The Pure River

The Pure River

The late Carl H. Stevens Jr. was pastor of the Greater Grace World Outreach in Baltimore, Maryland, until 2005, and he also founded thriving ministries in Maine and Massachusetts. Pastor Stevens’ death in June 2008 marked the completion of a ministry that spanned four decades and included the establishment of Maryland Bible College and Seminary in Baltimore and the development of “The Grace Hour,” an Angel Award-winning radio talk show that is still heard on Christian stations throughout North America and via the Internet.

This booklet was created from a message preached by Pastor Stevens.

Table Of contents

Introduction ............................................ 5 Chapter 1.................................................... 7 The Covering of Christ Chapter 2................................................... 12 The Power of a Hidden Life

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version. Italics for emphasis are ours.

Chapter 3................................................... 18 The Flow of Life and Love

Grace Publications 6025 Moravia Park Drive BALTIMORE, MD 21206 Printed in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. Copyright © 2010 From a message preached December 8, 1999 Grace Publications is a ministry of Greater Grace World Outreach, Inc. www.ggwo.org ISBN # 1-57907-571-1

INTRODUCTION Think of the solemnity of the hour. Consider the sacredness of the Word of God, the reality of resurrection, and the relationships in the Body of Jesus Christ. These things have to be counted as precious in these days.

It happens to be later than it’s ever been before. Fundamental Bible scholars who hold the Word of God to be the Word of God calculate that 6,000 years have passed since man’s creation. This number should mean something to us, especially as we consider the following details. From the Garden to the Flood, there was 2,000 years. From the Flood to the Cross, there was 2,000 years. Now, nearly 2,000 years have passed since the Cross. What’s next? The Rapture of the Church, the Great Tribulation, and the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. He’s coming back to earth in power and majesty.

Let’s understand that life is short (1 Corinthians 7:29). One of the great ways to be prepared for this hour is to love righteousness and to hate iniquity. “Thou loveth righteousness, and hateth iniquity; therefore thy God anointest with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Psalm 45:7). Iniquity represents every form of emotional reac

tion to holiness. Ten times in the Word of God, God instructs His people by saying, “Be ye holy as I am holy.” This proclamation is first made in Leviticus 11:44 in the Old Testament and repeated for the last time in 1 Peter 1:15-16. The Lord chose us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. These pages serve as something of a challenge to believers to let the pure river of God’s holiness flow through our lives to the world.

Chapter One

THE COVERING OF CHRIST Holiness is an inward condition of the heart, and being blameless is the outward condition that manifests holiness. We are to be holy within and blameless without because of the great grace of God who has made us accepted in the beloved (see Ephesians 1:6).

One of the great ways to approach temptation and sin is to develop a mental practice regarding what to love and what to hate. We do it within our hearts. We choose to love righteousness, and we choose to hate iniquity whatever it may be.

The Holy Spirit anointed men of God to declare definitions in the Word of God. They were leaders, and as communicators, they made sure to point out the difference between the holy and the unholy. Let’s not argue with them and what they have written, as it is contained in the Scriptures.

Accept Truth.

Honor Truth.

Practice Truth.

“And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my

judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my Sabbaths” (Ezekiel 44:24).

I want you to see that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. When someone attacks a ministry about money, very often it’s because money is his problem, not the ministry’s problem. As a person thinks, so is he. He attacks you by mentioning the very problem he has. I have found this to be true. People transfer their problems onto people or organizations, etc., as a defense mechanism. It’s a part of the blame game.

Throughout the Scriptures, David wrote about the “anointed”: “Behold, our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed” (Psalm 84:9).

“O Lord, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant” (2 Chronicles 6:42).

“For thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed” (Psalm 132:10).

“I’ve ordained a lamp for mine anointed” (Psalm 132:17).

The last verse is the only one that really referred to David. All the other verses were speaking of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. What David was asking in these prayers to God was that He would do this: “Keep looking on Your Son, and remember He’s covering me.” He pleaded

with the Lord not to turn His face away from His Anointed One when it related to his life.

When David wrote Psalm 84:9 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it was during the Absalom conspiracy. Absalom began to feed his flesh with a conspiracy because of David’s reaction to his murder of his half-brother Amnon, the one who forcefully committed incest against Absalom’s sister. Here is a great principle to remember: The price for all sin is totally paid for, but a man who will not accept the sure mercies of God can only live in utter defeat. Absalom would not give mercy, neither could he receive mercy and he lived in desperation. For this reason, he began to feed his flesh.

We read of how Absalom fed his flesh and his conspiracy in 2 Samuel 15:2-3. He went out by the city gate in Jerusalem and captivated others who were feeding their flesh and feeling forgotten or mistreated. “You have problems,” Absalom said, “but there’s no one to hear your problem—the king really isn’t interested in them.

You can bring them to me.”

The conspiracy was started. Absalom’s army was built up, and everything was going his way with the conspiracy, because the people who do not know God and His mercy always fall into a conspiracy. Those who know God recognize conspiracy when it comes. Conspiracy stifles a

thriving church when a group of members agree on iniquity and stand against the Word and the pulpit. A church will never grow that doesn’t want to be holy within and blameless without through the indwelling Holy Spirit. We have a concealed weapon in every temptation, and that concealed weapon is Jesus Christ.

During Absalom’s conspiracy, David was out on the Judean hills and he was thinking of Psalm 84. He was going through a valley and going from strength to strength, and the dry wells would be filled with water as far his spiritual life was concerned. He was far from home, thinking of these words and the words of Psalm 23 and not knowing what would happen to his son, Absalom.

David’s heart was broken over the loss of his kingdom, but it was broken more so over the loss of his son. When he was brought word that Absalom was killed in battle, David went up to his loft and wailed, “My son Absalom, my son Absalom! My son, my son, I would have died for thee” (see 2 Samuel 18:28-33). I think this is what the Bible means with all of David’s failures when it said he had a heart after God (Acts 13:22).

David literally would have been glad to die for his son Absalom, even though he had stolen the throne of Israel from his father. David, despite his weaknesses, seems to always have became

broken and returned to God. These are the experiences we find written in the Psalms.

10

11

Chapter Two

THE POWER OF A HIDDEN LIFE Some people wind up with experiences like those of Elijah. This prophet was told to go and hide at the brook Cherith (1 Kings 17:3). He goes to the brook Cherith and it dries up on him (verse 4).

A mother called me this week and she said, “All I do is take care of the children. That’s all I do. It’s like I haven’t had any spiritual life for years.”

I said, “Is your brook drying out? God is hiding you, having children.”

Another woman said, “I’ve been married four years and every year of my marriage has been hell. I got married and the brook dried up.”

Another person started a business and worked very diligently, and the business hasn’t been going good at all. His brook is drying up.

Sometimes pastors are sent somewhere and the brook dries up.

Elijah was sitting by the brook Cherith and watched it dry up. I can imagine him saying, “Why did God send me here?” After that time was over the Lord said to Elijah, “Arise and go to 12

Zarephath” (1 Kings 17:9). The word “Zarephath” means “smelting furnace.” God was taking His prophet from the dry place to the place of burning. The famine was there because no rain had fallen for three and a half years. In Zarephath, however, there was the widow who had the little bit of meal and a little bit of oil.

The prophet said to this widow, “Bake me a cake and bring me some water.”

She said, “I was going to take what we had so that my son and I could eat it and die.”

Elijah had a promise of God for this widow: “Your barrel of meal will not be wasted, and your oil will not be taken away from you. Just obey.”

She did as Elijah said, and God provided for the widow and her son until the rains returned to Israel.

God was teaching Elijah the power of a hidden life. Then, He was teaching Elijah how to live in a home under adverse circumstances, how to live without proper provision. He was teaching the woman and her son and this prophet what a man who ate meat from heaven and knew his God could experience in the home.

The brook at Cherith dried up, but Elijah was being taught how to hide and enjoy the supernatural river of blessing. He stayed with this widow and her son for one full year. He was learning that everything he would ever be he would be13

come because of the faith of God. One step at a time; that’s the way God led Elijah. Every step he took had to be faith. The brook dried up. He was with the widow and her son for a year. Elijah was taught much in that home, I am sure. He had to care for this widow and help her, because God loves widows. Elijah’s life was a protection to her. The prophet had to learn some lessons about the pure river of God’s work in this world. Elijah had to go through the moments of hiding before he could be used for a moment of magnificence at Mount Carmel. On that hill, Elijah faced down 450 prophets of Baal, an idol made popular by Jezebel and now worshipped by many in Israel. Elijah would call fire down from Heaven at that meeting. He would slay the prophets of the idol. He learned his lessons with God. Before he could be seen by the enemy, he had to hide with God. “When the merchant man found the pearl of great price, he sold all that he had to purchase the pearl of great price” (Matthew 13:45-46).

The Church is Christ’s pearl. He gave all He had in Heaven to come to earth and live in this world as a man born to die. This is how precious we are to the Lord Jesus. His prayer for the disciples went like this: “Father, look upon Your anointed as You always have and thank You. Look upon Your anointed for every precious

person in Your Church is hid in Me with You.” We are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. Or course, He’s going to help us because we’re part of Him. He’s the head and we’re His body, and that fills up the whole earth. The pearl of great price is the Church of Jesus Christ, His body on earth, His bride forever.

What happens when a grain of sand or some other foreign object gets inside the shell of an oyster? Over time, this object is covered by layers of nacre. When we think of what an oyster looks like, the parallel takes on even more meaning in my mind. Oysters are ugly creatures, and from what I see the world is an ugly place. The Church, made of Christians all over the world, is sojourning here in this wicked world. We are strangers and pilgrims. We are the objects of God’s love, which makes us foreign objects in this place. During our time here on earth, we grow and mature in our walk with God. We become more and more refined in the processes of tests and trials. It’s safe to say our value to the Lord increases. He loves us more and more.

This is the great picture of Jesus Christ and how much He values His people. We must carry this concept with us as well. Christ’s command to His disciples was this: “Love one another.”

Why? Because the love we share as members of His Body is rare and attractive. A local assem-

14

15

bly that cultivates love will be an assembly with many visitors. Every believer is a treasure to God and should be treated as such, especially by his brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Every moment, every encounter of a Christian’s life carries great potential. We are instructed to be wise with our initiations. We need to purpose to be in the right places at the right times doing the right things.

Jesus said, “Do not give meat to dogs, and do not cast your pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6).

In Isaiah 66:3, we learn “swine” are those who have “chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.” Swine represent those who find the way of righteousness, ignore its invitation and go back to the mire just as a cleaned up pig dives back into the muck. These people find the purity of God and leave it. They find how good it is to be clean and forget about it. They recognize how good it is to be spiritual and refuse it, and they enter into spiritual decay, moral decay, and domestic decay.

We cannot afford to cast before the swine the pearl that is our life in Christ. Let’s not allow ourselves to flirt with worldliness. Instead of compromise and secret carnality, our testimony of Him can be about the abundant, abounding, pure grace of God flowing out in purity and power. People see the quiet manifestation

of Jesus Christ as we touch them. There’s pure river of life coming out of us. The Holy Spirit does this. It is testimony of Jesus Christ.

16

17

Chapter Three

THE FLOW OF LIFE AND LOVE It is so very crucial that every Christian leader in these Last Days teach the precious holiness of Almighty God through grace, love, and mercy. The flow of the pure river includes teaching faithfulness to His Word and faithfulness to His standards of grace. The Spirit of God lifts these standards against demons and Satan and all of the forces of hell. Let’s love righteousness and hate iniquity—let’s learn to practice hating iniquity in our meditations. I remember one old Gospel preacher saying that some believers never learn to “hate right.” Hatred in God’s economy is about distance and separation. We so easily attach emotion to hatred. God hates sin; it cannot abide in His presence. The wages of sin is death; something innocent had to shed blood and die for the sins of mankind. The Holy Sacrifice was Christ Jesus the Lord, whose perfect life became the offering once and for all. Just count the cost of sin and let’s learn to hate it. Let’s not give place to anything that would lead to compromise and defeat.

The Word of God says that the Gospel is pure. It is not just a “full Gospel.” We have a pure 18

Gospel. The Word of God says (Proverbs 30:5) every word of God is pure. The Word of God says we’re purified by faith as we’re cleansed by the Blood (Acts 15:9). Revelation 22:1 speaks of “a pure river, clear as a crystal, came out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” A river clear as a crystal—that’s the Word of God presented in the power of the Spirit. Ezekiel 47:9 tells us, “Wherever the river flowed, there was life and healing.” Revelation 22:2 presents a similar picture: “On either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

We need to keep this river flowing from the Throne of God. For this reason, we set our mind on things above (Colossians 3:2). Our conversations are from heaven (Philippians 3:9). We don’t carelessly reinforce the flesh and feed the flesh.

We feed the spirit, the inner man of Jesus Christ with all of our heart.

Soon, we will face God. We’ll be face to face with Him in the Rapture. In the troublesome days we live in, we walk with Him and talk with Him and worship Him. We respond to His call and go forward in vision and victory. God teaches us and guides us by His Light. He looks upon His anointed.

Wherever the river of God flows, it brings 19

life and light. Fresh waters spring from within us; these are pure fountains of God. This is the flow of the pure river of Heaven. We have the power of Jesus Christ and the power of deliverance. Anyone touched by this pure river lives and this life is multiplied. Ezekiel 47 says wherever the water from the throne went there were all kinds of fish, meaning born-again Christians, born of the Spirit, born brand-new with Jesus Christ from above.

As we move moment by moment, let us be a people who clearly understand that we are in Christ the Son and we know that God looks upon His Son. This is the Finished Work. We’re hid with Christ in God, and that’s where we have protection and provision. We were chosen before the foundation of the world to be separated unto Him within and blameless without. The grace of God teaches us how to do this (Titus 2:12).

I plead with believers everywhere to let that river flow and to be pure. May everything in our lives be pure and godly, glorifying Jesus Christ and honoring the Lamb. There is nothing in my life that Christ cannot be in me. I am called into obedience and I find myself in a smelting furnace at times. Other times, I am called to be hidden away by dried up brooks. Here, I trust and discover that every step that makes life precious is a step of faith. Everything pure and powerful

comes by faith in the living Word of God. A number of us have a sense of the hour in which we live. I so want to share what God wants me to share, no matter how long it takes.

Mix faith with what God gives you. Receive it in meekness and let God accomplish His purpose.

Let Christ do it. It’s not by might nor by power, but by His Spirit.

The last days are going be perilous times.

There’s going to be so many forms of godliness that denies the power God. Many believers sadly are becoming lovers of pleasure with carelessness and unfaithfulness to their purpose.

In finishing these thoughts, please consider the following words from the apostle Peter.

“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

“For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

“But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:20-22).

“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind,

20

21

be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:13-16).

“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind.”

This phrase speaks to our need to be filled with categorical doctrine mentally. “Be sober” refers to our seriousness about precise thinking, which is critical to these hours. “Hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Christ” indicates the Holy Spirit’s initiations in bringing the word of revelation to us through grace and the Scriptures.

“As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.” Do you see that? Are you paying attention? Let’s not fashion ourselves according to our old lust patterns, even as it relates to sensual, worldly music or movies. Let’s learn to be holy as God is holy.

This is what I want for each and every moment of my life. This is what God gives by grace.

He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus

Christ. Let’s abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that the labor that we labor in God is never in vain. It’s a faith-rest response to the indwelling Kingdom of the living God.

22

23

24