His breath and their sin would have been the last human sin He ever had to deal with, but He didn’t do that.  What does that tell us about God?  It tells me that His heart of mercy is greater than His desire to send judgment.  It tells me that His love is higher on the ladder than His wrath:  God will find a way to send mercy, and remove judgment, even if it means Him paying the highest price.  He proved that to us by sending His Son as a sacrifice who would bear the penalty for our sins, taking upon Himself the wrath we deserved. 

A return to holiness preaching

Yesterday while listening to a revival preacher in a church we were visiting I heard 1 1/2 hours about God’s judgment, wrath, and displeasure with sin, but God’s answer to our sin problem was never really presented!  I was left with the feeling that God could, and would, smote me for my disobedience and that I “better get right with God”.  The way that I was “to get right with God” was by repenting of my sin.  (More on that later…)  Furthermore, I was told (along with everyone else in the room) that when I stood before Him, if I hadn’t gotten rid of all my “blots and blemishes” I wouldn’t have a prayer in the world of getting into heaven and would be cast straight into hell!  Over and over we were told of our need to be righteous and to live right.  We were reminded that God hates our secret sin.  We were reprimanded for not truly being His disciples if we failed to live correctly, and warned that we would ultimately be found to be fakes and cast out by Jesus with a word:

“Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”

You could hear a pin drop!  And rightly so.  Where do you hear anything like this preached today with any kind of seriousness?  There are tons of places in the bible that warn of self deception, sin and God’s wrath, so why don’t we ever hear any of these things being preached? Many in the church are waking up to the fact that just calling oneself a Christian doesn’t cut it.  Just praying a prayer to “get saved” doesn’t cut it…  So we’re beginning to hear the other side:  God is a holy God and wants us as His children to be holy.  Preaching holiness is scriptural and we need it… but…

Working my way to heaven?

Somewhere during this preacher’s message I began to get concerned however.  Where was Jesus in all this?  The gospel was never really mentioned!  It was all about me “getting right” and I couldn’t help but think, “Man! Without Jesus, I have no righteousness.”  It was all about me repenting, all about me being a disciple, all about me getting rid of my own “blots and blemishes”, all about me “getting my robe clean”.  Hold on!  I thought Jesus was my righteousness.  I thought Jesus clothed me with His robe of righteousness.

“It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”  (1 Corinthians 1:30-31)

The most serious error of all!

As much as I truly believe there needs to be a return to holiness preaching and “walking as Jesus walked”, we need to be careful that we don’t fall into the most serious error of all:  Forgetting Jesus!  After everything’s said and done, the only way we can stand before a Holy God is to be hidden in Christ.  He alone is our righteousness.  The most serious error of all is to forget that fact.  Like my wife said later as we sat in the parking lot discussing this… “I could scrub and scrub my robe all day long but it still wouldn’t be clean enough.  I would still have so many stains…”  Exactly!  You can’t scrub your robe clean enough to stand before a Holy God.  If you think you can, you still don’t understand just how Holy He is, (or how sinful you are!).

Hearing this “preacher of righteousness” reminded me of a few things:

1. God’s mercy triumphs over judgment.  The fact that the human race continued after Adam and Eve proves that fact!  He could have ended the whole thing right there.  Don’t get so focused on His wrath that you forget His mercy!
2. Even so, we need to preach about God’s wrath and judgment because those things are very real too.  God sent a flood, and He tells us that the present world we live in will be destroyed by fire.  We should be telling people the whole counsel of God, and talking about God’s judgment is part of that.
3. Don’t exchange one error for an even bigger error:  God’s Word tells us over and over again that we are to live holy lives because our God is holy.  Omitting to teach and practice this truth is a serious error.  However, in our zeal to reclaim the truth of holiness we need to be careful that we don’t commit an even more serious error.  Jesus alone is our righteousness, and He alone is the reason we will be able to stand before a Holy God.  If we forget this truth we have made the most serious error of all! 

We are not saved by our works, we better very careful that we don’t give people the impression that we are!

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!”

(Galatians 1:6-9)

There’s one thing worse than not preaching holiness… it’s failing to preach that ultimately Jesus alone is that holiness for us.  No matter how hard we try, no matter how holy we get, if we don’t realize that Jesus alone is the only way to stand before a holy God, we’ve made the most serious error of all!

I wrote the song, Nice Little Church, while out for a walk one afternoon. It wasn’t written on a whim though. The theme of the song is actually something I’ve thought about since the early days of becoming a Christian. As I walked down the street that day, I turned to my left, and saw the church steeple that had marked part of my youth. I couldn’t help but think about how I’d gone there, and yet, never had a clue that I needed to be born again!  I also remembered how religious it seemed; how bored I was with it all.

It’s funny, because I carried a little Gideons Bible with me in my back pocket as a kid. I tried astrology, psychic stuff, and yes, church. I was seeking! And I wondered as I walked that afternoon, how many there were at that very moment, who, just as I was; are seeking, but not finding. And honestly, I also wondered why they’d even want to come to what we so often offer. I was a Christian, and I didn’t even want it! Why would an unbeliever ever find it appealing?  And if they did come, what would they find?

You see, I’d watched through the years as this church had advertised one New Age program after another. And the whole thing just seemed so very sad. It was a moment of clarity for me. How could this just go on year after year? And it’s not just this church; it’s happening all over. We seem not to care or notice that the gospel has been so watered down. We act like this condition is normal!

Everything’s so nice and pleasant. It’s, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace…”, but like God’s Word says, “my people like it that way”!

“The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end? Jeremiah 5.31

Keith Green sang, “How can we be so numb, not to care if they come…” God help us! We know the truth of the gospel, but we’re content to play church.

As I walked that day, I realized that this sad condition existed long before I was ever saved, and it wasn’t about to change anytime soon. There I stood years later, and nothing had changed! And so it goes, and so it goes, and so it goes.

And so I wrote this song. I’m not going to just pretend. Don’t we who know the truth, have a responsibility to speak up? We’re talking about heaven and hell, life and death here. This isn’t a game! “How can we be so numb not to care if they come”… to Jesus.