57 The Revelation of Jesus Christ He will still be received by individuals in the faithful rem nant, but the great mass of professing Christendom will deny His deity, His atoning work on the cross, His bodily resur rection-all the fundamentals of the faith "once for all de livered unto the saints." In view of all this, how we love to linger over His Words of assurance: "If any man will hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me." The faithful remnant may even see persecution before the true church is translated, but the risen Christ will "sup with him." All this seems to indicate that, as the age draws to a close, the period of great revivals will be over. There will be no more such turnings to God in large numbers as when God moved the people through Wesley, Whitfield, and Moody. "If any man hear my voice . .." The appeal in the last days will be to individuals. Even now it is hard to get men to accept the Lord. What will it be as the final stage of apostasy is approached? It is my conviction that we are in the Laodicean period which is lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. There are churches in this city with members numbering as high as 3,000, and yet their pastors admit that they cannot get even a "corporal's guard" out to a prayer meeting. A man told me a few days ago that there are 4,000 people on their church roll; and yet they had only fifty out on Sunday evening, and thirty-five at prayer meeting! Where are those absent members? Only God knows. What will happen to them? He tells us: "So, then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Our Lord told us when He was on earth that the wheat and the tares should grow together until the end of the age. Therefore, we are not discouraged, even in the face of ever deepening apostasy. And His words of promise spur us on to increased vigilance and faith: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne" (3:21 ). The last time I was in Australia, I was riding with a friend in a car. We passed a big farm, surrounded by barbed wire.
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