The Divine Process — E.A. Johnston

Consecrated Servants Used for God's Glory

When I read about men and women whom God has used in remarkable ways to reach their generation with the gospel of the Son of God, I see a common denominator between them. They each were consecrated vessels whose lives were surrendered to God, and they were willing to lose everything if necessary so God would receive the glory.

And they were instruments in the hand of God to be a means of blessing to their generation. George Whitefield was willing to lose his reputation and have rotten eggs and pieces of dead cats thrown at him while he preached the gospel in Moorfields outside of London.

Whitefield was willing to be ridiculed in the press and on the stage as long as his master was receiving the glory. God used Whitefield to shake two continents in a powerful revival of religion. D .L. Moody was an uneducated man who was willing to be lambasted in the London papers while he preached to overflowing crowds in the largest halls of that metropolis.

And even though Moody mispronounced most of the Bible names, he was a sharp instrument in the hand of God to bring thousands to a saving knowledge of the one name necessary, Jesus Christ. And when I study historical revivals, it is often revealed that the human instrument in that revival was an infirm or bedridden praying saint whose hidden life of prayer brought down the strongholds of the devil so the gospel would spread like a prairie fire consuming everything in its path.

And when I study my Bible and the characters of those rare individuals whom God used in third generation, I see men and women whose remarkable lives of faith even make the angels stand and wonder. My Bible tells me that God's ways are not man's ways, that when a giant of a man by the name of Goliath threatened the people of God, it was not the mightiest man of valor who emerged from Israel's camp, but a shepherd boy with a sack of stones and a slingshot.

And it wasn't a battering ram and a huge army that brought the walls of Jericho down, but the unarmed people of God whose shout of faith made the walls crumble like dust before them. And it is the shouts of faith, friends, throughout history that have brought mountains of resistance down and have shaken the very gates of hell itself for the advancement of God's kingdom in the world.

God often uses weak instruments in the eyes of men so he alone may receive the glory. But one startling aspect I have observed from my Bible and my own walk with God is that there is a divine process that God will put his followers through to bring him glory.

The Divine Process in Gideon's Army

And that is the theme I'd like to discuss this evening, friends. The title of my message is The Divine Process, and we will look at how God builds a servant of his so he may alone receive the glory. My text can be found in the Book of Judges.

You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in chapter 7 and in verses 1 through 9 as we study the wonderful story of Gideon and his army. Let me read that portion of scripture to us at this time.

And may the Spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of his holy word. Here now is the word of God. Then Jerubbael, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early and pitched beside the well of Herod, so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Morah in the valley.

And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead.

And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand, and there remained ten thousand. Let me pause here, friends. Here is Gideon's army of thirty-two thousand men, a large army but few in comparison to the great army of the Midianites and Amalekites, whose vast size is described in verse 12, that lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude, and their camels were without number as the sand by the seaside for multitude.

So Gideon's army of thirty-two thousand was nothing compared to the vast armies of the enemies of the Lord. And here is General Gideon, scratching his head in wonder, as he just loses twenty-two thousand men.

He must be thinking, How can I go with ten thousand against so many? Now let us return to our text in verse four. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many. Bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there.

Let me pause here again, friends. Allow me to make a statement. When God says, I will try them, you can be assured that God was trying their hearts to see what was in them. And you can be assured, dear fellow believer, that God is trying you each and every day as you are under his watchful eye.

It is God's way. It's part of the divine process, which we will elaborate upon as we proceed. Now let's get back to our text. And I will try them for thee there, and it shall be that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee.

And of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto the water, and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself.

Likewise, every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men. But all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

Let me pause here, friends, to make an observation. Here are ten thousand fighting men, nine thousand seven hundred of whom drink the water with their heads down. Only three hundred keep their eyes on the lookout and bring the water to their lips with their cupped hands.

These are men who are battle ready and aware of their environment, on the defense for the enemy. Now let us return to our text. The Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand, and let all the other people go, every man unto his place.

So the people took vituals in their hand, and their trumpets, and he sent all the rest of Israel, every man, unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men, and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

Let me pause here, friends. Can you imagine the look on General Gideon's face as he watches his army decreased by nine thousand seven hundred soldiers? And can you just see his startled face as he peers down into the valley and sees the armies of the enemies of the Lord gathered below in numbers like sand by the sea?

And then General Gideon glances over at his army of three hundred men who are now not holding swords as weapons of war, but instead holding harmless trumpets. Now allow me to read our last verse of our passage.

And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host, for I have delivered it into thine hand. I will stop there. Many of you know the rest of the story, how Gideon surrounds the enemy's camp with his little band of men as he makes his descent in the night when the enemy was secure and least expecting it, how Gideon's men broke their pitchers all at the same time and blew their trumpets and shouted, Every man, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.

And how the enemy was routed as they ran in fear and fled, thrusting one another through with their swords and their consternation and confusion. Yes, God's ways are not man's ways. And there is a divine principle here in our text, which I find throughout my Bible, friends.

Two Aspects of God's Refining Process

There is a divine process that God uses as he deals with his people and prepares them for battle against the enemy of our souls. And I want to draw out two aspects this evening of this divine process for our review.

The first is this, number one, the divine process of purging through reducing for the refining of pure gold. Number two, the divine process of pruning through decreasing for the growth of fruitfulness.

Let me address these striking aspects of the divine process in the lives of God's servants. Let me elaborate upon this first head, friends, the divine process of purging through reducing for the refining of pure gold.

Purging Through Reduction and Suffering

When I look through my Bible and when I study its contents, I see this divine principle throughout the pages of God's word, this process of purging, reducing as Gideon's army was reduced to nothing in the eyes of man.

And when I meditate upon this theme, I cannot help but think of my master, the Lord Jesus Christ, who though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered and being made perfect.

He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. And when I study the life of Christ, I see how he left heaven in obedience to the Father, how he laid aside his royal robes and put on the rough-hewn garments of humble man, and how the king of kings was gradually reduced to nothing in the eyes of man.

All the religious leaders of Israel looked at him with contempt. The Roman ruler looked upon him as a nobody. He became a public spectacle on a bloody cross. And while he hung there, he was reduced to nothing in the eyes of all who beheld his helpless, empathetic form as it hung nailed to that ignoble tree.

Yes, Jesus, the king of kings, was reduced to nothing in the eyes of the world so that he could accomplish everything in defeating the devil and depopulating hell by bringing salvation to all those who believe upon him.

And when I apply this process of purging to the people of God, I see it clearly time and time again in my own life, how I must be reduced to nothing so he can be everything through me, that my sins must be mortified and the roots of my lusts cut away with the holy acts of the Holy Spirit.

And the things in me which hinder God's work and through me must be purged away like dross in the refiner's fire. When gold and silver are placed into the refiner's fire, they are reduced to their purity.

All the dross, all the worthless is burned away. And I can promise you, dear friend, if you ever want to be used of God in a remarkable way, you too will be placed into the refiner's fire for the purpose of reduction.

All that stands in God's way will be purged out from you so that you may emerge as pure gold in his hands. But the purging process is a hurting process. It's a time of trial and great adversity in the life of a believer.

If you are presently in the fire, friend, and God is challenging your faith, God is trying you to see what is in your heart, God has placed you in the most difficult circumstance imaginable, and you are completely helpless to extradate yourself.

And you are in the midst of the fire right now, and it's so hot you don't know what to do. Let me give you a word of encouragement, dear friend. As the silversmith places the silver into the white-hot flames, he never once takes his eyes off the silver.

No matter how trying your circumstances may be, no matter how hard the place is that you find yourself in, God's eyes upon you. In his providence, he has you here for a divine purpose, and he's working through you in a divine process to make you a more useful weapon in his hand for his glory.

He is burning away all that is worthless in your life from his perspective, and you will come out of this, friend, as pure gold. Be assured of that. Now, let me address the second aspect of the divine process of pruning through decreasing for the growth of fruitfulness.

Pruning for Greater Fruitfulness

John the Baptist said, I must decrease so he may increase. And that is true of your life, friend. That is true of my life as well, this whole process of decreasing. The army of Gideon was decreased for the purpose of God, so that man could not boast of self-effort, but only that God should receive the glory.

I remember a story that my homiletical mentor and friend, Dr. Stephen F. Offord, shared with me one day. He said he was on a big ship crossing the Atlantic, and lo and behold, who was on the same ship but his friend, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones.

And Stephen Offord went up to the doctor and told him about his frustration with his congregation, that he felt his preaching was driving people away, rather than growing his congregation. And the doctor looked him in the eye and replied, my good man, you must first decrease a church before you can build it.

And that's our principle here. The pruning process is a painful process, but a necessary process. Turn in your Bibles, friends, to John chapter 15, which speaks of the vine and the branches. I call this chapter the pruning chapter, as it speaks of the pruning process in the life of a believer.

Jesus is stating here in John chapter 15, our principle of the divine process of pruning through decreasing for the growth of fruitfulness. A grapevine in a vineyard must be cut back with a pruning knife.

It must be decreased in order for it to grow. Listen to the words of Christ here in our passage from John in verses one and two. I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Let me pause here to say that in the original language of the Greek, it reads, I am the genuine vine, and my Father is the tiller of the soil.

This speaks of God as a husbandman, whose great interest is in that of keeping the garden or vineyard, trimming it back of its weeds, pruning the branches for further growth potential. Listen to the next verse.

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. In every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth what? More fruit. In other words, he prunes it back. He strips it.

He prunes it. Oh, dear friends, the pruning process is a painful process. When God comes with his divine pruning knife and cuts away my self-reliance, strips away my self-effort, cuts away my self-righteousness to such a degree that I am decreased so that Christ can be magnified in my body.

And for what purpose? Look at verse eight. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. Listen, friends, God is looking for fruitfulness from us, for his glory.

If you want further usefulness to God, dear friend, then be prepared for God to get out his pruning knife on you. This principle of decreasing can be found throughout my Bible. Just study the life of Moses and see how he was decreased out in the Midian Desert for 40 years, where every hope he had died there before God called him to a God-sized task of leading the people of God out of bondage.

Look at King David before he became king, how he was hunted like a flea among the rocks by King Saul till he was decreased. All his self-reliance was gone to where all his hopes were deliverance, hung only upon his God.

Just read his Psalms and you'll see what I mean. This whole process of decreasing through pruning is a vital principle of the life of a believer and greatly necessary if you want to go deeper with God and a life of further usefulness to him.

A Pastor's Desire for Greater Fruitfulness

Remember years ago, I was preaching a message of this pruning process to a group of pastors at the Stephen Offord Center. And when I was through, an elderly black pastor approached me and he hugged me so tight that I couldn't breathe.

He then spoke the following words to me. He said, I have been a pastor for 50 years, but tonight I'm going to go home and when I get there, I'm going to get down on my knees by my bed and I'm going to ask God to get out his pruning knife on me and my ministry.

Now that man was serious with God. He desired more fruitfulness as a pastor and he was willing to pay the price. It's a painful process, friend. Very few want to be placed under the knife. I will end this message with the following story.

Surrendering to the Divine Process

Years ago, when I was desperate for God and usefulness to God, I wrote something in the flap of my Bible and what I wrote, I meant at the time, it represented a vow to God that I was giving him permission to take me through the divine process of purging and pruning so I could emerge as pure gold and be more fruitful for his great glory.

At the time, I did not realize what it would cost me personally for this to come true in my life. But although it's been a painful process and still is, I have finally realized the process of God in my life.

This is what I wrote in my Bible those many years ago. What is my life that I should keep it selfishly for me? I choose to lose it so completely and have it found in thee. Let us go now to the Lord in prayer.