Scrolls Unroll Gradually (Part 2)

9/26/1999

So now to your question…”Have the truths of God always been here?” I didn’t forget the question. I needed to say all that. :)

If you go back in time to the history of the modern church, I think most of you can relate to this.

The “discipleship movement” was in the 1960’s and 70’s, right? The “worship thing,” as people begin to discover worship, was slightly after that in the 1970’s and 80’s and continues today.

If you go back to the early 1900’s you could say there was an awakening to the fact that the Holy Spirit is alive. He didn’t just write a book and retire. He actually is alive and there are things happening, and He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. Okay? That was a big breakthrough for us.

What about a hundred years before that? Didn’t anyone have the Holy Spirit? Of course they did! Didn’t anyone exert or exhibit or live in some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Well, they did perhaps, in certain ways. But God wasn’t obligated to give gifts in the 1700’s that He chose to give in the 1900’s. He could if He wanted, but if He had to, it wouldn’t be a gift anymore. So He could if He wanted and maybe He did and maybe He didn’t.

But the one thing I do know is that God has always, as the Book of Revelation says, “…unrolled the scrolls” gradually. “Who is worthy to remove the seal and open the scrolls? Who is worthy?” Only Jesus is worthy to unroll the scroll. And what I’ve seen -- you can test this against your knowledge of God’s workings over the generations, but it seems to me there are various times in human history where Jesus cracked it open and unrolled a little more of the scroll. He awakened us to what was always there.

How many hundreds of years went by of Roman Catholics not understanding that we are justified by faith and not by works? Many people lived and died without that revelation. And yet somewhere, somehow I have to believe that God was able to save them. He was able to redeem certain ones. I don’t think that in all those generations every one of them went to hell. I suspect that someone, somewhere had the sense that they were justified only by the Blood of Christ, and there was no other hope except for a Messiah. It couldn’t be by trying to do it a certain way or by living up to someone’s standards. It had to be believing that the Blood of Christ was sufficient because otherwise it was hopeless, so they had to believe that. They had no choice. They saw it in themselves -- that was the only way.

So I suspect that even though that revelation wasn’t available to everyone -- until Martin Luther came along and cracked that door open, and he kicked that door open and multitudes began to realize that biblical Christianity begins at the place where the Blood of Jesus forgives men’s sins, without any bearing on their part whatsoever. And they begin to live by the same grace that they were first saved by, and they are empowered in the weakness of believing Jesus, not by the works that they do. That was an awesome thing!

But, if you go back a hundred years before Luther, you’ll have a hard time finding a great understanding, particularly amongst the masses, about this thing that was so basic to Christianity. The very starting place of Christianity no less. And yet it wasn’t readily known understanding or revelation. But it was always in the scriptures.

There came a time when Jesus unrolled the scroll and He said, “Today is the day.” How many times had all the Pharisees and the Sadducees read Isaiah and saw that the Messiah would be one that would bring good news to the poor, and would set captives free? And yet Jesus was able to say in the power of the Spirit, (after coming through the wilderness by the way -- register that thought because that’s true for all of us). You’ll find that it was, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” The scroll was unrolled. A new era had begun.

I see that again and again -- by faith and not by works.

The “discipleship movement” -- was that a total waste? I don’t think so. I think people learned how to take a little responsibility for each other. Not that it wasn’t abused, it certainly was. And it ran its course but it awakened a lot of people to the fact that Jesus is not just Savior, He’s also Lord! “God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.” There was an awakening to the whole idea that Jesus wants us to obey Him.

“Go into every nation, make disciples, baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and teach them everything I taught you”? No.

It says, “Teach them to obey everything I commanded you.” That’s a little different reading! But that is what He said. “Teach them to obey everything I commanded you.” That’s what we’re supposed to do, if we’re making disciples, is to teach people how to obey Him, not just know what He said. But teach them how to put it into practice.

I don’t know what anyone else got out of the “discipleship movement” – I was never a part of it per se. But I got enough of it from the periphery to realize that there were some things I needed to learn that were very basic to my relationship with God.

So the scroll was unrolled a little bit. And we learned that Jesus is Lord and we need to obey, and we need to take some responsibility to help others obey too. It’s always been in the scriptures -- it’s right out of Jesus’ own mouth. Maybe it was different for you, but everybody I knew just missed it until the scrolls were unrolled a little bit further.

Worship. Well, you know it’s a glorious thing. Who amongst us would want to go back to the days of not really having any understanding or participation in a Davidic worship that fills the House with praise and honor and an admiration of God and exaltation of love and a passion for Him? Who would want to go back? But frankly, if you go back about thirty years, who was talking about it? Who knew about it? Did anybody ever worship prior to that? I suspect, but…

I’ve read a lot of things from a hundred years ago, 200 and 700 years ago. I’ve read a lot of things from a lot of people over the generations and that wasn’t very much on anybody’s mind. Even a lot of really, really good men never thought of that. Men like Watchmen Nee and T. Austin Sparks, and people that a lot of us have grown to appreciate in a lot of ways.

We got the message of the cross from T. Austin Sparks in a way that’s fabulous. I suspect all of you know very well his teachings, and it’s impacted you as it has me. Who besides T. Austin-Sparks in his era had a lot to say about it? Go back a hundred years and there’s not very much about it. Watchman Nee was deeply affected by T. Austin-Sparks. That cracked the door open for him and changed his life, and the things that he contributed to the body of Christ have affected the generations since then.

What I’m saying is that it doesn’t bother me that it’s always been in the scripture but nobody knew it. I don’t have to think poorly of Charles Finney, for example. He brought a message of salvation and a message of repentance that was unparalleled. But he knew nothing about these other things that we’ve been talking about. Consequently, this massive bonfire that went off for a few years during Charles Finney’s life is totally gone, because he didn’t understand the building process of a Church that the gates of hell can’t prevail against. It wasn’t part of his gift or understanding. The scroll had not been unrolled far enough for him to understand the process of building the House of God. He could see the entrance into the House of God, but he didn’t see that if the floor’s falling apart, and if the doorways are crooked, if there’s traps and things all over the house -- that he’s going to lose in a matter of fifteen years, 98% of everything he ever did. And that’s what came to pass.

The college that he was president of is one of, if not the largest stronghold for moral perversion in the world right now. He was president of it. It wasn’t that many years ago he was there. And yet now it’s a stronghold for and renowned for perversion in a way that most universities would be ashamed of even in their pagan ways.

So, what’s the problem? Do I blame Charles Finney? No, I don’t. I’m deeply grateful. Some of my earliest interaction with God was being cut to the heart by true repentance or false. The things that Charles Finney learned from God and passed on to others and to me has totally changed my life. Do I think poorly of him because he didn’t understand some of the things we’ve been talking about? Not at all. Because God is a Builder and He builds His house from the ground up.

And if you look at the things God has done over the generations, you’d see the sequence by which God has built His House and has brought revelation and unrolled the scroll. It makes perfect sense to me. And I’m not ashamed of the fact that something has always been in Scriptures, and “today it’s fulfilled in your hearing.” Today is the day that we’re delivered from and delivered to.

I don’t mind at all that God is doing something in this generation, in this day and in this place that has a unique mark -- that has His thumbprint all over it. It’s always been in the scriptures, but we just didn’t see it! We didn’t see “justified by faith, not by works;” we didn’t see the cross; we didn’t see prayer and worship and intercession; and we didn’t see discipleship. But that’s fine, because God’s building and the momentum’s building, and all of those things are a part of the House and have led us to this point today where we can actually put into practice the next line or two as He continues to unroll the scroll.

So I believe this is a new era, and it’s not anything new from a scriptural standpoint. Obviously, as you said, it fits perfectly into the New Testament story as well as the New Testament scriptures. It’s a beautiful fulfillment of so many other things and pulls them all together.

There’s a well-known brother that I was talking to about this who’s nationally or internationally known who travels. His “thing” has always been intercessory prayer. He’d start intercession groups here and there and everywhere, and wrote books about it. He was in my living room one day and said, “Mike, I haven’t heard you say anything about intercessory prayer, and we all know that the glory of God... Intercession is where it’s at, brother!” I’m exaggerating a little bit, but... :)

And I said, “You know, I am totally with you on that, except let me explain something to you. Discipleship, worship, intercession, the cross -- all of these things are...”

And I said, “Let me give you an example of intercession. It’s a little bit like plumbing in a house. If you take all the plumbing out of the house, and you pull it out of the walls, leaving it complete but just kind of lift it out. If you could just lift all the plumbing out of the typical western house and put it in the front yard, you would say, ‘What is that? That is so ugly!’”

It can serve a purpose for sure but it’s a little embarrassing. If it draws attention to itself, then it probably hasn’t served its full purpose. That doesn’t mean it’s not supremely useful, as we all know about plumbing. It’s a wonderful invention. It’s very much a part of our comfort in the house and usefulness of the house. I don’t like in Malawi going out to a shack in the back in the middle of the night, at 2 in the morning and there’s jaguars or whatever they have out there.

I like plumbing. I’m a big fan of plumbing! But, don’t put it in my front yard, okay? Don’t take it out of the house, because it’s best hidden in the house. It’s part of the house and it’s integral to the functioning of the house. It’s a glorious aspect of the house, but don’t pull it out and put it in the front yard so it draws attention to itself.

Intercession is a part of the House. Worship, discipleship, the cross -- all of these things are a part of the House. But if you pull them out by themselves, it’s not too hard to get into idolatry. It’s not too hard to get into things where there’s a focus on something other than Jesus. And all of a sudden, it’s divisive. “Well, we’re the intercessors!” I’ve seen it in congregations all over the place where there’s this select group of intercessors, and that creates fear in the hearts of the others. “Oh, the intercessors!” And then they feel pretty good about themselves, and other people are afraid of them, and there’s division in the House of God, which just ought not be so!

Intercession is a gift to the body of Christ. It was never meant to be a division in the body of Christ or a way to be superior to someone else. And by the way, where is the gift of intercessor in the scriptures? I don’t see it in there. Show me that gift. That’s not a gift in the scriptures. It’s part of the plumbing; it’s part of the House. That’s part of who we are together. And certainly some will have more faith than others, and others will be able to lead in that area, and that’s a wonderful thing.

But what I’m saying is that all these other things that God has shown us generation after generation are all supposed to be a part of the House. It’s not a new subject. It’s where all these things can come together to the glory of God. It’s the Feast of Tabernacles. It’s the Feast of Booths where we all come out of our own separate ideas and our own separate dwellings and our occupations and the various levels of financial gain and prosperity, and all our knowledge and the differences that we have.

It’s a place like the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, the last and the greatest of the feasts. It’s where we all come out of that, and now we can come together as one in the House of God. We’re not divided by intercession. Now as one House, as one people, as one nation without these separations. As we lay down our lives for each other; as we open our hearts, as we bear one another’s burdens; as we confess sins one to another, the dividing wall of hostility is pulled down. And all the gifts and all these things God has shown us for generations can come together in one place without competition and without separation. Because they are hidden in the walls of the house, integrally a part of it, but drawing no attention to themselves,