CUPS RUNNING OVER

(2nd in a series)

"Grace [be] to you and peace from God the Father, and [from] our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom [be] glory for ever and ever. Amen." (Galatians 1:3-5)

Although there has not been a time when there was less chance of nation-wide Revival, there has also never been a time when Revival was needed more than NOW! We need Real Revival NOW!

There is something terribly wrong in a country where Church Homes and Schools can be subjected to terrorist kidnappings in the name of so-called "welfare", and innocent people tried before "kangaroo courts" by un-elected officials instead of before those delegated by the vote of the people.

And there is something terribly wrong with the "Christians" who think that God either can't or won't Revive them! Or their country! Judgment MUST begin at the house of God! And that means you!

In the last message, we looked at the method God uses to Revive saved people: Brokenness! We saw how very SIMPLE it is. Maybe you submitted yourself to God then, but now you're back in your same old ways again. Brokenness is just the beginning of Revival. Revival itself is being absolutely filled to overflowing with the Spirit of God! Victorious living in the Lord Jesus Christ!

If God is to bless you at all with these messages, then you must be willing to let him satisfy that deep hunger in your heart. And you must be willing for God to begin with you first, rather than in the other person. Expect the LORD to meet your need, and meet it NOW!

If you were asked right now, if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, would you dare to answer: "Yes" ? Revival is when you can say "yes" at any moment of the day. And it is not egotistic to say so, because being filled with the Holy Ghost is completely God's work: It is all of God's grace! All we have to do is to present our empty broken self and just let the Lord Jesus fill and keep us full.

The picture that has made things simple and clear to some, is that of the human heart as a cup, which we hold out to the Lord Jesus, longing that he might fill it with the water of life. He is pictured as bearing the golden water pot with the water of life, and since he is always near, the cup can be always running over.

Have you not read where David said, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." (Psalms 23:5)?

My cup runneth over!

This is Revival -- you and me -- full to overflowing with blessing ourselves and others, with a constant peace in our hearts!

People imagine that dying to self will make us miserable. But it is just the opposite. It is the refusal to die to self that makes you miserable. The more you know of death in Christ, the more you will know of his life in you, real peace and joy, as it is written, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27p) And then his life will overflow through you, to lost souls, in a real concern for their salvation, and to your fellow Christians in an unfeigned love and a deep desire for their blessing!

"This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:2,3)

Only one thing limits the LORD from filling our cups as he passes by, and that is sin in any one of its thousands of forms. The Lord Jesus does not fill dirty cups! Anything that comes from self, however small it may be, is sin. Self-energy or self-complacency in service, Self-pity in trials or difficulties, self-seeking in business or Christian work, self-indulgence in your spare time, sensitiveness, touchiness, resentment and self-defense when we are hurt or injured by others, self-consciousness, reserve, worry, fear; All come from self and all are sins that make our cups unclean vessels!

You will probably question whether it is right to call such things as self-consciousness, reserve and fear: sins! ("Call them infirmities, disabilities, temperamental weaknesses, if you will," you say, "but not sins; you'll get us in bondage.")

The opposite is true however. If these things aren't sins, then we must put up with them for the rest of our lives, there is no deliverance. But if these and other things like them are indeed sins, then there is a fountain for sin, and we can get cleansing and deliverance from them, if we put them immediately under the precious blood of Christ, the moment we are conscious of them. And they are sins! "for whatsoever is not of faith [is] sin." (Rom 14:23p) Their source is unbelief and pride, and they have hindered and hidden God's power more times than there are grains of sand on the seashore.

All these sins make your cup unclean. And all of them were put into that "other" cup, which the Lord Jesus asked the Father to take away if possible, when he was in Gethsemane, but that which he drank to the dregs at Calvary: The cup of our sins!

If we will allow him to show us what is in our cups and then give it to him, he will cleanse them in the precious blood that still flows for sin. That does not mean mere cleansing from the guilt of sin, nor even from the stain of sin -- although, thank God, both of these are true: but from the sin itself, whatever it may be! And as the LORD cleanses our cups, so he fills them to overflowing with his Holy Spirit!

This cleansing is available to us every day. Suppose you have let the Lord Jesus cleanse your cup, and you have trusted him to fill it to overflowing, then something comes along -- a touch of envy or temper. What happens? Your cup becomes dirty and it ceases to overflow. Now, if you are constantly being defeated in this way, then your cup is never overflowing.

"For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (1 Timothy 2:5,6)

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

If you are to know continuous Revival, you must learn the way to keep your cup clean. It is never God's will that a Revival should cease, nor that a Revival should be known in history as the Revival of this or that year. When that happens it is due to only one thing: SIN -- just those little sins that the devil drops into your cup. But, if you will go back to Calvary and learn again the power of the blood of Jesus to cleanse moment by moment from the beginnings of sin, then you have learned the secret of cups running over, constantly cleansed and constantly overflowing!

The moment you are conscious of that touch of envy, criticism, irritability, whatever it is -- ask the Lord Jesus to cover it with his precious blood and cleanse it away and you will find the reaction gone, your joy and peace restored and your cup running over, again. And the more you trust the blood of Christ in this way, the less will you even have these reactions.

But, cleansing is only possible when we have first been broken before God on the point concerned. Suppose we are irritated by certain traits in other people. It is not enough just to take our reactions of irritation to Calvary. We must first be broken, that is, we must yield to God over the whole issue and accept that person and their ways as God's will for us. Then we are able to take our wrong reaction to the LORD, knowing that his blood will cleanse away our sin; and when we have been cleansed from the sin, let us not keep mourning over it, let us not be occupied with ourselves! But let us Look unto the Lord Jesus Christ, "the author and finisher of [our] faith" (Hebrews 12:2), and praise him that he is still victorious!

There is one simple but all-inclusive guide that the word of God gives to regulate our walk with the LORD and to make us to know when sin has in fact come in. Colossians 3:15 says, "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."

Let the peace of God RULE! Everything that disturbs the peace of God in your heart is sin, no matter how "small" it is, and no matter how much it does not appear to be sin. This peace of God is to "rule" our hearts. That's like the referee at a ball game. When the referee blows the whistle, the game has to stop, a foul has been committed. When we lose our peace, God's referee in our hearts has blown his whistle. Let us STOP and ask God to show us what is wrong, and then by faith, put the sin he shows us under the blood of Christ, and then peace will be restored and we shall go on our way with our cups running over, full of joy and thanksgiving!

"Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-19)

If, however, God does not give us his peace, it will be because we are not really broken. Perhaps we have yet to say 'sorry' to someone else as well as to God. Or perhaps we still feel it is the other person's fault. But, Listen: If you have lost your peace, it is obvious whose fault it is: Yours! We don't lose peace with God over another person's sins, but only over our own.

God wants to show us our reactions, and only when we are willing to be cleansed there, will we have his peace. It is a simple, but searching thing, to be ruled by the peace of God, none other than the LORD himself. Former selfish ways, which we never bothered about, are now shown to us and we cannot walk in them without the referee blowing his whistle. Grumbling, bossiness, carelessness, down to the smallest thing, are all revealed as sins, when we are prepared to let our days be ruled by the peace of God. Many times a day and over the smallest things, we shall have to avail ourselves of the cleansing blood of Christ, and we shall find ourselves walking the way of brokenness as never before. But the Lord Jesus Christ will be manifested in all his loveliness and grace in that brokenness.

Many of you, however, have neglected the referee's whistle so often and for so long that you have ceased to hear him. Day follows day, and you feel you have little need of cleansing and none occasion of being broken. In that condition you are usually in a worse state than you ever imagine and it will take a great hunger for restored fellowship with God to enter your heart before you will be willing to cry to God to show you where the blood of Christ must be applied. He will show you, to begin with, just one thing, and it will be your obedience and brokenness on that one thing that will be the first step back to CUPS RUNNING OVER!

What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Always remember that Jesus is the Lord! The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. Rejoice! and again I say, Rejoice!  --Richard 

(Please see Fellowship Road next. Thanks. :)