When God desires to shake, shock, or shape any age in order to save sinners, He always chooses a MAN - not a system, not a plan, not an organization . . . but a man! Strange it is that this old truth should be so startling yet today.
Hyper-organized, super-systematized, psychoanalyzed religion today (fundamental and otherwise) has shut its eyes to this truth and furnished dark glasses to all followers. They have "card-filed" us down to the size of pygmies. They have "cut us on the bias" until we can't fit God's plan. They have "puckered our lips" to the same trite phraseology of mass thinking and divided our brains out till we all "think as one man". They have depleted our initiative for God.
When God foresaw floodwaters, He chose a man. Out of the carelessness of Chaldea, God chose a man. Out of the bondage of Egypt, God chose a man. When will we ever learn that history's pages are full with God's glorious accomplishments through a chosen man - Joshua, Samuel, Gideon, Samson, Saul, Barak, Elisha, Daniel, Peter, Paul, and scores of others?
No crowd ever produced a Carmel victory; a Red Sea crossing; a lion's den daybreak; a Goliath conquest. God chose men, not machines.
Did our wonderful Lord Jesus choose the Pharisees (the fundamental leaders of that day) or did He find Peter by the seaside? Did Jesus Christ engage the might of Rome (to curry political favor for His "cause") or did our Lord walk among humble men? See Him there in those Galilean hills completely unperturbed by intellectuality, prestige and political power.
You Are God's Channel
Would that I could get every young man to see that HE is the channel God wants! We are so surfeited with little men whose little hearts are shriveled up with little philosophical drivel such as "Money talks," "Must play along with the crowd," "Contacts are important," "Know the right people," "Join the biggest team," and "Be forever agreeable to the important leaders."
Can't you see God's plan? "God hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know His will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of His mouth. For thou shalt be His witnesses unto all men of what thou hath seen and heard." (Acts 22:14,15). That statement doesn't concur with common opinion these days.
God wants you. God has chosen you. For what? To know His will, to see His face, hear His voice and witness to all men! But other men will not allow this procedure. Satan will not allow that plan. On every hand you will be discouraged in that course. Preachers will advise against it. Church leaders will suggest you be conservative. Intimate friends will tenderly seek to put you on the more popular track.
"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise . . . the weak things of this world to confound the things which are mighty; the base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things that are: that no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Cor. 1:26,29). Yes, God hath chosen you "to know His will, see His face, hear His voice, and witness to all men."
Know His Will
His will is set down in His Word. Read it! Its Challenge is enough to curdle the thin blood of human effort. It goes beyond the prating of "building a better world." It smacks of conquest, battle, courage, power, and real victory.
God's will charts a pathway for chosen men. It will not be satisfied with the caucuses of committees . . . it demands chosen men. The men of faith listed in Hebrews 11 were not party leaders, but men chosen of God for His will in a single purpose.
God has a plan for your life. I believe in prevenient grace - that grace of God that prepares us before we ever find our hearts willing to do His will: the glorious foreknowledge of God that shapes man to the task before the man knows that task. Now, God has prepared you for a specific job. Know His will! Don't let some little mass of men push you off on a side road because they can guarantee you a pittance to begin with. Shun the pittance and accept God's power.
One of the saddest commentaries of our Christian programs today is that usually a few dollars doled out by a great society become the determining factor in "where a man should serve God." Almost every Bible student I have met in recent years has answered my question concerning life's plan like this: "Well, Rosell, I guess I'll just get a little church somewhere, if the school or denomination will recommend me. I guess a fellow can't expect much at first.
That describes a young man who expects a little, begs for less, and ignores God's will. Wake up, man; God has chosen you! You are not beholden to men. You are not limited to the leftovers of somebody's half-baked effort. Lift up your eyes to the fields and swing your blades in where the harvest is uncut. There's a world - a whole world - involved in His will. And when God gets the man, the man gets the provision. I've tested this in my life, and it works. In the days when no one would recommend me to preach, thank God I was abandoned to His will. He chose me by His grace!
Know His will and you will ...
See His Face
Amid the welter of important people in Christian society's circle, it is hard to find the face of the Lord Jesus. But you'll see His face when you shut your eyes to other faces. You'll see His face when the important things of this world grow strangely dim. You'll see His face, but not behind the painted mask of religious rigmarole.
His face is turned away from the superficial systems of the pseudo-saints to the wide sweeps of earth where forgotten men wait for His storm. His face is turned from politically-planning pulpiteers to lonely men who cut trails along the extended pathway of His will into dark corners of this world. His face is turned from the sham and shame of perverted programs that travesty His testimony and deny His deity. His face is turned full upon YOU, man, if you are in His will.
Watch the lips of command move, and ...
Hear His Voice
His voice demands obedience. His voice requests separation. His voice instills faith. "And I heard a great voice out of Heaven." "Make sure the voice that commands your footsteps is out of Heaven - not the decision of men.
His voice demands instant action. His voice pronounces the direction. His voice describes the exact place of service. His voice predicts success by His power.
Men, if you have ever heard the voice of our Lord you will become witnesses, Each chosen man is not to be a monastic recluse but a burning torch. God's fire was never meant to be boxed in by church walls, but to enflame a world with His Gospel. Each local church group is not to be a self- sufficient and self-satisfied entity, but rather only a vortex from which circulates the far-reaching fire of God.
The New Testament action was concentrated in the word "go" - the New Testament direction, "to the regions beyond." The New Testament procedure was multiplication and addition . . . "breaking bread from house to house" and "the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved." They did not build perpendicularly but rather horizontally. The church was not purposed to be a circumference of people looking in, but rather a little center of people here and there looking outward.
God's voice moved Abraham out; led Moses out; Called Paul out. God is everlastingly commanding men to move on and out "to the region beyond." Action prevents stagnation. Young men, Don't be satisfied with four walls, 60 saints and security - when you can have a whole country for conquest to His glory. It is said that there are 10,000 retired servants of God in southern California, as against a few Jaffrays that jog the jungle for Jesus. We have missed His voice of action, direction, and procedure.
His Voice sings into your soul with the nostalgic loveliness of an intimate Friend; wings into your heart with the compassionate grace of God; and yet it rings into you ear with the authoritative blast of a General's command. Men, we cannot escape it. We must not evade it. We must become ...
His Witnesses Unto All Men
Think of it! His witnesses to all men of what we have seen (His face) and heard (His voice). Ambassadors! Representatives, Advance men! What an honor! God gives us the faith of Abraham; the courage of Elijah; the audacity of Samson; the utter trust of David; the death-defying determination of Daniel; the stark submission of Stephen, and the tradition-shocking aggressiveness of Paul, coupled with the Holy Spirit stature of Simon Peter.
God fully equips the man He chooses. He can say, "His Word was in my mouth as a burning fire." He is "filled with the Spirit" - fully equipped by God through His Spirit, our Holy Guest.
I have often wondered why God did not plan to use mighty organizations to accomplish His will in the world. Knowing first that "many men" are seldom unanimously open to God's will, and knowing, second, that God does not need "many men" to assist His power, we conclude that God would certainly have one man - single-purposed, utterly yielded, unfettered - than a mass of mighty men organized to skim off a portion of His glory.
God wants YOU. Be not discouraged be- cause the crowds of men have forsaken Him. He is not looking for crowds of leaders to conquest for Him. He always chooses a man. Organizations, systems, assemblies - all have a place; but when God leads out to a new victory, He chooses a man. Be that man!
It is said that when Cromwell's empire found itself so short of silver that they could not make coins, he sent out men to search for any available silver. The men returned to the empire, explaining that the statues of the saints in the great cathedrals were made of silver. It was then that Cromwell issued this order: "Let us melt down the saints and put them out of circulation."
Let Him put you into circulation, "for thou shalt be His witnessed unto all men."
(Reprinted from BROWN GOLD, published by New Tribes Mission, Chico, California)
