30 March 2014
Dear Phyllis,
Before I get into the body of my letter
today, let me comment, briefly, about my opinion of Malaysian Flight
360. I am convinced more than ever that I am right, that that bird is
not in the Indian Ocean. Luke wrote me asking, “Why are they so
insistent that they know what happened and where it is?” The
Malaysian government is terribly embarrassed at the poor way they
have handled this incident, and they are very anxious to get closer,
and put this behind them as soon as possible. Their whole argument is
based on data that they got from new technology that has never been
used before. At best this is an experiment, and there is no proof
that it is accurate. But they were able to put together data
indicating that the bird was on a southwest heading, and ran of of
fuel 1,100 miles west of Perth, Australia. I find that extremely
difficult to buy. I find it nearly impossible to believe that there
was anything wrong with that Boeing 777. This had to be entirely
engineered by the pilots. The heading change and the transponders
were turned off before the last voice transmission of, “All right,
goodnight”. There was nothing wrong when they made that
transmission, and they already were on a different course.
There has been some discussion about
cell phones and the fact that relative have called passengers and
their phones were ringing. Experts say this is no indication of
anything as the phone would appear to ring even if they were under
water. But I have yet to hear anyone raise the question on why there
were no calls from the cabin. To me the answer to that is clear. If
the altitude fluctuations are accurate, and someone tried to nurse
that aircraft to 45,000 feet, the only explanation I can see for that
is for hypoxia – to knock everyone out from lack of oxygen. Even
with oxygen masks on in the cabin, without pressure breathing,
everyone would be dead in ten minutes. To me the reason no one called
from the aircraft by satellite cell phone was that they were all
dead. The pilot didn't do that so he could fly for six hours to the
Indian Ocean and commit suicide.
This flight was very carefully planed,
meticulously executed, and I believe we will see it again in some
other country. But I may be wrong.
In reading Andrew' Murray's book on the
Blood of Christ I was greatly impressed by his chapter on altars.
Altars are so basic to worship that it could almost be said that
there is no worship of God or dealings with God without an altar.
From the day of Noah on, altars were central in mans dealing with
God. Before God spoke to Moses about building Him a Tabernacle in
which to live Moses first made an altar. Andrew Murray said, “You
can have worship of God even if you don't have a temple, but you
cannot worship God without an altar.” Of the seven items that
were in the OT Tabernacle the altar was easily the most important.
This was where all the sacrifices were made and the transactions with
God were done. And that is certainly so today.
As I have thought about this, I have
been bewildered that in today's worship of God, there is almost a
total absence of sacrifice. We are so enamored with the doctrine that
Jesus has paid everything, so now we enjoy a free-be in our worship
God. David said, “I will not offer my burnt offering unto the
Lord my God with that which cost me nothing.” (2 Sam. 24:24).
But we do. How can we say it is a sacrifice if it cost us nothing?
And how can we worship God at an altar if there is nothing on it?
Tragically, I believe the answer to that is expressed in one word –
delusional.
Several years ago the speaker at the
Keswick Conference in England had a terrific illustration. He told of
a bridge in Scotland that went over a river. It was a tradition that
as the train went over this bridge, it was good luck for passengers
to toss coins in the river. Like coins in a wishing fountain. But one
passenger rode that train everyday to work, and it would be terribly
expensive for him to toss out a coin everyday. Being a Scotsman, he
came up with a great solution. He took a coin, bored a hole in it,
and tied it to a string. Everyday when the passengers would open the
windows to toss out their coins, he would take out his coin from his
purse, and toss it out the window. Then he would real it back in. But
one day the string broke. The speaker went on to say, “You people
have been coming here year after year. Every year you come forward to
make your dedication to the Lord, and then you go home and real it
back in again. Praise God, for the day when the string brakes.”
It seems obvious that much of our
dedication to the Lord is delusional. We sing “All to Jesus I
surrender all to Him I freely give” but most people would die of
fright if that was true. What is the sacrifice they are laying on the
altar? What is the cost? It is a spiritual fact and reality that the
only entrance into the life of God is by the death of the flesh.
The Bible tells us that “we have boldness to enter into the holiest
by the Blood of Jesus; by a new and living way which He consecrated
for us, through the Veil, that is to say His flesh” (Heb.
10:19,20). For years I thought this was a free pass so we could stand
before the Lord; but I see now that is not a free pass, but He
has opened for us a WAY. If we are going to
come before the Lord we must come by that WAY. What is that WAY? It
is the same way that Jesus used – the death of His flesh. It is by
His death that Jesus entered into the presence of God. And this is
the way He has opened for us. It was by the rending of His flesh
that the Veil was rent in two. And we will not enter
before the Lord without a major rending of our flesh also.
But what do we mean by the death of our
flesh? Certainly this is not suicide. I believe John has given us a
hint when he told of of the three things that constitute the world.
He said all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes and the pride of life (1 Jn. 2:16). These three things
have been properly expressed as pleasure, possession,
and position. Or there is something we like to feel,
something we want to have, or something we want to be.
These are the tree steel cables that keeps untold millions of souls
ships tied to the dock of the world. It is disgusting that the
devil's most effective fishing line is sensual-ism. It seems obvious
that the vast majority of young people are held fast by sex, drugs,
or drink. And maybe we could throw in music in sensual-ism. The main
goal in life for millions of young people is something they like to
feel. Others are mastered by the love of money and what it can buy.
Possessions are a major item in life. And others are kept from
following Jesus by something they want to be. They know that to
follow the Lord they would have to give up that ambition.
These are things that can be laid on an
altar, and they must be, if our dedication is real. We must say
goodbye to these things that are so primary in our lives. Saying
goodbye to them is one way of dying to the flesh. It was by dying in
the flesh that Jesus entered into the presence of God and this is the
way that He has opened for us to follow Him. If this is not real then
our sacrifice is delusional.
In 1972 they were having a very good
meeting at the Greenville Christian Fellowship Church. The Lord was
speaking to a number of people. Among the many who had come forward
that night to do business with God was Vivian Garrett. Vivian was a
very earnest Christian who had a difficult marriage with an unsaved
husband. He had caused her a great deal of sorrow, but her main joy
in life was her son. He was the most precious possession she had. But
the Lord was speaking to Vivian that night about surrendering her son
to Christ. As she knelt at the “altar” praying with others, the
struggle was intense. But at last the transaction was made. She had
released him and gave him up to the Lord. An hour later she went home
to find her son dead on the lawn. In her stunned grief, she looked up
to the Lord, and summed up her dedication in four words, “Lord,
I meant it.” We give much of our sacrifices to the Lord with
clenched fists, hoping the Lord won't take them. But it is not a
sacrifice if it cost us nothing.
One of the best Bible conferences in
Fort Wayne was in 1963. There was a 36 year old girl who had just
graduated from Fort Wayne Bible College and was seeking guidance as
to what the Lord wanted her to do. By worldly standards, the
conference was the worst in years. The attendance was shockingly low.
The preaching was dead, and the response was abysmal. But the Lord
was doing a special work in the heart of one dear sister. She was
struggling with the reality of the cost of genuine dedication, and
spent all night weeping in a life and death struggle. She knew if
she actually laid her life on the altar, it would cost her her life
of everything she hoped to have, or to be. But at last the battle
was won. Two years later Mary Ellen Goodman came to Japan as a
missionary, and was the finest soul winner I have ever met in my
life, and filled with Christ like few missionaries ever get. How did
Mary Ellen enter such a marvelous life of Christ? It was by the death
of her flesh. When she laid herself on the altar, it cost her
everything, but with that she gained everything with Jesus.
As I have been considering the altar in
my life everyday, this has brought me to serious examination on how
real my worship of God is, and what I am laying on the altar. In this
I am both fortunate and unfortunate. I am fortunate in that
dedication is very easy. The problem is not dedication, but pleading
with God to take it. And I am unfortunate in that I have virtually
nothing to offer the Lord. I am dead broke. I have no possessions to
offer the Lord. Sensual-ism is not an attraction to me. Sex, drugs,
and drink are not something I crave. My life is basically behind me.
It is ridiculous to think of any position in front of me that I want
to hold. Really my hands are empty. It is a tremendous grief to me
that I have virtually nothing to offer the Lord. The only thing I can
think of that might be meaningful is time. This is something that
everyone has at their disposal. At a bare minimum, we should place
that daily on a serious altar and offer Him our time in prayer and
fellowship with God. There is such a thing as thank offerings and the
sacrifice of praise. That really doesn't cost us anything, but it is
something that can be a genuine offering to Jesus.
On any OT altars there were two items –
blood and fire. It took both. The blood speaks of
offering up a life. In this Jesus has made an offering for us that
was impossible for us to make. We cannot reduplicate that. But He
does require us to offer our lives as a “living sacrifice” (Rom.
12:1). But an offering on an altar is just so much dead meat without
fire. The fire literally converts the flesh on an animal to another
state – smoke. In Leviticus there is a great deal of mention of the
sweet savour for the Lord (Lev. 1:9,13,17; 2:9,12; 3;5,16; etc.).
When God smells that offering it brings joy to His heart. In every
case where the word “sweet savour” is mentioned, there is also
the expression, “an offering made by fire”. Without the fire, at
best, the sacrifice would be a stench. But where is our fire? The
answer, obviously, is the Holy Spirit. It takes the Holy Spirit to
ignite our hearts so that the sacrifice we make comes from a burning
heart. The promise of the Bible is that He would baptize us with
the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt. 3:11). In exhorting
the believes in Rome to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice,
Paul also adds that this is only their “reasonable service”. How
can we do less? And it is also important that the Holy Spirit ignites
the fire to convert our offering to that spiritual aroma that is
pleasing to God. Oh may God make this real in me. I don't want to
offer to God a cold meat sandwich.
What a privilege that we do have an
altar! It is here that we do business with God. This is all a mystery
to the unsaved, but God has brought us into His family and our
relationship to Him is real. Lord, make it to be so.
May God's great goodness be upon you
this week,
bill
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