In his sermon "The Importance of Spiritual Growth," Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ML-J) cited these words of Charles Haddon Spurgeon:

"There is a point in grace which is as much above the ordinary Christian as the ordinary Christian is above the worldling."

On August 21, 2012, as part of a reflective/retrospective post on my birthday, I wrote the following about those words of Spurgeon:

The following spring [of 2008], while away on a private retreat, I listened to a portion of Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon on Ephesians 3:16:

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man... (KJV)

There are many ways we can keep track of the Ebenezers in our lives. And included in those for me are my own personal journals and my blogging.

In my post dated May 29, 2008, I'd referenced a quotation which ML-J gave from Spurgeon in that sermon:

"There is a point in grace which is as much above the ordinary Christian as the ordinary Christian is above the worldling."

This morning, I looked through my journals (my spiral notebooks which are "filed" in a cardboard box in the corner of the bedroom), and I found the notebook from that time with the quotation written down along with some notes I'd taken from the sermon. No, there was no lightning bolt at the time, but a seed was planted: a deeper desire and hunger and thirst for Christ had been imparted into my soul through the Holy Spirit. I vividly remember the day when I sat on the bed in that retreat center and listened to that sermon and then knelt down by the bed. I had heard something that day that did further shaking to my complacent, safe, self-sufficient, works-oriented, lukewarm Americanized Christianity. Even though I knew my present reality at that point in time was so very far from that point in grace, and even though I knew I was approaching holy ground to even consider such a possibility, yet all the same, that possibility began to captivate me and my hunger and thirst grew. I knew there was more to Christianity than I'd imagined... I was slowly coming to the realization, much like Oswald Chambers wrote:  "But I knew that if what I had was all the Christianity there was, the thing was a fraud." (Please see my post here for more on that.)

* * *

I was only recently able to locate the Spurgeon sermon in which that quotation was found. I've included a few excerpts from that sermon below. (One note on the sermon: regarding the paragraph beginning with "The great policy of Satan..." – it's clear that the threats to the 21st century Church have multiplied beyond those at the time this sermon was first preached in 1869.) Before those excerpts, I've included Scripture, some other quotations, as well as a poem I've written. In presenting all these things to you, my prayer is that God might strengthen you to entreat Him for grace upon grace, that you would not be complacent with having received the former rain – that your Christianity would not be fraudulent – but you would seek God's face in earnest for the latter rain, so you might come to that point in grace which is as much above the ordinary Christian as the ordinary Christian is above the worldling... Hosea 6:1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

~ That we might increase our joy in the LORD, Karen

Luke 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 

13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Zechariah 10:1 Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

"See how ready God is to succour and relieve his people, how he waits to be gracious; as soon as ever they humble themselves under this hand, and pray, and seek his face, he immediately meets them with his favours. They prayed that God would spare them, and see here with what good words and comfortable words he answered them; for God's promises are real answers to the prayers of faith, because with him saying and doing are not two things."

~ Matthew Henry on Joel 2:18-27

Psalm 119:58
I intreated thy favour with my whole heart:
be merciful unto me according to thy word.

Once More I Entreat
(the Former AND the Latter Rain)
~ a birthday exultation (August 23, 2013) ~

(based in part upon Charles Haddon Spurgeon's sermon
"The Former and the Latter Rain" No. 880)

In vain I'd sought shadows and earthly gold,
Then Truest Treasure which waxes not old

Through the Spirit, given second birth,
Sight imparted to see my great dearth

With my whole heart did I entreat
Saving favor from the mercy seat

The former rain dropped at Thy Word
Before I spoke, my plea was heard

By Lamb's blood, the veil was rent
With full acceptance I made the ascent

But this be my greatest and chiefest regret:
Though two decades seated with Mephibosheth,

'Twas but a nominal supping, devoid of flavor,
Had nary a true taste or a sensible savor

Seeing but not perceiving – was this Life!?
Nay, only a pretense, counterfeit in disguise

"Ah! If this is Christianity, 'tis but a fraud!"
In Your kindness came chastening rod

Variegated trials, the whirlwind, Your billows
With Jacob, I struggled, and wetted my pillow

To behold Your Beauty – my one desire
O! To taste the Fount of baptismal fire!

For the latter rain I was importunately intent
I would not let Thee go, till the heavens rent

Achsah's cry ~ "the sure mark of grace":
Having found grace, I seek Thy grace!

With whole heart, once more I entreat
Latter rain from Thy mercy seat

My Rock, burst forth! O! Wellspring of favor!
Blessed are all who seek higher savor!

For my Bridegroom, I pant with mouth open wide:
To know Him - Ah! this is religion bona fide! 

My Beloved, be like a gazelle! O! Make haste!
Fill this thirsty pilgrim with grace upon grace!

Above the ordinary, for all the saints who dare
Welcome cross and brokenness – breathe rarefied air!

Ask, seek, and knock at His celestial door
Alarm you should feel if you desire no more

To prepare the corn for the time of harvest
Beg the latter rain to revive and refresh

Bountiful effusion of Christ, remarkable visitation,
'Tis nothing short of a second conversion!

Wrestling cry of God's elect: sweet incense arising
How can He spurn the groanings of His needy offspring?

For such a point in grace, bow down and earnestly entreat,
Our heavenly Father meets all who diligently seek

With favors in abundance ~ our Lord's delights ~
Succoring His children to leap on the heights!

"It is a sure mark of grace to desire more."
~ Robert Murray M'Cheyne ~

"In Jesus is our store,
Grace issues from his throne;
Whoever says, 'I want no more,'
Confesses he has none.
~ William Cowper ~

Hosea 12:4 Yes, he [Jacob] struggled with the Angel and prevailed; He wept, and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel, And there He spoke to us – 5 That is, the LORD God of hosts. The LORD is His memorial. (NKJV)

Isaiah 29:17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? 18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. 19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Excerpts from Charles Haddon Spurgeon's sermon "The Former and the Latter Rain" (HT: http://www.ccel.org/print/spurgeon/sermons15/xxxiii, emphasis mine)

"Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest." - Jeremiah 5:24

It is very usual in the life of Grace for the soul to receive in later years, a second very remarkable visitation of the Holy Spirit, which may be compared to the latter rain. As I told you, the latter rain was sent to plump out the wheat and make it full and mature, ready for the after-harvest ripening. So there is a time of special Grace granted to saints, to prepare them for Heaven, to make them completely meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. To some, this is given in the form of what has very commonly, and I think correctly, been called a second conversion. "When you are converted, strengthen your Brethren," was Christ's remark to Peter, who was even then a converted man.

My Brothers and Sisters, there is a point in Grace as much above the ordinary Christian, as the ordinary Christian is above the worldling. Believe me, the life of Divine Grace is no dead level, it is not a low country, a vast flat. There are mountains and there are valleys. There are tribes of Christians who live in the valleys, like the poor Swiss of the Valais, who live in the midst of the mist, where fever has its lair and the frame is languid and enfeebled. Such dwellers in the lowlands of unbelief are forever doubting, fearing, troubled about their interest in Christ and tossed to and fro. But there are other Believers, who, by God's Grace, have climbed the mountain of full assurance and near communion. Their place is with the eagle in his eyrie, high aloft.

They are like the strong mountaineer who has trod the virgin snow, who has breathed the fresh, free air of the Alpine regions and therefore his sinews are braced and limbs are vigorous. These are they who do great exploits, being mighty men, men of renown. The saints who dwell on high in the clear atmosphere of faith are rejoicing Christians, holy and devout men, doing service for the Master all over the world and everywhere conquerors through Him that loved them. And I desire—oh, how earnestly I desire you to be such men and women! My craving is that all of you, my Beloved, who have been watered by the former rain, may also be refreshed by a more than ordinary latter rain which shall make you more than ordinary Christians—bringing you beyond the blade period and the ear period—into the full corn in the ear!

The great policy of Satan of late with the Church has been this—not so much to attack her with open infidelity—for really all the infidelity there is in England does not materially affect Churches worthy of the name except to an almost infinitesimal extent. There is a deal more made of skepticism in certain quarters than there is any need for. Skeptics seldom get among our Christian people. At least I do not meet with them in my enquiries, nor do I see them associating with Christians of my association. The plan Satan seems to have adopted is not that of attacking our doctrine, but that of
preventing, as far as he can, our raising in our midst a race of eminent and advanced Christians. Pharaoh said, "Destroy the male children." Satan seems to say, "Stop the male children from fulfilling their growth."

We are well enough in our way after the common run of manhood. We believe in Christ. We love Him and contribute something to His cause, We preach and we pray. We are a respectable sort of people, but we do not grow to maturity or attain "unto the first three." We have in this age but few giants in Divine Grace who rise head and shoulders above the common height—men to lead us on in deeds of heroism and efforts of unstaggering faith. After all, the work of the Christian Church, though it must be done by all, often owes its being done to single individuals of remarkable Grace. In this degenerate time we are very much in need of what Israel had in the days of the Judges—there were raised up among them leaders who judged Israel and were the terror of her foes.

Oh, if the Church, today, had in her midst a race of heroes! If only our missionary operations could be attended with the holy chivalry which marked the Church in the early days! If only we could have back Apostles and martyrs, or even such as Carey and Judson, what wonders would be worked! We have fallen upon a race of dwarfs and are content, to a great extent, to have it so. There was once in London a club of small men whose qualification for membership lay in their not exceeding five feet in height. These dwarfs held, or pretended to hold, the opinion that they were nearer the perfection of manhood than others, for they argued that primeval men had been far more gigantic than the present race and consequently the way of progress was to grow less and less, and that the human race, as it perfected itself, would become as diminutive as themselves.

Such a club of Christians might be established in London and without any difficulty might attain to an enormously numerous membership—for the notion is common that our dwarfish Christianity is, after all, the standard! And many even imagine that nobler Christians are enthusiasts, fanatical and hot-blooded—while we are cool because we are wise and indifferent—because we are intelligent. We must get rid of all this nonsense! The fact is, the most of us are vastly inferior to the early Christians, who, as I take it, were persecuted because they were thoroughly Christians and we are not persecuted because we hardly are Christians at all! They were so earnest in the propagation of the Redeemer's kingdom, that they became the nuisance of the age in which they lived.

. . .

Brothers [and sisters], be encouraged! A latter rain is yet possible. Seek it! That you need it so much is a cause for sorrow, but if you really feel your need of it, be glad that the Lord works in you such sacred desires. If you did not feel a need for more Divine Grace it would be a reason for alarm. But to be conscious that all that God did by you in the past has not qualified you to do anything without Him now—to feel that you lean entirely upon His strength now, as much as ever— is to be in a condition in which it shall be right and proper for God to bless you abundantly.

Please note: In addition to the ML-J sermon cited above, you can access for free over 1600 other audio sermons of The Doctor courtesy of the MLJ Trust here. You can also sign up for the weekly podcast through Living Grace Ministries at oneplace.com: http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/living-grace/listen/. They're currently broadcasting sermons from ML-J's Ephesians series.

Related:

• my posts on nominal Christianity
• my posts on true and false religion

In my previous post, Calvinism, TULIP, missions and prayer to the Lord of the harvest, I shared the first plenary talk from the Ekballo Midwest Conference held April 19-20, 2013, given by Scott Anderson. The second talk at Ekballo Midwest was given by David Sitton, President of To Every Tribe (http:/www.toeverytribe.com). (You can read more about Sitton and his wife here and here.)

http://youtu.be/6JBqc29qmkA

Here's an excerpt from Sitton's talk. . .

In other words, some of us will be called to go, while others will be called to stay –– but as Christians, no matter where we are and no matter what our calling, each and every one of us must remember that we're not civilians, that we are not Christian cruise ships, but rather we are on battleships.

Or, as John Piper put it, all Christians must be engaged:

Know this: God's purpose for your life is that you engage in His being known and praised and enjoyed and feared among peoples where He is scarcely, if at all, known at all. He wants you to be engaged.

You've got three options:

Go

Send

or

Disobey.

That's all.

~ Source:  John Piper's message based on Psalm 67, "Pursuing the Glory of God in the Gladness in the Nations in God"

May our God strengthen us to comprehend the width and length and depth and height –– to know the love of Christ which passes all knowledge, that His love might constrain and compel us, so we might no longer live for ourselves, but live for Him who died for us and rose again (to live for Him really is true life, is it not?!), and joyfully respond to our Master's call to be His ambassadors, and to count it a privilege to be engaged in His mission that He be might be known and praised and enjoyed and feared among all the nations. God forbid we bow down to the American dream and gain the whole world, but find our souls languishing and withering as we waste our lives lounging on Christian cruise ships. God be merciful to us sinners, for the sake of Your name! Amen.

Here's the video which David Sitton mentioned in his talk...

http://youtu.be/FzIkh6qfbRY

Photo credit: Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gastineau_Channel_with_anchored_cruise_ship_23.JPG / CC BY-SA 3.0.

July 10, 2013 was the 504th anniversary of John Calvin's birth.

Many Christians are perplexed (understatement!) at how Calvinism / Reformed theology can result in a vibrant engagement in evangelism and missions.

A brief review... the acronym TULIP is sometimes used as a brief summary of Calvinism/ Reformed theology. I realize there's much more to it than this, but here goes:

1. TOTAL DEPRAVITY
2. UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
3. LIMITED ATONEMENT
4. IRRESISTIBLE GRACE
5. PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

(Please see here for more on TULIP.)

In April, between bronchitis and a sinus infection, I was privileged to attend the Ekballo Midwest Conference in DeKalb, Illinois. The organization To Every Tribe (http://www.toeverytribe.com/) is grounded in Reformed doctrine (see here for more on their vision, mission, distinctives and core values). There are plenty of Christian conferences out there, but this one caught my eye in particular as I noticed that the first conference talk was on prayer. (If you're been reading my blog here, you know that has been something God has laid on my heart over the past few years. (For more about that, please see my posts Naphtali News: the Ministry of the Word & Prayer (the second portion) and Silent Night - Not! ~ "Prayer also will be made for Him continually" ... day and night.)

The Ekballo Conference was one of the most Christ-centered and God-glorifying gatherings of believers I've ever been a part of; that's why I said I was privileged to be there. The conference name Ekballo is taken from the Greek word for "send out" in Matthew 9:38:

35  And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38  therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

1544 ekballo ek-bal'-lo from 1537 and 906; to eject (literally or figuratively):--bring forth, cast (forth, out), drive (out), expel, leave, pluck (pull, take, thrust) out, put forth (out), send away (forth, out) ~ from Strong's Concordance.


Over the next few days, Lord willing, I'm hoping to post the three plenary talks (audio only available) from the conference:

Scott Anderson -Friday, April 19 - Ekballo Plenary Session 1
Ekballo: The Essential Nature of Prayer in the Gospel Mission
http://youtu.be/fuA3p5X32sE

David Sitton - Saturday, April 20 - Ekballo Plenary Session 2
Ekballo: Propel the Church, Harvest the Nations

Dalton Thomas - Saturday, April 20 - Ekballo Plenary Session 3
Ekballo: Martyrdom and the Eternal Purpose of the Church

If you are a Christian, I ask that you would make the time to listen to all of these messages. I pray God would give each one of us a holy, glorious ambition for lives –– that we might not settle for and waste our lives on shoddy, cheap ambitions. May God conform us into Jesus' image:  transforming our hearts to that of Jesus' compassionate heart, and transforming our desires to His desires; that we might not be lukewarm and lethargic about the great commission, but rather we might press on to take hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of us, not loitering –– but having a single-eyed passion to press on for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus –– that we might be made willing in the day of His power (Psalm 110:3) and present ourselves to Him as holy sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2), ready to be used however and wherever God desires in His mission of taking the Good News of great joy to all the people groups of the world for the sake of His name ... far as the curse is found ... that ALL the earth might be filled with knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea ... that ALL the peoples might praise Him! ... According to Joshua Project, there are currently 7,183 unreached groups, with a total of 2.9 billion souls ... So long as Jesus tarries, still there is room at His table, my brothers and sisters –– room for more souls to come and feast along with us on the Lord Jesus Christ!