Reflections on Lord’s Day 38 of 2019: “The Cry For Revival”
On 9/22/2019 the sermon, “The Cry For Revival,” preached by elder Albert Hernandez, was based on Micah 7.
Micah means “Who is like Jehovah?” The book starts with judgment for Israel and Judah but ends with eschatological hope following the destruction.
The preacher said that repetition is important. God frequently repeats Himself to His people, for we often forget and go astray. That’s also why reform is often necessary. Hezekiah, for example, starts well and leads religious reforms but doesn’t end well. “After Hezekiah’s illness, he was visited by envoys from Babylon. Hezekiah shows them all of Jerusalem’s treasuries. Isaiah rebukes him for this and prophesies the Babylonian exile (2 Kgs 20:14–19)” (Easton’s Bible Dictionary).
The elder encouraged the church to use the Reformed confessions and catechisms. Our church reads from reformed catechisms every Lord’s Day. Most are available free online and in print from Chapel Library:
https://chapellibrary.org/book/cfba/catechism-for-boys-and-girls-a-hulseerroll
He also quoted the Westminster Confession, Chapter V, On Providence:
The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave, for a season, his own children to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to [chastise] them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled;t and, to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends.
J.C. Ryle said the greatest trials we face are disappointments in those we love:
Finally, let us leave the passage with a deep sense of our Lord's ability to sympathize with His believing people. If there is one trial greater than another, it is the trial of being disappointed in those we love. It is a bitter cup, which all true Christians have frequently to drink. Ministers fail them. Relations fail them. Friends fail them. One cistern after another proves to be broken, and to hold no water. But let them take comfort in the thought, that there is one unfailing Friend, even Jesus, who can be touched with the feeling of their infirmities, and has tasted of all their sorrows. Jesus knows what it is to see friends and disciples failing Him in the hour of need. Yet He bore it patiently, and loved them notwithstanding all. He is never weary of forgiving. Let us strive to do likewise. Jesus, at any rate, will never fail us. It is written, "His compassions fail not" (Lam. 3:22). (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels)
Another good point the elder made is that sermons are for judgment and rebuke in addition to comfort and edification. God rebukes and chastens those He loves, and pastors are likewise commanded to do the same. We have consolation that God will judge on our behalf and avenge us rather than judge us.
The little foxes ruin the entire vineyard. Ryle said little habits matter:
“Oh, my dear children, who can tell the power of the littles? The power of littles is very wonderful! No one knows what can be done by a little, and a little, and a little.” Ryle continues: “Oh, the importance of little habits! Habits of reading, habits of prayer, habits at meals, little habits through the day—all are little things. But they make up the character, and are of utmost importance.”
The elder noted the last verse of Micah 7, a profound message, and encouraged the church to study it, specifically the words “tread” and “cast”: “He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19 NASB).
I’ll end with food for thought. A couple of Sundays ago we sang the hymn “God of Grace and God of Glory.” The lyrics seem fine, nothing questionable, but I tend to check the author of every hymn we sing. I was surprised that the author was Harry Emerson Fosdick, “the foremost proponent and popularizer of theological liberalism” who opposed Gresham Machen during the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy. This begs the question: Is it proper for churches to use hymns written by liberals or false teachers, even if the hymn may not contain questionable content? Pastor G. Craige Lewis sheds light on this issue. There’s a distinction between the lyrics of a song and the spirit—motive, intent—behind the song. Just because the lyrics may not be questionable doesn’t necessarily mean that the spirit the author wrote it in is right. Take the slave girl in Acts 16, for example:
It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”
It turns out that she was telling the truth about Paul and company, but…
She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment. (Acts 16:16-18 NASB)
The slave girl had perverse motives for telling the truth—to make her masters more money by tapping into the Christian market. It’s possible to say the right thing in the wrong spirit.