Spare Not

[0:00] Isaiah 58 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression!

[0:30] Spare not! We've heard of extreme sports, what about extreme Christianity? Will we be extreme? Will we be extremists?

[0:42] Sadly, modern day Christianity is somewhat the mild mannered, quiet variety. An inoffensive version. It's different from what we read of in here. Not the same thing. I know last Sunday night someone commented how we need some loud preaching. We need some strong preaching because it's lacking. We all need to be about that. About extreme Christianity. And we think back to the early church and the reformers and revivalists of old. They were strong with the Word of God. They didn't hold back. And even in the Word, I'm told that more than 90% of all sermons in the Old and New Testaments were preached in the public places, in the public forum. We don't see that very commonly now, do we? And I know some of our number are people who are before the courts because they are out and out with the Gospel, with the Word of God. And I thank God for them. For people like them. People in our circle of friends who do preach the Gospel openly in the public places. Cry aloud! Cry aloud! We've become too politically correct these days, I think. In the church and churchianity. Cry aloud! It should be a constraining message. A constraining message that we have to deliver. A message that we want to shout! To cry aloud! To lift up your voice like a trumpet! Cry aloud! A constraining message because this message is urgent! It is vital! It is one that we should be in earnest about.

[2:27] And you hear, as was shared earlier, how our nation and others like our nation used to be missionary sending nations, but now we are really in a state where they need to come to us. To this heathen land of Australia. We've got reason to cry aloud! We're called to be a force! A force!

[2:49] A force! A force! For Christ! A force! To be reckoned with! That's what the church of God ought to be! A force that prevails over the gates of hell! A mission force! An advancing force! An unrestrained force! How we need that in this hour to rise up and be that constraining message! To shout that constraining message! The church of old used to, as we read of them, they were speaking the word of God with boldness! Boldness! Not of their own vain glory, of their own self-will, but a boldness that was heaven sent! A boldness that was heaven ordained!

[3:30] Cry aloud! We have a mighty God! We have a mighty Saviour! We have a mighty Bible! We ought to cry it aloud to our nation! Cry aloud this message that our world needs to hear, that our nation needs to hear! A constraining message! A message that constrains, that sends, that impels us, that propels us, that compels us!

[3:54] Can we pray and believe God and be that spiritual people, to be that spiritual force, to be that spiritual alive people who will care about the message that it will be a constraining message for us!

[4:08] We see in this world as the enemies are all about us! The arch enemy is hostile, ruthless, unrelenting!

[4:20] We are meant to be a destructive power to his kingdom! A destructive, invading, advancing force against the kingdom of darkness! To plunder hell and populate heaven! That is what the church of God ought to be! That is what you and I are saints of the living God ought to be! Visible, vocal, vibrant, vital!

[4:44] Cry aloud! Be a voice! A voice that can be heard! A voice that is crying! A voice that is crying with courage! A voice that is crying with conviction! With courage and conviction! Cry aloud! Like John the Baptist did! In John 1.23 He said, I am the voice that is crying with conviction! He said, I am the voice of one, crying in the wilderness! Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Make straight the way of the Lord! As said the prophet Isaiah! Cry aloud! Cry aloud! Cry aloud!

[5:20] As said to Peter, many of our children! As said to Peter, many of our children, many of our children, many of our children, many of our children, many of our children, ought to be exhorted to be crying aloud! To be a vocal witness for the Saviour! That's what we are hearing about Wednesdays! Cry aloud!

[5:38] Cry aloud! What did Peter do? But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, ye men of Judea, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words!

[5:56] Hearken to my words! He lifted up his voice, with a God that we should take seriously! His commission, his call, his commands!

[6:10] How will you respond? Will you be uncompromising? Sacrificial? It's a mission, and you are the missionaries to this nation!

[6:22] While you're on this soil, you're a missionary to this land. Mm-hmm. It's a mission to set the captives free, to unlock the minds blinded and blocked and chained with this message that we must deliver.

[6:42] You must deliver it! Nobody else, but you, and I, his missionaries to this land.

[6:54] It's truth! Inconvenient truth! Truth declared! That is what our nation needs! And how will they hear? Unless you speak it!

[7:06] Not vain janglings, but divine truth! Mm-hmm. It's a constraining message. We read, the love of Christ and straineth us!

[7:20] If Christ is in you, you'll want to cry aloud. Stop being a church mouse and cry aloud, brother! Cry aloud, sister!

[7:31] We need more voices. More voices on the street of Adelaide. On the streets of our locality, Salisbury, Elizabeth.

[7:45] The vicinity. In speaking with the light church at Powerful Gardens. We can have more people open air witnessing. We could combine forces and do some of that outreach.

[7:57] Amen. To get the word out. To speak it out. To cry aloud. It's a constraining message. So, cry aloud! Secondly, it's a costly message.

[8:09] It's a costly message. Spare not! Spare not! The prophet was told, Spare not! Spare not! That should be our response.

[8:21] That we spare not! We spare not! We pull out all the stops. No holds barred. Spare not! That we go for it!

[8:32] If we're a Christian, that we go for it! Extreme Christianity! Full on! Lock, stock and barrel! Spare not! It's not a social gospel.

[8:43] It's not seven steps to success. Not five keys for a better marriage. Or getting a better self-esteem that our world needs to hear.

[8:55] We might have some of that. But, we need the message of the gospel. The gospel message! The gospel message! The constraining message! The costly message!

[9:07] And we ought to cry aloud, Spare not! Don't hold it back! Don't hold it back! It's not a soft message, it's a costly message. What did it cost our Lord and Saviour, at the cross, at Calvary's hill?

[9:22] It's important! Spare not! He that spared not! His son sends you!

[9:33] Spare not! Do not restrain! Do not hold back! Do not hold back! Get right!

[9:45] Get on fire! You can be a giant for God! You can be like those we read of in Hebrews 11, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrote righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, wept violent in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

[10:18] Spare not! They did not spare! Every Sunday, many just go through the motions. They go through the motions.

[10:29] You know, it's almost time to go home. It's almost time to go home until 10 o'clock next Sunday. I might show my face again.

[10:42] Go through the motions. God forbid! God forbid! Rather, spare not! Spare not! Spare not! Spare not! Spare not! Spare not!

[10:54] There's no time for half-baked Christianity, for half-measures. Spare not! Spare not! Spare not! I've seen some photos, some film footage, graphic, gruesome, of my brothers and sisters.

[11:14] Your brothers and sisters. Beaten for Christ. People in India. Brutal, bleeding, bruised, graphic, shocking, gruesome.

[11:31] Your brothers, your sisters, bashed up for Christ. Beaten. To death for some, or close to. Brothers and sisters, these are our brothers and sisters.

[11:44] They spare not! They're not holding back. They're not restraining. Would you be willing, if need be, to go to a martyr's death? We ought to be so inclined.

[11:58] There's no time for a sleepy Sunday morning. We must shake ourselves. We must spare not! From our slumber, from our lukewarmness, from our deadness.

[12:11] Spare not, brother. Spare not, sister. Don't muck about. We've heard about. The judgement to come. As saved ones, we're secure. We're safe. But we shouldn't take an easy ride.

[12:24] Don't take a comfy chair. It's like I was hearing of late, when we go looking for a church. There's a video that says, did we look for a cruise ship?

[12:37] Or a battleship? And it had, it was an amazing video, I should show it one day. How the cruise ship, some Christians, some church seekers, they look for a cruise ship.

[12:49] You know, comfy chairs, service, everything laid on, everything just so, professional and perfect, and non-challenging, non-confronting.

[13:01] Or the battleship, where we're going out there, with a mission to fulfil, with a cause, with a call, with a commission. Brother, sister, wouldn't you rather be on a battleship, serving the Saviour, fighting the fight, or will you rather take the easy chair?

[13:21] Brother and sister, we must be roused, and spare not. Satan is the master of camouflage, and he comes with many disguises. He will seek to restrain you.

[13:35] He will restrain you. You know, I've seen some brothers even today, they weren't restrained, they weren't holding back. God was moving on them, to share, to minister, I've seen that through the week, at other times.

[13:47] People who spare not, they don't hold back. We've got a brother sharing today, he's not 100% well. We ought to have that mindset, that we spare not. It doesn't matter how we feel.

[13:59] He will seek to restrain you, the enemy, the evil one. He will seek to muzzle you, he will seek to silence you. Spare not, we're told. The message must be told, and you must tell it.

[14:11] You must communicate it. We cannot neglect it, we cannot, we must not. We dare not, withhold it. Spare not. God's word to man, needs to be declared.

[14:23] The Holy Scriptures, the word of the living God, it should burn. As, something we cannot hold back, we cannot spare. Salvation.

[14:34] It means a changed life, conversion. The new birth, it means a new life. Christians, are you? Some, would name the name a Christian, would claim, to be a Christian, yet.

[14:48] You wonder, what's missing really? What is missing? The things that matter. And in the church life, in the Christian life, the grace and mercy of God. We miss it sometimes.

[14:59] We don't think of it. We don't think of separation. We don't think of soul winning. We don't think of the King James Bible. We don't think of godly living, of godly hymns, of godly folk, of godly families, of respectful husbands, of, and wives, of loving husbands, of respectful children, of an excitement for the things of God.

[15:22] These things are missing. In many quarters. What is it that we are passionate about, that we care about, we ought to spend on. If it really counts for us.

[15:33] If we're really passionate for the truth. If we really have a compassion for the lost. And I know the son, they spend hours and hours, more than me, much more than me, in ministry, in caring, in reaching out.

[15:48] We ought to all have that thought. What more can I do? What more can I do? Not what can I let go of? Friends, these are tough times. When in faith that will spend on.

[15:59] And a confidence in Christ. Because the world is in a mess. And it's getting messier. And the message for this mess age, is the Bible. And the church that's neglected the message, the mission, the mandate, God will judge that.

[16:19] God will take the candlestick. God will take things. God will judge. And of course we know, Christ's judgment against our sin, was paid for.

[16:32] In full it was, God's wrath against Christ paid for our sin. But there's a hell to come. There's a hell for those who know him not.

[16:43] We ought to spare not to reach out. To warn others of that real place. Of that place where people will never come back from. There's no escape there. There's no fire exit sign in hell.

[16:55] Spare not, brother. Be willing to go to the ends of the earth. Be willing to go to the places of sacrifice. Be willing to extend and be extended.

[17:08] It's going to cost you. Spare not. Don't be afraid of expense. Spend and be spent. The only time is now.

[17:19] The only thing that really matters is for others to find him. And for the truth to be declared. For we to be about the Father's business. Have we lost it?

[17:30] I think sometimes we've lost it. We've lost it. We've neglected it. No. 120 years of preaching. Seven converts. Was he successful? Yes.

[17:41] He was obedient to God. Jeremiah was rejected and persecuted. Was he a success? Yes. He obeyed God. He obeyed God.

[17:52] And friends, it's about sparing not. It's not about success as the world would term it. It's about being faithful. Being obedient. A constraining message. Cry aloud.

[18:04] A costly message. Spare not. And thirdly, a confronting message. He says to the prophet, show my people their transgression.

[18:16] A confronting message. You know, it would be much easier to be politically correct. And to be non-confronting. To be non-offensive. But the hard hitting message must be declared.

[18:29] It has to be shouted. It has to be cried out. The truth must be proclaimed. The judgment. The crucified life. The crucified life.

[18:40] Richard Baxter said, I preach as a dying man to dying men. I'm dying. I've been dying since the day I was born.

[18:51] And every one of you are too. You're getting closer. You're one day closer than you were yesterday. I preach as a dying man to dying men.

[19:02] And we ought to declare the message. Friends, you've got loved ones and friends. Tell them. Cry aloud. Spare not.

[19:13] Lift up thy voice like a trumpet. Show my people their transgression. I know I'm taking this verse somewhat liberally in terms of the context of it. But the message still is clear.

[19:25] That we ought to be a sounding voice. We ought to be a crying aloud people. Look at the word of God as you see those that preached and spoke in Peter's day.

[19:38] Peter in Acts 2.38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent! He didn't pussyfoot around. He didn't have some circus show, some entertaining razzmatazz, some jokes in his message, some gimmicks or drama skits to make it palatable, to kind of tone it down.

[19:59] It was truth, truth, truth, straight down, straight down the line, straight between the eyeballs. Repent! It wasn't any quiet, comfortable message.

[20:13] And this is an inconvenient tune. The word of God, it's inconvenient to our lifestyle sometimes. It's a radical message.

[20:25] And it's a message that you need to have upon your lips to others. He says unto us, Come as you are, but don't stay like you came.

[20:39] Come as you are, but don't stay like you came. He says to the woman, Go and sin no more. He didn't say go and sin some less.

[20:50] He didn't pat her on the back and say, She'll be right. Just go and sin. Go and sin no more.

[21:01] That's confronting, isn't it? Show my people their transgression. Peter didn't pussyfoot around. He didn't sugarcoat it.

[21:12] He didn't tone it down. It will offend. The truth offends. The truth hurts. Is it sin forsaken or sin swept under the carpet?

[21:24] Friends, the tentacles of sin. They reach far and wide. And we ought to be a church that believes the book, that cries aloud, that spares not, that calls sin.

[21:36] We must not back down, dumb it down, tone it down, but rather show my people their transgression. This is sin. This is wrong. If you don't come to Jesus, you will die in your sins.

[21:49] The flood is coming. The message of the preachers of the church of old was very strong. And there's a danger for some of sitting in a burning building because no one's saying, Get out!

[22:04] Amen. There's nobody there that wake the slumbering one. As the bed is about to burn like the building around them. No one to yell, to cry out, to cry aloud.

[22:18] Are you on the highway to hell? I don't know that everybody here present is saved. God forbid that you would come to church week in, week out, and miss heaven.

[22:33] And friends, the awfulness of sin is something we all ought to be aware of and alert to. It was the awfulness of sin that nailed Christ to the cross.

[22:44] It was your sin. It was my sin that took him there. Ought we to consider showing my people their transgression.

[22:58] Quote, There is no change in the lives of most of them that claim to be saved today. Because there is no repentance. They lived like hell before they claimed they got saved.

[23:12] And they still live like hell. Only now they sit in the pew and tell the preacher to tone it down. Don't call sin by name.

[23:24] They want to drink up, shoot up, shack up, act up, speak up, and party up. But they don't want to straighten up, to fess up, to give up, or look up.

[23:38] So true. I'm quoting somebody else here. Those that repent will be separated from sin. Friends, show my people their transgression.

[23:49] That's hard sometimes. I know I've offended lots of people. You minister over a period of time, and people get offended. Loving brothers in Christ that I've exhorted in a personal fashion got so annoyed, so angered by me because I spoke about a sin problem that they had at the time.

[24:14] And they just up and left. And friends, yet, can't we exhort one another? We must. Please exhort me. I need it too.

[24:25] The loving thing is to tell people the truth. What things do we need to deal with? Could it be there's immorality? Could it be a hanging on to the booze?

[24:38] The gambling? Some Christians think nothing of going down cross lotto and reading the horoscopes. Just totally ignorant.

[24:51] God forbid. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. What about laziness? Lying? Cursing? Cheating? What is your sin? Show my people their transgression.

[25:04] Only God can really point the finger at your heart and mine to know what's wrong, what needs to be sorted. Friends, could it be prayerlessness? Could it be cold hearts?

[25:16] Could it be fault finding? Could it be a selfishness? Sin. It's a problem. It still is a problem. And for me and you as God's people still it's a problem.

[25:27] There's still the flesh. There's still the carnal man. Judgment is certain. Lives are in the balance. Cry aloud. Spare not. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Show my people their transgression.

[25:39] You can't serve two masters. You can't serve two masters. Believer today. Professing believer. Don't hang on to your sin. Get it right. Get it right. Don't play with it. Don't play with it.

[25:50] Please, please I urge you. Repent you therefore and be converted, says Peter, that your sins may be blotted out. And when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

[26:01] The day is coming when you will face the Lord. It says, every one of us shall give account unto the Lord.

[26:13] Every one of us. And your sins will send you to hell. But there is a way out. The blotting of God.

[26:25] Thank God for the blotting of God. Amen. Thank God for the blood that blots God's memory banks. It just messes up his hard drive and just wipes that computer of all that sin.

[26:40] His blood just erases it from God's memory banks. He forsakes it. He forgets it. It's cleansed forever because of the blotting of the blood. Friends, do you know that?

[26:52] The blotting of the blood. It just blots it. It just totally takes it away. And friends, I urge you today to pray. To regain the power.

[27:03] The power of the empty tomb. The power of the upper room. We must cry aloud, spare not. That people would realize the shock, the danger of sin, of toying with it.

[27:15] The dire need that we all have to get things right. The souls on our planet need this truth. They need you. You are his messenger.

[27:26] This is the message. And you're the one who can take it to those who need it. And it's unpleasant sometimes. We know how unpleasant it is to confront someone, to be straight with someone.

[27:39] But we must. We call to. To have that message that is a message that is constraining.

[27:50] It's the love of Christ that constrains us. It constrains us to cry aloud. A message that we ought not to spare.

[28:03] To hold back. And it's a message we ought to not be afraid that it is a confronting message. But rather to ask the Lord to help us declare it.

[28:15] Friends, there's opportunity to witness, to share. Maybe in open air preaching. Maybe in gospel tracts. You can be that voice.

[28:26] Maybe to your family and friends, the folk about you. You can be that one that is his missionary. You can be that missionary to this land. And God can help you to do it.

[28:38] Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the mercy that you give to us. And the blotting of that blood over our sin. We pray that there be any here who know it not.

[28:51] They'll cry out your mercy. They'll cry out for mercy. For your grace. They'll cry out, Lord, to find that covering of the blood. That that blood can take away the foulest stain.

[29:05] We thank you, Lord, for that blood today. Thank you, Lord, that you lead us in lots of different pathways.

[29:17] But you lead us and you're holding our hand. We've been urged and encouraged today to think of the warning of the judgment to come. We've been exhorted to pray without ceasing.

[29:29] Help us, Lord, to be compelled.

[29:40] To be constrained. Thank you, Lord, for the mercy that you give to every one of us. Deal with our sin. Deal with our sin. Deal, Lord, with our lack of spiritual life.

[29:55] Help us to be the church you want us to be. In Jesus' name. Amen. I love to tell the story of haunting things above, of Jesus and his glory.