TURN YOU AT MY REPROOF
Hans R. Waldvogel
Let me read a few verses from the first chapter of Proverbs. There God says, Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you (verses 20-23). This word makes me know how we need reproof and how we do not like it. In it God also gives a great and wonderful promise to those who will turn at His reproof.
All of us by nature shrink from reproof. Let someone correct or instruct or teach or criticize us, and immediately there is an inward shrinking away from it. You mention to a person some fault he has, and immediately he excuses himself—not only in spiritual things but in natural things. The reason for this is that we want to appear good, but we don't want to be good. We do not care about being good, but God cares about our being good—about our being perfect.
God comes to make us perfect in every good work to do His will, and when we begin to seek Him we discover that such a desire is not in us at all. It has to come from heaven. The Bible says that God has given the whole world over to a reprobate mind. He has made foolish the wisdom of the wise—the scientists and theologians of this world—because they would none of His reproof.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hear-keneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil (Proverbs 1:24-33).
He says, "I called." And we could ask ourselves the question, "Did God call me? Did I ever hear His voice? Was I ever conscious that He spoke to me?" It seems to me that I have never been in a Holy Ghost meeting where I have not heard the voice of God calling me very definitely, making known to me His divine counsel to buy of Him gold tried in the fire.
It would be good if we would ask ourselves if we have come to Jesus and bought from Him gold tried in the fire that we might be rich. Here, in effect He says, "You haven't; you have heard Me speak; you have understood and accepted My way to some extent; but you say, 'I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing!'" We ought to search our hearts very diligently to see if we have regarded His voice when He called us.
It has been a great mystery to me in my nearly fifty years of ministry to find people everywhere and all the time who confess they have heard His voice and been convicted; these have sometimes testified that they were going to do better, but they did nothing about it. Now, looking back over these almost fifty years, I see the way strewn with the carcasses of men and women—good people—who knew God's will and did not do it. How many times have I stood at the bedside of the dying; we called together unto the Lord, but He wouldn't hear—He didn't regard. Well, one time He had called them and they wouldn't regard. Beloved, it means something to hear the voice of God and regard—to hearken diligently and desire His counsel.
What a privilege is ours when God offers to fill us with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding! When we hear His voice and are convicted, God is working in us to will. In every meeting God works in us to will—and He never gives up. But that is only half of it. He shows us gold. He says, "Listen, you have only brass. What you have won't stand the acid test. It won't." Therefore, He allows us to be tested and tried and tempted that we might find out how miserable and wretched and blind and naked we are; and so often, when we see our true condition, we get sour over it and go into a heap or a dump. Instead of bending and hearkening and buying gold from Him, we seek some other way to fix ourselves up. When God works in me to will—when He gives me conviction—He shows me that He wants to do.
In Hebrews we read that the Word of God is "sharper than any two-edged sword, . . . and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Notice the connection in which that word is used. The writer talks about the great counsel of God and the rest that He has provided for His people—that wonderful union of our souls with God in which we obtain the inheritance prepared for us before the foundation of the world, when Jesus Christ has become our all in all.
Then we read of Old Testament Israel and how God brought them up to the land He had promised them. For at least a year and a half He had told them that He had a land for them flowing with milk and honey, not only that He had provided it but that He was going to bring them in. He per-formed great miracles to prove that He was the One that had called them. Then they came up to the border of the promised land and sent out their spies. When the spies came back, they said, "Oh, it is really a marvelous land." They brought of its fruit—one bunch of grapes alone had to be borne by two men. This made the mouths of the people to water. Can't you hear them saying, "Oh, give me some grapes!" And when they had eaten, "My, what a land God has provided for us!" But those very same spies made their hearts tremble. They said, "Yes, it is a goodly land, but there are giants and terrible mountains and great dangers and walled cities." They did not consider that God had promised to take them in. They were tested and they failed.
The Bible says, "They entered not in because of unbelief." God had worked in them to will—He had made their mouths to water—but they wouldn't let Him work in them to do. They were not willing to believe that God was able to perform what He had promised; so they failed, and, oh, what a terrible failure! They're still suffering from it to this day. They entered not in because of unbelief. Their unbelief made them disobedient.
Beloved, God has given us their experience as a lesson. He has provided for us a land flowing with milk and honey—but there are the giants, the difficulties, the tests. Sometimes these tests are very severe; we are tested unto blood. The question is, Will we believe God, take His counsel, hearken to His voice, and not be satisfied simply to see the promised land? We must put on the whole armor of God and in the name of Jesus Christ give ourselves continually to prayer, watching thereunto with all perseverance—that we might enter in. They entered not in because of unbelief, and we will enter in because of faith.
We who have believed do enter in. Believed what? What God says. We ought not to think that we are seeking God, but that He is seeking us. We're too easily satisfied with our spirituality. Jesus says, "I have not found your works perfect before God." Why is that? Because we do not believe Him. We do not believe that He is able to make us perfect—so we become disobedient.
And wherein does God seek perfection? He speaks of the works which God provided for us before the world began. Why did He create us? What did He save us for? A heart that is perfect toward Him—perfect sonship, perfect lover-ship, perfect submission, perfect control by the Holy Ghost. But we don't believe such a life is possible. Do you know that most of today's church has backslidden and left the first love? For the most part, Christians do not believe that Jesus Christ is able to keep them from committing sin. Many churches teach that it is false doctrine to believe that Jesus Christ is able to make you perfect in every good work to do His will—to give you a perfect tongue! God says, "If any man offend not in word . . ." That is His counsel. My mouth is to be a fountain of life—a well of life. But we don't believe God, else we would work at it.
Paul speaks of the good work which God has begun in us. How did He begin this work in me? By coming into my heart and taking His place on the throne of my heart—by taking possession of me and making my body His temple. He purchased me with a great price, and I don't belong to myself anymore. Now He works His love in me—the love of God. He works in me in every word, thought, feeling, and attitude to do His will. He works in me that which is well pleasing in His sight. That is gold tried in the fire.
But how we fail to hearken diligently to Him. If we did hear His voice, we would open the door! We would not be satisfied just to talk about these graces and virtues and blessings—or to preach about them—but we would open the door and seek Him until He wins these victories for us. He says that we who have believed do enter in.
The children of Israel entered not in because of unbelief. They defied God. They said, "We can't go in. We're going to be defeated by the enemies." And that is just what we imply when we say, "It can't be done. I can't live a life of overcoming. I can't live a life of perfection in God. I can't have a perfect tongue, and perfect love, and perfect peace that passes all understanding reigning within me."
Beloved, to have such a life is God's counsel. Isn't that wonderful? It isn't my counsel. I would never make it; by nature I am satisfied with less than that. Most people are perfectly satisfied to appear nice on the outside. How we labor to make people think we are more spiritual than we really are! As long as they don't find out how we really are in our hearts, we are satisfied; but God's Word is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and if we want to be perfect in His sight, we are not going to be satisfied with knowing about God's will, but we will work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for God is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Thank God, He does that. He says, "I stretched out My hand and offered you Myself. I poured out My power so you would turn at My reproof."
Most of us don't even know how unclean we are. We hide ourselves. It is surprising how we can get away with flesh and more flesh when it comes to a real test. We need the Scripture which is given for correction and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work. We have the counsel of Jehovah—so clear, so sharp, so quickening, so powerful—but it loses its sharpness when we sin against conviction. If you persist in such sinning, God won't bother you anymore. He will say, "All right, have your own way." How dangerous it is when God lets you run in your own way, but He has to do that if we refuse His counsel. We ought to be thankful if God really has found an entrance into the depth of our souls, if He has been able to convict us so that we hear Him say, "Thou art the man." So often He can't do that because immediately we look around to see who is meant. "Too bad those people aren't in meeting. That's just what they need! Why aren't they here?" And the Lord says, "Thou art the woman. Thou art the man. I'm after you."
God is really offering us His own divine nature—gold tried in the fire; and if we want it, He is going to apply the acid test. When I started working in the jewelry business, I had to learn the difference between gold and brass. When brass was polished it looked exactly like gold to me. I couldn't tell the difference. One time I soldered a piece of gold and a piece of brass together. I did not realize it was brass until it was put in the acid; immediately it began to burn and boil and disappear. But gold tried in the fire does not disappear. It makes us rich.
"Because I have called, and . . . I have stretched out My hand." Beloved, that is God's program in every meeting. Let God really find you. Give Him time. Wait upon the Lord until He melts the crust—until He breaks the steel armor with which you have armored yourself against conviction. Let God cause you really to experience some of the fear and trembling of which Paul speaks, "lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."
The above may be printed and distributed for the glory of God.
Hans R. Waldvogel
Let me read a few verses from the first chapter of Proverbs. There God says, Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you (verses 20-23). This word makes me know how we need reproof and how we do not like it. In it God also gives a great and wonderful promise to those who will turn at His reproof.
All of us by nature shrink from reproof. Let someone correct or instruct or teach or criticize us, and immediately there is an inward shrinking away from it. You mention to a person some fault he has, and immediately he excuses himself—not only in spiritual things but in natural things. The reason for this is that we want to appear good, but we don't want to be good. We do not care about being good, but God cares about our being good—about our being perfect.
God comes to make us perfect in every good work to do His will, and when we begin to seek Him we discover that such a desire is not in us at all. It has to come from heaven. The Bible says that God has given the whole world over to a reprobate mind. He has made foolish the wisdom of the wise—the scientists and theologians of this world—because they would none of His reproof.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hear-keneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil (Proverbs 1:24-33).
He says, "I called." And we could ask ourselves the question, "Did God call me? Did I ever hear His voice? Was I ever conscious that He spoke to me?" It seems to me that I have never been in a Holy Ghost meeting where I have not heard the voice of God calling me very definitely, making known to me His divine counsel to buy of Him gold tried in the fire.
It would be good if we would ask ourselves if we have come to Jesus and bought from Him gold tried in the fire that we might be rich. Here, in effect He says, "You haven't; you have heard Me speak; you have understood and accepted My way to some extent; but you say, 'I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing!'" We ought to search our hearts very diligently to see if we have regarded His voice when He called us.
It has been a great mystery to me in my nearly fifty years of ministry to find people everywhere and all the time who confess they have heard His voice and been convicted; these have sometimes testified that they were going to do better, but they did nothing about it. Now, looking back over these almost fifty years, I see the way strewn with the carcasses of men and women—good people—who knew God's will and did not do it. How many times have I stood at the bedside of the dying; we called together unto the Lord, but He wouldn't hear—He didn't regard. Well, one time He had called them and they wouldn't regard. Beloved, it means something to hear the voice of God and regard—to hearken diligently and desire His counsel.
What a privilege is ours when God offers to fill us with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding! When we hear His voice and are convicted, God is working in us to will. In every meeting God works in us to will—and He never gives up. But that is only half of it. He shows us gold. He says, "Listen, you have only brass. What you have won't stand the acid test. It won't." Therefore, He allows us to be tested and tried and tempted that we might find out how miserable and wretched and blind and naked we are; and so often, when we see our true condition, we get sour over it and go into a heap or a dump. Instead of bending and hearkening and buying gold from Him, we seek some other way to fix ourselves up. When God works in me to will—when He gives me conviction—He shows me that He wants to do.
In Hebrews we read that the Word of God is "sharper than any two-edged sword, . . . and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Notice the connection in which that word is used. The writer talks about the great counsel of God and the rest that He has provided for His people—that wonderful union of our souls with God in which we obtain the inheritance prepared for us before the foundation of the world, when Jesus Christ has become our all in all.
Then we read of Old Testament Israel and how God brought them up to the land He had promised them. For at least a year and a half He had told them that He had a land for them flowing with milk and honey, not only that He had provided it but that He was going to bring them in. He per-formed great miracles to prove that He was the One that had called them. Then they came up to the border of the promised land and sent out their spies. When the spies came back, they said, "Oh, it is really a marvelous land." They brought of its fruit—one bunch of grapes alone had to be borne by two men. This made the mouths of the people to water. Can't you hear them saying, "Oh, give me some grapes!" And when they had eaten, "My, what a land God has provided for us!" But those very same spies made their hearts tremble. They said, "Yes, it is a goodly land, but there are giants and terrible mountains and great dangers and walled cities." They did not consider that God had promised to take them in. They were tested and they failed.
The Bible says, "They entered not in because of unbelief." God had worked in them to will—He had made their mouths to water—but they wouldn't let Him work in them to do. They were not willing to believe that God was able to perform what He had promised; so they failed, and, oh, what a terrible failure! They're still suffering from it to this day. They entered not in because of unbelief. Their unbelief made them disobedient.
Beloved, God has given us their experience as a lesson. He has provided for us a land flowing with milk and honey—but there are the giants, the difficulties, the tests. Sometimes these tests are very severe; we are tested unto blood. The question is, Will we believe God, take His counsel, hearken to His voice, and not be satisfied simply to see the promised land? We must put on the whole armor of God and in the name of Jesus Christ give ourselves continually to prayer, watching thereunto with all perseverance—that we might enter in. They entered not in because of unbelief, and we will enter in because of faith.
We who have believed do enter in. Believed what? What God says. We ought not to think that we are seeking God, but that He is seeking us. We're too easily satisfied with our spirituality. Jesus says, "I have not found your works perfect before God." Why is that? Because we do not believe Him. We do not believe that He is able to make us perfect—so we become disobedient.
And wherein does God seek perfection? He speaks of the works which God provided for us before the world began. Why did He create us? What did He save us for? A heart that is perfect toward Him—perfect sonship, perfect lover-ship, perfect submission, perfect control by the Holy Ghost. But we don't believe such a life is possible. Do you know that most of today's church has backslidden and left the first love? For the most part, Christians do not believe that Jesus Christ is able to keep them from committing sin. Many churches teach that it is false doctrine to believe that Jesus Christ is able to make you perfect in every good work to do His will—to give you a perfect tongue! God says, "If any man offend not in word . . ." That is His counsel. My mouth is to be a fountain of life—a well of life. But we don't believe God, else we would work at it.
Paul speaks of the good work which God has begun in us. How did He begin this work in me? By coming into my heart and taking His place on the throne of my heart—by taking possession of me and making my body His temple. He purchased me with a great price, and I don't belong to myself anymore. Now He works His love in me—the love of God. He works in me in every word, thought, feeling, and attitude to do His will. He works in me that which is well pleasing in His sight. That is gold tried in the fire.
But how we fail to hearken diligently to Him. If we did hear His voice, we would open the door! We would not be satisfied just to talk about these graces and virtues and blessings—or to preach about them—but we would open the door and seek Him until He wins these victories for us. He says that we who have believed do enter in.
The children of Israel entered not in because of unbelief. They defied God. They said, "We can't go in. We're going to be defeated by the enemies." And that is just what we imply when we say, "It can't be done. I can't live a life of overcoming. I can't live a life of perfection in God. I can't have a perfect tongue, and perfect love, and perfect peace that passes all understanding reigning within me."
Beloved, to have such a life is God's counsel. Isn't that wonderful? It isn't my counsel. I would never make it; by nature I am satisfied with less than that. Most people are perfectly satisfied to appear nice on the outside. How we labor to make people think we are more spiritual than we really are! As long as they don't find out how we really are in our hearts, we are satisfied; but God's Word is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and if we want to be perfect in His sight, we are not going to be satisfied with knowing about God's will, but we will work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for God is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Thank God, He does that. He says, "I stretched out My hand and offered you Myself. I poured out My power so you would turn at My reproof."
Most of us don't even know how unclean we are. We hide ourselves. It is surprising how we can get away with flesh and more flesh when it comes to a real test. We need the Scripture which is given for correction and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work. We have the counsel of Jehovah—so clear, so sharp, so quickening, so powerful—but it loses its sharpness when we sin against conviction. If you persist in such sinning, God won't bother you anymore. He will say, "All right, have your own way." How dangerous it is when God lets you run in your own way, but He has to do that if we refuse His counsel. We ought to be thankful if God really has found an entrance into the depth of our souls, if He has been able to convict us so that we hear Him say, "Thou art the man." So often He can't do that because immediately we look around to see who is meant. "Too bad those people aren't in meeting. That's just what they need! Why aren't they here?" And the Lord says, "Thou art the woman. Thou art the man. I'm after you."
God is really offering us His own divine nature—gold tried in the fire; and if we want it, He is going to apply the acid test. When I started working in the jewelry business, I had to learn the difference between gold and brass. When brass was polished it looked exactly like gold to me. I couldn't tell the difference. One time I soldered a piece of gold and a piece of brass together. I did not realize it was brass until it was put in the acid; immediately it began to burn and boil and disappear. But gold tried in the fire does not disappear. It makes us rich.
"Because I have called, and . . . I have stretched out My hand." Beloved, that is God's program in every meeting. Let God really find you. Give Him time. Wait upon the Lord until He melts the crust—until He breaks the steel armor with which you have armored yourself against conviction. Let God cause you really to experience some of the fear and trembling of which Paul speaks, "lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."
The above may be printed and distributed for the glory of God.