The Bible teaches that it is through faith in Jesus Christ that sinners may be saved. Faith means belief, but that is not a sufficient definition. There are many ways in which a person might believe something that fall short of biblical faith. The faith which saves may be said to have three aspects.
First, and most obviously, faith involves knowledge. In the world today people use the word “faith” to mean a vague hope. This is not the idea the Bible has in mind. To have faith is to believe something, and first one must have knowledge of it. Saving faith involves knowledge of the facts of the gospel that Jesus died for sinners and rose again.
Secondly, faith involves the belief that these facts are true. Many have heard the story of the gospel but have either misunderstood it or not accepted it as true. To have saving faith one must agree that the gospel is true and that this is the way of salvation.
Finally, faith involves trust. To put faith in Jesus, or to believe on Him, is to trust Him to save. The person who has saving faith has stopped relying on anything else either in himself or in the world. He is trusting entirely in Jesus to save him from his sin.
The church is to be made up of those who have saving faith in Christ. They are the ones who may be baptized and participate in the Lord’s Supper, and they are the ones who may become members of the church. The problem faced by the church is that we cannot see into the hearts of men to know who truly has this faith. Anyone can say they believe, but some may be hypocrites. How are we to tell the difference between true believers and those who make a false profession?
When we speak of a “credible profession” of faith, we mean that a person says that he believes in Christ, and that this is credible, or believable, to the church. The reason we may credit one person’s faith as believable while doubting another is that the Bible teaches that faith has fruits. It has an impact on the life and conversation of a person which should be observed.
This of course does not mean that no false believer will enter the church. We still cannot see the heart, and outward signs of faith can be counterfeited. We know that the Bible teaches that wolves will come into the flock, but it does not tell us to invite them in! The church has a responsibility to look to the lives of those who profess faith in Christ and to observe the signs that this faith is real. The church can never be certain it has judged rightly. However, if it receives those who appear to demonstrate their faith, and if it admonishes and exhorts those who do not, then it will minister to the needs of all.
How the broadcast and print media helped spread the
Gospel of Godlessness in 2007 Executive Summary
Only eight percent of Americans are atheists, according to the National Cultural Values Survey,* yet atheism was the “it” religion in 2007, with just three best-selling books generating much of the media coverage. Christianity Today put the topic at No. 2 in its Top 10 list of religion stories for last year. “The Roar of Atheist Books” was the seventh biggest religion story of 2007 according to Time magazine.
Media indifference and even hostility toward religion in general and Christianity in particular has been well documented by the Media Research Center for years. With the ascendancy of atheism as a “religion” story, the Media Research Center’s Culture and Media Institute wondered whether the media gave atheism the same degree of scrutiny as Christianity and other religious faiths? To assess the news media’s coverage of atheism in 2007, CMI examined the morning, evening, late night and weekend news programs on all three broadcast networks, all issues of the three leading weekly news magazines (Newsweek, Time and U.S. News and World Report), and four programs aired on taxpayer-funded National Public Radio (Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, All Things Considered and Talk of the Nation).
CMI found 105 stories either featuring atheism or introducing the views of atheists while reporting on other issues. Among the key findings:
§ 80 percent (17 out of 21) of feature stories about atheism or atheists had a positive tone, exemplified by Time’s December 3 story on a Sunday school for atheists. 20 percent were neutral. No feature stories were negative.
§Atheists were used to challenge religious viewpoints more than journalists used religious viewpoints to challenge atheism. Fifty-four percent of atheist-themed stories included a religious counterpoint, but 71 percent of the Christian-themed stories included atheist counterpoints or were written from an atheistic perspective. The most striking example wasNewsweek’s choice of avowed atheist and Mother Teresa-basher Christopher Hitchens to critique a book detailing Mother Teresa’s spiritual struggles.
§Atheism stories or commentaries by atheists were present in 51 percent (25 of 49) of the issues of Newsweek and 35 percent (17 out of 49) of the issues ofTime. This included features, mentions in stories on other issues and groupings of letters to the editor from atheists. In sharp contrast, only one issue of U.S. News and World Report referred to atheism.
§ABC provided the most enthusiastic television network coverage of atheism, exemplified by features on an atheist Web site called Blasphemy Challenge and an atheist convention held in Baltimore. The network addressed the subject 24 times in five of its six news programs. This number is just under the combined total for CBS (16) and NBC (11). ABC also aired more produced packages (5) on the subject than CBS (4) and NBC (2). ABC’sNightline devoted an entire program to a live debate between atheists and Christians.
§Six out of seven news organizations considered in this study addressed the concerns and interests of atheists in the upcoming presidential election. Only Republican candidates for President were asked how they would treat atheists.
This report concludes that, whether deliberately or not, the news media did not subject atheism or atheists to the same skepticism to which they subject Christians and Christianity. By airing unchallenged interviews and reporting predominantly positive-toned features, the news organizations in this study effectively promoted atheism and held it in higher regard than other religions. While the media are not obligated to treat all religions and belief systems equally, their failure to subject atheism to the levels of skepticism directed at Christianity and other religions suggests a deplorable double standard.
Using atheism as a foil against Christianity, but not against any other religion, suggests an anti-Christian bias. If journalists call on atheists to comment on one religion, they should use atheists to comment on all. Further, if reporters use prominent atheists to offer opposing views on religion-themed stories, they should – in equal measure – invite leading believers to provide perspective on stories about atheism. Journalists who look at America’s majority religion through a skeptical prism should equally apply their critical faculties to atheism.
I invite you to look with me at a sequence of six passages in the New Testament book of Hebrews. These six passages contain the answer to the question contained in the title of this message, “How Does the Supremacy of Christ Create Radical Christian Sacrifice?” But for you to see it, you will need to ask: What is the “great reward,” and what is the “better resurrection,” and what is the joy set before us, and what is the “city that is to come”? My answer to all of these questions is the same: Their most ultimate meaning is that they refer to the infinite supremacy of Christ experienced with all-satisfying joy. The sequence begins with Hebrews 10:32-35:
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
We will come back to this sequence later. But let me put these texts and the question I am posing in a wider context of my hopes for you and for this message and this conference.
Radically Flavored Life and Ministry
My desire and prayer for you is that your life and your ministry have a radical flavor. A risk-taking flavor. A gutsy, counter-cultural, war-time flavor to it that makes the average prosperous Americans in your church feel uncomfortable. A strange mixture of tenderness and toughness that keeps worldly people a little off balance. A pervasive summons to something more and something hazardous and something wonderful. A saltiness and brightness, something like the life of Jesus.
When Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth,” and, “You are the light of the world,” in Matthew 5:13-14, I think he was referring to the preceding verses where he had described the most outrageous joy imaginable. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5:11-12). Be glad when you are persecuted and slandered.
Bright and Salty in Trials
My desire for you is that your life and ministry taste like that. Reviling comes. Persecution comes. Slander comes. And you rejoice that you are counted worthy be shamed for the name of Jesus (cf. Acts 5:41). And you preach and live in such a way that over a decade or two or three your church comes to be bright and salty like that—counting it all joy when they meet various trials, because you have taught them and shown them that they have a great reward in heaven—the all-satisfying, everlasting experience of the supremacy of Christ.
You have lived. You have treasured Christ above the accumulation of stuff. You have laid up treasures in heaven, not on earth. You have not only fled fornication and adultery. You have fled opulence and ostentation and riches. You have remembered the story of the rich young man (Luke 18:18-30). And you have blazoned on the walls of your mind the words of Paul, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction” (1 Timothy 6:9-10). You have eaten the words of Isaiah, and they have become sweet to your soul: “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever” (1 Peter 1:24-25).
Awakening a Sense of Christ’s Value
My desire and prayer for you is that your life and ministry have a radical flavor. I say that for the glory of Christ. The world does not glorify Jesus as their supreme Treasure because of our health, wealth, and prosperity. Those are the same treasures they live for. The fact that we use Jesus to get what they want makes it clear to them that we have the same treasure as they do—and it is not Jesus. He’s just the ticket. And tickets are thrown away when the show begins.
What the world is waiting to see—what might awaken a sense of Christ’s value— is something radical. Some risk. Some crazy sacrifice. Some extraordinary love. Something salty and bright. They may not like it when they see it. They may crucify it. But they will not be bored. Stephen’s face shown like an angel (Acts 6:15). His wisdom was irresistible (Acts 6:10). So they killed him. But they did not yawn, and they did not go to sleep. And Acts 8makes clear his death was not in vain.
Where Are God’s Men?
My desire and prayer for you is that your life and ministry have a radical flavor. The flavor of risk, sacrifice, love, simplicity, joy, freedom, and precarious adventure. In 1939, Howard Guinness, one of the early founders of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, wrote a little book called Sacrifice. He was trying to do then what I am trying to do now. He wrote,
Where are the young men and women of this generation who will hold their lives cheap, and be faithful even unto death, who will lose their lives for Christ’s, flinging them away for love of him? Where are those who will live dangerously, and be reckless in this service? Where are the men of prayer? Where are the men who count God’s Word of more importance to them than their daily food? Where are the men who, like Moses of old, commune with God face to face as a man speaks with his friend? Where are God’s men in this day of God’s power?
Indeed, where are the pastors who say with the apostle Paul, “I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24)?
Where are the pastors who say with Joab to his brother Abishai, when surrounded by Syrians and Ammonites, “Be of good courage, and let us play the man for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the LORD do what seems good to him” (2 Samuel 10:12)?
Where are the young women—single and married—who say with Esther, when the life of her people hung in the balance and Mordecai asked her to risk her life, “I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16)?
The Certainty of Suffering
I ask you this not just because the world desperately needs to see that kind of pastor, but also because Jesus makes it crystal clear that if you take him seriously, you are going to suffer. In other words, radical willingness to risk and sacrifice and suffer is the only authentic ministry there is. The Lord has made it very plain:
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. (Matthew 10:25)
A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. (John 15:20)
They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. . . . You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives. (Luke 21:12-19)
The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. (John 16:1)
God Promises Trials
And after Jesus, Paul made this teaching the bedrock of his counsel to new believers. On his way back from the first missionary journey, he was teaching the new disciples in every church “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). And he adds in 2 Timothy 3:12, “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
Then he poses the question in Romans 8:35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” Of course, the answer is no. But is the answer no because God spares us these things? Or because he ordains these things for us and keeps us in them? The next verse gives the answer: “As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:35-37). God does not spare his people these trials. He promises them.
“Why Not Me?”
So does Hebrews 12:8: “If we are left without divine discipline we are illegitimate children and not sons.” Suffering for followers of Christ is a sign of God’s merciful Fatherhood. And it includes all the pains of the world in general. That’s what Romans 8:23makes plain: “Not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
Sir Norman Anderson, former Professor and Director of the Advanced Legal Institute at London University, supported International Fellowship of Evangelical Students for sixty years. He had lost all three of his children in their early adulthood and his wife was so senile she could not recognize him. At one of the last public events where he spoke he was asked, “When you look back over your life and reflect on the fact that you have lost all your three children, and how your wife of sixty years no longer recognizes you, do you ever ask the question, “Why me?” . . . “No, I’ve never asked that question, ‘Why me?’ but I have asked the question, ‘Why not me?’ I am not promised as a Christian that I will escape the problems encountered by others; we all live in a fallen world. . . . I am however, promised that in the midst of difficulties, God through Christ will be present with me, and will give his grace to help me cope with the difficulties and bear witness to him.”
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12-13). Jesus, Paul, Peter, Hebrews—they all bear witness: Followers of Jesus will suffer. I do not want to be excluded from that number.
Must I be carried to the skies?
On flowery beds of ease,?
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?
My desire and prayer for you is that you will not even try to be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, but that there will be a radical, risk-taking, sacrificial flavor to your life and ministry.
What Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice?
My question is: What creates such a life and ministry? What creates radical Christian sacrifice? And how is it created? There is more than one biblical answer to this question. So please don’t take this as exhaustive.
To answer the question, let’s turn back now to the book of Hebrews where we began. What I hope you will see is that the aim of the book of Hebrews is precisely the same as my aim this morning—a life and ministry of radical risk and sacrificial love, all for the glory of Christ. And the way the writer creates that radical risk and sacrifice is by giving some of the most elaborate and magnificent glimpses of the supremacy of Christ in all the Bible.
Hebrews: A Word of Exhortation
We know that Hebrews is one of the most doctrinally sophisticated books in the Bible. What we don’t realize as often is that it is probably the only instance in the New Testament of a sermon delivered to Christians—as opposed to the sermons in Acts directed mainly to unbelievers. And this sermon (he calls it a “word of exhortation,” Hebrews 13:22) was delivered in the hope of creating in the Christian hearers a commitment to radical, joyful, risk-taking sacrifices of love that make Christ look as great as he really is. And the vision of Christ’s supremacy that runs though the book is there to serve this radical, practical, public aim.
So consider the sequence of texts we looked at earlier, only notice very carefully now how radical, joyful, risk-taking, sacrificial love is created.
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
Some believers had been imprisoned. Others had suffered by standing with them. What created the radical, sacrificial love of standing with the prisoners and paying the price of having your property plundered? The answer is in the middle of verse 34: “You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew (ginoskontes) that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” Verse 35 calls this “better possession and abiding one” a “great reward.”
What created this radical, sacrificial act of love toward imprisoned saints was the superior Treasure they were banking on in the future. This confidence of heavenly reward made them joyful in earthly loss. They joyfully accepted the plundering of their property. That is what I am saying is needed in your life and ministry—and then in your people. Hold your possessions so loosely that when they are lost in the sacrifices of love, your confidence in a supreme Treasure in heaven will fill you with joy. I am going to argue in a moment that the Treasure is the supremacy of Christ.
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
How was Moses’ radical, loving sacrifice created? Verse 26: “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” Present sacrifice is sustained by the hope of future reward. And again I will argue that the reward is finally Christ himself in all his glory.
Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
How was Jesus’ radical, loving sacrifice sustained? It was sustained “by the joy that was set before him.” That’s how he endured the cross. He looked forward to the triumphant experience of being exalted as the Savior and Lord and Treasure of an innumerable people beyond the grave and beyond this age. Even as he suffers for us, he shows us how to suffer with him. He models the very motive that we see in the other texts of this sequence. Indestructible joy breaking into present suffering from the assurance of future joy.
Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
Now in the end comes the summons that I have been issuing all along—the radical call. This is why I said the book of Hebrews is aiming at the very thing I am aiming at in this message—that your life and ministry will have a radical, risk-taking, sacrificial flavor. Hebrews bids us do something like that, something outlandish: “Let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” What does that mean for you? It means something radical. Something risk-taking. Something sacrificial. God will make it plain if you will say to him: Anything Lord. Any time. Anywhere. If your heart is yielded, he will make it plain.
But again I ask: How is this radical, risk-taking, sacrificial life created and sustained?
The answer is in verse 14, and it is the same answer we have seen in chapters 10, 11, and 12: “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” Radical, risk-taking, sacrificial acts of love “outside the camp” are created and sustained by treasuring the final city of God more than the present city of man, no matter how rich this present city seems.
What Is the Reward?
So at least part of the structure of how radical sacrifice is created is clear: It is created when we treasure our future reward vastly more than we treasure the comforts and securities of ordinary earthly life. Really believing . . . really treasuring . . . really cherishing and valuing—what in the future? What Treasure, what Reward, is the key to creating and sustaining a life and ministry of radical, risk-taking, sacrificial love?
My answer is that all of the book of Hebrews is about the supremacy of Jesus Christ as the Treasure to be trusted in, hoped for, banked on, cherished, and valued beyond everything this present life can offer.
But really? Isn’t Jesus Christ presented in the book of Hebrews as the means to our salvation? Is he the end? Is he the Reward? Or is he the means to obtaining the reward? Isn’t he presented as making purification for sins (1:3; 2:9; 2:17; 9:24; 10:12) and interceding as our High Priest (4:14; 2:17; 7:17) and becoming the “founder of salvation” (2:10) and the perfecter of our faith (12:2)? Yes.
The Glory of Jesus’ Person Displayed in His Saving Work
But here is what I have been learning in the last several years as never before. The supreme greatness and majesty and glory of the Son of God fits him to be the saving means our justification and forgiveness and propitiation and sanctification and eternal life. But in that very means-work on the cross, the apex of his glory in then is displayed in the freedom of grace. And in the very moment of becoming the perfect means of our redemption, Christ becomes the supremely valuable, all glorious end of our redemption (John 17:24). The glory that we will see and savor forever and ever will be the glory of the Lamb that was slain (Revelation 5:9, 12-13). That is the song of eternity. The final beauty that will satisfy our souls forever is the beauty most fully displayed in the rescue of sinners to see that beauty.
Therefore, I say that all the pictures of the supremacy of Jesus in the book of Hebrews are pictures not only of the perfection of the all-sufficient means of our salvation, but also of the all-satisfying goal or end of our salvation, namely the supremacy of Christ himself experienced with all-satisfying joy. He is the Great Reward. He is the one we know in the “better resurrection.” He is the light of the city to that is to come.
Therefore everything this epistle says about him intensifies our love for him now as our Treasure, and our desire for him later as our final Reward.
He is
God’s final revelation (1:2).
The heir of all things (1:2).
The creator of the world (1:2).
The radiance of God’s glory (1:3).
The exact imprint of God’s nature (1:3).
He upholds the universe by the word of his power (1:3).
He made purification for sins (1:3).
He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on High (1:4).
He is God, enthroned forever, with a scepter of uprightness (1:8).
He is worshipped by angels (1:6).
His rule will have no end (1:8).
His joy is above all other beings in the universe (1:9).
He took on human flesh (2:14).
He was crowned with glory and honor because of his suffering (2:9).
He was the founder of our salvation (2:10).
He was made perfect in all his obedience by his suffering (2:10).
He destroyed the one who has the power of death, the devil (2:15).
He delivered us from the bondage of fear (2:15).
He is a merciful and faithful high priest (2:17)
He made propitiation for sins (2:17).
He is sympathetic because of his own trials (4:15).
He never sinned (4:15).
He offered up loud cries and tears with reverent fear, and God heard him (5:7).
He became the source of eternal salvation (5:8)
He holds his priesthood by virtue of an indestructible life (7:16).
He appears in the presence of God on our behalf (9:24).
He will come a second time to save us who are eagerly waiting for him (9:28).
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (13:8)
All of this supremacy of Christ is poured into the word “him” inHebrews 13:13: “Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” To him!
Come to Me—Outside the Camp
When he bids us leave the securities and comforts of life and take up a radical, risk-taking, sacrificial way of love in his service, it is not a path that we take alone. In fact, Jesus is there outside the camp in a way that he is nowhere else. He is not just telling us to go out there. He is inviting us come out here. Here is where I am. Come to me outside the camp.
The supremacy of Christ is not just his perfect fitness to bear our sins, and not just the supremely valuable future Reward that frees us from fear and greed and worldliness, but in his supremacy he is also now our present, personal Treasure.
And there he is outside the camp bidding us come. The sweetest fellowship with Jesus you will ever know is the fellowship of his sufferings.
So I say it one more time: My desire and prayer to God for you is that your life and ministry have a radical, risk-taking, sacrificial flavor.
Let us go to him outside the camp. For here we have no lasting city. But we seek a city which is to come, whose builder is God and whose light is the Lamb.
Quoted from Howard Guinness, Sacrifice (1936), in Lindsay Brown, Shining Like Stars: The Power of the Gospel in the World’s Universities (Nottingham: InterVarsity Press, 2006), p. 151.
Ibid., pp. 160-161.
Compare the uses of the phrase “word of exhortation” inHebrews 13:22 and in Acts 13:15. Dennis Johnson, Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from all the Scriptures (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2007), p. 172.
Observe in Hebrews 10:34 that the word translated “property” (huparchonton) has the same Greek root (in the plural) as the word translated “possession” (huparxin). A more literal rendering would read: “You received with joy the plunder of the yourpossessions (plural), knowing yourselves to have a better and lasting possession (singular).” They joyfully accepted the loss of their earthly, plural possessions because they knew that they had a superior singular possession, namely, Jesus.
Scripture says that when God finished His creation, He saw everything and declared it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Many Scriptures affirm that God is not the author of evil: “God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone” (James 1:13). “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). “God is not the author of confusion” (1 Corinthians 14:33)-and if that is true, He cannot in any way be the author of evil. www.gty.org
A Preacher’s Repentance From Adulterous Remarriage
I was born June 30th, 1872, a few miles south of Memphis, Tenn., and spent the earlier part of my life in and about that section. At the age of nineteen I was married to a young lady of seventeen. She was then an excellent girl. About four years later we moved to Chicago, Ill., where we were both converted and sanctified, and lived a happy Christian life for some time. But as time passed my wife grew cold and indifferent, and finally renounced all religious scruples, and went into open sin and uncleanness to such an extent that I was forced to “put her away,” according to Matt. 5:32. However I remained unmarried, having been instructed by the Bible and my religious teachers that there were Bible grounds to put away the unclean party, but none whatever to remarry while she lived. So I believed and taught this for years, from the pulpit and through the press. But later on I read more largely on the subject and met many holy, devout men, as I went forth in the evangelistic work, who were more experienced both in Word and ministry, than I, and who believed there were Bible grounds for the innocent party to remarry under my circumstances, taking Matt. 19:9 for their authority. Also I saw in the discipline of all orthodox churches that they recognized the one ground, viz., Matt. 19:9.
So as I did not hold myself as any criterion, after weighing the matter in these different scales, I finally concluded that I was wrong, and my views on the subject were non-scriptural. So I publicly confessed my mistake, and accepted the general view of the Christian world — viz., one ground for the innocent party to remarry. Matt. 19:9. So as I was the innocent party, after living a single life for seven years, I felt as clear as heaven to take a second wife — basing my foundation on Matt. 19:9. However, some of my friends advised me different; but their advice came too late. But the very next day after the ceremony was performed, I felt strangely. I did not feel that sky-blue clearness. I felt a little smitten in spirit. However, I would not allow myself to feel under condemnation, for I had (as I thought) the Bible on my side. Hence, I concluded that it was only the enemy trying to torment me. However, the Lord was very tender and patient with me, and would bless and pour out His Spirit upon me, knowing I was ignorant of my mistake.
But as time passed by, this annoyance became a constant thing; so I would set myself apart for a few days of prayer and fasting; at which time my sky would clear up as bright as noon, and all was well; but when I would resume the former routine of life, things would darken up again. So this continued for about five months, in this alternate way. However, I was as honest as an angel in the matter, believing I had God’s highest approval in the step I had taken. But after the first five months of our married life, the thing became a real doubt; so I resolved to set myself apart by prayer and as much fasting as I deemed prudent, for I wanted to know from God.
First: if I had really made a mistake, — and if there were really no grounds for divorce-marriages.
Second: I wanted to know (if it was wrong) what step to take to get out of it, as it would no doubt be a great stumbling block to the unsaved.
However, I was fully determined to obey God in spite of men or devil, even at the loss of all things, even life itself. So we lived a separate life, for eighteen months, waiting for the clear, unmistakable mind of God. However, but little of my time was spent at home, as I was engaged in evangelistic work, with the blessing of God wonderfully upon my soul.
We read in Job 33:14-18 these words, “God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then He openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction… He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.” Truly, the Lord has verified this in my case, as He has used this special method (together with the Word) of warning, instructing and reproving me ever since I was saved.
I confess, all visions and dreams are not to be depended upon, yet God has a way of making one know when He is speaking. So I here give the reader, in substance, what God said to me, or in other words, some methods He used by dreams and visions to make me know I was wrong in my divorce-marriage. I do not force it upon anyone, I only relate it, and let you take it for what it is worth. It is to be remembered, I did not receive all of these in one night, or in one month, but from time to time, during a period of eighteen months, and upward.
1. On the night of April 13th, 1907, the Spirit came to me in a dream or vision, in the form of an eminent preacher, who lives an exceptionally holy life, (however, I do not know his views on this subject), and quoted clearly and distinctly two passages of Scripture. The first one is found in Isa. 52:11, “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” The next passage is found in II Cor. 7:1, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” These came, not as other flighty dreams, but were stamped on my heart and mind by the invincible power of the Spirit. Hence, I can never forget them.
2. On September 28th, 1907, in my dream I stood on the sidewalk of a solitary street. I saw no one for miles around. But suddenly a being from another world descended and sat on the top of a building just across the street from where I stood, and began talking in loud, clear, thrilling and awful words, such as filled me with terror, for they seemed not only words, but stuck fast in my soul like arrows. He spake as follows:
“There is someone in this community rejecting God-given light, and if they do not stop, God is going to send them to hell forever. He has sent me to warn them. Now you may do as you please about this matter. I have warned you, so good-bye!”
After he was through speaking, he was transformed into the likeness of a large bird, and ascended into the sky. Immediately I awoke, filled with confusion, terror and conviction, beyond the power of language to describe. I related it to my wife, and told her that God was not pleased with our marriage. But she did not seem to see it in that light, hence the sad news almost broke her heart. So I did not leave her then, as I wanted to be sure it was God talking, and not the enemy. So I decided to pray for God to make it clearer still. However, we continued to live clean and separate.
3. Another night I saw in my dream a large white boat at sea, (which I believe represented the safe Bible way) but I had left this boat, and taken a little narrow skiff (which I believe represented that one isolated passage of Scripture, Matt. 19:9, which is the only passage in the Bible that seems to give grounds for divorce-marriage) and was rapidly drifting away from the large lifeboat. And as I drifted, my little boat became uncontrollable and rapidly leaped on, over the angry, turbulent waves, until it gradually began to sink, and I went down to a watery grave. I awoke with a sense of God’s displeasure on divorce-marriages beyond the power of description. But as I wanted to be sure, and not make another mistake, I decided to still keep the matter before God, so as to obtain His clear, unmistakable leading.
I want to say right here, strange as it may seem, God kept His blessing on my soul, for He knew I wanted to know His will, and would do it. Hence the patience He had with me, in convincing me of the wrongness of this matter, was something marvelous. The great trouble was this, it was such a legalized sin, among almost all classes, even the strictest and most devout people of earth (with a few exceptions), that it was difficult to renounce and go against their smooth words and plausible arguments on the subject. I plainly saw if I took the way God was holding up I would have to take a dead stand against the majority of preachers and holiness teachers of our day. Another thing that made it so difficult to take the way the Spirit was holding up was I did not want to be a “turncoat,” i. e., I had known this light on the divorce subject before, and was led by shallow teachers to renounce it; but God showed me, notwithstanding that fact, I had to take His clear, uncompromising way, no matter what men or devils would say. It is better to turn a thousand times and be right, than never turn and be wrong.
4. Another night, in my dream, I saw myself joined arms with my second wife, walking down a wide brimstone road in hell, and as we passed a large vestibule I saw throngs of voluptuous men all dressed in black, and wearing silk hats. They were all keeping time to a band of music, and waving college banners, and singing this chorus:
“In hell at last! In hell at last!
And earth and all her pleasures past.
In hell at last! In hell at last:
For aye and aye the die is cast.”
And in front of these men were about a dozen large black swine (emblems of filth and uncleanness). And they were flopping their ears and cringing to the music. In this, God showed me that I had followed the sensual, unclean, flesh-indulging multitudes of earth, into this divorce-marriage business. At this I awoke with that awful picture burning in my brain, and that hellish music ringing in my ears.
But as it meant so much to make another public confession, and say I had made a mistake by re-marrying, while my former wife lived, I thought perhaps these were only dreams, and I had better pray some more before I made, what seemed such a fatal step. So I decided to spend some more days in fasting, and some more all-nights in prayer before God, to know the unmistakable truth about this matter.
5. One day, as I stood all alone in the parlor of a friend’s house, in an eastern city, (while contemplating taking up this awful cross) it seemed as though a glorified spirit descended, and sang the following chorus to me. ( I never heard the words or the tune until then):
“Heaven is cheap at any cost,
Do gain its ports or all is lost;
For earthly gain is only dross
And naught’s of value but the cross.”
And with this song there seemed to come volleys of exhortations from Wesley, Fletcher, Pollock and millions of glorified saints saying to me, “Gain heaven’s port at any cost:”
For several days afterward, an inexpressible heavenly melting was upon me, and that angelic song was ringing in my ears. Since then I have had the song put to music, and put into our song book, “Revival Fire In Song.” It can be had at our office for fifteen cents.
After this invincible message I was not only convinced that the divorce-marriage was wrong, but also thoroughly convinced that we had to separate fully. So we began to plan and work to that end. However, we kept praying for still clearer evidence so that in after years there would be nothing to regret over taking this step of separation. Of course, after many of our friends and brethren heard that we had decided to separate, they came to us, by letter or in presence, and tried to reason us out of our conviction, etc., by defining what divorces meant, and by saying what Jesus must have meant, etc. They meant well, but their arguments were too shallow to build on for eternity. We saw one woman die in this divorce trap. She was a good Christian woman, and professed holiness too, but we have never seen such a distressed, forlorn, God-forsaken looking being before or since.
O, friends! we cannot afford to take any doubtful position in regard to our eternal welfare. Preachers and people can reason us on to a false track, and into hell, but they cannot reason us out.
So my advice to everyone is, take the clearest track to heaven. Of course it may be the most unpopular, and may bring lots of persecution, but after all, it is the safest way to the pearly gates.
6. One night, in my dream, two preachers came to me (one I thought was St. Paul). And as they stood near me, the other preacher read to me from a paper which he held in his hand the following in substance: “You would be all right if it were not for that divorce-marriage.” At this they disappeared, and I awoke with these awful words ringing in my ear: “You would be all right if it were not for that divorce-marriage.” And while lying there thinking upon these awful words, a strange feeling seized me, as if it was death. I was conscious, but could not speak or move; and as I struggled and made efforts to free myself, I found something holding me fast: and God seemed to put this question at me: “How would you like for this to be death, and you tied up in that divorce-marriage?” As I lay there and struggled all that I could see, filling the whole horizon of my mind, was, “That divorce-marriage.” From this, God caused me to see that a soul could not afford to go to their death-bed with the least conviction on their heart, or a shadow of a doubt in their experience.
7. The following night in my dream I was standing in a large yard all alone; and while thus standing, it seemed that God was so angry with me because of my divorce-marriage, that a great stream of lightning swept down from heaven and ran on the ground to meet me, in thousands of fiery spangles. It picked me up literally, and carried me about thirty feet to a large heap of fire burning on the ground, and held me fast in those flames. When I awoke, I still seemed to be on fire. Even the bed seemed hot with those wrathful flames. And as I was awakening, I heard these words out of that avalanche of lightning, “Prepare to meet thy God.” This occurred while I was away in another town. I went home and told my wife, and we mutually agreed to separate.
Since we did so, I feel as clear as an angel. And I am fully convinced that divorce-marriages are wrong; no matter if every preacher in the universe says they are not. I have been in hell (so to speak) for almost two years on account of listening to false teachers. O friend! don’t be deceived by any preacher or teacher! It is wrong beyond all shadow of doubt! If I had the voice of an archangel I would sound it from pole to pole. I came near losing my soul by giving ear to these false teachers, rather than to God! Of course, many of them are good, well-meaning Christian men, but they are only giving their opinions, and also what that isolated passage in Matt. 19:9 seems to mean. But I have been caught in the snare of the thing, and God has been hurling light and conviction on my soul for nearly two years, both night and day, making me know and feel that the thing is wrong. I am not writing what I think, but what I positively know; and am willing to seal this testimony with my blood. I know whereof I speak. And no matter how conferences or church disciplines may rock the conscience of the people to sleep telling them they can marry while their husbands or wives live; they are wrong, and the souls whom they are deceiving will find it out when eternity is unveiled, if not before. I thank God that He kept conviction and light streaming from heaven on my soul until I walked in it, in spite of all the false comforters, who were crying, Peace: Peace: when there was no peace; but dread, fear and awful uncertainty.
Now, precious eternity-bound friend, will you take the advice of one who has acted the fool, and never, never enter into a divorce-marriage under any circumstances? And if you are now in one, and love your soul, and want to gain heaven, do get out of it: even at the cost of all things, or else you will regret it throughout all eternity.
J. M. Humphrey
J. M. (Jerry Miles) Humphrey was an author and speaker in the Holiness Movement of the early 20th century. While in ministry, he divorced his wife, and married another woman seven years later. The day after the wedding, he began to harbor doubts about the propriety of this second marriage, and ultimately ended it after two years of soul-searching, which included eighteen months of mutual sexual abstinence.
“Look at the legalized adultery we call divorce. Men marry one wife after another and are still admitted into good society; and women do likewise. There are thousands of supposedly respectable men in America living with other men’s wives, and thousands of supposedly respectable women living with other women’s husbands.” – R. A. Torrey From R.A. Torrey’s book How to Pray, pages 94-95
R.A. Torrey (1856-1928) was a very well-known Christian writer, evangelist, pastor, graduate of Yale University, and was also the superintendent of Moody Bible Institute for 19 years.
1- There is one true God, eternally existing in three persons -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- each of whom possesses equally all the attributes of Deity and the characteristics of personality.
2- Jesus Christ is God, the living Word, who became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. Hence, He is perfect Deity and true humanity united in one person forever.
3- He lived a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the sins of men by dying on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust in Him alone.
4- He rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He lived and died.
5- He ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, where He, the only mediator between God and man, continually makes intercession for His own.
6- Man was originally created in the image of God. He sinned by disobeying God; thus, he was alienated from his Creator. That historic fall brought all mankind under divine condemnation.
7- Man's nature is corrupted, and he is thus totally unable to please God. Every man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
8- The salvation of man is wholly a work of God's free grace and is not the work, in whole or in part, of human works or goodness or religious ceremony. God imputes His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, and thereby justified them in His sight.
9- It is the privilege of all who are born again of the Spirit to be assured of their salvation from the very moment in which they trust Christ as their Savior. This assurance is not based upon any kind of human merit, but is produced by the witness of the Holy Spirit, who confirms in the believer the testimony of God in His written word.
10- The Holy Spirit has come into the world to reveal and glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to men. He convicts and draws sinners to Christ, imparts new life to them, continually indwells them from the moment of spiritual birth and seals them until the day of redemption. His fullness, power and control are appropriated in the believer's life by faith.
11- Every believer is called to live so in the power of the indwelling Spirit that he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh but will bear fruit to the glory of God.
12- Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, His Body, which is composed of all men, living and dead, who have been joined to Him through saving faith.
13- God admonishes His people to assemble together regularly for worship, for participation in ordinances, for edification through the Scriptures and for mutual encouragement.
14- At physical death the believer enters immediately into eternal, conscious fellowship with the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting glory and blessing.
15- At physical death the unbeliever enters immediately into eternal, conscious separation from the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting judgment and condemnation.
16- Jesus Christ will come again to the earth (personally, visibly and bodily) to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.
17- The Lord Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to disciple men of every nation. The fulfillment of that Great Commission requires that all worldly and personal ambitions be subordinated to a total commitment to "Him who loved us and gave Himself for us."
18- I believe the Bible (the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments) is the Word of God, written. As a "God-breathed" revelation, it is thus verbally inspired and completely without error (historically, scientifically, morally, and spiritually) in its original writings.
On Christianity…
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - C.S. Lewis
Who Do I Follow?
One says "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," One says "I am a Calvinist", and another, "I am an Armenian".... As of me??? I am of Christ!!! I believe that God foreknows who are those whom will choose to follow Him and has ordained such before the foundation of the world.
The Bible teaches that it is through faith in Jesus Christ that sinners may be saved. Faith means belief, but that is not a sufficient definition. There are many ways in which a person might believe something that fall short of biblical faith. The faith which saves may be said to have three aspects.
