Defiled worship

Ezekiel 8:6 (HCSB)

He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing here, so that I must depart from My sanctuary? You will see even greater abominations."

 

The glory of God departed the temple, and this is why. The people were doing detestable things there. They were worshipping idols in the temple of Jehovah!

 

Before we condemn them we better look at ourselves. Remember, God says “examine yourselves.” Where is the temple of God today? Not those made with human hands but that created by the art of God—the human body. Are we ever guilty of worshipping that which is not God in the temple of God? Do we defile our bodies? Do we commit detestable practices in the temple?

 

When a man takes the body that God has redeemed and inhabited with His Holy Spirit and use that body in an act of adultery or fornication, is that not an abomination? We are worshipping the body instead of the One who made the body! Do we obsess over the way we look? Now, it is good to take care of the temple. But is it proper to focus a disproportionate amount of time and attention on the body? It is one thing to keep it in shape, it is another thing altogether to be obsessed with “looking good” or “looking young.” On the other hand, some defile the temple by indulging it in other ways—over eating or using drugs or alcohol. It is all about making the body “feel good.” We do not live for our bodies—in live in our bodies.

 

The Bible teaches us that now the glory of God indwells the body of every born again Believer in Jesus Christ. The glory will never leave, but it can certainly be smothered beneath a mound of sin. Let us be careful! Let us keep the vessel clean so the light can shine through it. And remember, we worship in this temple not the temple itself. 

The Need for Revival

Lamentations 5:19–22 (HCSB)

      You, LORD, are enthroned forever;

      Your throne endures from generation to generation.

      Why have You forgotten us forever,

      abandoned us for ‹our› entire lives?

      LORD, restore us to Yourself, so we may return;

      renew our days as in former times,

      unless You have completely rejected us

      and are intensely angry with us.

 

Our great need today is for revival. Only One can give it: the LORD who sits upon the throne of the universe.

 

This should be our prayer for America: “LORD, restore us to Yourself, so we may return.”  We cannot return unless He restores us.

 

I was saved during a time of revival. God was moving in an unusual way. I remember the quality of preachers and teachers we had in those days.  We have great communicators today, but we sorely lack the depth of teaching the church once enjoyed. I pray that the Lord would renew our days as in former times.

 

It seems to me that we once had more lost people in church than we do today. But we did it without completely altering our services to make them feel comfortable. We sang from a hymnbook and the preacher wore a suit and tie, but lost people came—and they were saved. We were baptizing more in those days than we are today. Certain churches get unprecedented publicity when they have a service in which they baptize 100 people in a day, but we are way behind in baptisms overall.

 

I’m not saying we need to go back to the old days. I personally like worship where people don’t look down but look up. There is more freedom of expression today in worship. And even though we had some great preachers and Bible teachers in those days most people in the pews still didn’t get it. I cannot say there is any greater depth in our Christianity today than there was then. The spiritual immaturity of the average church-goer was just as frustrating then as it is today. But there are undeniable indications that more was going on then than now. I mentioned there were more people being baptized then than now. Churches were growing more then than now. Our Southern Baptist Convention is now in decline for the first time in our history. And there are far fewer young men and women who are surrendering for full-time Christian service now than thirty years ago. Enrollment in our Southern Baptist Seminaries is declining. These are sad trends.

 

There is only one answer: we need revival! We need for God to restore us to Himself and renew us as in former times. There is only one way it will come: we must ask God to do it. Please join me in praying for revival. 

The Pit

Lamentations 3:55–57 (HCSB)

      I called on Your name, Yahweh,

      from the depths of the Pit.

      You hear my plea:

      Do not ignore my cry for relief.

      You come near when I call on You;

      You say: "Do not be afraid."

 

His pit had a name. Notice he does not refer to it as “a pit” but as “the Pit.”

 

Do you have a pit with a name? Perhaps yours is “unemployment,” or “bad marriage,” or “cancer.” Whatever it is, your pit has a name.

 

What do you do in the Pit? Call on the name of the LORD.

 

“I do that.” The calling takes on a new meaning, a new intensity when you’re in the Pit. You cry out. It is not one of those “now I lay me down to sleep” kind of prayers. You cry out from the depths of your soul. You want God to hear you, to answer you, to attend to you. You cry out, “Lord, deliver me… help me!”

 

What does the Lord do? He comes near. There is something about your Pit that makes the Lord seem near.

 

And what does He say? “Don’t be afraid.” You will not perish in the Pit. The Lord has a purpose for you in the Pit.

 

Remember this:

•  You are there for the Lord’s purpose
  
• You are there for the Lord’s period
•  While there you have the Lord’s presence and power
• When He is done you’ll experience the Lord’s deliverance

 

The Pit is not your permanent address. It is only temporary. You will survive. 

God of the Bad Stuff

Lamentations 3:37-39 (HCSB)

      Who is there who speaks and it happens,

      unless the Lord has ordained ‹it›?

      Do not both adversity and good

      come from the mouth of the Most High?

      Why should ‹any› living person complain,

      ‹any› man, because of the punishment for his sins?

 

We have no problem believing that good comes from the Lord, but adversity? Is God responsible for the bad things as well as the good? The answer is “Yes.” If the words of our mouths come true only if God ordains it, then we can know for sure that God ordains all things—even the bad things that happen to us.

 

How do we rectify this with our image of a “good God”? God allows bad things, but it is always for a holy purpose. Does this include children being sold as prostitutes and innocents being raped and murdered? There is no avoiding an affirmative answer if you believe in the concept of a sovereign God. How can God then be good if He allows such evil and suffering?

 

Look at what Jeremiah writes next:

     

 Let us search out and examine our ways,

      and turn back to the LORD.

      Let us lift up our hearts and ‹our› hands

      to God in heaven:

      We have sinned and rebelled;

      You have not forgiven.

(Lamentations 3:40–42, HCSB)

 

Let us do what God’s Word says and examine our own hearts. Are not the seeds of every kind of evil present within our own hearts? Who commits the acts of evil in our world? We do. People like us. The difference between us and them is so slight that close examination scares us!

 

If God were to completely wipe out all evil from the world He would have to begin by wiping us out. G. K. Chesterton was right when he answered the question, “What is wrong with the world?” His reply was simply “I am.” 

Daily Mercy

Lamentations 3:22–27 (HCSB)

      ‹Because of› the LORD’s faithful love

      we do not perish,

      for His mercies never end.

      They are new every morning;

      great is Your faithfulness!

      I say: The LORD is my portion,

      therefore I will put my hope in Him.

      The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,

      to the person who seeks Him.

      It is good to wait quietly

      for deliverance from the LORD.

      It is good for a man to bear the yoke

      while he is ‹still› young.

 

 

These words were written by Jeremiah while he and his nation were exiled in Babylon. They could have perished in Babylon and been swallowed up within a foreign nation and disappeared forever from the face of the earth. But they did not. They continued because God’s faithful love to them continued. He was merciful to them. Who can deny that the Lord is merciful to us? We continue to exist in this United States of America because of God’s faithful love and His plan for us. Maybe He yet has some work for us to do that demands our continued existence.

 

His mercies are new every morning. This is a new day. Perhaps you are discouraged. Perhaps you are just living day to day. When God’s mercies are new each day that is not a bad way to live. He does not give us mercy today for tomorrow. He does not give us mercy today to live in the past. He gives us mercy this day for this day.

 

He is our portion—He is more than that. Christ is our life! We live today by Him. Today we have His presence. Everything we need is in Him and we have Him today! Put your trust in Him today. You have faith that He has saved you. Have faith today that He is with you, that He sustains you, that He will live His life through you.

 

If you are waiting for the Lord’s answer see it as a good thing. Wait on Him in quiet trust. If that is your yoke to bear then please remember that you do not bear it alone. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” What did He mean? Yoke were designed for a pair of oxen. On one side was the stronger, more experienced ox. Call Him “The Trainer.” That is the Jesus side. On the other side was the smaller, less experienced ox. Call him “The Trainee.” That is our side. He pulls the load, and for our part we get to be bridled with Him. Not a bad partnership… for us! He said, “Take My yoke and learn of Me.”  If you’re waiting you are learning. Learn well. Watch and listen closely. Trust Jesus. Enjoy the fellowship. 

The Necessity of Self-Examination

Lamentations 3:40–42 (HCSB)

      Let us search out and examine our ways,

      and turn back to the LORD.

      Let us lift up our hearts and ‹our› hands

      to God in heaven:

      We have sinned and rebelled;

      You have not forgiven.

 

Have you heard about the farmer who had a pond that became stagnant and rank? The stench became unbearable. He had to drain it to find the problem. When he took the grate off the drain he found it was completely stopped up—by two huge bullfrogs! But how did they manage to get in there? The holes on the grate were too small for them to swim through. Then he got it—they had swum through when they were tadpoles. Then they got big!  

 

Small vices that go unchecked become big vices. At first the life of the Spirit is only stymied, but after a while it is completely blocked.

 

Someone said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” We do not like to examine our hearts for fear of what we might find there. But we must do it if we are to be productive Christians.

 

Let us search out and examine our hearts, and turn back to the Lord! Then revival might come. 

Let God be God!

The last few chapters of Jeremiah predict and describe the downfall of Babylon. Babylon had been the instrument God used to punish His people for their idolatry. He kept them there seventy years, and then He set them free to return to their homeland. God raised up another leader (Cyrus) and another nation (Persia) to defeat Babylon. He had used the Babylonians, but then He had to punish them for doing what He had raised them up to do. Does this sound fair?

 

What’s fair got to do with it? God is God, and He can do whatever He wants to. Mike Melendez gave me the best definition for sovereignty i've ever heard: "Sovereignty means that God can do whatever He wants to and it's right." 

People have a problem with that. Tough! Just accept it. It seems they also want a God they can understand, predict and control. Sorry, can't do it. 

There are two simple rules: First, God is God. Second, I ain't. 

We have to allow God to be God and know that He has a plan. It may not seem fair or make sense right now, but in the end we will see that God’s plan is perfect. Praise His Name!