[This message was delivered in the seventeenth century by Thomas Manton. We have paraphrased it in modern English, and its message is just as potent today as then. Composed Christians are those who have learned to rejoice in any and all circumstances.]
A revival of holiness is coming to this nation. The sparks have already been ingnitied by the Holy Spirit, and everywhere I travel now there are signs of a glorious awakening, with multitudes of God's children hungering and thirsting for righteousness. The Bible predicts that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him. Holiness, the true righteousness of Christ, is the standard. That blood-stained banner of holiness is being raised over the battlefields of sin and corruption and soon, very soon.
A growing number of ministers have been writing to me in recent months, telling of their concern for parishioners who are simply giving up. One minister wrote, "I see my church members trying so hard to cope with problems in their marriages and pressures in their personal lives. Just when it seems victory is within reach, they stumble and fall. Good, honest Christians are so often overwhelmed by guilt and condemnation, it causes despair. And when they can't live up to their own expectations - when they fall back into sin and get involved - they decide to give up.
We all have distractions in life, but let’s face it—men are the worst when it comes to sports. I don’t mean playing sports, which would actually be good for a lot of couch potatoes, but keeping up with sports. Smart phones and the ESPN app have turned once-attentive husbands into screen-gazers. All a guy has to do is silently press the “refresh” button and dozens of scores are instantly updated. Every date night is at risk from constant under-the-table glances.
I know what it’s like to believe the promises of God and not see them realized. I know the promise of unspeakable joy and also years of discouragement and even depression. I know what it’s like to hear God’s promise of an overcoming, victorious life and spend long seasons overwhelmed and defeated. I know the promise that we’ll know his love—the height, depth and breadth of it—and yet not sense that love but instead feel driven to earn it.
I am convinced there is a hunger throughout the world for the uncompromised grace of Christ. Scripture attests to this hunger. Luke writes that when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, crowds of thousands “had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed” (Luke 6:18, NLT). These masses came because they had heard a rumor about a man of grace who would heal them.
The question mark in my title is intentional. As Christians we know that Jesus won the victory for us at Calvary. He defeated death, Satan and the power of sin. The question remaining for believers is, “Now what? I know Jesus won my victory on the cross. But what about my present conflict? Where is his victory for the battle raging in my life right now?”
Jesus said, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John 14:18).
When Christ said this, he was addressing his disciples just before he went to the cross. He had gathered his chosen ones for a last moment of communion before being crucified.
What a sad, sorrowful lot these men were. Their sole source of comfort on the earth was being taken from them. Jesus was their guide, their teacher, their joy and peace and hope. And now he was physically leaving them.
This message is about the almighty power of God’s presence and how his children can lay hold of that power. Scripture provides endless examples of how the presence of the Lord empowers his people to live for him. One of the most powerful examples is the life of Moses.
“He went out from thence, and came into his own country [Nazareth] …and many hearing him were astonished, saying…what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? … And they were offended at him…. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief” (Mark 6:1–3, 5–6).
