(4th in a series)
"And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it [shall be] for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err [therein]. No lion shall be there, nor [any] ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk [there]:" (Isaiah 35:8,9)
One of the things that you must learn if you are to live the victorious Christian life is its complete simplicity. How complicated it has been made by so many. Many books are written, all sorts of technical phrases are invented, and we are told the secret is in this, or that, and so on. But to most of us, it is all so complicated, that, although we know it in theory, we are unable to relate it to our practical daily living.
These are simple truths, let's look at them in picture form.
The victorious life is pictured in Isaiah chapter 35, as a walk on a highway. It is called "The way of holiness." The picture is that of a highway, built up from the surrounding wilderness and desert known as "the world." Although the highway is narrow and slightly uphill, it is easy for any of us to walk it, for "the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." And though there are many dangers, if we get off the road, while we keep to the highway, there is safety, for "no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there."
Only one kind of person is barred from walking there, and that is the unclean one: "The unclean shall not pass over it." This includes not only the sinner who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour, but the Christian who does, and yet, is walking in unconfessed and uncleansed sin.
The only way to get on the highway, is up a dark, forbidding hill -- the hill of Calvary. It is the sort of hill you do not boldly walk up, but nevertheless, if you are willing, you have only to humble yourself, confessing the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, to get to the top.
But, if you are content with your present defiled life, if you do not desire with a desperate HUNGER to get on the highway, you will never climb the hill. If however, you are dissatisfied, if you are hungry, then you will find yourself ascending.
"And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every [word] that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live." (Deuteronomy 8:3)
Don't hurry. "Wait on the Lord." Let God make you really hungry for the highway; let him really drive you to your knees in longing prayer. Mere sight-seers won't get very far!
At the top of the hill, guarding the way to the highway, stands so gaunt and grim -- the Cross! There it stands, the divider of time and the divider of men. It stands between you and the Highway! You can't go around the Cross, but only through it. The only Door through which you can enter onto the Highway, hangs upon the Cross.
Jesus said, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved," (John 10:9) and the door is only big enough for "sheep" to enter in! You must go through on your knees, for it is written, "For it is written, [As] I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." (Romans 14:11) The word of faith says, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved; For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:9; 10:13)
This door is called the Door of the Broken Ones. Only the broken can enter the Highway. To be broken means to be "not I, but Christ." There is in every one of us a proud stiff-necked "I". The stiff neck began in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve, who had always bowed their heads in surrender to God's will, stiffened their necks, struck out for independence and tried to be "as gods", because they didn't believe what the Lord God SAID!
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
"Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers [did], so [do] ye." (Acts 7:51)
All the way through the Bible, God charges his people with the same stiff neck; and it manifests itself in us, too. We are hard and unyielding, sensitive, easily hurt, envious, irritable, critical, resentful, unforgiving, self-indulgent, and how often that can lead to impurity.
Every one of these things, and many more, come from the proud self within. If it were not there and Christ were in its place, you would not have these reactions. Before you can enter the highway, God must bend and bow that stiff-necked self, so that Christ reigns in its stead.
"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:21)
To be broken means to have no rights before God and man. It does not mean merely surrendering your rights to him, but rather, recognizing that you haven't any, except to deserve to go to Hell. It means just being nothing and having nothing that you call your own, neither time, money, possessions, nor position.
"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." (Philippians 3:7)
In order to break your will to his, God brings you to the foot of the Cross and there, shows you what REAL brokenness is. You see those wounded hands and feet; that face of love -- that was crowned with thorns; and you see the complete brokenness of the one who said, "Not my will, but thine be done," (Luke 22:42p) as he accepted the bitter cup of your sins!
"For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:7,8)
So the way to be broken is to look on him and realize it was your sins ("my sins") which nailed him there. Then as you see the love and brokenness of the Lord, who died in your place, your heart will become strangely melted and you will want to be broken for him and you'll pray:
"Oh, to be saved from myself O LORD,
Oh, to be lost IN Thee,
Oh, that it might be no more I,
But Christ that lives in me."
You will quickly find out, that there is no prayer that God is so quick to answer as the prayer that he might break you, and make you even as his only begotten Son!
Over the Door of the Broken Ones, and on the side posts, is sprinkled the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. As you bow your knees to go through, the blood cleanses from all sin. Not only do you need to bow your knees to enter, but only the clean can walk the highway.
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:8,9)
Maybe you have never known the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, maybe you have known him for years, but in either case, you are defiled by sin, the sins of pride, envy, resentment, impurity, backbiting, and MUCH more. If you will give them all to him who bare them on the Cross, he will say to you again, what he first said on the Cross: "It is finished!" And your heart will be cleansed whiter than snow!
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)
So, you get ON THE HIGHWAY. There it stretches before you, a narrow uphill road, bathed in the glorious Light, leading towards the heavenly Jerusalem. The shoulder on either side slopes away into Thick Darkness. In fact, the darkness creeps right to the very edges of the highway, but on the highway itself, all is Light!
Behind you is the Cross, no longer dark and forbidding, but radiant and glowing and you no longer see Jesus stretched across its arms, but he is walking on the highway with you, overflowing with the Life of his Resurrection.
In his hands he carries a pitcher with the Water of Life. He comes right up to you and asks you to hold out your heart, and just as if you were handing him a cup, you present to him your empty heart. He looks inside -- a painful search -- and where he sees you have allowed his blood to cleanse, he fills your heart with the Water of Life.
"And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;" (Ephesians 5:18,19)
So, you go on your way rejoicing and praising God and overflowing with his life. This is Revival. Continually full of the Holy Spirit, loving others more than yourself and really concerned for their salvation. No struggling, no tarrying, just simply giving him each sin to cleanse in his precious blood and then accepting from his hands, the free gift of his fullness, and allowing him to do the work through you.
As you walk along with him, he is always there, continually filling your heart, so that your cup continually "runneth over"!
The rest of your Christian life simply consists now, of walking up the highway, with your heart over-flowing, bowing the neck to his will all the time, constantly trusting the Blood of Christ to cleanse you and living in complete oneness with JESUS, knowing that he IS the LORD!
There is nothing spectacular about this life, no emotional experiences to sigh after and wait for. It is just plain day to day living the life the Lord intended you to live! Real Holiness!
But, Watch Out! You may, and will SLIP off the highway, for it is "narrow." One little step aside and you're off, and in darkness. It is always because of a failure in OBEDIENCE (rebellion) somewhere. The devil is always beside the road, as a roaring lion, shouting at you, but he can't touch you on the highway. You can yield to his voice by an act of will though, and this is the beginning of sin and slipping away from your walk with the Lord Jesus.
Sometimes you'll find yourself stiffening your neck to someone, sometimes to God himself. Or maybe jealousy or resentment assails you. Immediately you are over the side -- for nothing "unclean" can walk on the highway. Your cup is dirty and ceases to overflow -- you have no "peace" in your heart!
"But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." (Romans 10:21)
If you do not come back to the highway at once, you shall go further down the side, sliding backwards! You must get back immediately. How?
"Lord save me"
The first thing to do is to ask the Lord to show you what caused you to slip off; and he will; but it may take time to make you see! Perhaps you were annoyed by someone, or were angry without cause or just plain irritated. God wants you to see that it was not the thing that the person did that mattered, but your reaction to it. If you had been broken, then you wouldn't have reacted that way.
So, as you look longingly back to the highway, you see the Lord Jesus again and see what an ugly thing it is to get irritable and that Jesus DIED to save you from being that way! As you crawl up again to the highway on your "knees", you come again to him and his blood for his cleansing.
He's waiting there to fill your cup to overflowing once again. Alleluia! No matter where you leave the highway, you will always find him calling you to come back and be broken again, and always, the blood will be there to cleanse and make you clean.
This is no great secret, knowing what to do with sin, when sin has come in. Just take the sin to the Cross, see there its sinfulness and then put it under the blood and reckon it gone!
The real test all along the highway will be: Are you broken? Is your cup running over? Do you have the peace of God in your heart? Do you have love and concern for others? These things are the road signs which guide you ON THE HIGHWAY.
If they are disturbed, then sin has crept in somewhere -- self-pity, self-seeking, self-indulgence in thought or deed, sensitiveness, touchiness, self-defense, self, self, self, self! Quit with selfishness!
An important thing about the highway which has not been mentioned yet, is that you do not walk this highway alone. Others walk with you! There is, of course, the Lord Jesus. But there are other wayfarers too, and the rule of the road is that, fellowship with them is as important, as fellowship with the Lord Jesus.
"Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [thee]? or thirsty, and gave [thee] drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me." (Matthew 25:37-40)
Indeed, we are intimately connected. Our relationship with our fellows and our relationship with God are so linked that we cannot disturb one without disturbing the other. Everything that comes between you and another, such as impatience, resentment or envy, comes between you and the Lord.
These barriers may be no more than thin veils through which you can still, to some extent, see. But if not removed immediately, they thicken into blankets and then into brick walls and you are shut off from both God and your fellows, unto yourself.
"He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes." (1John 2:9-11)
It is clear why these two relationships should be so linked: "God is love," that is, love for others, and the moment you fail in love towards another, you put yourself out of fellowship with God -- for God loves him, EVEN IF YOU DON'T!
But more than that, the effect of such sins is always to make you "walk in darkness" -- that is, to cover it up and hide what you really are. The first effect of sin in you is always to make you HIDE; with the result that you are pretending, you are wearing a mask, you are not "real" with God or man; You're just playing some kind of role-playing game and that's just make-believe, not faith. And "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." And, of course, neither God nor man, can fellowship with an UNREAL person.
The way back into fellowship with the Lord Jesus, will bring you again into fellowship with your brethren too. As you come back to the Lord Jesus, you shall find his love for your brother, filling your heart and wanting to express itself in your actions toward him and you shall walk in fellowship together again.
"Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort [you] by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, [so] ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:" (1Thessalonians 4:1-3)
So, this is life ON THE HIGHWAY. It is no new astounding doctrine. It's not something new to preach. It is quite unspectacular, though joyful. It is just the LIFE to live, day-by-day, in whatever circumstances the Lord has put us. It does not contradict what you may have read or heard about the Christian life. It just puts into simple picture language, the great truths of your sanctification.
"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1Thessalonians 5:18-23)
To start to live this life NOW, will mean Revival in your life. To continue to live this life, will be Revival continued. Revival is just you and those with you, walking along the highway in complete oneness with the Lord Jesus and with one another, with cups continually cleansed and running over with the life and love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yield not to temptation, For yielding is sin;
Each victory will help you, Some other to win;
Fight manfully onward, Dark passions subdue;
Look ever to Jesus, He'll carry you through.
Ask the Saviour to help you,
He is willing to aid you,
("Wherefore didst thou doubt?" :)
Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
(Please see Revival In The Home next. Thanks. :)
URL of this page: http://www.avbtab.org/revival/04highwa.htm