through! “ Oh that Thou would- est rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down” ! He will for the heaven shall depart as a scroll (Rev. 6:14). Thank God, I do not live in a universe run by cold, heartless law. God is not imprisoned in His own creation nor is He the slave o f His own statutes. He has brok en through and He will do it again. We ought to remember this every time we meet in His Name. We quote “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” but we are often more con scious o f the absence of the peo ple than o f the presence o f the Lord. We have been hard put to My thoughts remained upon Thee, Lord; My soul with love did burn; Thy Word was e'en more precious then And sin did not return. — John MacArthur, Jr. it in these later years trying to find a substitute for God in our services. We have tried celebrities and athletes and politicians. Un less there is a hero present, the meeting is zero! Someone asked a Washington pastor, “Will the President be at your church next Sunday?” “ I do not know,” he replied, “but God will be there and that ought to be sufficient in ducement.” The Welsh Revival had no choir, no songbooks, no offerings, no publicity and no preacher much of the time but God was there. The Lord is not dependent upon our arrangements nor is He waiting for a crowd or a celeb rity. We do not have to have a thousand people before He will honor us with His presence. He does not always break through on the night of the biggest crowd. Go back with me to May twen PUR ITY I thought on Thee, dear Jesus; Thy presence filled my heart; Thy Word was my companion And sin was wont to part.
ty-fourth, 1738. There is a small gathering and an ordinary serv ice. Statistically, there it not much to it. Somebody reads Lu ther on Romans. In the assembly there is a young minister, an Ox ford man, back from missionary service in Georgia, who has not yet really met God. That night God got through to John Wesley and John Wesley got through to God . . . and you know the rest! But I would hate to hear one of our modem church promoters de scribe that meeting. It was prob ably below average and he would no doubt lament it and recom mend a fish fry to boost attend ance. Come with me to London on January sixth, 1850. A snow storm is raging and there is a sparse gathering in a little way- side chapel. The regular minister fails to get there and a substitute makes a short talk. I can hear your modem reporter groan: “Attendance very low. This will run our average down. It will look bad in our report to headquarters this fall.” But had visitors’ cards been in use then, one would have registered a name soon to be famous, for a young man came in sad and went out glad. Charles Haddon Spurgeon met God that morning! “ Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteous ness, those that remember thee in Thy ways.” Wesley and Spurgeon meant business and God does business with people who mean business. Why is God not breaking through today? Isaiah tells us: “We have sinned . . . Our right eousnesses are as filthy rags . . . There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee.” Our sinfulness, our self-righteous ness, our sluggishness . . . these barriers God w ill not break through. They must be confessed and forsaken. Then He will rend the heavens and come down. All things do not continue as they were from the beginning. God does break through. How we need such a visitation today! O b ]
Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be bom when he is old?” It is the same line of reasoning that Peter sets forth in our text. “All things continue as they were from the beginning” . . . how can a man be bom again? “ Can the leopard change his spots?” No, for all things continue as they were in the case of leopards. But when Saul the persecutor becomes Paul the preacher, something happens. God broke through on the road to Damascus. God breaks through when He answers prayer. He is waiting to show Himself strong in our be half . . . not ourselves strong in His behalf! Remember the siege of Samaria. Elisha prophesied that next day there would be food aplenty. A lord said, “ Behold if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?” That is the way this world rear sons. This puny lord put his word against THE LORD. And he lost for THE LORD says, “ Prove me now herewith . . . if I will not open the windows of heaven.” In other words, “ I will break through, I will furnish tables in the wilderness, call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.” All things do not continue as they were from the beg inn ing . God breaks through and answers prayer. C e r ta in ly God w ill break through when Jesus comes again. That is the thought o f Peter in the passage of our text. God broke through in the flood and He will break through again. All things do not continue as they were. Jesus said, “ I will build My church” and He did it. He said “ I will send my Spirit” and He did. He said “ I will come again” and He will! Peter writes, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” That sounds like God breaking
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