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Discussion Forum : Articles and Sermons : THE NEED FOR APOSTOLIC CERTITUDE BY BRYAN PURTLE

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 THE NEED FOR APOSTOLIC CERTITUDE BY BRYAN PURTLE


“…. he that has seen Me has seen the Father….” -John 14.9

In the October 30th selection of My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers gives us this awesome thought:

Until we know Jesus, God is a mere abstraction, we cannot have faith in Him; but immediately we hear Jesus say- “he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” we have something that is real, and faith is boundless. Faith is the whole man rightly related to God by the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

The darkness that marks ‘god-seeking’ cultures is profounder and more tragic than we know. Even in modern evangelicalism, there is enough of a measure of humanistic thought that in most cases believers remain unbroken over the condition of mankind. If one were to survey the nation of India, for instance, and the number of gods or goddesses men pursue there, it would become clear that the whole of the nation is pursuing “God” as a mere abstraction.

Men will spend weeks standing on one leg, days and sometimes months in fasting, whole nights in meditation and the reading of ancient texts, cutting and piercing their bodies in numerous ways, just for the positive sense it gives them in knowing that their souls are bent in a spiritual direction. From one village to the next, their deities change name and form, with multiple gods being worshipped each household. There is no spiritual stability, no answer to the problem of sin, no consciousness of God’s holiness and love, but instead the bewildering pursuit of the divine in mere abstractions. Paul did not see these kinds of religious pursuits as valid in any way, and declared that those who serve idols are literally worshipping “demons” whether they know it or not. (1 Cor. 10.20)

We cannot have faith in God until we have seen His Son for who He is and believed in Him unto salvation. The nations are groping in darkness, incapable of finding anything but false and fading lights, and not until the Church has penetrated their darkness with the light of truth in Christ will they have any hope at all. The darkness is not confined to idolatry in India, but is the plight of mankind in every culture and in every form of life where Christ has not become the center. Across the board men are seeking their gods in abstraction, be they wooden statues or cars, homes and big screen T.V.’s, and only those who have come into communion with Jesus Christ have the unfading hope of true Light. Only we have stability and certitude about eternity, for it has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and it is founded upon the revelation that God has given in the Scriptures. Do we dare keep this great light to ourselves?

They must know of His great love. They must know of His power to break the stranglehold of sin and shame. They must know that He has come in the flesh, that He was crucified, and that He was raised from the dead. They must know that He ascended on high, and that He’s coming again to “judge the quick and the dead.”

The nations are groping about after “mere abstractions” when the revelation of God the Father has already been given. They must hear of the Man, Christ Jesus!

How can we live so indifferently, so numbly, so stingily. Have we failed to realize that unless the nations see the glory of God through the Gospel they will only pursue truth through abstractions, and will have no access to a true knowledge of His glorious Person? Do we really believe that unless they come into the Gospel they will perish, forever?

We need to be freed from humanistic mixtures and hollow hopes for the progressive improvement of the nations, and brought onto the grounds of apostolic certitude. Paul shed blood and tears and took stones in the face for the singular purpose of setting forth the Man Christ Jesus to those who were seeking God in mere abstractions. We need the same sight, the same courage, the same burden, the same faith, and the same missionary spirit, or else they perish forever. It’s time to wake up, saints. It’s not a dream. It’s not an option. Woe unto us if we preach not the Gospel.

“If sinners be damned at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. Let them go with our arms around their knees. Let no one go there unwarned or unprayed for.” -Charles Spurgeon


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