The LORD makes us some promises that are fear-inducing. Other promises He makes are awe-inspiring. Some are both at once. They are bookends of man’s folly and God’s glory.
In Joel’s prophetic book, at chapter 3 verse 10, it is written: “Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, “I am a mighty man.”
Most of us have heard the line that we will beat our swords into plowshares. That verse is located at Isaiah 2:4 – “And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.”
Did you know that there were opposite prophecies concerning the plowshares, the one in Joel and the other in Isaiah? God is great and His Word is great.
“It is, in a great measure, by raising up and endowing great minds that God secures the advance of human affairs, and the accomplishment of His own plans on earth. All minds have their origin in God; and great minds seem to be created by Him as “He creates great oceans, great mountains, great worlds,” as proofs of His own greatness, … by bringing upon the stage from time to time some mind qualified by high original endowment to give a new impulse to human affairs; to lift up the race to a higher level; and to perform, in a single generation, what might have been otherwise the slow work of centuries, or what might not have been done at all.”
We should have a good grasp of American History (that is, if you live in America, if you’re reading this and live elsewhere, the same goes for knowledge of your own country’s history).
British statesman Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” He should know, he led Britain through WWII, emerging victorious against the Nazi Germans (barely).
In Canada, with its leader’s tyranny now morphed into a dictatorship, it is important to know where we come from, and to honor the battles fought for freedom and liberty. This will help us be able to recognize incipient tyranny when it peeks out in a leader’s speeches or actions. In Canada, the newly minted dictator signaled his love for China’s dictatorship some years ago. He said so, in those words. They elected him anyway.
Again, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Two Sundays ago I came across a wonderful sermon by Charles Spurgeon. It was titled “Christian Conversation.” It’s based on Psalm 145,
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;
One of the reasons Spurgeon gave for the fact we believers must speak of Christ more often, is that conversions happen when we speak of him more. He said,
Souls are often converted through godly conversation. Simple words frequently do more good than long sermons. Disjointed, unconnected sentences are often of more use than the most finely polished periods or rounded sentences.
In my ongoing series of reproducing a convicting and wonderful Charles Spurgeon Sermon, here is part 7, the last part. We need to speak of Jesus often, more than we do, really. Spurgeon said that was true in his day and it holds true today.
Yesterday Spurgeon had been exploring the effects of our speaking of Jesus, His Kingdom and His power more often. We finish with that same thought today. His sermon is based on Psalm 145:11
“They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power.”—Psalm 145:11
In my ongoing series of reproducing a convicting and wonderful Charles Spurgeon Sermon, here is part 6. We need to speak of Jesus often, more than we do, really. Spurgeon said that was true in his day and it holds true today.
Yesterday’s installment ended with Spurgeon speaking of the things we can say about our King’s kingdom and the different types of His power. Today, the second-to last installment, he speaks of the causes which will make Christians talk of the glory of Christ’s kingdom and his power. There will be one more part after this.
In my ongoing series of reproducing a convicting and wonderful Charles Spurgeon Sermon, here is part 5. We need to speak of Jesus often, more than we do, really. Spurgeon said that was true in his day and it holds true today.
Yesterday’s installment ended with Spurgeon saying he wished people spoke more of the duration of the Christ’s kingdom till now. We often attribute honor to those kingdoms that have lasted long, but Christ’s was founded in eternity past! It has been the longest existing kingdom in the universe!
Spurgeon goes on to urge us to speak of the future duration of His eternal kingdom, then of God’s sustaining power, His exalting power, and His providing power.
Christian Conversation
A Sermon (No. 2695) Delivered by C. H. SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, On a Lord’s-day Evening in the autumn of 1858.
“They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power.”—Psalm 145:11.
Then you may speak concerning the future duration of your Master’s kingdom. I suppose, if you were to talk much about the second coming of Christ, you would be laughed at, you would be thought diseased in your brain; for there are so few nowadays who receive that great truth, that, if we speak of it with much enthusiasm, people turn away, and say, “Ah! we do not know much about that subject, but Mr. So-and-so has turned his brain through thinking so much about it.”
Men are, therefore, half-afraid to speak of such a subject; but, beloved, we are not afraid to talk of it, for Christ’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and we may talk of the glory of the future as well as of the past.
Some say that Christ’s Church is in danger. There are many churches that are in danger; and the sooner they tumble down, the better; but the Church of Christ has a future that shall never end; it has a future that shall never become dim; it has a future which shall eternally progress in glory. Her glory now is the glory of the morning twilight; it soon shall be the glory of the blazing noon. Her riches now are but the riches of the newly-opened mine; soon she shall have riches much more abundant and far more valuable than any she has at present. She is now young; by-and-by, she will come, not to her dotage, but to her maturity. She is like a fruit that is ripening, a star that is rising, a sun that is shining more and more unto the perfect day; and soon she will blaze forth in all her glory, “fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners.”
EPrata photo
O Christian, here is a topic worthy of thy conversation! Talk of the glory of thy Master’s kingdom. Often speak of it while others amuse themselves with stories of sieges and battles; while they are speaking of this or that or the other event in history, tell them the history of the monarchy of the King of kings; speak to them concerning the great monarchy in which Jesus Christ shall reign for ever and ever.
But I must not forget briefly to hint at the other subject of the saints’ conversation: “and shall talk of thy power.” It is not simply of Christ’s kingdom of which we are to speak, but also of his power. Here, again, the psalmist gives us something which will help us to a division of our subject. In the 14th and 15th verses, mention is made of three kinds of power of which we ought to speak: “The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.”
First, the Christian should speak of Christ’s upholding power. What a strange expression this is, “The Lord upholdeth all that fall”! Yet remember John Bunyan’s quaint old saying,—
“He that is down needs fear no fall; He that is low, no pride; He that is humble, ever shall Have God to be his guide.”
So David says, “The Lord upholdeth all that fall.” What a singular expression! How can he hold up those that fall? Yet those that fall, in this sense, are the only persons that stand. It is a remarkable paradox; but it is true. The man who stands on his feet, and says, “I am mighty,—I am strong enough to stand alone;”—down he will go; but he who falls into Christ’s arms, he who says,—
“But, oh! for this no power have I, My strength is at thy feet to lie;”—
that man shall not fall. We may well talk, then, of Christ’s upholding power. Tell it to Christians; tell how he kept you when your feet were going swift to hell; how, when fierce temptations did beset you, your Master drove them all away; how, when the enemy was watching, he compassed you with his mighty strength; how, when the arrows fell thickly around you, his mighty arm did hold the shield before you, and so preserved you from them all. Tell how he saved you from death, and delivered your feet from falling by making you, first of all, fall down prostrate before him.
Next, talk of his exalting power: “He raiseth up all those that be bowed down.” Oh, how sweet it is, beloved, sometimes to talk of God’s exalting power after we have been hewed down! I love to come into this pulpit, and talk to you as I would in my own room. I make no pretensions to preaching at all, but simply tell you what I happen to feel just now. Oh, how sweet it is to feel the praisings of God’s grace when you have been bowed down! Cannot some of us tell that, when we have been bowed down beneath a load of affliction, so that we could not even move, the everlasting arms have been around us, and have lifted us up? When Satan has put his foot on our back, and we have said, “We shall never be raised up any more,” the Lord has come to our rescue. If we were only to talk on that subject in our conversation with one another, no Christian need have spiritless conversation in his parlour. But, nowadays, you are so afraid to speak of your own experience, and the mercy of God to you, that you will talk any stuff and nonsense rather than that. But, I beseech you, if you would do good in the world, rehearse God’s deeds of raising up those that be bowed down.
Moreover, talk of God’s providing power: “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.” We ought often to speak of how God provides for his creatures in providence. Why should we not tell how God has taken us out of poverty, and made us rich; or, if he has not done that for us, how he has supplied our wants day by day in an almost miraculous manner! Some persons object to such a book as Huntington’s ” Bank of Faith,” and I have heard some respectable people call it “The Bank of Nonsense.” Ah! if they had ever been brought into Huntington’s condition, they would see that it was indeed a bank of faith, and not a bank of nonsense; the nonsense was in those who read it, in their unbelieving hearts, not in the book itself. And he who has been brought into many straits and trials, and has been divinely delivered out of them, would find that he could write a “Bank of Faith” as good as Huntington’s if he liked to do so; for he has had as many deliverances, and he could rehearse the mighty acts of God, who has opened his hands, and supplied the wants of his needy child. Many of you have been out of a situation, and you have cried to God to furnish you with one, and you have had it. Have you not sometimes been brought so low, through painful affliction, that you could not rest? And could you not afterwards say, “I was brought low, and he helped me”? Yes; “I was brought low, and he helped me out of my distress”? Yes; I see some of you nodding your heads, as much as to say, “We are the men who have passed through that experience; we have been brought into great straits, but the Lord has delivered us out of them all.” Then do not be ashamed to tell the story. Let the world hear that God provides for his people. Go, speak of your Father. Do as the child does, who, when he has a little cake given to him, will take it out, and say, “Father gave me this.” Do so with all your mercies; go and tell all the world that you have a good Father, a gracious Father, a heavenly Provider; and though he gives you a hand-basket portion, and you only live from hand to mouth, yet tell how graciously he gives it, and that you would not change your blest estate for all the world calls good or great.
Burning man is a free-for all party in the remote and forbidding Black Rock desert of northern Nevada. For the last 35 years, folks who want to get away from it all, create some art, hang out far from the prying eyes of society or simply to party, have been attending this informal and rapidly growing libertine and eclectic gathering.
They keep going to Burning Man so as to indulge the flesh.
The top two tenets of Burning Man as stated are:
“Radical self-reliance—” Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.” “Radical self-expression—”Participants at the Burning Man event in the Black Rock Desert are encouraged to express themselves in a number of ways through various art forms and projects. The event is clothing-optional and public nudity is common, though not practiced by the majority.”
There is no plumbing, no running water, no structure and no societally normal limits on, well, anything. Participants return to regular society after the week-long party is over filthy, exhausted, sunburned, and satiated.
The climax to the event is the torching of the effigy of the man, hence the name Burning Man. Each year the ‘set’ of and around the man gets bigger. This year’s theme is Waking Dreams, exploring dream energy individually and in community as collective.
The roots of the festival were the brain child of Larry Harvey who attended a few solstice ceremonies on Baker Beach in San Francisco back in the 1980s. The culmination of the solstice festival was a bonfire, where a wooden man was burned. When the original organizers stopped putting on the pagan festival, Harvey developed the idea and ran with it. Harvey says that the he was unaware that a wicker man was a large human-shaped wicker statue allegedly used in Celtic paganism for human sacrifice by burning it in effigy. Accordingly, rather than allow the name “Wicker Man” to become the name of the ritual, he started using the name “Burning Man”. (Wikipedia)
So as these things always do, it has pagan idolatrous roots.
The penchant for man to collect around an object and idolize it goes far back. It goes back to the Tower of Babel. It even goes back to the Golden Calf of the Hebrews, just released from slavery.
At two points in the early Bible record, God wanted His people scattered, in Genesis 9:7 after the flood, which the people did not do. And secondly at the Tower of Babel, where they had collected together in the desert, erected a pagan monolith to worship. (Genesis 11:8). This time He confused the languages and they did scatter eventually.
Burning man is said to be “the biggest party on the planet.” I believe it. Left alone to seek self-expression, the unsaved flesh will always gravitate to sin. Always. And it is no different in the Black Rock Desert the last week of August.
The horrifically sinful roots of Burning Man are incontrovertible. And before I was saved, I wanted to go there in the worst way.
I wasn’t saved until I was 43 years old. That left a lot of adulthood to play around and let the flesh have its day. Yet I was a study in contrasts. My flesh would seek freedom and licentiousness (which is what ‘self-expression’ is all about) but whenever I’d encounter it or have an opportunity to indulge its worst excesses, my conscience would be shocked and I’d back away.
Burning Man was too difficult and too remote for a Mainer to attend.
For a long while I was jealous of Burning Man, thinking THAT was the place to be. I wanted to see the art. I wanted to look at the large-scale installations. Yet, saying you’re going to Burning Man for the art is the same as saying you read Playboy for the articles. If you want art, go to MoMA, or any public park in the United States to see large scale art installations. What you are really wanting to see is the spectacle of unrestrained flesh, and the unpredictability of how far the unbridled ones with a seared conscience will go.
Solomon knew the flesh, once indulged, leaves a person feeling guilty, hollow, and a little sick and embarrassed. I am grateful it never came about that I went there.
The inhibition the conscience naturally levels makes a person intuitively understand that it is NOT about freedom and self-expression. It is about indulging wanton passions which are frowned upon by society, and for good reason. They are sins against God and there is nothing new under the sun. Not even the sun of the Black Rock desert. Solomon said of the vanity of self-indulgence, in Ecclesiastes 2:1, & 10-11,
“I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. … And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”
At Burning Man in the remote desert, there is nothing new under the sun, except guilt and shame.
Thanks the gracious Lord that he gave us the Holy Spirit to indwell us. After we repent unto salvation, He helps us restrain this hot wind of lust and revelry. He instills in us good desires. He helps us re-orient our heart to the things above and not the things of the flesh. Our Lord eternally satisfies.
Jesus always satisfies the eternal longing that sends people to places like Burning Man. After the Man is burned and the people return to life as normal…they will feel the desert wind leaking from their hands, evaporating even as they begin dreaming of the next time. Come to Jesus and be satiated with Him.
“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
NOT Burning Man. It’s a photo from another pagan revelry. Photo by EPrata
We are inundated with hate language all day long from rebellious pagans, and many of us are also treated to the snark, anger, or hateful speech of people claiming to be fellow Christians, too (surely blotting their witness.) I don’t want to fall into the same trap. The Bible says “Your speech must always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” (Colossians 4:6).
How do I do that? How do I develop the habit of speaking of the glories of Jesus and have edifying conversations?
I found a Spurgeon sermon that fills the bill. I am posting it in parts till it’s done.
the-end-time.org 