Capernwray Bible School 1 — Alan Redpath

Thank you very much. I hope to be able to introduce my wife to you tomorrow. She's still babysitting. It's very good to be here. It's a great privilege. I've often said to people different present that there are only three stages in life.

One when you're young, two in the middle age, and three when everybody says you're looking very well. I'm very grateful, grateful to many of you who've reminded me already of what bracket I'm in right now.

Thank you so much. I'd like to sing, not to sing, but you to sing a worship chorus with me. Some of the students from last term enjoyed it I think. Thank you God for sending Jesus. Thank you Jesus that you can.

Holy Spirit won't you teach me more about his lovely name. I love this chorus because it reminds us that we're shut up to a miracle for anything worthwhile. Holy Spirit won't you teach me. He alone can more about your lovely name.

How many of you have heard this chorus before? That's right. I know you all came from, well uh with the choir we'll sing. That is those who indicated that they know it. And maybe you can sing anything you like, but try and sing this one.

Right everybody now. Thank you God for sending Jesus. That you can. Won't you teach me. Once again. Thank you God for sending Jesus. Thank you Jesus that you can. Won't you teach me. Just a word of prayer together.

A moment of stillness, quietness before God, asking him to speak to our hearts, to take from us anything that would hinder, that his Spirit may be able to teach us more about that lovely name. When we come to the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's great giving has only begun.

Thank you Lord. And speak Lord for thy servant hear us. Speak just now some message to meet my need which thou only dost know. Speak now through thy holy word and make me see some wonderful truth thou hast to show to me.

Moses and the Prayer to See God's Glory

In Jesus name. Amen. Perhaps you would open your Bible this morning would you? To begin with Exodus chapter 33. Let me say it gives a great comfort to me last evening when Stuart said that though he was not normally nervous when he preached, he felt a bit fearful about this week.

I'm always nervous when I preach, and more than ever on an occasion like this. Because could you imagine anywhere any conference which has, well, comparatively few people who represent such a worldwide ministry.

I'm sure the Lord Jesus smiles upon that, that we're all together to meet him. But I'm also sure that the devil is very interested as well. My prayer is that this week will cause rejoicing in heaven and panic in hell.

And like Stuart, I only want to speak to your hearts from God's word. Because as I know when you get older in life, your interests, of course, widen naturally. But your burden seems to concentrate. And all I wish to do today is to discharge before the Lord the burden he's laid on my heart for the rest of my life.

I trust for yours also. And the prayer which I have on my heart very much for this week. It's in Exodus chapter 33, but I find it the theme of the whole word. Where Moses said to the Lord in verse 18, I pray you show me your glory.

I pray you show me your glory. Maybe I ought to take just a moment to remind you of the context of these words. A few weeks previously, the Israelis had been delivered from Pharaoh's concentration camp in Egypt, and begun their journey, which was going to take them 40 years, through the wilderness to the land which God had promised.

Under the leadership of a man who 40 years prior to this had thought he was just the man for the job. Everybody would understand and know that he was the appointed leader. But he was too big for God to use then.

And he spent 40 years in this desert being cut down to size, until God had really dealt with him, and he was ready and prepared for God to use him. And they'd already had difficulties and problems during that few weeks journey.

Grumbling of the people and their desire, strange desire for the good old days of Egypt. I'll be back again, forgetting all about the past masters and the whips and all the rest. And Moses was now up in the mountain with the Lord, 40 days and 40 nights.

Receiving from God the law which was to govern these people as they reached the land, and receiving from the Lord the design for the tabernacle. He'd been away such a long time that things were happening which were tragic, down where the action was.

He'd left in charge of the situation his older brother Aaron, who was 83 at this particular time. You'd think that by that time a man would have learned to sense. But at 83, he apparently hadn't. He was weak, and he found himself with a revolt on his hands.

And the people were saying in chapter 32, and the opening verse, up make of God who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

So unwilling to face unpopularity, Aaron prepared, got the rings, the golden earrings from them, and made a golden calf, and said, these are your gods of Israel who brought you up out of your land, of the land of Egypt.

Almost unbelievable. And soon they rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. All consciousness of God had gone.

How quickly that can happen. And the Lord was angry. And reading at verse 7 a moment, in chapter 32, the Lord said to Moses, go down, for your people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.

They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and sacrificed to it. And said, these are your gods of Israel who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold it is stiff-necked people. And now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, that I may consume them, but of you I will make a great nation.

What a tremendous test of the caliber of leadership that was. What a tremendous opportunity for Moses to get rid of all his problems without dealing with any of them. The Lord apparently was prepared to start all over again.

Scrap the loss, begin again, and make a great man of Moses. A great opportunity. How did Moses react to that? Well, he besought the Lord his God, and said, O Lord, why does thy wrath burn hot against thy people, whom thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?

Lord, Lord, they're not my people, they're yours. I didn't bring them out of the land of Egypt, you did. Why should the Egyptians say, with evil intent, did you bring them forth to slay them in the mountains, and consume them from the face of the earth?

Your honor is at stake, your name is at stake. It doesn't matter what they think of me. If your honor and your name, Lord, turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou did swear by thine own self, and did say to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised, I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.

Lord, you've never broken a promise. Your name's at stake, your honor's at stake, you've never broken a promise. This man, I love to think of it, can you picture him, he was arguing with God in prayer.

Not contentiously, but arguing, taking himself on prayer ground, and arguing with the Lord. It's your name, your honor, that matters to me most. And how did the Lord react to that? Verse 14, the Lord, next word, repented.

Does God repent? The Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people. Oh yes, he does. He changed his attitude towards us, as we change our attitude toward him. He was dealing with a man who'd lost all self-confidence, who once had thought he was absolutely the right man for God to use.

But now, he knew perfectly well. Lord, he had said, who am I to lead this people? Once he thought, here I am, I'm just a man for you, but Lord, who am I? He knew he was facing a task which is far too great for him.

He couldn't cope apart from the grace and goodness of God. He knew he was absolutely helpless, and he needed the Lord desperately. And the Lord's honor was all that mattered to him, and the Lord's promises at stake.

And to this man, arguing in prayer, the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do. And Moses went down from the mountain and called the people together. Those who loved the Lord, who was on the Lord's side, all the tribe of Levi responded, and there were 3 ,000 people killed.

The Lord sent a plague. He was angry at their rebellion, and Moses returned to the mountain and said, and I love this, verse 31. Alas, Lord, the people have sinned a great sin, and have made for themselves gods of gold.

But now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. Lord, I love this people so much, I'm prepared to die for them. This man's prayer, this man's caliber of leadership, was something which God could not resist.

Brokenness, Character, and Christian Leadership

He saw a man of God. Just for a moment, put in your mind Moses and Aaron, side by side. And let me just remind you, and remind myself, there is no shortcut to character. There's no shortcut to leadership.

What you are, it turns out. Our mutual friend, Stephen Alford, said at Columbia Bible College, in my hearing to some students, who had asked him and asked me together, what's the key to Christian leadership?

And he said, I'll tell you. Bent knees, wet eyes, broken heart. That was enough. In fact, it was everything. There's no book ever been written on ten simple steps to power over people. It doesn't work that way.

You don't need a training course on that line. Moses built his life on luxuries he had denied himself. On necessities, even, that he refused. For the Lord's sake. And he built his life on heartbreaks and hardships that he'd suffered on behalf of heaven.

Aaron flipped into the easy way out. And I pause to remind my heart how desperately easy it is to do that. How desperately easy. To flip into the easy way out. Well, the Lord said to Moses, 33, verse 1, depart.

Go up hence, you and the people whom you have brought up of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore, to Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, saying to your descendants, I will give it. Verse 3, go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you in the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.

Verse 12, verse 12, Moses said to the Lord, thou sayest to me, bring up this people, but thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou saidst, I know you by name, and you found also favor in my sight.

Now therefore, I pray thee, if you found favor, if I found favor in your sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, and find favor. Consider too, that this nation is thy people. And the Lord answered, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.

And he said to him, if thy presence will not go with me, do not carry us up here, for how shall it be known that I have found favor in thy sight, I and thy people? Is it not in thy going with us, so that we are distinct, I and thy people, from all other people that are upon the face of the earth?

Forgive me, paraphrase, liberal paraphrase, but I'm sure the content of the truth, the basic thing. Moses was saying to God, Lord, thank you, thank you for repenting, thank you for promising your presence with us.

And after all, Lord, we're your people, and the only thing will be distinguished from other people is that your presence will be with us. That's how people will know that we're around to you. But that's not enough.

The Glory of God and the Character of Christ

I beseech you, show me your glory. I want more. You have been, I'm sure, my friend, at many conferences and many conventions. Perhaps some of them you've spoken at, and some of you have sat down and listened, and you've heard, and you've left the church or the tent or what have you, and somebody has said, wasn't it a wonderful sense of God's presence?

So what? What's been the outcome? Oh yes, I've seen it at Keswick and Farley and all these other places. And here, and this could happen this week, oh my, that staff conference, a wonderful sense of the presence of God.

So what? I'd expect that, because when two or three are met together in the name of the Lord Jesus, he is in the midst of it. Brothers and sisters, for a world like the one in which we live right now, a world in which I'm persuaded history is rapidly coming to an end, a world in which Jesus is soon coming back.

I know we've said that millions of times from platform, but how can it go on much longer as it is in a world like that? I tell you, the church is helpless without the glory. I pray you, show me your glory, said Moses.

Sure of God's presence, but what we need to be men and women of God this week is the glory. And what was God's answer to that? It created a problem, and he said to him, well I'll make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord, and I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy, and whom I will show mercy.

But, but you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live. And the Lord said, well behold, look, there's a place by me where you shall stand upon the rock, and while my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock.

I will cover you with my hand until I pass by, then I'll take away my hand, and you shall see my my back, but my face shall not be seen. In other words, Moses, you're asking too much. I beseech you, show me your glory.

I can't do that, sorry, but I can't do that. No man has seen my face and lived. I beseech you, show me my glory, thy glory. Lord, I need more than your presence. I need something that's going to shatter my lifestyle, something that's going dramatically to change my whole character, something that's going to revolutionize my life.

I need that, not just the presence of the Lord, wonderful as that may be. Am I suggesting that we're asking too much right now to ask? Lord, at this staff conference in 1983, I beseech you, show us, show me, show me your glory.

My dear friend, I don't preach at people. I recognize the need of my own heart. There have been too many failures in my own life as a disciple of Christ to be other than compassionate and concerned for all of us together in a bond of love, praying that we may be open with each other, honest with each other, real with each other.

And when we were being, bringing reports of our work, not everything just fine and wonderful, but being honest, that where things are grim, being bold enough to say so. I beseech you, show me your glory.

Is it possible to remember what the gospel of John says, the word became flesh, and I beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, the character of Jesus, full of grace and truth.

That's the glory, the character of the Lord Jesus, full of truth, that standard can never be lowered, and full of grace, that compassion and love can never be ended. That's why Calvary is essential in the heart of God.

You've got that, haven't you? That's why the cross is a necessity. Truth, the standard, always the same. Grace, love, compassion, concern, care, never changing, and therefore at the heart of it all is a Calvary, the cross.

Jesus' Glory, the Cross, and Eternal Life

And later on in the same gospel, John 17, would you look at that just a moment? When John had spoken, Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.

Glorify thy son that the sun may glorify thee, since thou hast given him power over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given him. And this is eternal life, that they know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

I glorify thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, Father, glorify thou me in their own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Father, the hour has come, the one hour which mattered to us from all eternity, the hour has come.

Glorify me. And then, right on, for the sake of time, verse 14, I have given them thy word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that thou should take them out of the world, but thou should keep them from the evil one.

Verse 18, as thou didst send me into the world, so have I sent them into the world. Verse 20, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may be all one, even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

The glory, the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and has loved them, even as thou hast loved me.

Isn't that tremendous? Jesus says, the glory, Father, that you gave me before the world was, I have given to them. And after this prayer, he walked the Calvary road, and the character of Jesus, full of grace and truth, was the character that God raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and received on our behalf, for us, the Holy Spirit, in order that that character may be reproduced by each one of us, where we are, full of grace and truth.

That's the gospel, nothing less than that. The prayer of the Lord Jesus is echoed by the Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed in His likeness from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. All with unveiled face, beholding or reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being changed into His likeness, from one degree of a glory to another.

No Shortcuts to Christian Character

For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Oh, the mission of the Christian, there are no shortcuts to that. It's amazing, isn't it? Everybody's after shortcuts these days, at everything. Of course, America is a great country for shortcuts.

The last shortcut I noticed there was an electric toothbrush, just to suggest that it's too much for people to move their hands up and down. And to suggest to me that the day will soon come when you can lie on your back, having wakened, and open your mouth wide, and a lot of specified time, your brilliant dentures will just arrive, and swap themselves in.

Anything for a shortcut, anything to save trouble, anything. But there are no shortcuts to Christian character. We're in a spiritual battle, and those of us who are near the end of the battle find it's very tough.

It doesn't get easier. In fact, isn't that true of all wars, Walter? That the severest battles are fought not at the beginning of the war, but the end. The decisive battles come at the finish. And that's where the toughest battles are.

Never in my life have I known the assault from the enemy that I've known in these last few years. And, um, but for the grace of God, it will end it. But Jesus is always faithful, and he's always wanting to reproduce his character in those who love him, and those who follow him, and reflect on his glory.

Can you imagine a greater, greater calling than that? Unfortunately, in order to get things done quickly, we substitute all sorts of things for the Holy Spirit. Programs, all kinds of things, business, activity, world of activity, non-stop, seven days a week.

How thankful I was to Jill for what she said last evening, and how necessary it is for us that we learn to listen, to wait. And that's the hardest thing in life, especially for activists like us, to stop.

There's a church to which I'm very close, down in Birmingham, an Anglican church. And these days, certainly it wasn't true 30 years ago, but nowadays, the major thrust of evangelical life within denominations is in the Anglican church.

And in January of this year, this particular church of which I'm thinking, closed down all its activities, stopped everything except the Sunday service, closed everything, and called for a month of prayer, and waited upon God.

Six nights a week, from seven o 'clock, and it never finished until nine. And the third and fourth week, it went on for ten. The first two weeks were an average of 150 a night. The last two weeks were over 400.

Waiting upon God, pleading with Him, calling upon Him. Do you know the whole life of that church has been lifted on a new dimension? New dimension altogether. There's praise, and worship, and thanks, and above all, oh, I can never forget the day I was there, just able to go once.

It was a time given for reconciliation, and there were people who hadn't talked to each other for years, who had broken hearts, and wept, and were reconciled. Brothers and sisters, don't let's be too proud to think that is impossible at Cape Mary, or not easy.

Maybe, maybe, who knows, the Lord, the Holy Ghost, could split open our program, and come right down in Holy Spirit power, and just shatter us, as we wait upon Him. I'm sure it needs a Christian revolution in the church, to face society as we find it in the world today.

Preaching Christ as Lord Rather Than Ourselves

What we preach is not ourselves, said Paul, not ourselves,.

But Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who.

Said, let light shine of the darkness, who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. I can't think of anything more wonderful than just to be still, and quiet, and wait for God to tell me what He wants me to do, to give me a chance to move into my life.

The Revelation of Christ and the Cost of Seeing His Glory

And there's one final picture that I leave you with this morning, the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 1, you remember the vision of John, here banished, banished to a desert island, 90 years of age, the last surviving apostle who'd met Jesus, and here he is in his desert island.

Hi John. Verse 10, was in the spirit of the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. Verse 12, then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and unturning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long rope, and with a golden girdle around his breast.

His head and his hair was white as white wool, white as snow, his eyes like a flame of fire, his feet like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth issued a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

When I saw him I fell at his feet as though dead. He laid his hand upon me and said, fear not, and the living one I died, now I live forevermore. Now write what you see. Oh, do you get it? I hope the Holy Spirit has enabled me just to get this through to you, but it certainly has to my own heart.

I beseech you, Lord, show me your glory this week, show me your glory. Are you prepared for what's involved? The price is heavy. No man has seen my face and lived. I fell at his feet as dead, and spiritually that's still true, because I only go and see and behold the glory of God if I really know a crucifixion in my life, if I'm really ready to be ruthless with sin and evil, ruthless with it, a hundred percent declaration of war against it.

Then he's prepared to show me his glory. I was speaking a few weeks ago at what we call in this country Spring Harvest. That's one of many conferences that have recently emerged, surfaced, which has a great deal of music, and I asked them that before I spoke, they would take it cool and play it down, because I find it utterly impossible after, as I wrote and told them, after that kind of music, when people are left after an hour of it on cloud nine, on an emotional high on Jesus, and physically exhausted, I find it impossible to preach the word, the reality to them.

Well, they took it easy, but there was half an hour of it, and I sat and saw them, four thousand people there, each week of three weeks, twelve thousand altogether. I couldn't contain it. Oh no, I couldn't do that.

After all, the offering on one evening for home missions was five thousand pounds. The offering for foreign missions the following night was the same, ten thousand pounds in two nights for missions, given by teenagers and by young married couples, many of whom were unemployed.

I couldn't condemn. I loved them, but I didn't understand them. Maybe it's because I'm old. I don't know. But as I saw them jumping up and down and dancing, doing everything except stand on their heads, and hugging each other, I said, Lord, Lord, if you really came into Spring Harbour here tonight, every one of us would be flat on our face.

There wouldn't be anybody who clapped, nobody who cheered, nobody who sang, except the glory song, nobody who swayed and danced, if Jesus came. I beseech you, Lord, at Caponry staff conference, show me your glory.

Do I mean it? Do you? It might have devastating effects on the program. It might have devastating effects on our lives. But it would have thrilling effects wherever we testify and because somehow the Lord would get in, and we'd find ourselves with a tide coming in, with a following wind behind us, and witnessing not a program, but a way of life, and a whole lifestyle changed radically by the infilling and inflowing of God's Holy Spirit.

I beseech you, Lord, show me your glory. That means what happens to me doesn't matter. So I never see my name in the press again, won't matter. Never see myself advertised as a speaker somewhere, won't matter.

All I want is your glory. Do we mean it? Do you? Let's pray together. Just a moment of quiet prayer. With all our hearts we cry to you, we beseech you, show us your glory. Let things happen this week which are based on miracle and can only expand because you have just taken right over to reveal yourself, a new power, the one who is full of grace and truth, who bled and died and rose from a tomb and ascended to heaven and gave us your life, that we might reproduce that life in power.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Lord, we want to reflect your glory. Therefore, deal drastically with each one of us as you alone know we need. Humble us, break us, and send us out with the joy of the Lord.

With the shout of the King in the camp, the joy of the Lord is our strength. Praising and rejoicing in a mighty God, a wonderful Saviour, an omnipotent Lord, the God of miracles.