Revival Conference 2007 - Don Currin - Part 4

They have had imported in. They're stretched out on their beds of ivory. They stretch themselves up on their couches. They eat the lambs out of the flock, the choicest of meats, and the calves out of the midst of the stall. Look at verse 6. They drink wine in bowls, not in cups, not in goblets, but in bowls. You see the picture of overindulgence here. And they anoint themselves with a chief ointment. These people are given to pleasure. Isn't it interesting what Paul would say in 2 Timothy chapter number 3, that one of the marks of the last days is that men will be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. It would surprise you if I were to tell you that last year professing Christians spent billions of dollars on entertainment. Would it also surprise you if I were to tell you that professing Christians in North America spent more money on cat and dog food than they invested in missions? Isn't it a sad commentary? You can see where our priorities are, and why we're so desperate and need a touch from God. My wife and I went out to dinner one night. We're standing in line to be seated. And in this particular restaurant, they had television monitors throughout the restaurant. As we're standing there talking, I looked up, and apparently someone had missed their cue. Because most of those restaurants, they have sports, or they have news, they have something that's entertaining, perhaps some type of a sitcom of some sort that people love to watch. But on that particular occasion, someone had missed their cue. And the channel there throughout the restaurant on all these monitors was a documentary on global starvation. And the commentator and the cameraman would pan these cameras back and forth from child to child, and you could see the malnutrition. You can see their noses were running and their lips were parched, and saliva had just dried in the corners of their mouth, and the corners of their mouths were cracked, and their flies were caked all over their faces and their heads, and their bellies were terribly inflated from starvation. And suddenly I looked down below, and I saw people. They were drinking, and they were eating, and they were laughing, and everyone was oblivious to the need of the world. And I thought, what better picture of the church in North America? Even in the church, friend, we're so given to pleasure, it seems as if there's such a gross insensitivity to the needs of those, even physical needs of those in the world, the world in which we live. I don't know about you, but I'm 53 years of age, and I have determined more than ever not to waste my life. I do want to finish in a blaze. Much like Jock Troupe, he said, oh God, I was born in the fire, don't leave me standing in the ashes. He saw glory as revival. He longed to see it again, but he wanted to live passionately for God's glory, to be a zealot for Christ. And I tell you, friend, it's amazing to me. It was something that I'm quite taken back with, of the things that people are delving into and becoming consumed with to waste their lives. It's like the couple, 58 years of age, the man and the lady was 51. They retired early so they could move to the beaches of Boca Raton, Florida. And they'll live on the beach and daily, seven days a week, walk the beaches to collect seashells. Can you imagine these people standing before Jesus Christ one day and saying, Lord, see my shells? And I think of how I sat right here in the state of Ohio at a pastor's table one night, and he had invited a man and his wife to have dinner with my wife and I. And the lady, she boasted and she talked about for 30 minutes how that she spent six and a half hours every day on the internet playing the stock market. And I thought, what a waste. What a waste. But you see, this is one of the effects of being at ease, friend. We're given to pleasure. I mean, we spare no expense for a creature of comfort, as long as it accommodates my desires. But there's something else I want you to see here. In verse number 5, there's an increased desire for entertainment that leads to sensual music. There's an increased desire for entertainment that results in a sensual sound of music. Look at verse 5. It says they chant. The Hebrew word there means mindless worship. They engage in a mindless worship. To the sound of the vial and invent to themselves instruments of music. And then they justify that by saying, well, David did it. But the sound that David composed was an entirely different sound than what these people are composing. Now, I know some of you are probably sitting there and you say, Brother Curran, he's a legalist. He's narrow-minded. Friend, nothing could be further from the truth. I will say this. I believe everybody that's on the narrow road is narrow-minded. Friend, I tell you, if Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul were living today, they'd be the biggest legalists in the world. Hard sales. But I have some flexibility in music. I think there's some tremendous choruses that have been composed today. And I think they're into some wonderful music that makes the spirit soar toward God. I don't have a problem with that, friend. I love the old hymns of the faith, but I love many of the present-day choruses that are God-centered and biblical. But there's much of sounds that are coming out of the contemporary church today that are soulless and sensual and do nothing but cater to the flesh. You know, I suppose sometimes I'm tempted to ask some of these people that are so caught up in their music, and the only reason it seems like they come to church is for the music, this question. If they took the music away, would you still follow Jesus? Can I tell you, I've been in some meetings before that you've got some performers that come in, and they will sing, and they will play their instruments, and they're rocking and rolling up there, and I'm sitting there, and I'm grieved on the front row, and as soon as it's over, their performance is over, they move out the side door, they pack up their vehicle, and they move on. They won't even stay for the preaching. Something's wrong. My former pastor, T.P. Johnson, said, the message we preach today is walk in the spirits, but our music says walk in the flesh. Have you ever thought about the importance of trying the spirit of music? Can I give you just some things? Once again, I don't think that these things are narrow. I think they're very biblical. But here are some good tests for music, just in passing. Number one, can I hear the Word of God clearly over the music when it is sung? Matthew 13, verse 23, everybody talks about the importance of gospel music, but listen, friend. Before a sinner can come to Christ, there are two things that they must experience. Number one, they must hear the Word of the gospel, and secondly, according to Matthew 13, they must understand it. My concern is, how can they understand something that they cannot hear? Do the lyrics take precedence over the music itself? Fannie Crosby said, it is never right to take the lyrics of Zion and put them to the tune of Babylon. Secondly, here's another test. Does the music enlarge my vision of the glory of God? Exodus chapter 13, after the Israelites had been delivered, you recall that they engaged in that glorious song, that praise to God as their Redeemer, as their Deliverer. And it's interesting, friend, if you study that, it's completely God-centered. It's full of God. Does the music enlarge my vision of the glory of God? Third question, does it produce the fruit of holiness in my life? Romans chapter 6 and verse 19. Number four, does the music communicate sound biblical doctrine? Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16. And here's a final test. Does the music tend to sedate the mind?