Have you ever heard the expression, crossing the
Rubicon?
The idiom, crossing the Rubicon, means to pass
a point of no return.
This refers to Julius Caesar's army crossing the
Rubicon River in Italy in 49 B.C.,
which was an act of insurrection.
Caesar declared to his troops, as they crossed
over, to die as cast.
In other words, there was no turning back.
I was reading about an incident in the
life of D.O. Moody, where he heard
a man say to him, the world has
yet to see what God can do with
a man wholly sold out to him.
Moody walked away and muttered beneath his breath,
by God's grace I will be that man,
and he became that man.
It was a turning point in the life
of D.O. Moody.
In a sense, he had crossed his own
personal Rubicon.
There is another incident in the life of
Moody, which involved a medical doctor who went
to hear him preach.
The doctor's name was Wilford Grenfell, and as
he listened to Moody preach, he rose to
his feet, declaring he would follow Christ.
Listen to his words, I went out, recalled
Grenfell, feeling that I had crossed the Rubicon
and must do something to prove it.
This man, Wilford Grenfell, gave himself as a
medical missionary for the next twenty years in
Labrador.
I recall an incident in my own life,
which was my personal crossing of the Rubicon.
It occurred in the month of December in
2001, right after the 9-11 attacks by
the terrorists.
I was attending a Stephen Oford Preaching Institute
in Memphis, Tennessee, and during that preaching institute,
I sat spellbound as I listened to Stephen
Oford preach.
God was dealing with my heart.
God was turning my life upside down by
that man's preaching.
Then, when the week was over, I knew
I had crossed my own personal Rubicon and
there was no turning back.
My life has never been the same since
that glorious week where I went on the
out now for Christ as never before.
Let me ask you, friend, have you been
there?
Not to a Stephen Oford Institute, but have
you ever been to a place in your
walk with God where you crossed over your
very own personal Rubicon, where you were so
on fire for God you could not wait
to go out and do something about it,
but perhaps later you became discouraged or distracted
and things didn't turn out like you planned?
Why has your flame gone out?
When did the fire die?
Why have you somehow adjusted to the ordinary?
Listen, dear friend, dear preacher brother, ministry can
beat us up and we can face great
discouragement and life in general can take a
toll on us, but the fire is still
there.
You just need to stoke it.
It's still lit inside you.
It may only be on a slow burn,
barely visible, but you can reignite it.
You can once again cross your Rubicon for
God and go all out for him and
his glory.
Remember the story of Elijah and how he
repaired the altar of the Lord and the
fire from heaven descended and consumed the sacrifice?
Well, there was a point in my life,
in my walk with God, where I needed
to repair the altar of my heart.
My flame for Christ was burning low and
I needed to do something about it.
I wrestled with God in prayer until I
got the fire back and I wrote the
following poem about it.
Give me a fire, O Lord, give me
a fire for thee.
Give me your fire, O Lord, let it
burn brightly in me.
Give me a fire, O Lord, the wood
of my life I give to thee.
Consume my ashes, O Lord, and let a
revival begin with me.
Give me a fire, O Lord, give me
a glimpse of hell and eternity.
Make me a fire, O Lord, so my
life may be burned out for thee.
Give me a fire, O Lord, increase my
desire for thee.
Make me a flame, O Lord, that draws
others to you through me.
Oh dear friend, if you are in need
of a personal revival and you are willing
to admit it, go to your knees and
beg God for the grace of repentance, the
grace to restore the altar of your heart
and re-enter a vital walk with God.
God has things he wants to say to
you personally, but how can you hear his
voice if you are not in a vital
walk with him?
God is stirring his remnant today to face
the upcoming persecutions that will come.
God wants you to be on fire for
him, in a red-hot love relationship with
him.
He wants you to be a firebrand for
him.
Go to your knees and seek him earnestly
for he is the rewarder of those who
diligently seek him.
Seek his face in holy desperation and ask
God to give you a fresh revelation of
his glory.
God wants to use you in your full
potential for Christ, friend.
God wants to give you a breakthrough with
him if you will only be willing to
face him honestly about what is grieving his
heart in your life.
Come clean with God and seek his face
in utter brokenness over your great departure from
him.
You know your heart has grown cold towards
him.
You know you have only been going through
the motions in the Christian life and in
Christian service.
If you do not know it, he certainly
has noticed it.
Jesus wonders why you do not want to
spend time with him like you used to.
Jesus marvels at the sad fact that you
love this world more than him.
His heart is broken over the fact that
you prefer others and other things to occupy
your time rather than spend time with your
faithful friend.
Perhaps sin has separated you.
Perhaps you are in a backslidden state.
Turn back to Jesus and ask him for
the grace of repentance and restoration.
The shepherd would go after a straying sheep
and restore it to the fold.
He would dress its wounds and care for
it and heal it once again.
The great shepherd will do the same for
you, friend.
Jesus wants to restore you to a close
intimate relationship with him once again.
Do it, friend.
Do not delay.
Ask God now to come again in your
life in a fresh way and restore a
right relationship to him.
God wants to do great things through you.
God wants to bestow great blessings upon you.
God wants to use and produce much spiritual
fruit through you to bring him glory.
But somehow, somewhere, your flame went out, your
love for him decreased, and your love for
the world increased.
This has grieved the heart of God.
Listen to what God told the Jews in
the days of the prophet Hosea.
The more they increased, the more they sinned
against me.
Then the broken heart of God laments, none
among them calls upon me.
Let me ask you, friend, why has your
prayer life become so barren, so infrequent?
There is no sacrifice attending it.
God is a God who delights in sacrifice.
Here in Hosea, God declares this about his
people, none among them calls upon me.
He took notice of their lack of prayer.
But listen to the great love of God
for his strained, disobedient people.
I will heal their backsliding.
I will love them freely.
God compared the backslidden people of God to
a cake, half-baked.
I fear many who used to be on
the full stretch for God are now only
half-baked Christians.
God wants all of you.
God wants all of you so he can
be all to you.
But why is your walk with him so
up and down?
Where is the intimacy you once shared with
him?
Why is heaven silent to you?
Listen, friend, God doesn't want a divided heart.
He wants all your heart.
God doesn't want a half-baked follower with
one foot with him and one foot in
the world.
He must have all of your allegiance.
He must have all of you.
He gave his all for you.
I heard a story that a man went
to hear Dr. R.
A.
Torrey preach at the end of his life
when Torrey was an old man with a
shaky voice.
But Torrey had this to say to a
group of believers.
He said, don't be concerned so much about
you getting more of the Holy Spirit as
you should be concerned about the Holy Spirit
getting more of you.
And that's true, friend.
God wants all of us every inch.
Give it to him in a full surrender
and he will take you by the hand
and help you cross your Rubicon for him.
In the Gospel of John, chapter 15, it
speaks of God's pruning knife in the life
of the believer.
Listen to verses 1 and 2.
I am the true vine, and my Father
is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit
he taketh away, and every branch that beareth
fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring
forth more fruit.
The pruning knife of God is painful as
it cuts away the dead wood in our
lives, but it is necessary, friend.
I remember preaching one night to a group
of pastors.
I had brought with me two men whom
I was discipling at the time.
I gave those two men strict instructions that
their job that night while I preached was
to sit there in the back of the
room and pray.
Pray that God would be pleased to bless
the message and to move hearts.
Well, these two men must have laid hold
of God that night because while I was
preaching on John, chapter 15, suddenly the faces
of the men in that meeting changed.
They grew deeply concerned and looked alarmed.
I was preaching on the pruning knife of
God in the life of a believer, and
there was a solemnity in that room that
night.
Well, after the meeting, some pastors lined up
to speak with me.
I recall one man in particular.
He was an older saint.
He hugged me and told me, I want
you to know, I have been preaching for
50 years, but tonight I'm going home, and
when I get there, I'm going to kneel
by my bed and ask God to get
his pruning knife out on me and my
ministry.
That man was serious about having a personal
revival.
Let me ask you, friend, are you willing
to ask God to get his pruning knife
out on you?
Do you want to be more fruitful for
Him?
Seek Him earnestly and ask Him for the
grace to give you a personal revival where
your heart is inflamed for Him with a
red-hot love for Him, a love for
lost souls.
Ask God to give you a fresh vision
of eternity.
Oh, friend, seek God now and enter into
your crossing of your own spiritual Rubicon.
Let us pray.
Oh, blessed King, oh, Ancient of Days, dear
Jesus, stir my heart afresh for Thee.
Do a work in me, O Lord, and
bring me into a deeper relationship with Thee.
Forgive me, O God, for grieving Your heart
with my rotten sins.
Forgive me for my lack of love towards
You.
Forgive me for replacing You with other things.
Oh, great God, forgive me.
Give me the grace to yield to Your
pruning knife upon my life, renewing me Your
presence, O Lord.
By Your Holy Spirit, I surrender everything to
Thee right now.
I stand on Your Word.
Your Word says, return to me, and I
will return to You.
Here I am, Lord Jesus.
I give You my all.
Touch me, O Lord, with a fresh fire
for Thee.
May I go out and be all You
desire me to be.
May I live the rest of my days
on the full stretch for Thee.
Do it, O Lord, for Your kingdom and
for Your great glory.
Amen.