Sunday, May 27, 2012
ARE WE A NEEDY PEOPLE?
I need Thee every hour,
In joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide,
Or life is vain.
Psalm 63:1-8…
"O God, thou art my God; early will I seek
thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and
thirsty land, where no water is; 2. To
see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 3. Because thy lovingkindness is better than
life, my lips shall praise thee. 4. Thus
will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. 5. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and
fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: 6. When I remember thee upon my bed, and
meditate on thee in the night watches. 7.
Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings
will I rejoice. 8. My soul followeth
hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me."
David said,
“My soul thirsts for you.” What do I
know about thirst? Oh yes, sometimes I
have a desire for something to drink, but I don’t know that I have ever
thirsted as the Israelites did in the desert, as people of whom I have
read. Why haven’t I experienced
thirst? Because I always have access to
drink. And after all, I have read that
it is healthy to drink plenty of water; so I drink plenty of water. I don’t have a great need for water, because
I have plenty.
That is
really a picture of much of my life, and the same is true for most of us here
this morning. The truth is that we
rarely experience real need. Why? Because we have plenty. In the model prayer, Jesus told us to pray
like this: “Our Father, which art in
heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread…” It is difficult for us to pray that part of
the prayer. Why should we pray for what
we already have? Regardless of what God
does, we have plenty to eat today.
Need is not
something to which we are accustomed. I
am not saying there are no exceptions among us.
No doubt, some of you who lived through The Great Depression can tell us
something about need, but I am talking about the here and now. The truth is that we are not a people who has
much experience with real need.
But then we
come to the Word of God. “My soul
thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there
is no water.” Jesus said, “Blessed are
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall befilled” (Matt.
5:6). The Psalmist cried out,
“As the deer pants for the water brook, so my soul pants for you, O God” (Ps.
42:1). Again, Jesus said, “If
anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink…” (John 7:37). Again and again, the scripture likens our
spiritual need to physical hunger and thirst.
In the same way, it illustrates spiritual satisfaction in terms of food
and water. That is why Jesus said, “I am
the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that
believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).
About now you may be
thinking, “Ron, I thought you were going to start preaching on the Holy
Spirit this Sunday.” That is exactly
what I am doing. Until we recognize a
great need in our lives, the Holy Spirit will at best be a neat little doctrine
tucked away in the recesses of our minds.
If you want to get inside a building, where do you go? You find the door. If we want the presence and power of the
Spirit in our lives, the door is spelled N-E-E-D… need.
What does
the Word of God tell us about being filled with the Spirit? It commands us to be filled with the Spirit,
does it not? “Be filled with the Spirit”
(Eph.
5:18). Some of you are aware
that this is not a one-time command, but rather the idea is, “Be being filled
with the Spirit,” or “Keep on being filled with the Spirit.” God’s desire is that we continually be
overflowing with the presence and power of His Spirit.
Now
consider this glass. Here it is. And here is a full pitcher of water. Normally, we would take this pitcher of water
and we would fill this glass. That is
what pitchers of water are for. But
before we pour the water out of this pitcher into the glass, we check to see if
the glass needs to be filled with water.
Does it? No, not really. It is already full of dirt. What happens if I try to pour water into
it? I can’t fill it with water, because
it is already full of dirt. Though
plenty of water is available, the glass will not be filled with water because
it doesn’t see its need. It is already
full, and it seems quite content to be full of dirt.
Brothers
and sisters, you who are in Christ, you who have been redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb and given life from above, the Holy Spirit is available. Yes, He dwells in you. But we cannot be filled with the Spirit until
we see the need for that filling.
Yes, I had
a sermon prepared. Though I’m not a
great preacher, I suppose it was a fitting introduction to the ministry of the
Spirit. But somewhere along the line it
became clear to me that it would just be another sermon. It isn’t that it would fall on deaf ears. I would share it to the best of my ability,
and you would listen to it to the best of your ability. But the bottom line is that it would just be
another sermon because of one missing ingredient -- NEED.
Look. I have here a watch. This is an amazing invention. I realize we can get a general idea of the
time of day from the position of the sun, but this little thing can give us the
exact time every day. And what about when
you wake up at night and would like to know how much night is left before time
to get up? This little watch can tell
you. Yes, it even lights up so that you
can see the time in the dark. Oh but it
gets better. It has something called an
alarm. This has been a great blessing to
me. I have a tendency to forget
things. Though I have good intentions to
do it, I forget. That’s where this watch
alarm comes in. I can set the alarm and
on a good day, when it sounds, I will remember why it sounded and do what I am
supposed to do. Would you like to have
my alarm watch? I don’t see anyone
jumping up and down with excitement.
Why? Because everyone who wants a
watch already has one. If you want a
watch with an alarm, you have that too.
Though this is a fabulous invention with great usefulness, you don’t
need it. You already have what you need.
Spiritually,
we have a great tendency to think we have what we need. When it comes to telling time, we do have all
we need, but rest assured that we don’t have all of the presence, love, and
power of God we need. None of us would come
out and say, “I have all of God that I need.
I am satisfied with what I have.”
But when that attitude is any part of us, even the best of sermons have
little value. In recent days my main
prayer has been, “Lord, open my eyes to my need.” Then I have prayed, “And do it in my brothers
and sisters.” The ministry of the Holy
Spirit means nothing until we are painfully aware of our great need.
A. W. Tozer
made this statement: “It may be said
without qualification that every man is as holy and as full of the Spirit as he
wants to be. He may not be as full as he
wishes he were, but he is most certainly as full as he wants to be” (from “Born
After Midnight,” essay in The Best of A. W. Tozer, p. 37). Think about those words. Tozer is saying exactly what I am saying,
that the great key in our lives is recognizing our need. If we think we have enough of the Spirit of
God to get along all right, then we won’t seek any more. By the way, I am not being very exacting and
accurate in my terminology. I am aware that
every believer has the Spirit dwelling within him. When I speak of “having more of the Spirit,”
I am simply referring to being filled with the Spirit. Whatever terminology you use, the bottom line
is that we will not seek a more intimate relationship with the Lord and the
filling of His Spirit, unless we are brought face to face with our great need.
So why do we need to
be filled with the Spirit? Why
do we need the Spirit of God to work powerfully in our lives? Why do we need Him to pour the life and love
of Jesus through our lives? Because we
know so little of the Spirit’s work in our lives. Again, I do not for a minute want to deny the
fact that God has worked in our lives.
If you are a true Christian, it is because the Spirit has given you life
from above. Many of us have experienced
the Spirit working in our lives.
Nevertheless, let us not be deceived.
Compared to the ocean of possibility for those who are being continually
filled with the Spirit, we are playing in the shallows near the shore. God has so much more for us than we
realize.
Just look
within and look around. How can we read
the book of Acts, then observe our present situation, and not conclude that we
experience a great lack of power. I’m
not talking primarily about power to do flashy miracles, but about power to
proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and then live a life that points people to
Him. That same A. W. Tozer I quoted
before said: “If we removed the Holy
Spirit from the work of the early church, 90% of what they were doing would
have come to a stop. If we removed the
Holy Spirit from the work of the church today, 10% of what is being done would
come to a stop” (A Disruptive Faith,
A. W. Tozer). Tozer died in 1963, but
his insight into the spiritual condition of that day and our day is nothing
short of amazing. Even some 50 years
ago, his conclusion was:
I think there can be no doubt that the need above
all other needs in the Church of God at this moment is the power of the Holy
Spirit. More education, better organization,
finer equipment, more advanced methods—all are unavailing… “It is the Spirit
that quickeneth.” Good as they are they
never bring power. “Power belongeth unto
God.” (“The Divine Conquest,” in The Best of A. W. Tozer, Book Two, p.
61)
All of the outward resources and methodology are far more
advanced and refined today than in Tozer’s day, but the evidence of the
Spirit’s power is ominously absent.
What
do we find in the Word of God?
We find people who longed for and sought God until He was found. That is exactly what God promised. “You will seek me and find me, when you search
for me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13). We often apply that to unbelievers, and it
certainly does apply, but it also applies to believers. The seeking of the Bible is more glorious
than what the world knows. In human
terms, when you find something, the seeking is over. But in God’s economy, when you find Jesus as
the treasure, a whole new world of treasure is now open for your joyous
exploration. No one has ever completely
explored the depth of the riches in Christ, nor will an eternity in His presence
exhaust those riches. Please allow me to
quote Tozer one more time…
One great hindrance to the Spirit-filled life is the
theology of complacency so widely accepted among gospel Christians today. According to this view, acute desire is an
evidence of unbelief and proof of lack of knowledge of the Scriptures… Religious contentment is the enemy of the
spiritual life always. The biographies
of the saints teach that the way to spiritual greatness has always been through
much suffering and inward pain. (“The
Divine Conquest,” in The Best of A. W. Tozer, Book Two, p. 77-78).
Consider
David. He was not a man after God’s own
heart because he was perfect. Just last
week we were reminded that David committed some great sins that had terrible
consequences. Looking at it from a
purely human perspective, it is a rather scandalous thing to call such a sinful
man a man after God’s own heart. But the
truth of the matter is, David went after the heart of God. He was passionate about knowing God. Those first words I quoted this morning came
from David. “O God, thou art my God,
early will I seek thee. My soul
thirsteth for thee; my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where
no water is” (Ps. 63:1-2). It was
that same David who cried out, “One thing have I desired; that will I seek
after – that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to
behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple” (Ps.
27:4). Yes, David sinned, but he
repented with zeal. Psalm 51:1, 7-13,15-17…
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy
lovingkindness. According to the
multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions…. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me,
and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me
to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may
rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and
blot out all mine iniquities. Create in
me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take
not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and
sinners shall be converted unto thee… Open thou my lips, and my mouth shall
show forth thy praise. For thou desirest
not sacrifice, else would I give it.
Thou delightest not in burnt offerings.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise.
In the 73rd
Psalm we hear these words from Asaph… (Ps. 73:25-28)
Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon
earth that I desire beside thee. 26 My flesh and my heart
faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion
for ever. 27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou
hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. 28 But it is
good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I
may declare all thy works.
And
what about Moses, God’s great deliverer and lawgiver? Imagine leading over two million people out of
Egyptian slavery. Might I add that those
people were less than cooperative. Then
imagine meeting with God for forty days and nights up there on Mount Sinai. Wow!
And all that happened after he was 80 years old. Surely after such great accomplishments,
after experiencing so much of the presence and power of God, Moses could relax
and say to himself, “These are now the cautious years. God has been good. Now I can just settle down and wait for
heaven.” Listen again to the words of
Moses from Ex. 33:12-18…
And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this
people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou
hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.
13. Now therefore, I pray thee, if I
have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that
I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
14. And he said, My presence shall go
with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15.
And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up
hence. 16. For wherein shall it be known
here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that
thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the
people that are upon the face of the earth. 17.
And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast
spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
18. And he said, I beseech thee, show me
thy glory.
After
all that God had done in and through Moses, this man still longed to see the
glory of God. We might put it this
way: “Moses couldn’t get enough of the
Lord.”
When
we come to the New Testament, we are always confronted with Peter. As with David, we have a record of Peter’s
mistakes. When Jesus first told His
apostles that He was going to die in Jerusalem, Peter rebuked him. “Lord, that will never happen to you.” Jesus had to rebuke Peter for rebuking
Him. When Jesus began to wash the feet
of His disciples, Peter made a scene and said, “Lord, you will never wash my
feet.” Later, he demonstrated his pride
by saying, “Though all men shall be offended because of
thee, yet will I never be offended” (Matt. 26:33).
Praise God
that there is more to the story. Yes,
Peter repeatedly stuck his foot in his mouth, but God was working in that
man. One time Jesus borrowed Peter’s
fishing boat for a pulpit. When Jesus
finished speaking, He told Peter to launch out into the deep water and let down
his nets. Out of a sense of polite
accommodation, Peter and his partner did so.
When they did so, they hauled up so many fish that the net broke. Peter’s boat and the boat of his partner couldn’t
hold all the fish. Then we read these
words in Luke 5:8, "When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus'
knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
It was that
same Peter who said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In response, Jesus said to Peter, “Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but
my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 16:17). And after Jesus had instructed Peter
concerning the necessity of washing his feet, he then said with great
enthusiasm, “Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head” (John
13:9). Though He did indeed deny
Jesus three times, when the risen Jesus confronted Peter on the seashore, he
was a broken man. With quiet conviction
and humility he continued to say, “Lord, you know that I love you.”
We could
point to a number of others who possessed a longing heart, but come quickly to
Cornelius. Here was a man who was not a
Jew, but he feared God. This man was
fasting and praying one afternoon at three o’clock, when God sent an angel to
inform Cornelius that his prayer had been heard. The angel then instructed Cornelius to send
to Joppa for a man named Peter, who would be able to tell him what to do. When Peter came, he found the house filled
with the family and friends of Cornelius.
As Peter was proclaiming the good news of Jesus, the Holy Spirit fell on
those people as on the apostles on the day of Pentecost (See Acts 10-11). Cornelius was a needy man whose need was met
in Jesus.
O that I might see the
depth of my need -- above all, my need for Him. However, there is something I realize. It is a great truth, and I want to make sure
you understand that it forms the context for everything I am saying this
morning. Yes, I have deep need, but it
is the need of a son. I am not a slave
crying out for deliverance from bondage and death. Rather, I am a son who can cry out, “Abba,
Father.” This is not my imagination;
this is what the Word of God tells me. Gal.
4:4-7…
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5. To redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons. 6.
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into
your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an
heir of God through Christ.
Did you
hear that? He redeemed me from the curse
of the law and made me His own son.
Because I am His son, He sent the Spirit of His Son into my heart to cry
from within me, “Abba, Father.” My Dad
is the God of this universe. I am poor,
but in Him I am rich. That means I am
indeed rich, because I am in Him.
Because I am a son, I am an heir of God through Christ. All He has is mine. What a blessing is mine, if I can only
recognize my need and call on Him who has all and is all.
Brothers
and sisters, if you are in Christ, this is true for you. God has promised to satisfy the hungry
soul. Ps. 107:9, "For he satisfieth the longing soul, and
filleth the hungry soul with goodness."
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they
shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6).
In that
context, I must not be ashamed to confess my need to God. Nor must I hide it from my brothers and
sisters. How I need a greater conviction
of sin in my life. The outside of the
cup is pretty clean, but what about the inside, where my life is naked and
opened unto the eyes of Him to whom I must give account (see Heb. 4:13)? O how I need to learn to worship my Lord in
Spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). How
I need the Lord to deliver me from agendas and routine.
This last
week Rhonda and I took a few days’ vacation and joined Tami and Woody in
Colorado. It wasn’t exactly the way I
wanted to my schedule to be, as I had hoped to have lots of time this past week
before starting our time of looking at the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, it seemed like this was what the
Lord would have us to do. I have never
been disappointed by Colorado, and these past days were no exception. The beauty of God’s creation was
overwhelming. The Lord did faithfully
wake me up in the mornings to spend time with Him. However, He did something greater and more
specific to point out the depth of my need.
During the week, I had the opportunity to visit a friend in the
hospital. Here was a lost man, whose
life had certainly been spared by the Lord.
I spent an hour with him. Though
I spoke the truth of the gospel, his life was not affected in any way by my
words or my presence. I left crying out
to God, “Lord, wh”ere is the power of your Spirit in my life? Where are the rivers of living water that you
promised? The Lord has clearly revealed
my great need to keep on coming to Jesus, to keep on drinking from Him, and to
keep on trusting Him (John 7:37-39). As
John explains in John 7:39, this is the work of the Spirit, and I need that
work desperately!
I don’t
share that experience so that you will pity me, or so that you can assure me
that my friend’s blindness is not my fault.
Nor do I share that with you because I am discouraged and
depressed. No, I am excited. The Spirit of God is available to meet my
need. The failure is not on His part,
but on mine. I am trusting my Lord to
break me, guide me, and fill me until those rivers of living water flow out of
my life. When I see my need, I am in a
good place. When I think I am doing
fine, that is when I am to be pitied.
What about you this
morning? Are you painfully aware
of your need? Is everything going fine
for you? Is your life in a nice routine
with few interruptions? I ask you, “Do
you need a divine upheaval in your life?
Do you need God to shake you in order that you might see your
need?” I do. Brothers and sisters, I am asking you to join
me. Can we say with David in Ps.
86:1-2, “Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.
2. Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O
thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee”? David confesses his need, but he is also conscious
that he is holy, that has been set apart for God. Should that not describe us? We are needy, but praise God that we who are
in Christ have been set apart to God and His purposes. We know who is available to meet our great
need.
Some of you
here this morning are not holy in that you have not been given life. You are still in your sins and are in great
need of God’s salvation. Today is the
day of salvation. Freely admit that you
are in your sins, that there is absolutely nothing good in you, that you have
been a rebel against God. Then look to
Jesus, who went to the cross to take on Himself the punishment that you
deserved. Come to Him in repentance and
faith, and He will not cast you out.
Pray
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