The Coming Revival of Truth — Timothy Williams

The Scribes Who Knew Scripture but Did Not Seek Christ

The coming revival of truth, the coming revival of truth. I want you to go with me to the book of Matthew chapter 2. We're going to start reading with verse 1. Matthew chapter 2 beginning with verse 1 says, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews?

For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him. When Herod the king heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophets, And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah. For out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel.

Then Herod, when he privily called the wise men, inquired them diligently, What time the star appeared? And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search diligently for the young child. And when you have found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him also.

Let me just begin telling you how the Lord put this message upon my heart. I was just sitting quietly before the Lord after a time of prayer, just sitting in his presence waiting for the Lord to speak to my heart.

And I really sensed the Lord beginning to speak very strongly to my heart about this passage of scripture. That there was something in this passage of scripture that he really wanted me to see. So I took my Bible and I've read through this story.

And as I read through this story, I just began to sense even stronger that there was something here God wanted to say to me personally and to us as a church. That there was something I felt in my heart, it was something very simple, but yet it was going to have a great impact upon my heart and my life.

So I began to read it again and I read the story and the Lord began to speak to me about something. And just briefly, let me just sum to you this story up. In this story, King Herod is ruler over all the land of Palestine.

And he's living in Jerusalem. And King Herod hears that there are wise men that have made a very long journey from across the world, from the east, coming to Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem, they begin to inquire, where is he that's born the king of the Jews?

And when Herod hears this, his heart is very troubled because he feels threatened. Being the king, he feels threatened. So he calls to himself the chief priests and the priests and the scribes and he begins to inquire of them.

Where is this coming Messiah? Where is he going to be born? And the priests and the scribes begin to open up to him the scriptures. And they begin to tell him, the king of the Messiah that's coming, he's going to be born in Bethlehem because it is written.

And they begin to open up to him the scriptures. And in verse 4, as I was reading this story, there was something in verse 4 that really grabbed my heart and the Lord began to speak to me. And I want you to look with me at verse 4.

It says, and when he had gathered all the chief priests and the scribes and all the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. So it says that he gathered the chief priests and the priests and the scribes.

And what really struck my heart was the word scribes when I saw this. See, let's ask a question here. What is a scribe? What were the scribes? Who were the scribes? The scribes were a people who were copiers of the law and teachers of the law.

They spent many hours in the day copying the law of Moses and studying the law of Moses and teaching the law of Moses. So in other words, they were a people that were expert in the scriptures. They were expert in the word of God.

And this is what I really felt the Lord was putting upon my heart. That even though these scribes were experts in the scriptures, they were very knowledgeable of the word of God. They got such revelation out of the word of God.

They had absolutely no passion in their heart for Christ. There was no desire in their heart for Christ. And how do we know that? Because we see in this story a pagan people come from halfway around the world to Jerusalem.

To see the king of the Jews and to worship him. But yet in this story, we don't see a desire in the heart of these scribes to make a very short journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. To see for themselves if this was indeed the Messiah.

In other words, they were very knowledgeable in the scriptures, but the scriptures never really took them to Jesus. They were experts in the law and they had biblical revelation and they were very well versed in the law of Moses and the scriptures, but they never had a heart and a passion for the Lord.

Guarding Passion for Christ in Ministry

And this is what the Lord really began to speak to me. He began to speak to me about how there are many people in the body of Christ today. Many ministers, preachers and teachers and ministers of the word of God.

And they started this walk with God. They started their walk with God. With a heart for the Lord and a hunger for the Lord. They truly had a passion for the Lord. And they would open up the word of God in the scriptures because they had a prayer in their heart.

God, I want to know you intimately. God, I want to grow in you. And Lord, I desire that you would take the word of God and you would begin to just reveal your heart to me. There was this cry in their heart.

But somewhere in their journey along the way, their heart, their passion for Christ died. In their heart they become very cold and they become very formal with the things of the Lord and they lost that passion for the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, there are many people in ministry that cover their passionlessness up with knowledge and the revelation of the word. They have this mindset that as long as I can impress men with biblical revelation and knowledge and insight into the scriptures, I'm doing well.

I am happy because I have reputation and honor with men. There are many pastors and teachers and Christians that use the word of God to win people's applauses and their praises and they really care nothing about bringing Christ to others.

And this is what the Lord really began to speak to my heart. He really very simply began to speak to my heart and say, Tim, you need to guard your passion for Christ. You need to guard the intimacy that you have with God in his word.

You need to guard that intimacy. Tim, whenever you open the Bible and the scriptures, there should be one cry in your heart and that is simply this, God, I love you and I want to know you. I want to know you more.

I want a deeper walk with you. Tim, you need to guard that passion. You need to guard that in your heart. See, brothers and sisters, I want to share with you just a brief testimony this morning and why I feel so strongly the Lord was speaking this to my heart.

Falling in Love With the Lord Through His Word

When I was first saved, when I was first born again, I truly fell in love with the Lord. And falling in love with the Lord, I fell in love with the word of God. I fell in love with his word because the Bible says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

That our mouth, our words, is the very essence of our heart. And I knew that the word of God was God's heart. And I knew if I wanted to grow in the Lord and walk with God and go deeper in the Lord, I would have to have a walk with him in his word.

And as I began to walk with God in his word, he began to show me his heart. And I spent a lot of time in God's word. I spent a lot of time with the Lord reading his word. And it wasn't because I was trying to merit anything with God or find favor with God.

I truly had a hunger in my heart for the Lord. And I began to walk with God in his word. When I was first born again, I was saved in Alabama. And I worked in a furniture plant. And it was very hard work.

Monday through Friday, we worked 10 hours a day. And on Saturday, we worked 4 to 8 hours. It was very hard work. And I remember on my lunch hour breaks, half hour breaks, we had a half hour for lunch.

And I had such a hunger for the Lord and such a hunger for his word that I would hurry up and sit down. Sometimes wouldn't even eat lunch. And I would just get into the word of God and just begin to pray and seek the Lord in his word.

And one day the Lord blessed me. He gave me a wonderful blessing. And he sent me to this school. He sent me to Mount Zion School of Ministry where I had the opportunity to sit under men and women who really loved the Lord and they loved the word of God.

And God just began to feed my heart with the knowledge of his word, the intimate knowledge of his word. And then the Lord wonderfully blessed me again. And I had the opportunity to stay here as a teacher and do what I love.

And that is preaching and teaching the word of the Lord. And please hear my heart. I'm saying this in all humility. I'm not saying this trying to toot my own horn. I'm just talking about the love that I had in my heart for the Lord.

And a passion for the intimacy that I found with him in his word. And with all these thoughts on my heart, the Lord began to speak to me and said, Tim, you started out with a passion for me. And you started out with intimacy in my word.

It was going into my word was all about just seeking my heart. And Tim, you need to guard that. You need to guard that with all of your heart. You can never lose that place. Because if you lose that place, all you will become is a very knowledgeable man who can impress people with the scriptures.

But there will be nothing in your heart that truly desires to bring people to Christ. Bring people to Jesus. You know, there was a scripture the Lord speaks to me a lot out of. It's 2 Samuel 7, 8. Don't turn there.

But the Lord says to David, he says, I took you from the sheep coat, from following the sheep to be ruler over my people. In other words, the Lord was telling David, David, you didn't place yourself as a king over my people in Jerusalem.

It was my divine hand that took you from the sheep coat and placed you as king over my people. And the Lord speaks to me so often out of this scripture. He says, Tim, you didn't bring yourself from Alabama.

You didn't bring yourself out of these furniture plants. It was my divine hand upon your life that brought you here and worked in your heart and planted you here as a pastor and a teacher. And it's because I saw something in your heart.

It's because as imperfect as you are, it's because I saw someone who just truly loved me whose whole life just really wanted to honor me and you sought me in your word and that's why I called you. And Tim, you need to always protect that place.

You need to make sure that you never leave that place of passion and just knowing me in my word. And with that on my heart, I really begin to pray and I really begin to seek the Lord. God, help me to guard that place.

Help me never to lose my passion for Christ. Help me whenever I go into the Bible. Help me to always just have one passion. Lord, I want to know you more. I want to love you more. I want a deeper walk with you, God.

And Lord, open up the eyes of my heart and cause me to see you. See, let me ask a question here. How do we know when our passion for Christ is dying? How do we know when we're just becoming cold and formal with God and the things of God?

Losing the Heart of Worship

How do we know that? Well, brothers and sisters, it's very plain to see in this story. I want you to look with me at Matthew 2, verse 2. The wise men came from the east saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews?

For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him. How do we know when our passion for Christ is dying? How do we know when we're becoming cold toward the Lord and the things of the Lord?

How? Because we lose our heart to worship. We lose our heart to worship. See, in these scriptures, the scribes were so knowledgeable and they were knowledgeable in the scriptures. They could impress men with their wisdom and insight.

But in their hearts, there was no desire to go to Jerusalem to see if he was truly the Messiah and worship him. How do we know, brothers and sisters, when we're growing cold toward the Lord? Because we lose that desire in our heart to worship the Lord.

And I'm not talking about going through dry seasons when we just go through dry seasons and we really don't feel the presence of the Lord and sometimes we get discouraged about that. I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about there's an apathy that begins to get into our heart. There's an indifference that begins to come into our heart. And we can walk into a church service after church service after church service with no desire really in our heart to lift our hands and to lift our voices and to pour into the Lord's heart.

We used to come to church and we used to pour into the Lord's heart and worship him with all of our heart. And in those times when we had to make a sacrifice of praise because we were going through things, we always laid a hold of God's grace to do it.

But we've come to a place where we come service after service after service and it's not that we're going through a dry time with the Lord or anything like that. It's just that there's an apathy that has come into our heart and we really have no desire to come into his presence and worship.

That's how we know when the passion is dying. When the heart is becoming cold and formal. Now with all this on my heart as the Lord was just speaking to me I began to really pray. God help me to guard my passion.

Ezra and the Revival of Truth

Help me to guard my walk with you. Help me to guard the intimacy I have with you in the word. And as I was praying this I really began to sense something deeper that this was part of what God was saying but there was something else that he wanted to speak into my heart.

And I began to pray and I began to ask Lord I just feel, I feel in my heart there's just something that you want to say and the Lord spoke to me and he said Tim, guard your passion for Christ. Really guard your passion and know him intimately in his word because there is a revival coming to my church.

It's the revival of truth. It's a renewed hunger for Christ and his word. And the Lord really began to speak to me about another scribe. A scribe who's found in the word of God who really truly sincerely loved the Lord and he loved the word of the Lord.

And the Lord used this man to bring revival to his people. And of course I'm talking about a scribe by the name of Ezra. And what I want to do right now is I want to go to the book of Ezra and there's about four chapters I want to read out of and then I'm going to sum it all up.

So if you can go with me to Ezra chapter 1 and I really want to just reveal what's on God's heart what is he speaking to us today. Ezra chapter 1 we're just going to read the first three verses. Verse 1 says Now in the year of Cyrus king of Persia that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing saying thus saith Cyrus king of Persia the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem which is Judah who is there among you of all his people his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel he is the God which is in Jerusalem now go with me to chapter 7 and we're going to start with verse 6 this Ezra went up from Babylon and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given and the king granted him all his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him and there went up some of the children of Israel and of the priests and the Levites and the singers and the porters and the Nephthynims unto Jerusalem in the seventh year of Taxerxes the king and he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month which was in the seventh year of the king.

For upon the first day of the first month began he got up from Babylon and on the first day of the fifth month came to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statues and judgments.

Go with me to chapter 9 we're going to read verse 1 and 2. Now when these things were done the princes came to me Ezra saying the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands doing according to their abominations even of the Canaanites the Hittites the Perizzites the Jebusites the Ammonites the Moabites and the Egyptians and the Amorites.

For they have taken to themselves daughters for themselves and for their sons so that the holy seed has mingled themselves with the people of the lands. Yea the hand of the princes and rulers have been chief in their trespass.

And when I heard this thing I rent my garment and my manna and plucked off my hair of my head and off my beard and sat down as stony. Now just one more passage of scripture chapter 10. And then I'm going to sum all this up.

Verse 1 through 5 it says. Now when Ezra had prayed and when he had confessed weeping and casting himself down before the house of God there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children for the people were very sore.

And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel one of the sons of Elam answered and said unto Ezra we have trespassed against our God and have taken strange wives of the people in the land. Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning these things now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and such as are born of them according to the counsel of my Lord and of those that tremble at the commandments of our God and let it be done according to the law arise for this matter belongeth unto thee we will we also will be with thee be of good courage and do it.

Then arose Ezra and made the chief priests the Levites and all of Israel to swear that they should do according to this word and they swore let me just sum all this up for you going back into the children of Israel's history they rebelled against the Lord they turned to idols and they broke the commandments of God and their hearts turned from the Lord.

So the Lord raised up a nation the Babylonians as an instrument of his chastisement. And the Babylonians came in and they took the children of Israel captive and took them exile into the land of Babylon.

So they were captives in the land of Babylon. And after 70 years of their captivity King Cyrus we read about him by the inspiration of the Lord he realizes that the Lord raised him up for such a time as this he raised him up to be the vessel to release the people out of their captivity and to go back to Jerusalem and to begin rebuilding the city and the temple and beginning to rebuild their lives.

And so he releases his people to go to. He releases the people of the Lord to go back to Jerusalem so they go. But when they get to Jerusalem they don't really have any authority there they really do not have any spiritual leaders there and they begin to corrupt themselves with the other surrounding nations around the house of Israel.

And Ezra finally leaves the Lord puts it in his heart. He leaves and God puts something in his heart to go back to his people to really begin to seek the Lord in the word and to seek the Lord of truth in the word who the Lord really is and to go to the Lord's people and to begin to teach them the word of the Lord to begin to teach them who the true God is and what his heart was like what his nature was like what his plans was for his people.

And he goes there. And when he gets to Jerusalem he finds out that the people have corrupted themselves. And the Bible says that when he sees all of this corruption and leadership and corruption in his people that his heart was grieved.

And then after his time of grief Ezra begins to bring to them the word of the Lord. He begins to show them who the true God is in his word and begins to show them the heart of God. And begins to show them the Lord's heart and his plans for his people.

And what you see when he begins to open up the word of the Lord to their hearts what you see is a revival begins to take out begins to take place in the heart of the people. They begin to hunger for this God.

They begin to hunger for the God that Ezra is revealing to them. They begin to hunger for the God of truth for the true God. They begin to desire to worship him according to his order. And a great revival takes place because this man Ezra has the word of God in his heart the true word of God in his heart.

And the people begin to repent. And the people begin to turn from their sin and begin to turn from their compromise. And they begin to move toward the Lord's heart. So a great revival takes place using this man Ezra.

False Prophets of Peace and a Perverted Grace

But here's the question that I really want to ask looking at this going back many years before this great revival happened going back many years before the people were brought into captivity. Why were the people so rebellious.

Why were the people so lawless. They were rebellious and they were lawless because they had put themselves in this bubble of false security. Because they raised up priests. And they raised up prophets that would tickle their carnal desires and speak to their carnal desires.

They raised up ministers that would minister to the idols of their own heart. That is why they fell into captivity in the first place in Babylon. And I really want to look at this today because it's so prevalent for our times.

And you're going to see where the Lord is going with this this morning. So who were some of these voices that they had heaped up to themselves. Who were these priests and these prophets that the people had heaped up to themselves that were ministering to the idols of their heart.

Well first of all they were number one. They were prophets of peace prophets of peace. I want you to go with me to Jeremiah chapter 23. Of course we know Jeremiah was the prophet that the Lord raised up to warn the people that if they didn't turn from their ways the Babylonians were coming from the north and they were going to invade and they were going to take the Lord's people to exile.

Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 17 he talks about the peace prophets. The peace prophets verse 17 they say still unto them that despise me. The prophets say to them that despise me. The Lord has said you shall have peace.

And they say unto everyone that walk after the imagination of his own heart no evil shall come upon you. So what's happening here is there are false prophets that are rising up and telling the people that even though you're in disobedience to the Lord's word and you're rebelling against the Lord and you're walking after your flesh and you're serving pagan idols even though you're doing all these things the Lord's prophecy for you is peace.

That it doesn't matter that you're forsaken the true God for idols and that you're following after other things. The Lord wants you to know that his hand of protection is upon you. And you're always going to have peace.

That's what these false prophets were telling these people. They were comforting the people in their sin. And brothers and sisters today I just have to say it from the Lord. Today we have such a gospel that's being preached and what's being preached is a perverted grace.

It's a grace that's telling the people. It doesn't matter if you walk in the carnality of your heart and you live in disobedience to the word of God and you live in absolute rebellion to the word of God.

The grace of God is covering your life. Brothers and sisters it's a perverted grace and it's a grace that's very frequent. And now we've filled the house of God with people who don't love the Lord. They have no heart for the Lord and they're living after their own carnal desires.

And they're living in their flesh and fleshly lifestyle. But the word of the Lord is to them. The grace of God has covered you. Well you have to understand in Titus chapter 2 verse 11 Titus is the same grace that saves you.

He's talking about saving grace. He's saying the same grace that saves you teaches you to deny ungodliness and to live soberly and righteously and godly in the present age. So in other words Titus is saying that true saving grace has an evidence.

It doesn't just cover you but it works in your heart and it's producing godliness in your life. And when you have a grace that's just covering you but it's not working in your heart and changing you. Then you have an American grace but you do not have a biblical grace.

And it's a very popular teaching. Secondly not only did they heap up for themselves peace profits but we see in the land very rampantly were prophets of prosperity in Jeremiah's day. Prophets of prosperity go with me to Jeremiah chapter 6 verse 13 it says.

Prosperity Prophets and the Call to the Old Paths

For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet even unto the priests everyone dealeth falsely. So what's happening here is the priests and the prophets of the land are so misrepresenting the lord because they're portraying the lord to be a god of greed.

The priests and the prophets of the day were covetous men whose very lives were teaching the people to pursue after their own covetous desires. And it's very sad to say that today the most popular preachers in the church and on television and on radio are those that are telling everyone that the lord desires them to be rich and materially well off.

And if they're not then they're missing out on the blessing of god. Brothers and sisters I heard one of these pastors say not long ago I've seen him. I heard him he said god wants his people to have joy and so he wants you to be wealthy because you can't be happy unless you have money.

And he had a huge humongous congregation there brothers this is the same thing that's going on here today. But the lord had a word of instruction for his people if you'll look with me at verse 16. Chapter 7.

Verse 16 says thus saith the lord stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way. And walk therein and you shall find rest for your souls. The lord is looking at this covetous nation and he's saying you need to ask for the old paths.

The old paths. You need to ask for the paths where you simply just love the lord with all of your heart and you walk in obedience to his commandments simply because you love him. The old paths where you love the lord with all of your mind your soul and your strength.

And you simply live to honor and glorify and to serve him. Brothers and sisters that's where the life. That's where the joy. That's where the blessing of the lord comes from. It comes from in your heart.

When you truly desire to be a pleaser of god. When you truly desire just to walk with god and to love god and to honor god with your life. And to lay your life down on the altar. Let the lord use you as he sees fit.

The lord says that's the old paths in its simplicity. Just love me with all your heart. Lay down your life give me your life. And you'll find you will find nothing more fulfilling than serving the lord with all of your heart.

That's the old paths. But then the lord makes a very sound pronouncement. He says. But tragically the lord says you will not walk there in. You do not want the old paths. And here's my whole point. Because they gave themselves to these false prophets and covetous priests that minister to the idols of their heart and told them what they wanted to hear.

That judah fell. They went into captivity. But this is what i want you to understand. This is what i really sense the lord is saying. Many of them went into captivity. Disillusion. Many of them went into captivity so confused saying.

But what about the peace that our prophets prophesied. What about the protective hand of the lord that was supposed to be upon our life. And what about all this prosperity that they told us that the lord wants us to have.

That we're just to be happy and blessed all the time and wealthy all the time. And just to pursue the things that are on our. What about that. Why are we going into captivity when our prophets and priests told us that we're going to be protected and blessed.

What about that disillusion now. What does that have to do with us today. What does that have to do with us now. Brother says i'm not going to go into detail. I'm just going to say it as a nation and a world.

We're going in the very dark times. We're going to go into very difficult times very hard times not going to go into detail about that. We've heard it we know that we know we're headed for some very difficult times.

And what i'm saying this morning. What the lord is saying this morning in these dark difficult times people in the church are going to be so disillusioned they're going to be asking but what about. What about everything we heard.

What about the peace. And what about the lord just wants me to be happy and blessed. What's going on. We're losing things and things are happening and it seems like my world's spinning out of control.

And what about the message that we heard preached and taught in the house of the lord. And so many are going to be so disillusioned because this is not what they were told. But at the same time here's the good news.

There is going to rise up in so many people's hearts a hunger for truth they're going to desire. If that's not who god is then who is god. Because i want to know the real god. I want to know the true god who is the real god.

And there's going to rise such a hunger and so many people's hearts for truth. And the good news is god is going to have a people that are going to be able to open the book and bring them into a living encounter with the true god with the living god.

And there's going to be such life when they begin to open up the book and begin to share god's heart the truth of god's heart. There's going to be such life in it. And there's going to be such a shout of joy in the house of the lord.

Yes outside the four walls it may seem like everything's spinning out of control and there's difficulty and hardship on every side. But inside the house of god there's going to be such an abundance of joy and peace and rest because the true christ the living christ is going to be breathed and come out of the scriptures and be made real.

Repentance, Burning Hearts, and Bringing People to Christ

The lord really encouraged my heart he said to him you need to guard your passion for christ and the intimacy that you have with him in the word. Because i want to use your mouth. I want to use your heart.

I want to use your relationship with me. And brother says i feel the lord is speaking that to all of our hearts that god wants to use our lives to bring to people the true christ the real christ. We're heading into times where people are going to walk out of the church feeling so disillusioned.

This is not what i have heard this is not what i have been taught. And god wants to use all of our lives because there's going to come such a hunger in the heart for the truth and to know the true god.

And the lord wants to use all of our lives to be able to open up the word to them and just begin to show them. This is who the true god is. Not to have a head full of knowledge and biblical revelation in itself.

You know the bible says knowledge puffs up. But to truly love god and walk with god and to be able to bring life from the scriptures. I think about the men on the road to emmaus. The bible says that he spoke to them out of the law and the prophets everything concerning himself.

And the bible says that they said did not our heart burn within us as he talked about these things. What was that burning. It was the life that jesus was drawing out of the scriptures. And the lord wants to use our lives the same way.