After a break of two months, we continue in our series on regeneration and renewal. And today we are speaking particularly about renewal and the goal of renewal. In other words, if we are constantly being renewed, where are we being renewed? Into what kind of image are we being renewed into? Where are we going in this process of renewal?
We saw earlier, in some earlier messages, that perfection is an integral part of renewal. We can say, in fact, that it is the direction and goal of renewal. We are being renewed. Renewed into what? Well, into what we have described in scripture as perfection. In the words of scripture, perfection, as we saw, means not the eradication of sin. I am at pains to keep repeating this point. Not the elimination of sin, so that we become sinless in our person or in our nature. But perfection in scripture means the overwhelming power of God in our lives, through the Spirit, by which we are enabled to overcome sin. So perfection then, and I'm at pains to repeat this again and again, has nothing to do with a doctrine of eradication of sin from our lives, but the overcoming, the consistent overcoming of sin in our lives, by God's Spirit.
Now, if then perfection is triumphing over sin, what is the goal of this triumphing over sin? What is the direction in which this perfection is taking us? We can say very briefly that it is to become like Christ. It is to become like Him. But that is exactly what our subject is about today. What does it mean to become like Christ? What does being like Christ mean? Does it mean to be gentle Jesus, meek and mild, to be like that, to be kind, to be holy, to be nice, to be pleasant, to be all of these nice things, which indeed certainly includes all that? But is that then our goal, that the direction of renewal, our being born again, our regeneration, and the whole process of renewal is simply to make us like Jesus in this sense, to be meek and mild, to be humble, to be kind, to be nice, and all these good things? Or does even this have yet some -- can this be, even this be defined in terms of something more dynamic, if I can put it like this?
You'll say, what do you mean by more dynamic? Well, by this we mean, can all of these qualities be defined in terms of a mission, of a task in which we are to fulfill in this generation? In other words, are we just to become meek and mild because it's rather nice to be meek and mild, or holy, or pleasant, or whatever it is? Or is there something that these qualities are meant to accomplish in us, and for the well-being of others, and for the glory of God? If, in other words, the question is, is the goal of renewal, and the purpose of renewal, simply to make us individually nicer people, better people, and that's all there is to it? Or does our calling not merely mean that we should ourselves have a better character, but that it means that we have a task in these last days to fulfill? Does God just want to make you a rather nice person, that you can go about doing your own thing as a nice person, a godly person, a kind person, and all of these things are very fine and very good. But does that define our mission in these last days as disciples of Christ? That is the question we want to tackle.
Does becoming like Jesus merely mean that we are like him in what we are, or does it also mean that we become like him in what he does? That's to put the question in another way. Can it then be said that to be like Jesus is that we do what he does? That the task that God gave him to do is also now transferred to us to do. That renewal is not merely having as its purpose the fact that we become nicer and better people, which indeed it should be, and that is in order, but that is not enough. That the purpose of our transformation is that becoming like Jesus, we may fulfill his saving mission in the world. That is the kind of question we want to look at.
And I'm proposing to you today that the teaching of scripture is saying not merely that becoming like Christ is -- and when we sing this song, "O to be like thee, O to be like thee in your love and your kindness" and so forth, that is fine. But we have to go more than that. We have to be like thee in the taking up of our cross and following him. We have to be like thee. Even to the point of laying down our lives for his people, for the salvation of the world. Not, as I have emphasized in the past, that our death or our life can atone for the sins of others. This we cannot do. Only Jesus can do that. But that we are to take his atoning life and transmit it to others. And I want to show you as we go on in this study that if we don't live in this self-giving way, we don't become like Jesus. No matter how we might think ourselves to be meek and mild and gentle and humble and kind and all of these things, we have not become like Christ. We do not become like Christ until we live like him, that is, for the very same goal and mission for which he lives.
That is a tall order. But that is the order to which we have been called. And I would like that in this sharing today, in the exposition today, we may catch a vision of our time. The fact that we are to live for others and live sacrificially is something I have touched on more than once before and there is nothing new in this. But today I would like to be able more and more to kindle in our hearts through the word of God the vision of this task. For it strikes me ever more clearly that the people of God today do not have a vision. And when you don't have a vision, you don't know where you are going. And when you don't know where you are going, you don't even know why you are supposed to be gentle and meek and mild and loving and all these things. Why should I be any of these things?
So in summary, for this part of what we have covered so far, let me say this. The goal of renewal is perfection. Perfection is to become like Christ. Becoming like Christ is not merely a matter of being like Him in terms of character, though it includes that. But becoming like Christ in scripture means that we walk the way He walked. We do the work that He did. And we are to accomplish the task that He has entrusted to us. That is the exciting -- if I may use the word exciting, and I don't see why only worldly people are allowed to use words like exciting -- the exciting task. The exciting vision to which God has called us.
Now, in order to illustrate my point today -- and I think I may have too much material to cover in one session today, and we may have to take this in two sessions -- but let us turn for a moment to John chapter 14, verse 12. John chapter 14, verse 12. This verse is also well known, but I would like that by the Lord's grace we may cast a new light from a new angle upon this verse. John 14, verse 12, reads like this. "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the work that I do. And greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father." He who believes in me, any of my disciples, he will also do the work that I do.
Now, here is where I show you the scriptural foundation of what I've just said. To believe in Jesus is not merely to reflect certain bits of his character. I say bits of his character because when will we attain to the greatness of his humility? When will we attain to the depth of his kindness? When will we attain to the vastness of his love? We are always going to be only following in bits because the magnitude is difficult but to say virtually impossible for us to achieve in this present life. One day we shall be like him as he is. But then, notice carefully, the Lord does not himself even define discipleship merely in terms of being like him in character, though this, and I stress again, is included. But here he stresses the fact that those who believe in him will also -- not may also, if they choose to do it, if they have some spare time to do it, if they feel like doing it. He says, those who believe in me will do it. It is inevitable that anyone who believes in me will do the works that I do.
Now, often this verse is presented as though it's a challenge. It is a challenge. But a challenge in the sense of it being optional. Maybe somebody who believes in me might consider doing what I do. And so we think, "Yeah, I am willing to consider this, Lord, maybe when I retire and I have no more job and I have more spare time, I will start doing the kind of things you do." No, no, no. It is saying that the way you know whether you have been born again, whether you have been renewed, is that you are already in the process of doing what he did. There is Christlikeness in terms of dynamics, in terms of a quality of life lived out in the world. Not merely a quality of life for us to enjoy for ourselves, but something lived out in the world to the praise of his glory.
Now, many times, strikingly, as you will remember, many times these words are mentioned about the works, as though these works are talking about miracles. As though the saying is that, well, the miracles that I did, you will do also. There is a piece of quite improper exegesis. One principle of exegesis is that you look at the context. And when you look at the context, going right back to chapter 13, verse 36, the context talks about Jesus going away, namely, to die, and to go to the Father. So, in verse 36, Simon Peter begins this whole passage, in verse 36, with the question, "Lord, where are you going?" Where are you going? And as you go on reading, you will know that this going away has to do with Jesus laying down his own life.
And then, verse 38, Jesus answered him, because Peter began to realize it has to do with death. So he says, "Well, wherever you're going, wherever you go, I will do the same. I will also lay down my life. I will lay down my life." And the Lord Jesus says in verse 38, Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Will you? I'm sure you are willing to do so, but you are not ready for it yet. It won't be today. It won't be tomorrow. It won't be the next year. Peter, you are not yet ready for this. In fact, worse than that, you are not going to be able to face this challenge. You are going to deny me when the cock crows."
Now, this conversation goes on and it's all talking about Jesus' death. And then to verse 10. And as you look at verse 10, the word "work" appears. Verse 10, "Do you believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak of my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works." Notice, what is the connection of the works to the previous passage? The previous words. He was speaking about the words that I speak to you. "I do not speak of my own authority, but the Father does his works." The works here refers primarily to his speaking. And the speaking refers primarily to the revealing of the Father. "He that has seen me has seen the Father." This is what the context is. So that the Lord Jesus himself defines the works in this context as referring primarily to the revealing of the Father to the people. Conveying the words of life both in words and in his life to the people so that they are able to see the Lord Jesus.
This conversation sees the glory of the Father in the Lord Jesus as you can see from verse 9 onwards where Philip asks this question, "Show us the Father," and the Lord Jesus goes on to say, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." Now therefore in this context I stress again that the work refers to the revealing of God to the multitude, because to know God is to have life. Therefore the works is the communication of life through the teaching and through the life that reveals God to the multitude. So it has very little in fact to do with miracles and such, though of course again the miracles are not excluded. The stress is that in this context miracles, the actual working of miracles, is subservient to the purpose of revealing God. If the miracles reveal God, which was their purpose, then it is all part of these works. But the primary purpose of miracles, the primary purpose of teaching, the primary purpose of his coming into the world at all, was that we may know him whom to know is life eternal.
Now let us get this thing very straight in our minds, otherwise we are going to be at the mercy of well-meaning people and especially our charismatic friends who keep drumming up this verse to talk about our performing miracles, and one day you will perform miracles, maybe. That is not so because that depends on the gifts that you have, whether you will do certain types of miracles, in which case this statement that "whoever believes in me, whoever believes in me, any person, if you believe in him you will do his works too" -- now that is not going to be the case if the works are limited only to performing miracles or doing particular types of works which are referred to in 1 Corinthians 12 to 14, which are in fact gifts. And Paul there goes on to say, does everyone do this? Does everyone prophesy? Does everyone perform mighty works? No. The answer is that some do, that not all, in which case this verse doesn't apply.
So let us understand then that when we are talking about Christlikeness we are not talking merely about doing this miracle or that miracle, we are talking about the work of revealing God in this age in a saving manner to fulfill his saving work. We often found difficulty in understanding what Paul said when he said to make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. Paul understood the Lord's teaching perfectly. He knew that we were called to carry on Christ's saving work, and in the process of carrying on Christ's saving work, of course we had to make up that part of the sufferings of Christ which are for the church to bear. Strange that such vital teachings are somehow lost in the midst today. And for this very reason we must return to these things.
Now the same thing in John chapter 17 verse 4, but we can look at this a few chapters further along. John chapter 17 verse 4. The Lord Jesus said in his high priestly prayer, he says to the Father, "I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made." I glorified thee on earth. How? By having accomplished the work which you, Father, entrusted to me. Now what was the work? Does the work mean miracles? Is that what the Father entrusted to the Lord Jesus? No, here again we can see that the work refers to the whole sphere of his redeeming activity, not merely just to miracles. "The work that I do, which the Father committed me to do, you will also do." Do you get the connection now? You see the picture? His saving ministry which was entrusted to him by the Father, which he did, is now for us also to do. That is what becoming Christlike means. Having the same saving mentality that Christ had.
This mentality then is so beautifully reflected in the Apostle Paul, that "by all means I may save some" in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 22, is almost like a slogan of Paul's life, that by all means I may save some. Paul wanted to save some by any means available. That must be our driving determination, and that is the mentality of Christ. He came into the world -- the Lord Jesus came into the world that by all means he might save some, and that is the same dynamic that drives Paul forward. He looked over there, there are people who do not know the Lord Jesus, I have got to bring the gospel to them. Wherever the gospel has not been preached, he says, I have got to get there. But thanks be to God, he was not like our modern evangelists who are only happy to make a few decisions, or many decisions, whichever they are, and then having made the decision say, "Bye bye, my friends, best of luck, hope you survive," and off they go. What is this? Paul did not labor like this. Once they came to the Lord, once they committed themselves, then we see in Colossians chapter 1, he toils to present every man perfect in Christ. What does that mean? That means that when they have come to the Lord, Paul then strives to give them the same mentality as Christ had, to go forth in their turn living the self-giving, outpouring life, conveying, committing, communicating the life of Christ, not merely in some words, but a whole new way of thinking, in the establishing of a new community, the church -- not mainly the community of the saved, but the community of the saving. That's very important to grasp.
Now in order to get this message across, I'm going to try to accomplish this by a picture in the Old Testament. The picture of the Old Testament is expressed here in Ezekiel chapter 22 and verse 30. Let us turn for a moment to Ezekiel, this great prophet of God. Ezekiel chapter 22 and verse 30. And some of this passage I have shared in Hong Kong because this passage has been very deeply in my heart, so I have shared it in another context and in another way. But I return to this to illustrate the point that I make, and to put in a lot of material, scriptural teaching that was not included in the Hong Kong message.
Ezekiel chapter 22, verses 30 and 31. And this passage is so important to me and I hope also to you because it expresses God's deep longing in his heart. It is as though God opened his heart to us all and said, "Look into my heart and see what I feel. Look into my heart and understand my thoughts." And here is the Lord speaking to the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel 22 and verse 30. And God is saying, "And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it. But I found none."
You know, I have read this verse back and forth and back and forth, and every time it seems to me that I go a little bit deeper into the teaching of the Lord, a little bit deeper into his heart. Let's look again at this passage, going back a little bit further to verse 29 to grasp the context, to verse 28. "And her prophets have smeared them with whitewash, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, 'Thus says the Lord God,' when the Lord has not spoken." Through these prophets, the people of the land of Israel, that is, have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and the needy and have extorted from the sojourner without redress. And in this desperate situation of sin and corruption, God looks out over Israel as a nation rebellious and in sin, and he says, "And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it. But I couldn't find such a man." I looked through Israel for such a man, just one, one such man. I couldn't find one.
Therefore, verse 31, "Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. Their way have I requited upon their head, says the Lord God." Can you feel God's heart? Can you, as it were, put your hand on the pulse of God as it were and feel his pulse? This verse is remarkable in the scriptures. You can feel God's pulse. Israel, his redeemed people, the people he redeemed out of Egypt by his saving power, the people that he made into a nation who were a bunch of slaves and nobody, a people that he brought into the land of promise, into a land flowing with milk and honey, a people that he provided with the finest teaching in the world, the teaching of his own word, to whom he gave counsels of life, to whom he gave the instruction of his prophets, a people who saw his power in the wilderness, his majesty revealed in his work -- this people had deteriorated and gone their own way. They had gone into sin and into corruption, into, as it says here, extortion, extorting one another. They oppressed one another. They trampled on one another in their attempt to climb up, they stepped the other guy down. This is what Israel had become. The people that God has redeemed, who were called by his name, a people who were to be his glory in the midst of the earth, manifesting his power and his salvation -- these people had become like this.
And God was beginning to stretch out his hand with his sword in his hand to strike them down in his judgment. But before his judgment came, you can see his heart. He didn't want to destroy Israel. He longed not to have to do this. He wished that it would not be necessary. And he looked through over Israel, looking -- is there one person? Just one. One who will stand in the breach, so that, as it says here, I may not have to destroy the land, so that I will not have to destroy my people. Just one. There wasn't one. Therefore, verse 31, therefore my fury has to go with all my righteousness. My holiness must express itself in judgment. I shall destroy my people because they gave me no alternative. I have no other choice.
Well, you are saying to yourself, what has all this got to do with being like Christ? What's this got to do with Christ? Well, let me paint the picture for you again. Let's try to understand the picture of standing in the breach. What is the breach? How do we understand it? The breach means a great hole in the city wall. What is a breach? The word "breach" -- it means this: gap. A gap in the wall. And there you read it. I was looking for someone to stand in the breach, to build up the wall and stand in the breach. "Build up the wall" means the wall had fallen down. The wall of the city had collapsed.
Now why does the wall of the city collapse? Well, for several reasons. One is that one fails to maintain the wall. Walls, like buildings, need constantly to be maintained, and if they are not maintained they crumble with time. Or they can collapse because of battle. In the onslaught of the enemy, they came in those days with great battering rams. Battering rams, as you know, were made of long poles, of huge trees, made of the stem of huge trees, and there in the front was a big head, usually the ram's head, that's why it's called the battering ram. This ram's head with two big horns was made of metal at the end of this great long pole, which was put up on an arch like this, and with ropes dangling down. And you would have this pole swinging back and forth on this arch, and then when they would attack a city they would push this thing up on wheels, this arch in a triangle like this with wheels underneath and the pole in the middle swinging loose, and they would bring this against the wall of the city. And the men would heave back and slam that pole into the wall, and this great metal ram's head would pound its way into the wall, and gradually the stones would crumble, and slowly by slowly the siege engine, as they were called, the battering rams, would break the wall down. And soon the wall crumbled. And of course the opponents on top of the wall are trying to throw stones and shoot arrows, but of course they built a roof over the top of the battering ram so it's very difficult to get at those people underneath with this great roof on top. And so the battering ram goes on to work.
And when you read some of these ancient accounts of battle, the sound of the battering ram was sickening to the stomach of the inhabitants. Imagine you are surrounded in the city and you hear the sound of the ram. Boom, boom, boom. Every time that boom goes into the wall, your stomach feels sick because you wonder just how soon is that wall going to crumble. And all the soldiers are on edge inside, waiting for that wall to crumble, and they know the moment the wall crumbles, the enemy will pour in like a flood over the wall, through the breaches, right into the hole they will come full speed. Men of war will be coming in, and that will be the end of the nation, the end of the city. In olden days that was a common experience.
Now there is the breach in the wall. You see the picture. And now that wall of Israel, the wall of Jerusalem, has fallen. And this means that when a wall is broken, the city is virtually defenseless. The wall is its defense, its security, its salvation. And once the wall is breached, its salvation is gone, its security is gone. The enemy will pour in like a flood, bringing death and destruction with them. That is why, if you have been to Masada like those in the first team have been, you will remember that's exactly what the Romans did at Masada. Those of the first team will remember they built a ramp up. The Jews thought they were secure in the high heights of Masada, so hard to get up there. But the Romans built a ramp, slowly by slowly they built a ramp up to the wall, and they pushed the siege engines up. And soon the defendants, the Jewish defendants of Masada, were having that sickening feeling in their stomach when they heard the sound of the battering ram against the wall. Boom, boom. Oh, it's dreadful to think what was going on in their stomach with that sound. I mean, thunder, battering ram.
# The Goal of Renewal: Fulfilling Christ's Saving Mission — Part 2 (1983-05-08)
...but the pulse of hatred, the pulse of destruction, this terrible booming sound against the wall. And then what did the defendants of Masada try to do? They tried to build another wall inside the other wall so that when the one collapsed, they had another wall. But that didn't do much to stop the Romans. The Romans came anyway, bashing down the next wall. And what did the inhabitants of Masada do? A famous story, you know, they chose to cut their own throats and die by suicide.
And when I think of that picture, both of Israel and of Masada, I hear the words of the Lord through his prophets ringing in my ears again. When God said to the prophets, "O Israel, why will you die? Why do you choose death?" Well, let's try to capture this picture again about the man building the wall, standing in the gap to save the nation. God says, I looked through Israel, I couldn't find one. Where are the men who stand in the gap? What is the picture saying to us?
Well, to capture this picture, let us go back a bit further again. The picture is of God building a nation represented by the city of Jerusalem. He builds up this nation. Isaiah portrays this in the picture of the vine in Isaiah chapter 5. He took a vine from Egypt. He planted the vine in the new land, the promised land. And he built a wall around it. And he put up watchtowers that people would look out and protect that vineyard. And he made that vineyard to prosper. But instead of bringing forth sweet fruit, it brought forth sour fruit. It became a disappointment to God. A fruitless nation. And God then has to turn against his people. Because God is just. Because God is holy. Let us get one principle clearly into our mind. He will judge any sinner. Any sinner whatsoever, be he a believer or an unbeliever. That is the principle of the word of God that we shall see in a moment.
But there is a picture. Jerusalem, the golden, as it is now. Golden because when the sun shines upon its walls, it reflects a golden kind of light. Jerusalem, the golden. The city of God. And there are how many psalms in the Old Testament singing the praises of Jerusalem in the day of its glory. The city of God set upon a hill which cannot be hid. A light to the nations. And it is precisely that picture that the Lord Jesus uses in Matthew chapter 5, you will remember. "You are the light of the world. A city set upon a hill which cannot be hidden. You are the new Jerusalem in which God's glory is manifested."
That causes my heart to ache when I say those words. It causes my heart to ache. Why is this so? Because Paul speaks of the church as the glory of Christ. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 23. The church which is the glory of Christ. His servants in the church and the church itself are the glory of Christ. You say, why does your heart ache? Well, look around you. Look at the church today. Is it the glory of Christ? Does the church manifest its glory? The reputation of the church in Hong Kong is so bad today that it is difficult even to get some clear thinking people to go to church anymore. Is the church that? That is the glory of Christ? Forget it. If that is the glory of Christ, I do not need Christ either. My heart aches.
Paul in his day, Paul in his day was able to speak without shame, without apology, without embarrassment of the church as the glory of Christ. Can we do that? In Ephesians chapter 3, the last part of Ephesians chapter 3, Paul speaks about the glory of God manifested through the church and through Jesus Christ. And in that order -- through the church and through Jesus Christ. We would have thought he would have said Jesus first and then the church. But there he says at the end of Ephesians 3, through the church and through Jesus Christ, God's glory is revealed. Can you say that? Can I say that today without embarrassment and without shame? We do not even look at those kind of verses today. We don't know what to do with those kind of verses. But that is the same case with Israel. Israel was for the glory of God. When they went into the land of promise and God handed that land over to them, under the reign of David, it was a glory in the earth. Its reputation spread far and wide so that even the queen of Ethiopia came all the way to listen to the wisdom of Solomon and to behold the land of glory. She said, "I have heard with my ears the glory of God manifested in this land. I came to see with my eyes." But it wasn't long and lasting.
You see, Paul's day and our day, there's a gap of nearly 2,000 years. In his day, Paul could speak with joy and of glory in the church. It was not to say that the church had no fault. It was not to say that the church made no mistakes. But even with its faults and its mistakes, he could still say without embarrassment and without apology that it is the glory of Christ in the earth. But we can't do that today, can we? I wish we could. That's why it hurts my heart. What has happened is, you see, brothers and sisters, the walls have fallen. The walls have fallen. Great breaches are there in the walls for all to see. And just as we read in the prophets that the nations passed by Israel and Israel became a source of scorning and scoffing to the nations, so have we become a source of scorning and scoffing in the eyes of the world.
In the first century church, in the second century church, in spite of weaknesses and faults in the church, which I do emphasize, I don't gloss over or pretend that there were no faults, that the church in the New Testament was perfect -- it was not perfect. But its imperfections are nothing to compare with our imperfections. In these 2,000 years, the walls of the church have fallen. The city set upon a hill is now a pitiful sight. It cannot be hidden. But that means not only his glory cannot be hidden, his faults cannot be hidden either in these last days. And that's why we come to Ezekiel 22 and verse 13. I feel again the pulse of God. When, like as he said of Israel, "I looked through Israel and looked for one person who would stand in the gap and build the wall, I couldn't find one." That is my call to you today. I wonder, is he looking through us here, looking through his churches throughout the world, can he find one to stand in the gap before the church gets cut off?
What did I say? I said, before the church gets cut off. You say, how can you say a thing like that? Read Romans 11. Read it there. If the Jews were cut off, Paul goes on to say, so stand fast in God's kindness, because if you do not, you also will be cut off. And he's speaking to the church. The Jews got cut off. You remember that? Their walls fell down. They went into slavery, into defeat. And Paul says, without any apology, as a warning to the Roman Christians, the leading church of the day, of the Roman Empire, do not take God's grace and mercy for granted. Because if you fail, you also will be cut off. That's why I say, I feel that the days of the church are much numbered. The days of the Gentiles, which is our time, is close to being over. The walls of the city of glory are breached in many places. And God looks for a man to stand in the breach. But again, my heart pains within me. Because as he could find hardly a man in the days of Israel, before he wiped Israel out, destroyed it, so he must have a hard time finding one today.
I remember the words in Philippians chapter 2. Those words that are so painful, when Paul says, "I wanted to send somebody to you," he said to the Philippians, "but I couldn't find anyone except Timothy. Because the others seek not the interests of God, but they seek their own interests." That's why he couldn't find anyone. You see, because everyone is seeking their own interests. In this generation too. In the church too. Let's not kid ourselves. If I ask people here to raise their hands, how many can genuinely say that this moment and this hour and this day, you are not living for your own interests, that you truly, genuinely and unreservedly live wholly for the glory of God -- to raise their hands, I won't put you to the embarrassment of doing so. Because I fear that few could in all honesty say, "I will raise my hands. By the grace of God, this is how I live. Not because I am good, but because by God's grace I am doing this." Paul could find only one Timothy. And thanks be to God, there was a Timothy around. Or else what will happen to the church?
With to God, we understand his teaching. That if we are disciples, we follow Jesus. This is not for some high category of elite Christians. It is just for disciples. "Whoever believes in me," John 14 says, "will do the work that I do." And what were his works? What did he come into the world for? He tells us very plainly. "The Son of Man came into the world," he said, "to give his life a ransom for many." The work that I do, he will do also. I didn't set the standard, brothers and sisters. He set the standard. I dare not lower the standard. And if I am mistaken in my exegesis, then do please kindly point it out to me, for I am most desirous of learning. If in my ignorance I have said something untrue, kindly instruct me accordingly, because I assure you that I will be most teachable by the grace of God. "The works that I do, the works that the Father instructed me to do, namely that I should reveal him, and do this -- to do this through the cross, to lay down my life as a ransom for many. The works that I do, you shall do also." Let's not get the emphasis into miracles and other such things. We are talking about salvation. The Christ ministry has to do with salvation. Not just about doing some miracles. Those miracles were only to serve the purpose of revealing God's compassion and character to us. Supremely manifested on the cross.
Well now, let's talk about those who stood in the gap. You know, the history of Israel is the history of those who stood in the gap. Do you know that? It has been nothing but the history of those who stood in the gap, because if there were not people who stood in the gap before, Israel would not even have lasted. Would not even have lasted until the destruction that the Babylonians brought under Nebuchadnezzar. They would not have lasted to the year 521 B.C. They would have been wiped out long ago before that. But they survived even that long only because in every generation by the mercies of God there was one to stand in the gap. Until in the end, just before the destruction of Israel, there were no more to stand in the gap.
You say, what do I mean? Let us turn for a moment to Psalm 106, verse 23. Psalm 106, verse 23. Moses was one who stood in the breach. Let me read this verse to you. "Therefore he said he would destroy them." That is, destroy Israel in the wilderness. As you see from verse 19, that was because of the golden calf that they made in Horeb. And then verse 23. "Therefore he said, that is, God said, that he would destroy them. Had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before God to turn away God's wrath from destroying them." You see, God -- the history of Israel would have ended right there in the wilderness. There would have been no more history of Israel to write. It would have been finished right there in the wilderness. Had not Moses stood in the breach and turned God's wrath away.
That is the history of Israel. The walls were built up and there in the wilderness they collapsed again through sin, through unrighteousness. And there was Moses standing in the breach to turn back God's anger as he interceded with God. Pleading, "Lord, spare Israel. But if you don't want to spare them, then destroy me also. Write me out. Blot me out of your book. Either you spare them, but if you destroy them, destroy me with them. I don't want to be otherwise treated."
I hope that you will begin to see the spirit of what I am sharing with you today. Many people think that I say these things to criticize the church. Do you think that the prophets took pleasure in criticizing Israel? Do you think the prophet Ezekiel when he said that they were full of oppression and sin and vice and crime, do you think he took pleasure in condemning Israel? That he had some kind of a joy out of this? Are we so carnal as to think in this way? Or is it because he loved Israel to the point that he realized that Israel was about to be destroyed and pleaded with them to turn again from their sin before it was too late? It was too late. I hope it is not for the church. And people say, why are you always speaking about the sins of the church and the failures of the church? As though they think I took some kind of joy in this matter. Or do they not know that our hearts grieve within us? Because in condemning the church we condemn ourselves. But can we also come with this attitude and this spirit? "Lord, if you are going to destroy the church in your wrath, I ask not to be spared. That I also may go with it. For I have failed in my duty and in my task. I failed to build up the walls of righteousness. So spare me not in the judgment of the church."
That was Moses' word. "If you are going to destroy Israel then, Lord, remember, you appointed me to lead Israel. I accept my guilt. I failed in leading this people in righteousness." Moses was not just being humble. He took upon himself the responsibility for the failure. And so, blot me out. But the Lord had already said, "You are not guilty. I will make of you, Moses, a great nation," he said, before he was about to destroy Israel. "I will make you a great nation. You have not failed." But Moses didn't want to accept that. He said, "You gave me this nation to lead. I don't want to be a great nation apart from them. If you are going to destroy them, so destroy me with them."
I would say that to all those who just don't understand with what attitude we speak out against the church in these days. We speak, that God be our witness, with the same attitude as the prophet. We speak against the sins of the church. Why? Because the sins of the church can be hidden while the sins of unbelievers are to be exposed? Not in the least. We speak against the church because until the church is the light of the world, the world will not turn to God. We can carry on with evangelism and we will produce only another generation of feeble Christians who will soon fall away themselves. Not until the church becomes what it is to become will we be able to fulfill our task in this generation. We are aiming simply to stand in the gap, to build the wall, in order that God may be pleased not to destroy it.
You see, sin is what destroys the wall. Let's look at this. Let's see this in Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 13. Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 13. In this passage is another painful, striking passage. And again, to get this context in the context of verse 13, let us go back to verse 8 to see the whole picture, as Isaiah writes under the instruction of the Lord. And the Lord says to Isaiah, "Now go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever." What's he to write? What's he to witness? "For they are a rebellious people." Now you see, once again, Israel is being lambasted by the prophet of God. Is it because he takes pleasure in rebuking Israel? Verse 9. "For they are a rebellious people, lying sons, sons who will not hear the instruction of the Lord, who say to the seers, 'See not,' and to the prophets, 'Prophesy not to us what is right. Speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions.'" Remember the passage that our brother Joe was sharing with us. They look for preachers to scratch their ears. Their ears are itching and they need someone to scratch them, to make them feel good. "Speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more of the Holy One of Israel." These are prophets who are telling the people to say, let's leave the path, let's turn aside. We don't want to talk about the Holy One of Israel. Let's talk about the God of Israel. That's okay. Holy One? We don't have holiness. We don't have this kind of holy business.
And then verse 13. "Therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel, because you despise his words and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you" -- listen to this -- "like a breach, a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose crash comes suddenly in an instant, and its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel which is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found." It's so utterly broken that you can't use it to pick up hot coals and transfer them to another place. You can't use it to pick up a bit of water out of the cistern. It is utterly smashed to pieces. There is the picture.
And I want to tell you that this matter of the breach in the wall is so frequent and such a common picture in the Old Testament, that is why I would like to expound this thing more fully to you. And this we will have to do in our next session next Sunday if the Lord wills. But here, grasp the picture. It is sin that destroys the wall. Your iniquity causes the wall of salvation to collapse.
This is true also on an individual basis. In closing, let us read Proverbs 25, verse 28. Proverbs 25, verse 28. And this is what we read here. "A person who is not able to control his spirit is like a city broken into and left without walls." The walls are breached and useless. A person who does not know how to control his spirit, to restrain his spirit, is again pictured in this very picture of a city with broken walls, left without defense. What is it, a man, a city, a person who cannot control his spirit? Well, a person who is constantly falling into sin. He cannot control himself. He sees a pretty woman and he is lusting after her. He sees a beautiful car and he is coveting that car. He sees money and he cannot control himself. He is rushing after the money. He sees status and he is lusting for the status. He cannot control himself in this world. Every temptation drags him away. He falls under every temptation. And he says, so the scripture says, a man who cannot control his spirit is like a city with no wall. It is defenseless against sin and therefore defenseless against the judgment of God.
We need someone to build the wall, to stand in the gap. That is why one of the chief gifts of the Spirit is self-control. The ability to face temptation and to face it victoriously, because you cannot win against any temptation unless you have self-control. And yet you cannot have this control apart from the Spirit of God.
Our time is gone and we must close for today. We shall continue this important picture next week. In the meantime, I pray that you ponder these words. Look upon the glory of the church that once was. And I say to you, brothers and sisters, just as Jeremiah lamented over Jerusalem when he saw its broken collapse, its walls crumbled, its glory destroyed, Jeremiah wept over their city. But you know, Jeremiah tried to stand in the breach. He did. They didn't want him. Until God's anger was so kindled against Israel that he said to Jeremiah, "Don't intercede for this people anymore, because I don't want to hear the intercession. It is too late. My judgment will go forth against this people. The sin of this people is too great." Jeremiah tried to stand in the breach but he got dragged away by the scruff of the neck, thrown into a pit. They don't want the likes of him. There comes a time in the stubbornness of one's heart where it is too late to avoid God's judgment.
Next week we shall continue to look at this most important picture. But even though Jeremiah was rejected, such was his heart that instead of saying to Jerusalem, "There you are, you've got what you deserve, didn't I tell you?" -- he is called the weeping prophet. When his words came to pass, when he warned that Israel would be cut off and was cut off, he wept over Jerusalem. The whole of Lamentations is the record of his weeping. That's why it's called Lamentations.
I hope that you and I will not come to the day when we have to weep when God will have cut off the church. But rather in a heart of compassion, in a heart of concern, in a heart of spiritual anxiety, when we see what Paul called the glory of Christ reduced to a pain and a scorn in the face of the earth, that we may weep over our new Jerusalem, weep over the church, and by God's grace stand in the gap, that God's anger may yet be turned back, that the church may yet be rebuilt, its walls reestablished, and become again in these last days, as it has to be, a glory of God in the earth, that the people may be drawn into it and find salvation. Let us be quiet before God and pray. Thank you.