The Lord Is in the Whirlwind and the Storm Series • Part 2 of 3

Part 2: The Lord Is in the Whirlwind and the Storm as Seen in the Church

By Lance Lambert

This message was delivered in Richmond, VA in 2002.

We turn once again to that scripture in Nahum, chapter one. I will just read verse three tonight:

Then if you will turn with me to Revelation, chapter 19. And from this we will read from verse three:

And then also in the same book, chapter 10, from verse one:

And then again back into the old covenant, to Zechariah, chapter four:

Could we just bow in a further word of prayer? Beloved Lord, we're so thankful that when we come to Your word, we do not have to depend upon our own energy or talents. But, Lord, You have provided us with an anointing. An anointing both for the speaking of Your word and the hearing of it. Dear Lord, we want to recognise that this evening. We want to recognise, Lord, that we can do nothing ourselves by our own energy, our own talents, however great they may be. But Lord, we praise You that You have given us an anointing through the finished work of our Lord Jesus. And You've made that anointing a living reality in the person of the Holy Spirit. Dear Lord, will You come upon us now? By faith we stand into that grace and power that is ours in the Lord Jesus, that we may be enabled to speak Your word this evening, and we may be enabled to hear what You are saying. Hear us, O Lord. We commit ourselves to You, and we shall give You all the praise and all the glory for answering this our prayer. For we ask it in the name of our Messiah, the Lord Jesus. Amen.

The Divine Presence in Catastrophic Events

I had laid on my heart that little phrase in Nahum 1:3—the Lord has His way in the whirlwind and the storm and the clouds are the dust of His feet. Quite an extraordinary revelation. A tornado, for you folks here, is not generally the kind of thing we expect to find the Lord in. We expect Him to come behind it, mopping up, helping us, enabling us, as it were, to come back to normal life. But that the Lord should say that His way is in the tornado, in the whirlwind, which is the Middle East version of the tornado, is quite extraordinary. And saying that He should be in a storm. We tend to think that all storms that come to us have to be devilish. But it says that the Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm. It says the clouds are the dust of His feet, which means that you can't see Him. Only by faith can you believe that His way is in the whirlwind and in the storm. There are clouds. You can't see the Lord, yet we are told the clouds are the dust of His feet. In other words, He is progressing, He is walking, He is moving through. And as He moves through, you may not see it, you may not feel that there is any way that you can see a purpose in it, but the Lord has a purpose in it all.

Historical Application: The Whirlwind in World Events

Last night I spoke of this in connection with the nations, and we spent quite a time talking about the way the Lord has His way in the whirlwind. In this past century, we have seen a whirlwind in the First World War of 1914-18, and we've seen it again in the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945. In those two terrible wars which hit the world like a whirlwind, like an enormous storm, the Lord had a purpose. And now we are in the presence of the possibility of a third.

What happened on September 11, which I think has changed the whole climate in the United States and probably has woken up the people of God more than they have been woken up for a long, long time here, because even in the First World War and the Second World War, it did not touch American soil. Americans were involved, but it didn't touch American soil. For the first time, something happened on American soil. For most Americans, I'm sure, incredible. Almost unbelievable that here in this safe haven, planes could be hijacked. Stewards and stewardesses had their throats slit and the planes used as bombs to destroy over 3,000 people in one single day. It was a savage thing. It cannot ever be justified. But the fact is, in that whirlwind was the Lord.

The Church's Spiritual Slumber

Because the church in America did not wake up. Cruising along in its affluent way, riding sort of along on the crest of its own waves, it never woke up. And the only way the Lord could wake up the church was for something so dreadful as September 11th. Before you criticise the Lord, first we should criticise ourselves. Maybe it wouldn't have even been necessary if the people of God had woken up. It's very easy to blame the President and blame the administration and blame this, blame the CIA and the FBI and everybody else for the lapse in security. But it may never have happened if the people of God had only been walking, as it were, with the Lord, sensitive to the Lord. So the real responsibility lies at the door of the people of God.

Contemporary Islamic Threat

I spoke last night for some time on Islam because I believe that we are now facing a possible holy war. The American administration, the British government and most of the European governments have bent over backwards speaking about Islam, for instance, as a glorious faith, as a non-violent faith, as a peace-loving faith, and I don't know what else, because they are so afraid of the Muslim communities within their borders becoming the object of the anger of many people within those countries. So they've tried to protect them, but in doing so they have done a great disservice because people get the idea that what is happening is not Islam, but is in fact some aberration of Islam.

Well, I'm not going to go back over what I said yesterday, or we won't be able to say anything tonight, but it still remains a fact that Islam was born in violence, was spread in violence. And those of us who live anywhere in the shadow of Islam know the spirit of violence that is within it. That there are millions of decent, peace-loving Muslims who just want to live their lives in peace, there's no doubt at all, but the principality, the world ruler of darkness that is behind Islam is not peace-loving. That spirit is a spirit of enormous power. And Islam is coming to its climax.

David Pawson's Testimony

Well, I said all this yesterday—there's so much more that could be said. But there is one thing I want to say to add to what I said last night. Why I personally believe that we are on the verge of a very great conflict. And I have a very dear friend. I've known him for many years. His name is David Pawson. I don't agree with necessarily all his views, but he is a very dear and choice servant of God, a faithful servant of God.

About five months ago, he woke up in the middle of the night and felt that the Lord spoke to him and said to him, "Islam will take over Britain." And he was so shocked that he couldn't go to sleep. And his dear wife, Enid, saw him in a very disturbed state and wondered what was troubling him and said to him, "What's wrong with you? Are you feeling ill?" And he said, "No, but I think the Lord has spoken to me, and I cannot believe it is the Lord." So she said, "Well, what did He say?" He said, "He said to me that Islam will take over Britain."

Well, she said, "Why don't we commit it to the Lord in prayer?" Ladies are often very practical. "Why don't we commit this thing to the Lord in prayer and go back to sleep, and tomorrow morning we'll see if the burden is still with us." So they committed it to the Lord in prayer, got back into bed and went to sleep. And in the morning they both woke up with a far greater burden.

He then—both of them began to ask the Lord, "What are we to do?" And the Lord said to them, "You are to make a study, withdraw from all other things for a while and make a serious study." Now, David is an academic. "Make a serious study of Islam, and I will give you much understanding as you do this and make a series of videos to be spread all over Britain about what you will discover."

So he booked the studio, booked the technicians, everything else which you have to do almost three months in advance, and began his studies. And he said, in all the time of his sort of fifty years of ministry, he said, "I have never had so much revelation given to me on any other subject." And he said, "It came right up to the question of the recording of these seminars." By the way, because he was so uncertain, he brought together some of his closest friends, most of them ministers, who really do know the Lord. And he fully expected that they would say to him, "David, you're overboard." But instead, the whole lot unanimously said, "We believe God has spoken to you and you have to do something."

So he went ahead and he asked one hundred people to come to be a kind of audience, a congregation, as it were, to speak to in the video. And one hour before the video, he had a stroke. He was actually there ready to do it. He had a stroke which struck his tongue and his lips and his larynx. And he asked some of the brothers who were already there, the hundred that had been asked to come, if they would come and pray with him. Should he stop, should he get into hospital, or should he go on? And he felt, "This is too odd. This has to be the enemy. Here we are, we've got everything done. We're right at the point of having it recorded, and we had this."

And he went through eight sessions, beginning at 10 and ending in the evening with breaks between, and that is eight hours of ministry. And somehow the Lord gave him back his voice. But he said it was very difficult. But nobody who's seen the video will detect the stroke. But when it was over, he was paralysed down the whole of his left side and was taken back into hospital, into intensive care. And the specialist came to him and said, "Mr. Pawson, we are very puzzled by this whole thing. You have none of the normal evidences of a stroke, but there's no doubt you've had a stroke."

I believe that that is very significant. It shows me that Islam is coming to its climax, and woe betide anybody who confronts it. Well, David is now back to normal. He travelled all the way out to Jerusalem to speak in the celebrations over the Feast of Tabernacles. And we praised the Lord for it. But this is the thing that made me realise there is something far bigger in this war on terror.

The Completion of God's Purpose for the Church

Now I want to speak this evening about the church. And the Lord says that His way is in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of His feet. In the midst of all that is happening, the storm, the conflict, the battle, God's purpose for the church will be completed.

The Unrealistic Expectation of Spiritual Sunshine

If we think that His purpose for the church is going to be completed in sunshine, spiritual sunshine, we have another think coming. There is an enemy that hates the purpose of God concerning the church more than anything else. There are two things that the enemy hates. One is the true church and the other is Israel. We are going to confine ourselves this evening to the whole question of the church.

In my estimation, the conflict over the church, the compromising of the church, the lukewarmness of the church, the artificiality of the church, all these things require the most drastic action on the part of the Lord. The only way sometimes He can bring those who really love Him and really want Him into an utter devotion is by a whirlwind. And in that whirlwind He blows away all the self-manufactured churchianity, blows away all the self-manufactured Christianity. It's like a kind of spiritual nuclear bomb. It clears everything on the ground and you're left with only what originates in God.

The Necessity of Drastic Divine Action

It is a shame that the Lord has to use such methods, but the problem is you and me. We are the problem that the Lord has. And it means basically that He has to take the most drastic action sometimes in order to bring us to the place where we will commit ourselves to the purpose of God in our day and generation, it's much easier to be in a kind of affluent society producing an affluent church. It knows it all, it has it all, it believes it has all faith. It believes it understands the mysteries, it believes it is the steward of those mysteries. And the Lord says, "You have no idea. You are blind and naked and miserable."

The Tragic State of Laodicea

It must have come as an enormous shock to the church at Laodicea to discover that the head of the church and the Saviour of the body was outside of it. It was His body and He wasn't in—it had become something else. It is incredibly pathetic, and I use that in the proper English way, incredibly pathetic, when you hear the Lord knocking on the door and saying to the church, born again believers, "If any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in and will sup with him." He wasn't supping with His church. They obviously don't even know that.

Do you think they had Bible studies? Of course they had Bible studies. This isn't some died-in-the-wool dead institutional thing. This is a church, a living church, a true church. But somehow or other it has got divorced from the Lord. And the head of the church and the Saviour of the body is actually outside of it. They have the Lord's table, they have Bible studies, they have evangelism, they have prayer meetings. It's incredible to think. And the Lord Himself is outside. The door is closed on Him.

How could the Lord ever get Laodicea somewhere? By spewing them—the word in modern English, vomiting them out of His mouth. That's a whirlwind. That's a whirlwind. He will have to deal with them so drastically that they either become ice cold or they become red hot.

The Fulfilment of Purpose Through Conflict

It is amazing to me that in these days in which we shall see so much conflict and so much tension and so much fear and so much death, the purpose of God for the church will be completed. Completely fulfilled. Not necessarily in every believer, but in those who will be purged of all that is contradictory and brought to the place where they ought to be. It is the grace of God.

Maybe we complain at the time because we can't see the Lord. There are clouds. Actually, the clouds are the dust of His feet. But we complain and we complain. "Where is the Lord in all of this? Why should He do this to us? Why should a whirlwind hit us? Why should a storm hit us with such force? We are children of God. Where is this God of grace and mercy?" But it is His very grace and His very mercy that brings the whirlwind upon us and the storm. Because in so doing, do you think that any one of us, once the work is completed and we're in glory with the Lord—do you think any one of us will complain about the whirlwind and the storm? I think not. We will worship the Lord with tears. That He should have been so much in love with us that He was prepared to take the most drastic measures to bring us to the place where we could see what was false and artificial and shallow and be done with it.

The Completion of the House in Zechariah's Vision

It's very interesting to me that in that vision of Zechariah, the house will be completed in spite of all the conflict and mountainous obstacles and difficulties. It will require living faith to work with the Lord till in the end the top stone is brought forth with shouts of grace, grace. I've said it, I think, many times here in these parts. You will probably remember, some of you older ones anyway. I used to say, "Isn't it interesting that they say grace, grace unto it." Especially when the stone, the top stone's going right into place. Does it need grace any more? I used to think—because when I was saved, I'd never read the Bible—I used to think to myself, "Surely it should be glory, glory." But all they could say, the builders, was grace, grace to it. As if they were saying, you know, "This work began by the grace of God. It was preserved by the grace of God. It was developed by the grace of God, and it's now completed by the grace of God."

That requires faith when you can't see the Lord in the storm, in the whirlwind. I don't want to belabour the point, but it seems to me that the Lord will use the whirlwind and the storm to blow to pieces everything that's not of Himself. He's not going to play games so that we can be comfortable. He will blow everything to pieces that has to be blown to pieces because it's not going to go through to glory. That's why. If it doesn't originate in the Lord, it will not end with the Lord. Only what begins with the Lord will end with the Lord.

The Alpha and Omega Principle

In other words, when the Lord Jesus said, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end," what He was saying is this: "If I'm not the Alpha, I cannot be the Omega. And if I'm not the beginning, I cannot be the end." But the problem with us is we are so susceptible to the work of the enemy. He comes as a seducer, an angel of light, a messenger of righteousness, a minister of righteousness. Can you imagine the devil as a minister of righteousness and a messenger of light? In other words, light. The enemy works unceasingly to bring things into the life of the church that do not have their source in the Lord. Sometimes it comes as light, sometimes it comes seemingly as righteousness. But once it's come in, the whole work is compromised.

The Winnowing Process

So it is a tremendous thing to me that the Lord will use the whirlwind and the storm to blow away the chaff. Praise the Lord. He gets the wheat. The only thing you lose in a whirlwind is the chaff. What's that worth? And that's why the Lord takes this kind of dramatic action. Especially as we near the end of the age, the completion of the purpose of God.

So, dear child of God, what I'm trying to say is that what does not originate in Christ will go to its own place. I hope you heard that—what does not originate with Christ will go to its own place. Its home is Babylon. That's where it came from and that's where it will return to. Birds of a feather flock together. But what is the work of the Spirit of God, that which originates in Christ will reach the glory.

Do you think the Lord is going to stand by, who is the master builder of the church, and allow all other kinds of things to come in? Of course not. What He will do is He will say, "I'm going to use a whirlwind. My way will be in that whirlwind. I will knock the whole thing out." I'm now talking about the church in general. What is not of God, did not originate in the Lord Jesus, will go to its own place. And the Lord will actually use the whirlwind and the storm to force it that way so that there will be a whole false church.

The False Church of Revelation

We read about it in Revelation 13 and 14 and 15 and so on. You know it, I'm sure. This woman who rides on the beast, she's called Mystery Babylon, the mother of prostitutes. Isn't that interesting? She is gilded with gold, precious stone and pearl. So she looks just like the real thing. The real thing is a virgin. She is a prostitute. The real thing is that bride of Christ produced out of gold, precious stone and pearl. But this woman that rides on the back of the beast, she looks like her, but she's not her. It's artificial. A veneer. Skin deep.

When the storm comes, everything that belongs to that kind of prostitute will go to it. And all that is truly—those who are truly of God, they will be forced to make a decision. Will they go that way or will they go that way?

The Problem of Affluent Christianity

I hope that I'm making sense to you all, but the fact of the matter is, when an affluent society produces an affluent church, what else can you expect? Sometimes I'm asked to go to some places to speak, and I see these magnificent buildings costing tens of millions of dollars. And there's a minister of music and there's a minister of education and there's a minister of youth and there's the chief minister and then a whole lot of other things. It's simply amazing to me. I mean, such well-oiled machinery. Absolutely marvellous.

And I always get the same feeling—now do forgive me. Perhaps only someone from abroad can say some of these things and get away with it. Forgive me, but I think American believers, especially evangelicals, want to have a challenging message. Must be challenging. If the minister doesn't give a challenging biblical message, it's not good. But you mustn't have a message that is revolutionary. That's too much. You want the kind of message, you go back home and sit down and say, "Wasn't that amazing? Did you ever hear, did you even know that what he said?" They don't want anything that would disturb the architecture. That's a Laodicean church. Money-raising schemes and a thousand and one other things as well. How can the Lord deal with this? With a whirlwind.

The Purifying Effect of Persecution

Whenever persecution comes, it destroys everything that is not of God. It all goes to Babylon and the real thing goes underground. And indeed sometimes the church is more the church in violent persecution than ever it is in freedom. It is the storm and the whirlwind.

The Bride's Preparation in the Midst of Judgment

Consider Revelation 19. When I was first saved, of course I can't say that I am a sort of gentle type of person, but when I was first saved and I read for the first time Revelation 19, I was quite shocked. I thought this is more Old Testament than New Testament. I mean, all these people praising the Lord for the destruction of Babylon and everybody in it and everything to do with it. And here they are sort of looking over on the balconies of heaven and saying, "Look, its smoke is going up."

What about the women, the children, the babes that are all dying in that smoke? What about—I just don't—it's like the Old Testament. Well, of course, the Old Testament—I sometimes understand more about the Old Testament, sometimes than the New. But I'm saying that it seems to be very strange that these are so full of praise that people would say, some of these people who believe the New Testament is a new phase in the sense that God has changed His complexion, which is absolute rubbish of course. God is as much a God of grace in the Old as He is in the New. And He's as much a God of war in the New as He was in the Old. I mean, that's obvious, isn't it, if He's God.

And I find it very interesting that all these people are praising the Lord for the destruction of Babylon, everything and everyone in it, and said, "Smoke's going to go up for ever and ever! Hallelujah!" [It seems as if] we as believers shouldn't do that kind of thing. We are not lovers of peace. And then it says hallelujah—the Lord God, the Almighty reigns. And then it says, and the wife of the Lamb has made herself ready.

The Bride's Preparation Amidst Tribulation

Now, this is interesting because if you look at Revelation 13, 14, 15, you had the most fearful revelations. You had this beast, both a person and a whole system that covers the world in darkness. Nobody can eat and buy without this mark on the head, and this mark on the hand. Everyone is persecuted by it who will refuse to join it. It's terrible. You have this false prophet, which I don't believe is a Christian, even institutional Christianity, dead Christianity. I believe that it is in fact a new faith with Hinduism as its base. And he calls fire down from heaven. He does miracles in the sight of many, and causes everybody to worship the image. And then we see this woman riding on the back of the beast until, interestingly, the beast turns round and devours her. That's her end. So you've only got the new faith and the Antichrist.

And then you have the Lord moving and there's destruction everywhere. It says, in one day, Babylon is destroyed. Now, I find it amazing that in the midst of all this, which is certainly not sunshine, the bride makes herself ready. Now, isn't that encouraging? Well, maybe it isn't to you. I don't know. I mean, maybe you prefer to live on in this affluent society and with this affluent type of churchianity. But the amazing thing to me is that this church, this bride, is actually in the midst of all these judgements—she makes herself ready.

In other words, the purpose of God for the church, for the bride, is fulfilled not in spite of the conflict, but in it and through it. Now, I say that that's a tremendous thing to take in. And I find all of this so amazing too, that the work will be finished in the midst of all the judgements. That's why I read Revelation chapter 10, when it says, "The mystery of God according to the good tidings will be finished."

So for those of us who are devoted to the Lord and have committed ourselves to the Lord, come wind, come weather, this is of great comfort.

The Evil Day and Its Effects

But I would like to move on and talk for a little while about the effect of the whirlwind and the storm. Listen carefully to me. Every true work of God has its evil day. Sometimes such works of God, especially if they're very significant and very much used by the Spirit of God, will have more than one evil day. But in that day of evil, it seems as if hell is supreme. It seems as if the powers of darkness are sovereign. It seems as if God is a million, million miles away. It seems as if the whole thing has been given over to Satan. It is a day of evil, an evil day.

Paul says in that tremendous letter in which so much concerning the eternal purpose of God, concerning the church of God is revealed. He says in it that we might be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, stand. Every real work of God has its evil day. It has a baptism of fire. I would say that any work, so-called work of God, that does not have such a day of evil and does not have such a fiery conflict, I doubt whether it really is the work of God. For it seems as if the Lord deliberately allows this kind of thing—His way's in the whirlwind and in the storm. He allows it in order to keep that work of His pure and on line and realigned and moving with Him. In other words, to preserve it, if possible, from becoming a Laodicea.

The Confusion of Heavy Clouds

In such a time there is always confusion. Clouds, heavy clouds. We can't see the Lord. Where is He? He doesn't seem to be here. It seems as if He's gone. He has given us up. He has left us. Where is He? Actually beyond the cloud is the Lord.

The interesting thing here is that when this day of evil hits any assembly or any work of His, the confusion is the thing the enemy uses. One wonders why the Lord allows it. Because the enemy uses the confusion to set brother against brother, sister against sister, brother against sister, sister against brother. It seems as if it becomes an arena for the enemy. It always so happens, such fogginess. Why does the Lord not dispatch it quickly and get us back into the sunshine of His presence? But the Lord actually uses this time to bring out all the weaknesses in any work of His and to bring out all the weaknesses in an assembly, weaknesses we didn't even know existed. It all surfaces. It is a day of evil.

Navigation by Autopilot

I wish I could be more clear on this thing, that when there is such a heavy cloud, the only way through is to use the autopilot. When Henry and I flew into Washington, having endured this dreadful security thing—forty-five or fifty minutes outside of Washington, we hit cloud above us, below us, on either side, you couldn't see anything. And the pilot put on these great lights, which meant that it was like a wall, a fog all around. And for forty-five to fifty minutes we bumped around in the thing and wondered to ourselves, "Are we going to make it?" With everything else that happened, I began to wonder, "Is there someone who doesn't like our coming?"

We finally landed. The incredible thing was that just a few minutes before we landed, we came out of the fog and we were so low you could almost see what people were watching on television. I mean, it was this great rain that had recently hit everywhere for two days. But I mean, for us, it was amazing. You wonder, how does he drive this great aircraft through this thing? It's on autopilot. And I think when we have such heavy cloud, as it were, in the confusion that comes with it, the only thing to do is to trust the Lord, because you may not know it, but you're travelling. You may think you're travelling with very little safety and security, but in fact, you're in the hands of the Lord.

The Exposure of Weaknesses

When that day of evil comes, every weakness in the work and in the assembly is exposed. Weaknesses in the leadership, weaknesses in the members of the body, weaknesses in the character of the assembly, in the character of the work. If you think that the church doesn't have weaknesses, again, you have another think coming.

I think we are all looking for the perfect church, which is in itself a great weakness, because then we have very high standards for everything and everyone, and leadership in particular. And we really don't quite know whether we are going to stay too long, because if we can't find the perfect and the pure, we shall continue our search till we find another assembly or another work, only to find, after so long with it, that it is neither pure nor perfect.

The Nature of the Imperfect Church

The fact of the matter is the church on earth and in place, in time is by its nature imperfect. Therefore, I have full understanding when Moody was speaking with somebody and they said, "I'm looking for the perfect church," and he said, "When you join it, it won't be perfect." The point of the matter is that there is no such thing as a perfect church on earth in time. The only way you can get a perfect church is to have a group of people that are absolutely elite, well taught. You must have no conversions, no additions. If you can keep them a small group, ongoing saints, elite, you might just conceivably get a perfect church, but it's really not what the Lord wants at all. It's like an old age home, a spiritual old age home. I mean, that's not the church.

The Lord wants babies, He wants drug addicts, He wants prostitutes, He wants the gays, He wants the alcoholics, He wants the divorcees, He wants to add. And every one of those that He saves, you brought in imperfection. Don't tell me that a person becomes perfect overnight. We all know it's not true. Some of you who've got that kind of background of high standards may appear to be perfect until the storm hits the assembly. And then you become as great a gossip as anybody else. You become as great a critic as anyone else. All that sort of syrupy sweetness disappears in the evil day.

The Paradox of Growth and Imperfection

It's so interesting when you really look at this whole thing. If you were to be a perfect little group of overcoming saints with great understanding of the purpose of God and understanding of the times in which we live, and during a prayer meeting, pray that the Lord will do something in Richmond, that He will save the unsaved. And the Lord hears your prayer and answers. And there's an awakening all around. And let us say that something like a thousand people get saved. And into the church suddenly comes—because they're born of God, they're in the family, they've been received by the Lord Jesus. Into the church comes the divorcee and the prostitute and the alcoholic and the drug addict. Where's your perfect church gone? Now you've got—I speak from experience, at least in Halford House. I mean, we had juvenile delinquents. We had drug addicts, heroin, morphine, all the lot of them, young fellows. I mean, they were truly saved. No doubt about it was a real work of God that they got saved. But it took us years, it took the Holy Spirit years to straighten them out, because the problems that took them to drink and to drugs and to gangsterism was inside of them. Where has this perfect church gone?

My point is the church is not an exclusive elite. It is all those who are saved in any given area. It would be much easier to kick out everyone who doesn't come up to the standard that we fix as perfection. Wouldn't it be nice? We could kick out this and that and the other, and then we won't have the same problems, you see? I mean, very, very nice way to do things. But sometimes someone might kick you out because in some single moment of time, you drop below the standard. It's not the church.

The Pace of the March

It is very interesting that when the march between Egypt and the Promised Land was undertaken, Moses said, "You shall go by the slowest folk in the march." In other words, don't make the young, strong and moving very fast ahead—that is not to be the quickness of the march. Take the old, the young, the pregnant, and go by them. That seems to me to be the spirit of fellowship.

And when you have an imperfect church, those who become intercessors and travail for others within the assembly, that Christ may be fully formed in them, it makes them more perfect, you understand? The people who pray, the people who travail—you have an amazing thing happening within the assembly.

So dear people of God, listen to us in this matter. Because when this day of evil comes, the whole place is filled with charge and countercharge, with accusation and counter accusation. It's amazing to me, amazing to me. And the Lord is a thousand miles away. And the amazing thing is that people become very, very—they feel that the things that are wrong are significant, significant and really serious. But when you look back years later, you will think to yourself, "Whatever was all the fuss?" It's a day of evil when darkness, not sun, seems to fill everything.

The Test of Reality

Well, I hope that you can understand what I've said. Suddenly, during that time when the powers of darkness seem to be in charge, it becomes clear whether we have really seen or only academically, mentally received truth. One of the biggest shocks to me when I have lived through some of these things in an assembly or in a work of the Lord, is how people who have for years asserted and declared certain truths completely contradict them.

It's very interesting because I remember Brother Sparks saying to me years ago about some of his co-workers. "You know," he said that to my great shock at the time, I might say—"He only wants a mission hall. He'd be very satisfied with a mission hall." And of another one, he said, "All he wants is a brethren assembly." I was so shocked. But I lived to see that what he said was true. The fact of the matter is that the Lord allows that evil day to try everything, to make it clear whether it is up here or in here.

Now I do hope I have not got you—where's the time there now? My dear brother told me there's a clock up there. Not these brothers, but the one I'm staying with. And do you know what? These lights completely block it. There's no way that I can see the time here. The two bars of white right across. And my watch is still on another time. So I must draw all this to a conclusion.

The Foundation and Basis of Fellowship

But let me say this. The purging work of the Holy Spirit. That's how I just want to end. What is the foundation of our fellowship? What is the foundation? The foundation is Christ. There is no other foundation. We meet upon that foundation of the Lord Jesus. He is our foundation. And we take it one step further—and all whom He has received. In other words, our unity is based not on what we think or feel, but upon our Lord Jesus and whom He has received.

If He has received a Catholic, that Catholic is more my brother than a dead Lutheran. I mean it. If He has received that Catholic, and I happen to know quite a lot of Catholic believers, they are more on the foundation and in the family than a dead Protestant who's never been born of God. This foundation is our only foundation.

Inclusive vs. Exclusive Fellowship

What is the basis of fellowship? Is it exclusive or inclusive? I think that's a very big question to ask. I say it is inclusive. Our basis is not exclusivism. It includes everyone whom the Lord Jesus has received, whoever it is, whatever condition they are, whatever colour they are, whatever ethnic background they come from. If the Lord has received them, I belong to them, they belong to me. And there may be those who are big noises in the institutional church or in a lot of other things, not really of God. And I don't belong to them. They don't belong to me. We're going different directions.

That kind of fellowship, then, is very, very important. The church on earth and in time, in place, is, by its nature, as I've already said, imperfect. And the more the Lord adds, the more the imperfection will continue. So if it's a healthy assembly, there will be people being saved all the time. And the imperfection continues.

Receiving Without Interrogation

We do not receive one another for interrogation. I love that. It says it in Romans 14:1. Do not receive one another for interrogation. In other words, I don't say to you, "Have you been baptised? By immersion, I mean, not sprinkled. If you haven't been baptised, I have nothing to do with you. Because you ought to get baptised." "Have you quit smoking? Do you know it'll kill you?" Silly, really, because I'm saying you might get into glory quicker. It's a little silly when you think about it, isn't it?

"Do you smoke? I can't have any fellowship with someone who smokes. The very smell of tobacco, it just kills me. It paralyses fellowship. I can't do it." "You drink? Drink? You can't do that. Absolutely. You cannot do it. I mean, even in the New Testament church, they never drank." It's always very strange to me how in the church at Corinth they managed to get drunk on grape juice. But, I mean, the fact of the matter is, it's so ridiculous when you think about it. Interrogation. We are perfect past masters at being able to interrogate one another.

"Do you go to movies? Well, the Lord dealt with me. I gave it up." In other words, how the Lord dealt with me is the way you should be being dealt with. Something's wrong with you. You're not hearing properly. Interrogation.

Receiving as Christ Received

It then goes on to say in chapter 15, I think it is, and verse—I think it's verse six or eight. I've got it somewhere here. Verse seven: "Receive one another as Christ also received you." Now, how did Christ receive you? Did He receive you as a pure, sweet, loving child of God? Even before you were saved, you were so sweet and so pure. And the Lord said, "I won't have to do much work here. This one is half there already." I mean, of course we know not. How did the Lord receive you? He received you as a sinner saved by grace. He received you knowing full well the depravity you are capable of if put into the right circumstances. You don't even know yourself. If you knew the depravity that's in you once brought into the right circumstances, you would go into a mental home. But He knows it. He received you as a fallen human being with no hope of salvation. He received you by grace.

How then should you receive one another? Oh, you say, "I can't have fellowship with so-and-so. They're so imperfect." "I can't have fellowship with so-and-so. The smell of tobacco in that house is something dreadful." "I can't have fellowship with so-and-so. They watch the television day and night." "I can't have fellowship with so-and-so because I don't even know that the Lord has really saved them."

The fact of the matter is you have to receive one another as Christ received you. What does that mean? I receive you in the same way the Lord Jesus received me. Now, it's easy to say it, easy to say it and not so easy to practise it. That means I will never be shocked by any revelation concerning you. Now that gets us. Because as soon as someone does something wrong, we phone up and say, "Have you heard so-and-so's done so-and-so? Oh!" What are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to mollycoddle one another? No. Are we supposed to become partakers of one another's sins? No. Then what are we supposed to do?

Washing One Another's Feet

We are supposed to wash one another's feet. Feet are the smelliest part of us. When people go out on journeys in the ancient world, they went in sandals. Their feet were covered with dust and sweat and perspiration. And the first thing anyone did when they came into your home was they got their feet washed.

When the Lord Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, it was Judas also. And He knew very well what Judas was up to. We would, if some of us were to act on the principles we're acting now, we should have said the Lord was doing something quite wrong there, giving a completely wrong impression. He washed Judas's feet. He shouldn't have done it. Didn't He call him a son of perdition, going to his own place? He washed his feet? [Judas] was stealing! That's absolutely wrong. The Lord should have exposed him. And the Lord Jesus said, "This is an example to you that you should do to one another what I have done to you."

Peter was to deny Him with oaths three times. And He washed his feet? Wouldn't it have been better for Him to wait till Peter got to a slightly better position? I mean, it's very interesting when you begin to see it. Anyway, all I'm trying to say is we have to be so very careful. If we were to receive one another as Christ received us, we would not have shocks about one another. It doesn't mean that we would support what is wrong.

The Lord's Approach to Imperfect Churches

I find it very interesting that in Revelation 2 and 3 you have seven churches representing the whole church on earth, and in time and in place. Nicolaitanism is in at least two or three of them, something the Lord said, "I hate." Now, that's a very strong word for our Lord Jesus to use. "I hate this thing." He said He commends the church in Ephesus for judging those who say they are apostles and are not. But He never said, "Get out." There's Nicolaitanism here that's spreading like wildfire. "Get out." Never said it. He said, "Overcome."

There's a Jezebel in one of them teaching the deep things of Satan. Now, I don't know what someone teaching the deep things of Satan is doing in a church in the first place. Unbelievable. The Lord doesn't say, "Get out." That is most amazing. So where do we stand? What are we supposed to do? Here you have assemblies built on the Lord Jesus and they have very serious problems. Another church, the Lord said, "I know that you have a name that you live, but you are dead."

Well, I can hear anyone saying, "The fellowship I'm in is as dead as the dodo. I think I should get out of it." But the Lord never said, "Get out of it." He said, "Overcome." Now, I find all of this very, very interesting because in this day of evil, there's so much that goes wrong. And there is much that is wrong. I don't care what assembly it is, where it is found over the whole world. There is no real assembly of God that has not got serious weaknesses.

Those weaknesses will come out in the day of evil. But the Lord is in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of His feet. In other words, the Lord will bring a whirlwind that will blow to pieces everything that's not of Himself. In that time of confusion, charges will be made and countercharges. People will be accused of things which actually have some ground. That's the interesting thing. There is some ground for some of the charges, but you have to stay with it.

The Production of Eternal Material

I must finish. Everything is tested. And in the midst of all the problem, gold is produced, precious stone is produced and pearl is produced. The only three materials of the new Jerusalem, the bride. How is gold produced by division? It is not. How is gold produced when we're just full of accusations and charges? It is not. The way we handle the problems determines whether gold is produced in us. Precious stone and pearl.

The point of it all is this: eternal material for eternal glory is produced in an imperfect church. And interestingly, it is our relationship to the imperfections that determines how much of the material is produced. We have to learn not to have anything to do with someone teaching the deep things of Satan, not to touch Nicolaitanism, but to reject it. And yet somehow to endure whirlwind, storm and cloud.

A Call to Worship and Praise

We should not be depressed. We should be full of praise and worship, really. The nearer we come to the end, the greater the conflict there will be. But in the midst of all this, the purpose of God for His own, for the church, will be fulfilled. The house will be completed. The top stone will come forth with shouts of grace, grace. Of course, the top stone is Jesus. Just as He is the chief cornerstone and the head of the corner and the foundation. It's wonderful to see it like that. And as I said, the very fact that they say, "Here comes the Lord, the heavenly bridegroom." Grace, grace, you and I, part of that bride.

May the Lord make this real to every one of us and help us. May He enable us to lose in the storm that we are in—to lose what is not of God, to be realigned to what is His purpose.

Conclusion: The Principle of Realignment

I must finish. But I remember we were often asked, I was often asked, "How is it that for so many years in Halford, there was always this sense of the Lord's presence? How is that possible?" I've been asked many times in different parts of Britain and I have always answered this way. We adopted a very simple principle that every now and again, when we noticed the church was getting weary and exhausted, we would cancel all meetings and we would meet together without any programme on our knees seeking the Lord. It normally went on for a week and at the end of every one of those times we discovered that we'd been realigned.

There is nothing like being able to hear the Lord. It's awful when a church has got to a place where the Lord is outside and they don't even know it. He's actually knocking on the door and speaking in a plaintive voice, "If any man hear My voice." Can you believe that the Lord could say to a whole church of living believers, "If any man hear My voice"? They're all reading their Bibles, by the way, they're all studying their Bibles. They're all having a quiet time, I take it. None of them are hearing His voice. It's a terrible place to get to. And the only way that you can keep realigned is by waiting on the Lord. Not imposing a kind of structure on those times, but just simply to wait upon the Lord and to hear His voice.

We had a man in the assembly who was twenty years older. This is in the very beginning of any of us. He was a self-made businessman, full of the flesh, but saved by God, no doubt about that, but full of flesh. And whenever we said, "We're considering whether we shall have a week of just waiting upon the Lord," he would come up to me and say, "It can never be wrong to wait on the Lord." He was a man of flesh. But actually I think the Lord spoke through him quite a few times. "It can never be wrong to wait on the Lord."

The Holy Spirit is the one who has authority to really build the church, encourage it, correct it and keep us on course. May He do it.

Closing Prayer

Shall we pray? Lord, we just commit this time into Your hands and pray that You will have mercy upon us. O Lord, hear us. We are such poor material, Lord, and in many ways You know so well, Lord, we have a tendency to get off course. And as for imperfection, Lord, it's in us all. Beloved Lord, don't give up on us. Work on with us. And even if You, Lord, had to use the whirlwind and the storm, do Your work in it, Lord. Blow away everything that is not of You in our lives and bring us, we pray, to the desired end. Lord, produce that eternal material for eternal glory.

Hear us, Lord. We commit ourselves to You in all our weakness. We thank You, Lord. You have a purpose for the church, and You are going to fulfil it whatever happens. We praise You for that, Lord. All we ask is, Lord, in some way, so get hold of every one of us in this room tonight that we will journey with You to the place where the work is completed. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

About Lance Lambert

Lance Lambert was one of the most distinguished Bible scholars and speakers in Israel in our day. He had an itinerant teaching ministry worldwide.

Born in 1931, Lance grew up in Richmond, Surrey and came to know the Lord at twelve years of age.

In the early 1950's Lance served in the Royal Air Force in Egypt and later fellowshipped with the assembly at Halford House Christian Fellowship in Richmond, England.

Later in life, Lance discovered his Jewish ancestry—his father and many members of his family had died in the Holocaust. This discovery led him to become an Israeli citizen in 1980, and he made his home next to the Old City of Jerusalem.

Lance became noted for his eschatological views (beliefs about end times), which placed him in the tradition of Watchman Nee and T. Austin-Sparks. From his base in Israel, he produced a widely appreciated quarterly audio recording called the Middle East Update, which gave his unique perspective on current events in the Middle East in the light of God's Word. He wrote numerous books and was the presenter of the video production, Jerusalem, the Covenant City.