Need for restoration

Let's read in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. I'm really not going to talk about this, but I want to point out something that will link with the next passage that I'm going to read. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 2. Here were warm believers, and Paul writing to them, he says, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Notice this with me, remembering without ceasing, first of all, your work of faith, secondly, and labor of love, thirdly, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.

Now turn with me to Revelation chapter 2. In Revelation chapter 2, we have the same three items that are mentioned that we have just read, with a difference. John writing by the Spirit to the Ephesians, he says in verse 2, the Lord really is speaking. He says, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience.

That's all we'll need to read. You'll notice down further at verse 4, nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. They had the same things as the Thessalonians, but the important parts are missing, and it's because they have left their first love.

And so what we need, and what I have in mind here, is love that needs to be restored. Turn with me to Psalm 23. Psalm 23, I think you'll know where I'm going with this in Psalm 23, and let's just read verse 3. Mr. Paisley told me one time, I think a lot of these older brethren, he said, brother Jim, never say you cut back your reading for the sake of time.

He said that's the most important part. So if you're running out of time, read more scripture and say less. So I've tried to remember not to say for the sake of time.

Sometimes I do, and I hear Mr. Paisley in my head. Psalm 23 and verse 3, he restoreth my soul. Let's go over to Psalm 51.

Psalm 51, verse 12, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. Here we have joy that needs to be restored. Let's turn to 2nd Kings chapter 6. 2nd Kings chapter 6, I know I'm reading quite a bit, but I really don't plan to spend much time on any of them, just to encourage our hearts a little.

2nd Kings chapter 6 and verse 1, and the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, behold now the place where we dwell with thee is too straight, too narrow for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man Abim, and let us make us a place there where we may dwell. And he answered, go ye.

And one said, be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go. So we went with them, and when they came to Jordan they cut down wood, but as one was felling Abim, the axe head fell into the water, and he cried and said, alas master, for it was borrowed.

And the man of God said, where fell it? And he showed him the place, and he cut down a stick and cast it in thither, and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and he took it.

Here we have an axe head that was restored to the man who had borrowed it. Now we'll read another one in Joel chapter 2. Joel chapter 2, and reading at verse 21. God encourages his people, saying, Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things.

Verse 25, And I will restore to you the years that the locusts hath eaten the canker worm and the caterpillar and the palmer word, my great army which I sent among you. And he shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God that he hath dealt wondrously with you, and my people shall never be ashamed. Let's read one more in the book of Jonah.

Jonah chapter 1 and verse 1. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh. Chapter 3, verse 1. And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh. We started out the conference speaking about the need of being affected by the ministry, and I hope already we have been.

I can say I have been, and I thank my brethren for that. How much change, time will tell. You know I say to my wife sometimes when I have those occasional moments when the preaching goes well, I say to her, you should hear what they're saying about me.

I'm really good. And she says, they don't know you like I know you. It's not what we are on Sunday, it's what we're like on Monday that really matters.

Someone told me about her husband, no location mentioned. He's a Sunday angel and a Monday devil. What we are in the home, what we are when the stress is on, that's the test.

I was telling my son and daughter-in-law in Subway, Walmart, earlier this week, I said I'm going to tell you a story, but I said it's absolutely confidential, and I wish I could tell you the story here, but I can't, because the person may figure it out with these recordings anymore. Everything goes around the world. But it sent our daughter-in-law into hysterics, and it was because of something someone did, and I watched it, and I was almost in hysterics at the time.

It wasn't funny for the individual, but I thought that this person was quiet, calm, dignified, and then things went wrong, badly wrong, and Mount St. Helens would have to take second place. Brothers and sisters, our greatest need is to be like our blessed Lord, and we need to take time for that. February of this year, I said to Joyce, my heart isn't as warm as it should be.

We've been hearing about that. Thank God, brother, for that word to make us stop and consider. So whether you think it's a great idea, we shut off all the phones in the house, turned off the ringers.

I said to Joyce, no internet for the whole month. You, and she's willing, because she likes me to have a warm heart. It goes better for her.

I said, you check the emails. If any email that really matters comes in, and you think I can look at it, fine. I'm checking no emails.

No internet, no emails, no iMessage, nothing. No news, nothing. I said, I need a whole month with the Lord Jesus Christ to spend time with Him.

And that's what we did. It's wonderful. So much.

Joyce liked it so much. She says, we're not putting the ringers back on. We'll just catch the messages.

You can't always do that. And maybe your life is such that you couldn't do what I did. But whatever you do, brothers and sisters, we have to get time with Him.

And I could feel the difference after a couple of weeks, just reading the book, and reading books about Him, and thinking about Him, without all those distractions. Because we need, above all else, to be in love with the Lord Jesus. That changes lives.

Even in you believers, it's that first love that makes all the difference. You may not agree with the way I handled it, but I was sitting with a man when he was saved. He had a Bible in one hand, and he had a cigarette in the other.

He ran a circus. And he was saved. Big, tough man.

And he didn't want me to see the tears on his face. He said, oh, I've got to go to the kitchen for a moment. And I could see the tears glistening as he took off.

He came back and he said, Jim, I'm saved. He said, what should I do about these cigarettes? I said, what do you mean, what should I do about these cigarettes? Well, he said, Christians shouldn't smoke them. I said, do you want me to tell you what to do with the cigarettes? He said, yeah, yeah, you know, when a person's first saved, you could ask them to do headstands, and if they've never done one before, they'd do one for you.

You know, a love for the Lord Jesus, anything. I said, I'll tell you exactly what I want you to do with those cigarettes. He said, what? I said, smoke them.

He said, smoke them. Yeah, I said, smoke them. And he said, really? I said, yeah, smoke them.

But I said, there are three things I want you to do. Oh, he said, okay, okay, I'm ready. I said, first of all, I want you to read your Bible.

And secondly, I want you to pray. And thirdly, I want you to fall in love with the Lord Jesus, and whatever he tells you, you do it. The cigarettes were gone that day, and the rock tapes went with it.

That was a bonus. I'm not going to put pressure on people. If they have love for the Lord Jesus, everything will fall into place.

Can you imagine? Think about it. Newspaper or Kijiji or Craigslist. There's an advertisement.

Wanted a young lady to change diapers, vacuum floors, wash dishes, no pay. Who would go for it? But put a young man in her life that she loves, and she'll do that and more. That's where it has to start, brother and sister, restored love.

With that comes a restored soul. And constantly, we need our souls restored. You know, I've been you see, my preparation for preaching, I try to keep it devotional.

I do. But when you're under pressure, like the brethren here are really good at it, Saturday they say Philippians 2 for you for a Bible study. All I have to do, they think, is wave a magic wand.

I'm not criticizing them. I'm fine with that. But you see, we prepare for meetings.

But that's not preparing my soul. I need time when I have devotional time for me and God. And our brethren who are in the gospel series in Manchester, day after day, thinking about that, that takes a lot of time.

It's a lot of work to prepare for a meeting properly. And you can actually get away from God in the work of God if you're not careful. And so we need our souls restored.

I'm not going to dwell on that. But linked with that is restored joy. There needs to be joy in our Christian life.

We want people to look at us and be attracted. If they're not attracted to the joy that we have, what is going to attract them to the Lord Jesus? And so there needs to be restored joy. I hope, my brother and my sister, that as you have been sitting here this weekend, the joy has begun to come back.

With the joy, there will be something else. 2 Kings chapter 6, what do we have there? Here was a man and he had a tool and he lost it. If we want power in our lives, here's a man and he's got the axe head and it's lost.

We are not having the power that we used to have. We can't deny it. I was reading Jonathan Edwards' book written, I think it was the 1700s when he preached, A Narrative of Surprising Conversions.

They tell me that Jonathan Edwards was nearsighted and when he spoke, he wrote out his sermons. He was so nearsighted that he would hold his sermon up in front of his face and read it. People were falling in the audience, weeping over their sins because he spoke with such power.

I was reading another booklet along that line and it said concerning one of these old preachers, one of the Puritan preachers, that he could light the world on fire while another man was striking a match. And I've asked myself, why is there not the power? Well, it starts with the love and the restored soul and the restored joy before there can be the restored power. Now, maybe there's someone here today and you do look back.

I was asked to take the funeral of an Anglican lady in town, a believer, and her cousin said she loved this hymn in the Anglican prayer book. So I read it at the funeral and I don't remember the whole hymn, but I remember the one stanza that I'll never forget. And it said this, those happy hours that once I knew, how sweet their memory still, but they have left an aching void this world can never fill.

I wonder, and Brother McCandless has already mentioned that, are we warmer today? Can we look back to any time when we enjoyed the Lord more? And if we can, in that measure we have departed. And I look to myself and I ask myself, can I look back to better days? I hope not, but it's a good review to ask myself, where am I today? You see, when God gives the gift of preaching, he never takes it away. Romans chapter 11, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

And a man can preach, and I can preach up here, and I can be as dead as can be. And you might not know it because of whatever gift God has given me. But that's a dangerous thing, and I have to check my heart constantly, where am I really before God? But what we have in Joel chapter 2 is, I will restore unto you the years that the locusts have eaten.

Sometimes believers get so down because they have wasted time, and we all have, and they recognize that. But God is able to make those years as if they never existed. Let me talk directly to, maybe there's a need here today.

I think Brother McCandless may have referred to it, at least it came to my mind while he was speaking, bitterness. Brethren and sisters, bitterness is way too costly for any of us to purchase. I love what David did.

You remember when David was fleeing from Absalom? Shimei of the tribe of Saul, likely maybe jealousy because David had taken the throne. He begins to curse David, and one of David's mighty men says, let me go over and smite him. David stopped the mighty man, and he said to him, he said no, he said the Lord told him to say that.

He didn't say maybe, he said the Lord told him to say that. And my brother, my sister, there's not a single thing that someone else can ever say, but the Lord gave them the breath to say it. That doesn't mean the Lord agrees with what they say, but I want to tell you, I want to live my life as a happy Christian, and no one, by the grace of God, will ever is going to rob me of my joy.

That's a choice I have to make. Do the Christians always act the way they should? Well, let's turn it back. Do I always act the way I should? No, I don't.

We all make mistakes. We all say things that we have to apologize for. I remember a year ago I was at a conference, and without thinking I said something, and it troubled me.

It didn't seem to trouble the person at all, but finally I thought, you know what, I'm not going to see them for a long time, but I can't live like this. Gave them a call on the phone, said remember what I said that day? Yeah, they said, I never thought anything of it. I said, well, I did.

I said, I apologize for it. Why? Because I just can't afford to go around miserable. Not worth it.

And I don't care what anyone has ever at any time done to you. Are you willing to let them ruin your Christian life by your holding onto it? It's not worth it. Give it up.

Well, I know, but it's not worth it. And so if you want the years restored, don't make more years that need to be restored. You say, well, maybe it's too late.

Well, that's why I want to end with Jonah. Wonderful. Jonah was kind of a nasty man, although I hope he's not listening at the moment.

But even at the end, he says to the Lord, well, I knew you'd do that. Isn't that a nice attitude toward God? That's why you didn't want to go in the first place. I know that's just like you Lord to do that.

I knew you would do. But the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. Maybe for someone here today, God has been speaking to you and here again, the Lord says, I'm not giving up.

And the word is coming again. The second time this weekend, maybe a second honor is an opportunity for a believer to make his or her life count in a new way. Maybe there's believers and they've been praying that you'll really change and they're hoping for something better.

Well, the word of the Lord is coming to you this weekend to all of us, and it's an opportunity for us to be different. May the Lord grant that we really do leave this conference different from the way we've come and be restored.