Character Matters — Glenn Meldrum

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Character and the Transforming Power of God

There is a God that changes us and if we begin to understand what characters all about He's a God that changes our characters from bad Fallen characters to that which is a godly character. And as we look at this issue of character We're gonna see something about how healthy it is to our own Persons to our families and to communities and to the church and so on it is life.

And what is death to marriages? What is death to children? What is death to communities is the fallen sinful wicked nature. Every single divorce that has ever happened is all about sin being unleashed in a home.

It's all about a sin nature. That's what it's all about sin unleashed in a home and reaping the wages of sin in that household. You take care of the bad characters and guess what you have healings and homes.

That's just the way it works. So what is character our characters our nature our temperament our disposition? Our personality our Moral fiber it is who I am as a person. It is literally who I am. It's how I think it's how I act.

It's how I talk. It's what I am when nobody else is around. It's what I am in private. It's what I am in the home that the family just sees that I may act one way at home and another way at church. But my characters is the reality of what I am wherever I am.

If I'm faking it in church then acting like a nightmare at home what I am at home is what I really am. There are no shortcuts to the move of God no shortcuts to godliness. We must go through the path and deal with the things that he brings before us that we might be changed by the power of God.

David Morgan and the Danger of Misusing God's Glory

Let me give you a story about this that I think is is very helpful. Because when we look at the move of God and though this isn't going to be directly about the move of God. This is so integral to the move of God.

So I want to touch on the revival that was in Wales. One of the primary evangelists of that revival. His name was David Morgan. David Morgan was preaching at the city called Devil's Bridge as. What happens often when the power of God has really made manifest and the glory of God falls?

There's this thing that of the weight of his presence because in the Hebrew the word glory means weight. And so it refers the weight of his presence and I have seen this time and again in the revivals I've been a part of and meetings that we've had and so on where his his presence will fall in such a way and the weight of his glory is there and Sometimes people don't want to move the service is done and they just sit there in silence as the holiness of God has descended upon the people and The power of God was in the service this night and and finally in the wee hours of the morning David Morgan is walking home with the pastor spend the night at the pastor's house.

They walk in silence for a time until eventually. The minister breaks the silence and he goes to David Morgan. My we had a wonderful service this evening, didn't we? Mr. Morgan. And he says yes, we did but God would do greater things if he could trust us and That took the minister back in the minutes.

Mr. Respondences. What do you mean if he could trust us? David Morgan says if he could trust us not to rob him of his glory and at the top of his voice He screamed out not unto us. Oh Lord not unto us, but unto you be glory power honor and might.

Now this is a bigger issue than we understand. Am I trustworthy? Because if I'm not trustworthy God will not give me his glory to any great extent. Now we don't really believe that I don't think we're really convinced that we don't understand how important Character is that if I'm not an individual that he can entrust his glory to he will withhold it.

They have this old saying that says few survive the anointing and what that means. Basically the thought that's behind it is that there have been many many a man that has been destroyed. Not by the power of God.

But by bad characters and when the power of God was made manifest it brought to light the bad Character and as a result they were destroyed by it. Can we really handle the glory of God our characters as such that if the heat of God?

The heat and the fire of his presence came what would start to come out of us? Would it be that which would be good and beautiful it would be that which is ugly things of our character, you know I don't want to go through names that we can think of names of individuals within the last 30 years.

Big name people that one saw the power of God that fell in sexual sins or fell in Greed and other things like that. There are people that are big names right now that their entire ministry has changed from once to that.

Which was for the glory of God the salvation the loss to that which is now about offerings and they have their multi-million dollar homes. They've been destroyed not by the power of God. But by bad characters that never came under the lordship of Christ.

They never allowed their characters to be changed. So when the glory came upon them and the power started pouring forth. They were ruined. Because the glory revealed what was in them. Let me make this very personal.

Personal Repentance and Accepting Responsibility

Let me bring it down to to my life. I was saved in a genuine revival. After being saved about six years when I was 24 years old. My wife and I went to the streets of Detroit and we pioneered a church in the streets.

Being saved in revival. I took that same heart into the church in Detroit and we had a very vibrant Active alive church of soul winning church a church that was just aggressive and reaching the laws. It was very radical filled with young people.

I mean from all kinds of situations. We had bikers out of one of the most violent clubs in Detroit called the iron coffins just some violent individuals that some of them got radically saved and and then we had people that came out of the punk rock situation with Mohawks, and I mean it was just it was a different church.

It was a different church then God had saved many people out of it. We had constant prayer meetings for revival. We ate for revival. We desired God to pour out his power to save in Detroit to see a move of God happen year after year.

I preached on it. I desired it. I tried to move the church in that direction, but we never saw revival. Then I went to the next church in my final church. Those were all issues that I preached because I desired the power of God to be unleashed in a church.

I saw it as the remedy. The necessary thing that was needed to make the church grow in Tremendous ways was to see that power unleashed. And it wasn't until I became an evangelist that God could finally reveal to me the truth.

Because I was not able to handle it. You know what the truth was? He was good to hold revival from me and from that church because my character was not of such that he couldn't trust me With it. I Was too proud.

I was too self-willed. I was too filled with me and You want to know how much that hurts? To start looking at the reality of what we are. I could not see it in those days I wish I could have because then maybe something could have been done about it.

Maybe I could have been changed in such a way that God could have done something tremendous in my life. But because I could not handle it. I didn't have ears to hear it. It was only when I finally started maturing to the point that it could open my understanding and I was willing to look at myself.

You know, that's a real difficult thing. Do we really want to look at ourselves? Do we really want to see what is causing the problems in our marriage? Do we want to look in the mirror because for so long we pointed fingers at our spouses.

We pointed fingers at bosses and everybody else in our life why we have breakdowns of relationships. Why things aren't the way that they should be? So we blame all kinds of other people, but we never change until we accept responsibility and start looking at ourselves.

We Can Only Give What We Possess

And so a principle that we need to understand is that we can only give what we possess. Let's just pretend for a moment that at the end of church I'm gonna write every one of you a check for $1 ,000. This is just pretend but if it wasn't pretend and you got the check you would be a very sad person come tomorrow when you went to the bank to try and cash it.

I Cannot give you what I don't possess. I Can be sincere as can be but you are not. Sincerity has nothing to do with the ability to give that which I don't possess. I could want with everything within me to give each of you $1 ,000, but I don't got it.

So guess what? You'd never get it. Same thing if I don't got the power of God. There is nothing that I can give you then if there's no anointing in my life I have nothing to give you if there's not holiness in my life.

I have nothing to give you that is of good. I do give we all give it's just a matter of what are we giving? Are we giving life? Are we giving death? There's only two things if I'm not giving life I'm giving death.

If I'm not giving life to my children guess what I'm giving to my children. It's gonna be one or the other. I can only give what I am. So if bad characters coming out of me, guess what? I am bringing death.

I'm destroying. I am harming individuals. Now that's not a pleasant thought but that's a reality and you want to know what will never change it until we begin to see the realities of ourselves. And so everything reproduces after its own kind everything.

That's a principle that begins right in the beginning of Genesis 1 sets the standard for the whole entire Bible in essence. It says in Genesis 1 11 that vegetation would reproduce after its own. Apples reproduce apples.

They don't produce oranges. I Mean, it's just the way that it is. And then he tells us in the 21st verse that sea creatures and birds Reproduce after their own. The beginning of Genesis brings out the reality of how creation took place and that evolution is an absolute lie.

We did not come from slime on the sea. You do not get everything that is out of nothing. I'm not gonna take the time to go in there how that is thoroughly against logic. It is just so unbiblical on Logical unreasonable.

There's no proof for evolution. In Genesis 1 24, it says that mammals would reproduce after their own. That means that dogs beget dogs and cats cats and monkeys monkeys and monkeys don't become men. I do not have one ape in any of my ancestry.

And then in the 28th verse it says that mankind reproduces after its own. Spiritually this is a truth as well. I can only reproduce what I am. I Can only reproduce what I am if I'm a carnal worldly man, that's all I'm gonna be able to give.

That's all I'll be able to offer to another. My father was an unsaved man. Do you know what my father could offer his kids only death in His rebellion in his selfishness in his self-absorption. That's all he could teach.

You know, we think of it in this way that if you have this man, that's a drunk says well, yeah. He's teaching his kids wrong, but you can have a man. That's a nice man a Nice man and still going to hell and guess what?

He's gonna give his children. So you can be as nice as you can be if you're not saved what are you really doing your children. You can only give what you are now if you call yourself a Christian and you have a bad character.

Guess what? That's gonna do to your children. You're gonna give death to your children because they're gonna see you go to church they're gonna see you sing songs and they're gonna watch you be a nightmare in the home and Then they're gonna say why do I want to be a Christian?

Look at what my father look at what my mother was. That was a joke. Why would I want to be that? Do you know how many people have been turned off to Christ because the parents had such bad characters.

They did not allow their characters to be transformed by the power of God. They justified bad characters. So as a result, they were never changed. We can only give what we possess. One day Peter and John are walking along and acts the third chapter and they see this lame man in the gate beautiful.

And he's begging for money and Peter and John walk up to him and Peter turns to this man and he says silver and gold. I don't have what I have. I Give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise and walk.

Peter says what I have I give you. He didn't have silver and gold so he couldn't give that. But what he had he could give and the man stood up and walked and you know today what we can do in America. We can say silver and gold we have.

Why don't you go to the doctors? We can't say anymore rise and walk. We're not disturbed by that. Are we disturbed that we can say no longer in America rise and walk. But in other parts of the world unbelievable things are going on.

You can only give what you possess. And so as if we don't have it the only way that it begins to change. That we got to become honest with God say God. I'm tired of praying for people not seeing miracles.

I'm tired of it. We need to become a people that start seeing the reality of and begin to get on our face. Restore the power bring the reality back to us. We can only give what we possess. Now turn with me to the book of Galatians to the fifth chapter.

The Works of the Flesh and the Fruit of the Spirit

I Want to just touch on a point about the works of the flesh versus the work of the Spirit. And as you're turning there, let me share with you a story. I Was preaching on the East Coast at this church a few years earlier.

And I had come back and I had preached at another church in the area for a couple of years. That was probably about 30 miles away or so. And they heard that I was there at the other church and a few people came and this one woman came.

We happen to know her because of being at that church. So I preached and gave an altar call and God was doing some wonderful things. The altar was packed full of people in repentance at the altar and and as what I often do is I'll go along and start praying for people and I came up To this woman that had come down into the front.

And when I came up to her and laid my hands on it got ready to start praying for she turned to me and she says God has showed me that I have a spirit of lust and a spirit of anger. She says I get so angry at my husband just over nothing and then I've had such a problem with loss.

And then I need this thing cast out of me and I looked in her eyes. And I spoke her name and I says you don't need the devil cast out of you. You got a bad character. And you want to know what she was at that altar crying after I told her that she was at that altar bawling.

Sure is easy to blame the devil for my life. Sure is easy to blame the devil for my bad character for my bad actions. Sure is easy to point the finger at somebody else. It wasn't a demon that she had she had a bad character.

She had a character traits that she was not willing to allow Christ to conquer. It was bad character. Nobody can make us angry. We get angry because we choose to get angry. It's a character issue. You got an anger problem.

It's a character issue. People never take care of the character issue the character dimension of sins. You know what happens the anger destroys marriages. It separates it becomes nightmares in the home.

And then what you do you teach your children how to be angry. You teach them how to respond men teach their boys how to treat mothers one day or wives. And so as if a husband treats his wife like trash guess what the children will do.

Do you hear what I'm saying? That's important stuff. It's a character issues. It's bad characters that are in us that we've not allowed Christ to conquer and because we put this little Jesus stamp of approval on our lives.

We think everything's fine and dandy, but our lives do not line up with the gospel. It's a character issue. Galatians the fifth chapter in the 16th verse Paul begins by saying so I say by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.

He's just basically saying if we live truly according to spirit. We will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So what if I am fulfilling the lust of the flesh? What does that mean? I'm not living according the Spirit what we do we say.

Well, I just got this little problem. My how we like to water it down how we like to make ourselves look so much better than what we are at times. Romans 8 tells us in verses 5 through 8 puts it in a little stronger words.

It tells us that the sinful nature is hostile to God. So let's go back to the anger issue. You got an anger problem. Do you understand your anger is hostile to God? Not just hostile to your spouse or not just hostile in the workplace or not just hostile in a church meeting.

It is hostile to God. But so's lust so's pride. So self-will those things are hostile to God they are hostile to him now, that's disturbing. But let's go on. Let's read again the 19th verse. He says the acts of sinful nature are obvious.

Let's stop there for a moment. The acts of the sinful nature obvious are the acts of the sinful nature in your life obvious. Are they obvious? If they're not obvious, it's not that they're not there. It's that some reason or another you become blind to them.

Because I guarantee you the acts of sinful nature are in your life more than you comprehend. This is what I touched on just briefly at the beginning of the message about self-righteousness. I don't understand it because I see the acts of sinful nature in my life.

I see them wanting to rear their ugly head on a constant basis. I understand what works inside of me and I understand that the only way I can overcome them is deal with the reality of it and find myself like Paul that says I die daily.

It's the only way if you don't see the acts of sinful nature Obviously in your life. Then you need to get on your knees and you need to say God the biggest act of the sinful nature that I'm being played With is self-righteousness.

God deliver me from that. Because that's a work of the sinful nature. The acts of sinful nature obvious now Paul's gonna give a list here, but you know what he has lists another place. So what the acts of sinful nature are.

So these are just some of them. If you read all of Paul's list if you just sat down and put Paul's lists all out I guarantee you there'd be a whole bunch of them. That'd be pointing a finger at you. I could demonstrate that every single one of us in this room every one of us unless of course you're an angel.

Is there an angel in here? No angel. So I can guarantee I can demonstrate very easily that every one of us has broken every one of the Ten Commandments. Every one of us have broken them all. Now, let's read his list.

He says the acts of sinful nature obvious sexual immorality impurity debauchery idolatry witchcraft hatred discord jealousy fits of rage. This is an interesting American one. I mean, it's a human one.

So it was in his day, but I think it's really seen in a very strong way in America. Selfish ambition. Dissensions factions and envy drunkenness orgies and the like. I warn you as I did before. That those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now that's a very scary statement that if I live according these things I will not inherit the kingdom of God. How many people are church folk that are not going to inherit the kingdom of God. How many if you do it by the statistics of the Word of God, it's gonna be only one out of three.

That call themselves Christians if you look in the book of Zechariah and you look at the book of Revelation. It says they're only one out of three. And that's a disturbing thing that's why it's so important that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling like Paul said so we know that we are right with Him and so that we're not deceived on that day of judgment when we stand before him.

Because he says those who practice these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Every single work of the flesh. I Want you to understand this every single work of the flesh is destructive to marriages.

Every single work of the flesh is destructive to children. Every single work of the flesh is destructive to churches and to communities and two nations. Every single work of the flesh if you have the work of the flesh.

Operating and working in you guess what it brings death to your family. It brings death to relationships. It separates it divides. It is the very nature of what sin does. That is one reason why Christ so much wants to deal with our character to give us a new heart a new mind.

He wants to literally change who we are how we think how we act how we talk what we do why we do it. He wants to get to the very core of it because if he doesn't get to the core of it. We've only got a band-aid on our bad characters.

He wants to deal with it. He doesn't want to just kind of deal with your pride a little bit and put a band-aid on your pride. He wants to kill your pride because your pride is absolutely evil to God.

It is hostile to God. Pride is hostile to God. Not a small issue. Now let's look at the flip side though. Just for a little passing thought here when you read the scriptures look at transitional words like then and but.

They tie thoughts together. So here you have a transitional word. So he's bringing a contrast or he says but. The fruit of the Spirit is love joy. Peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control.

Against such things there is no law those who belong to Christ have crucified the sinful nature with his passions and desires. Every fruit of the Spirit is life to a home is life to children. There's an answer to bad marriages.

There's an answer to rough marriages and it's the fruit of the Spirit. There's an answer to it. But the answer to it the means in which it comes means that we have to die. He says those who are his have crucified the affections and lusts those things that are destructive to relationship.

Those bad character traits and let's look at it like this. Now let's take Bible language and make it modern to our day and age. What is the sinful nature? Character traits bad evil character traits. What is the fruit of the Spirit?

They become godly character traits. What we do often is when we look at the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of the flesh. We think of it as fruit. We kind of put it in the in the side. We don't look at it as character traits.

But if I've got the fruits of the flesh in my life, that is bad character. It is a bad character trait in me and guess what? He said that the works of the flesh produce death. But if I've got the fruit of the Spirit if I got godly character traits in my life.

They will be made manifest in the home. They'll be made manifest to others and It gives life. I Can only give what I possess. I Can only give what I possess. Let me give an illustration here that I think is kind of Interesting about it.

Let's just say Jesse and I had a little bit of free time and we go for a walk in some woods around here. And while we're walking through the woods I trip over this rock this big old rock and when I trip over this rock I break off a little piece a little edge of it and I look at it.

This is gold so we lug the big old thing back to our car and stick it in the back of it bring it to the motor home and I'm scrubbing it up and washing it and the more I wash it the more it's this huge hunk of gold.

And I'm going wow. And I keep scrubbing it and polishing it and I talked to somebody and we find out that it's real gold. So I found this big huge hunk of gold out there. And we decide to do something we take this big hunk of gold that is so beautiful and shiny now I put it out here on the communion table and you're all going ooh, and ah, where'd you get it from?

Well, I'm not gonna tell you. It was the only piece there no more was round. Get a pot we get a fire under raging fire and we start melting it down. And so we look at this pretty gold liquid now I Come and take a little bit of flux and I pour some flux in the top of that and the flux starts mingling with stuff.

And it all sudden this junk comes all to the top of it. And we go and say oh, where'd that garbage come from? And so we scrape it off. Now there's that pretty gold again. And we pour a little more flux in it and as we pour a little more flux in it and more this junk comes at Time we say where did that come from?

And you know, it's always been there the heat brought it out. We don't like that idea in our own lives when the heat comes on and we start seeing bad dimensions of our character come out. But that's what we have been.

That's what we actually are. The heat brings out what we are. The Arguments in the home bring out what we are. The tensions in the home bring out what we are. The difficulties the trials the pain. Even the success brings out what we really are and in those times.

Do we like what we are? Do we like what is really there? What we do is we deny them because they're not there on a constant basis. So we say well, that's not really me. That's just this trouble in my life.

No, it's not that's who you are. Do you want to deal with who you are or are we going to continue ignoring it? Because the price is very high if I don't deal with the reality of my character my character stays bad if it stays bad.

What does it do? It keeps imparting death at times in my life. The worst my character is the more death I impart. There may be areas of my life that I'm imparting death a lot. But you want to know what if I don't have the life of God radiating through me, then I have nothing to really give.

Think about that. Do you have anything really to give. Do you have anything really to give your children? They need more than Bible stories. They need the presence and power of God upon your life and you can only give them what you possess.

And you know what Sunday school can't give it to them unless they got it. Now that can be a very disturbing thing and I could go on from situation after situation. If we don't got the goods we can't give it if a Sunday school teacher doesn't have the goods.

She can teach a nice little lesson from the Sunday school book and give nothing to those children actually give death to the children. Let me give a story I once heard I think it's kind of a disturbing one.

I'm not saying this because a pastor so this isn't to you pastor. It's an old Puritan story and this Puritan was in England. He's walking along the streets and he's walking along the streets he sees a devil preaching on the street corner and he is just totally shocked the devil preaching and.

So he goes up to the devil and says devil. Why are you preaching? Why are you preaching gospel? Then he looks at him with a sneer and and just laughs says what do you mean? This is one of the most powerful tools I have for destroying lives is preaching without the anointing preaching without power.

Well, you know that goes for Sunday school teachers. Take little children and preach them without the power of God and guess what it produces death to them because they'll go and they'll be So bored to death.

They'll see no life. They'll see no vibrancy. They'll see nothing worth following that when they're 18, they're gone. Hear what I'm saying? There's more to this than just going through motions. Character is of such a tremendous importance.

This woman madam Jeannie guy on made this phenomenal statement. She says it'll only be seen in eternity. Who are the true friends of God? Nothing Pleases the Father but Jesus Christ and that which bears his mark of character.

Nothing pleases the Father but Jesus Christ and that which bears his mark of character. So you want to know how I can be pleasing to the Father by looking like Jesus. The more I look like him the more I will be pleasing to him.

Character, Responsibility, and David's Repentance

Now let me touch on this just for a moment. Character and responsibility. In the Old Testament, there is no forgiveness for intentional sin under the Old Testament dispensation. No forgiveness for intentional sin.

So if you were a person who intentionally murdered an individual there was no place you could hide. The Avenger blood could seek you out anywhere and take your life if you were guilty of murdering somebody intentionally.

But if you accidentally killed somebody Unintentionally killed them you could run to what was called a city of refuge and in that city of refuge as long as you stayed. In that city, you were totally safe, and he could not execute you for your crime.

So there was no forgiveness for intentional sin. Only for unintentional sin in the Old Testament as well if you committed adultery there was no forgiveness period. The only thing that was left for the adulterous and the adulterer was to be the man and the woman.

It's somehow it got mixed up that only the women were stoned. But they were supposed to both be stoned to death. Because God has very strong opinions about sexual sin. King David sinned in two ways. He sinned in adultery and he sinned in.

He was guilty of unforgivable sins in the Old Testament. Psalms 51 is a psalm that comes out of his repentance. David had sinned and that ignored his sin. He hardened his heart to God for a time and finally in the mercy of God God sent Nathan the prophet to come and confront David in his rebellion and when God confronted him through Nathan David did repent.

There were consequences. I'm not going to go through the whole issue of consequences. David suffered for that sin all the days of his life. Israel suffered for his sins. But there was a statement that David made in Psalms 51 where he says in the third verses for I know my transgressions.

That's such an important thing goes back to the acts of sinful nature obvious. They finally became obvious to him. He realized that he committed adultery. He realized that he committed murder. He knew it, but he was in denial.

I'm the king I can get away with it and God says no. I'm the king you can't. For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me against you. You only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you are proved right when you speak and justified.

When? You judged. There is a problem with humanity as a whole because it begins right in the Garden of Eden and it's of the whole blame game. Adam and Eve sin and when they're naked in the garden and they see their nakedness because their sin.

They're hiding from God and think that they can get away with it and God confronts them with it. So what does Adam do. Adam blames Eve says? Well, it's the woman you gave me. So Adam went in one failed swoop blame both God and Eve.

So woman you gave me if you want to give me this woman, I wouldn't have this problem. What the woman do it said was a serpent fault. He did it and what the serpent do he laughed. But we Americans have mastered the blame game.

We master it. That's why we have lawsuits that are coming out of our ears. We're not happy you do something. I'm gonna sue you. I'm gonna get you. We blame all of the things in our life done somebody else rather than accepting Responsibility, like I said earlier.

Nobody can make you angry, you know, if you get angry you get angry because you choose to get angry. So, what do we do we blame our spouse we blame our children. We blame so-and-so and what it is is our characters that have gone out of whack that have not come under his lordship.