Now when John heard in the prison the works of the Christ, he sent by his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and tell John the things which ye hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good tidings preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall find no occasion of stumbling in me. Matthew 11:2–6.
Satan is constantly trying to find a way, not only to trip you up in your spirit, but then to give you a plausible reason why you should fail. He not only has to cripple a man in his spirit, but then he has to give him a good reason for backing out of a walk with the Lord. There are those who have had many reasons to draw back, and because their spirit was right, they couldn’t be driven out of the walk. Every day they are going through things that if they wanted to be offended, they would. However, they don’t want to be offended because their spirit is right before the Lord.
When the devil has worked with and crippled a man’s spirit, he then begins to throw other doubts, questions, rebellions, murmurings, complainings—offenses of every kind at him—so that he will have a good excuse to do what it is now in his spirit to do. Judas was like that when the woman brought the precious alabaster box and broke it upon the Lord in an extravagant gesture of love. Jesus said she had come beforehand to anoint His body to the burying. He probably carried the scent of that alabsater box to the cross—the heavy, pungent fragrance still with Him as He was hanging there dying. Judas murmured about that: “We could have sold this for three hundred pence and given it to the poor,” not because he cared for the poor, but his own greedy heart was looking for excuses and reasons to complain and murmur.
If you’re looking for trouble, you’ll find it. If you’re looking for a good reason to drop out, you’ll find it. If you get a wrong thing in your spirit, you will find numerous reasons to draw back from anything, anytime you choose. You can sit all day, murmuring and complaining, and it will seem most reasonable to you. The devil has a way of feeding excuses to people who are in the market for excuses. Jesus said, … blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Matthew 11:6. Blessed is that one whom you cannot offend; you can’t offend him, because it is in his spirit not to be offended. If a member in the Body mistreats him, he finds it not an occasion for stumbling, but for ministering more of the love to him that he needs.
And as these went their way, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John—remember what John has done—he is in prison where he will be beheaded—they will put his bloody head on a plate and bring it to a dancing girl, because her mother was incensed against John for rebuking her adulteries. Not much time will transpire before he dies; and as he is awaiting his death, at that moment, Satan hits him with everything he can. And this one who had announced the coming of the Christ, now has questions in his own mind about it: “Are you the one that was coming or do we look for another?”
Have you ever had a time in which the enemy came against you, everything falling on your head, and you wondered, “Is this walk really the end-time move or should I look for something else to happen?” No—this is it. “How do I know this is it?” You will know it by the trials and tribulations. If you want to be in the army of the Lord, know this: the enemy isn’t throwing marshmallows; we’re in the resolution of the conflict of the ages; that’s what to expect—nothing short of it—that’s what is coming.
Jesus was saying, concerning John, “What did you go out in the wilderness to see”—a reed shaken with the wind—“some vacillating little fellow who wouldn’t be able to give you a straight answer is his life depended on it? No. ”But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment (“instead of a scratchy camel’s hair garment”)?… they that wear soft raiment are in kings’ houses. But wherefore went ye out? to see a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist; yet he that is but little (King James says “least,” which is not the right word. It should be “he that is lesser.”) in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (It doesn’t mean the least in the Kingdom; but a man who is lesser in the kingdom of heaven is still far ahead.) And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force. Matthew 11:6–12.
Christianity was never a philosopher’s religion. Philosophy gave people a certain mental and emotional acceptance of situations and some kind of an explanation of what everything was all about. The Christian walk doesn’t do that. In its first days it was a thing of violence, not philosophy. Men had a promise from God and they had to press all of the hordes of hell to get it.
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, that is to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the marketplaces, who call unto their fellows and say, We piped unto you, and ye did not dance; we wailed, and ye did not mourn. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a demon. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! And wisdom is justified by her works (The margin reads, “by her children.” This is what you must grasp). Matthew 11:13–19.
The world today, especially the Christian world, refuses any extremes of emotion. Jesus said, “This is the only way I can liken this generation: they’re like the children playing in the marketplace. ‘We piped—we were going to have a wedding procession, but they didn’t want to dance. We wailed—we were going to play funeral, and everyone would have to mourn. They didn’t want to do that.’ John the Baptist came with mourning and fasting; you didn’t want any part of that. I came with the positive side of grace—eating and drinking—and you say ‘He is a glutton, a winebibber, a friend of the publicans and sinners.’ ”
Once in awhile, someone hostile comes into the Bless-In and has some remark, some criticism, some trite excuse for not being as violent in his spirit as we are: “We don’t want a service like that; we don’t believe in that kind of thing. We want to do everything decently and in order. The Lord is not the author of confusion.” But what about these Scriptures?… I came not to send peace, but a sword. Matthew 10:34.… let him sell his cloak, and buy a sword. Luke 22:36. … and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. Matthew 10:36.… the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force. Matthew 11:12. But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness.… Matthew 6:33. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13.… Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Matthew 22:37.
Walk into some churches and they hand you a bulletin, invariably with a Scripture like this on it: The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. Habakkuk 2:20. If I were printing that bulletin, I would put this verse of Scripture on it: I tell you that, if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out. Luke 19:40. I’ve never been able to equate reverence with deadness. Why are people always so quiet in a mortuary or a cemetary? No one there can hear—maybe we just associate quietness with death; but I think we ought to become a little violent when it comes to walking with the Lord. When it comes to saying: “We played a little tune on the flute and you didn’t do anything, you didn’t want to dance; we played funeral and you didn’t want to mourn”; what do you want to do—just sit there and petrify?
If you’re going to walk with the Lord, there has to be an overcoming of passivity. Something in the old flesh is violently oppossed to this violence. Some of you who are over thirty-five need to become a little more violent. Why? Because you really need it. You need to be able to put into the expression of your spirit through your soul that you’re going to love God with all of your heart. Don’t be afraid to do it; everyone else does it. Watch the spectators at a football game: They go at it yelling and screaming, even standing in the rain. Let’s have the same intensity about something to do with the Lord God.
We’re dealing with a change of age. The most explosive truth that has ever been preached from any pulpit is coming forth in prophecy and revelation and in expositions of the Scripture. We’re printing the most revolutionary, nourishing truths that have ever been printed. Why shouldn’t we get excited? Why shouldn’t we put everything behind this?
You say, “I don’t want to be too emotional.” You’ll change, because this is alive; this is worth living for. How shall we liken this generation?—just one thing you can be sure of: wisdom is justified by her children. What does deadness produce? What does passivity produce? You become afflicted with the same soul-rot that oppresses the world. People won’t stop to help a man even if they see him being murdered. They don’t want to be involved. Are we to be involved? By the terminology of the world, it’s stupid to be involved. We’ve reached the day that doctors do not stop to help someone in an accident because they may have a suit for malpractice, so they drive on by. Insurance companies recommend it. We’re in days when addicts will follow a doctor and break into his car on the chance there will be drugs in it. It has become standard procedure among doctors not to carry anything. When people are after dope, they’ll do anything to get it; if they’re high, don’t fight it—they’ll kill you without batting an eye. It is a day of violence. It is a time of mugging, and it’s increasing so much. But people don’t want to be involved; they hasten away.
It’s a day in which we are not suppossed to be involved, and yet we are becoming more and more involved as we walk with God. As we go down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, we too may find someone that fell among thieves, left beaten and half-dead; and do we, like the priest or Levite, pass him by and do nothing—or do we become involved and help him: bind up his wounds, take him to an inn, give him into the charge of the man and pay for his care? What’s he to us? Nothing? No. This age is ending, a new age is coming, and there will never be so many cases of suffering in the world as there will be in the course of this next decade, or as many people that will be in such earnest need.
We should be geared, not as the Mormons are in laying away grain so that when the evil day comes they will be able to feed their families, but to become concerned about feeding our brothers and not worry about ourselves. For the greatest ministry that will come, the greatest revival in the history of the world, the greatest outpouring of the Spirit, when He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, is going to come simultaneously with judgment. The prophet’s cry to God will be fulfilled: In wrath remember mercy. Habakkuk 3:2b. And the great outpouring of grace will come while the judgments of God are in the earth, for the Scripture says, … when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Isaiah 26:9. We must be prepared to be the ministers of the Lord. Feel things! Believe things! Battle through! Seek first the Kingdom!
And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, then will I send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. Malachi 2:1–2. The Christian world does not dare follow the same rut that it has, not any longer, because the blessings of yesteryear no longer are the blessings. God says to the ministers of today, as He said to them of old, “I’ll curse your blessings.” It is strange how a word that was once alive is now the letter that killeth, even out of the Holy Scriptures.
If we aren’t violent now, if we are indifferent now, the Lord will be indifferent when we do become awakened. A Scripture on that is Zechariah 7:11–14. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets: therefore there came great wrath from the Lord of hosts. And it is come to pass that, as he cried, and they would not hear, so they shall cry, and I will not hear, said the Lord of hosts; but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate. Zechariah 7:11–14.
The Lord spoke to the Old Testament peoples and they wouldn’t hear, so He did a turnabout: they cried and He didn’t hear. That’s what the tribulation will be like. Let’s do our yelling now, not later when it’s too late. There’s a way we can go against the whole tide that is sweeping the world, and rise up and seek God with all our hearts. We will do it together, and we’ll make it now. I believe that this is the time of the sealing of the saints. (Revelation 7:3).
COMMENT: “God is gearing us to much involvement. As never before, the Kingdom of God is being possesed by violence. There has to be in our hearts that which would refuse to compromise or to fall short of that which has been spoken to us. We must pray without ceasing and put our shoulders to the burden of the word that has been spoken.”
COMMENT: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own. And if indeed they have been mindful of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city. Hebrews 11:13–16. So it is with us: if we look back to that country, we will have an opportunity to return.”
COMMENT: “This message exposed in us that which has the potential of defeating us. Most of us have to decide, ‘Am I going to go on or am I going to back off?’ Many are called but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14), and I think this is what separates the chosen: we choose to be chosen. We choose whether or not we shall be offended: we choose whether or not we shall press on into the Kingdom.”