Lon Woodrum's Writings & Sermons

Amos Goes to Washington

Lon Woodrum : Printed in "Christianity Today"

THE MAN WHO KNEW

'Sermon One' in the Dr. Lon R. Woodrum series from the Sammy Poole Library

Published April 23, 2003 

From Caesar's prison an old man wrote to a younger man at Ephesus: "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." (2 Tim. 1:12) Those familiar with the New Testament recognize these words from the Apostle Paul. His writing is unlike any other; and often it has in it something like the sound of trumpets.

Assurance characterizes Paul's message. The certainty of his words, "I know," has impressed people for centuries. He possesses something which did not spring from theological scholarship - mighty theologian though he was. There was in him a positive consciousness of the reality of his faith. He might well have been known as 'the man who knew.'

FOR ONE THING, HE KNEW GOD.

If it is ever possible that one may be so familiar with something that he may think he knows it when, actually, he does not know it at all; most anybody can make it work. In our time many are familiar with electricity; most anybody can make it work. But few people have any practical knowledge of electricity.

Millions of people in America have automobiles, but let one stall on the highway, and how few know what's really under the hood!

Multitudes of people would recognize a picture of the President of the United States. We have seen him on television, in newspapers, magazines. Yet, the majority of the people do not know him at all. We are only familiar with a face.

One may be so familiar with religious factors --- worship, choirs, Scripture, prayers, sermons --- that he may think he knows God, when he may be an utter stranger to Him.

Once, driving from Oklahoma City to Bethany, I lost my way. Pulling in at a farmhouse, I asked a boy on the porch, "Where am I?" He grinned and said, "Mister, where do you want to go?" That was important, even though I had overlooked it! When I told him I wanted to go to Bethany, he said, "That's easy!" For him, yes; but not for me. I was lost. He gave directions and as I drove away, my small son seated in the back seat said, "That boy knows more than you, doesn't he?"

I was not too pleased with my son's remark;  but there was truth in it. Had I compared general education with the Oklahoma lad, I think I might have known more than he knew, But when it came to the road to Bethany, he did know more than I knew.

I fell to thinking that if Albert Einstein, the great physicist, had been lost on that road, he would have been as lost as I. And the farm boy could have directed the great man to his destination. He might not have known any more about Einstein's theory of relativity  than a frog knows  about Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, but he would have known the way to Bethany, Oklahoma!

I also thought: if the most unlearned person knew the road to Calvary to the point of God-consciousness, to where he could say with Paul, "I know whom I have believed," he might know something that some of the finest intellectuals in the world might not know. The highest point of human knowledge is the knowledge of one's personal relationship with God, through Jesus Christ.

MOREOVER, PAUL KNEW MAN.

Paul was a religious scholar. In his time, few men, if any, knew the laws of Israel better than he. Yet he cried, "I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh." (Rom. 7: 18 NASB) He fought a great civil war within himself over legalism, and arrived at this point: "I am carnal ... sold under sin ... The good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do ... O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me  from the body of this death." (Rom. 7: 14, 19, 24)

The apostle summed up his philosophy about the wrongness of man in the often-quoted words: "There is none righteous, no not one ... for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Rom. 2: 10, 23). Paul concluded that man apart from God's grace was forever hopeless. That was what Paul knew about people: All their finest works could never save them. Grace was required; and grace was God's gift.

Students of John Wesley's life can find a sharp echo of Paul's words in the British evangelist's writings. "This, then, have I learned at the ends of the earth, that I am 'fallen short of the glory of God;' that my whole heart is 'altogether corrupt and abominable; and consequently my whole life. I am alienated from the life of God ... an heir of hell ... my own works, my own sufferings, my own righteousness, are so far from reconciling me to an offended God, or for making any atonement for my sins ... If it be said that I have faith, (for many such things have I  heard from many miserable comforters), I answer: so have the devils ... but they are strangers to the covenant of promise." (Wesley's Journal, Feb. 29th, 1736.)

Hearing such words, it is difficult to realize that this sin-conscious man who wrote such a self-indictment, would later change three kingdoms through the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, and influence the world for more than two centuries; and who knows how long he will yet influence it? But it had been necessary for Wesley to realize his own hopelessness before he could cast himself by faith alone on the mercy of God, and through Christ, find redemption. Like the great Apostle Paul, he had found how deep-rooted is the sin in mankind; so deep that only God's has the power to remove it.

ALSO, PAUL KNEW HIS MISSION.

 Having discovered the awesome holiness of God, and the fearful lack of holiness of men, Paul knew that the business of a believer is to take to mankind the message of deliverance from sin through what happened at Calvary. "Christ died for our sins;" the apostle kept saying in his letters, and up and down the Roman world. "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel!" he cried. He told the Romans, "I am debtor, both to the Greek, and to the Barbarian, both to the wise and to the unwise." (Rom. 1:14)

What if a person had an incurable disease, and he discovered a physician who could cure him? Would he keep the cure a secret from some friend who had the same affliction? If you locked him up he would try to break out so he could tell his friend the good news: 'I know a doctor who can heal you!' One of the first evidences that one is saved is that he wants others saved also.

So engrossed his mission for Christ was, that Paul once said a remarkable thing. After reciting his pedigree, his heritage,  his culture and his accomplishments, he announced that he considered these things but "rubbish as compared to Christ's salvation.' He sought to know not only Christ's "Resurrection power," but the 'fellowship of His sufferings," and he asked to be made "conformable to His death." (Phil. 3:10).

Here was a man who wanted to join Christ at Calvary! Naturally he was aware that Jesus, alone, could die to save mankind; but he was unwilling for Jesus to do all the suffering, and all the dying!! He asked, while being Christ's witness, to know more than the bliss and joy! He wrote to the Romans: "We are ... joint heirs with Christ." But he was not satisfied with the wonder of that! He added, "If so be that we suffer with Him." (Rom, 8:17) Paul had gone 'all out' in the business of Christian redemption.

FURTHER, PAUL KNEW ANOTHER WORLD.

He claimed that his citizenship was in a world higher than ours; Heaven was his eternal home. Actually, he desired to leave this world in order to be with Christ. (Col. 1:23) His consciousness of the Presence from that "Other World" overshadowed him constantly. It caused him to be crucified to the world, and the world to be crucified to him. Reading his letters one senses his awareness of that lofty world during his hardships, his shipwrecks, his floggings, his loneliness. At the long last, near the road's end, that world seemed close as he languished in Caesar's prison, waiting his execution. This tired old man, who traveled the track of empire, and testified before chieftans, was going to die; and he said, "I am ready!" 

It was Caesar's world, but Caesar had everything on the outside; Paul had everything on the inside! And nothing could take it from him. In the darkness of the dungeon there was a light. In the silence there was a Voice; in the solitude, a Presence. He had never really been alone on the long Gospel-road which he traveled from the Damascan highway to the city on the seven hills. He was not alone now. Out of his prison hole he wrote to a young believer, named Timothy. Did he speak of terrible agony, and despair? No, his testimony burst from him like trumpets ringing: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith ... The Lord will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom: to Him be glory for ever and ever: Amen." (2 Tim. 4, 17, 18).

Behind him, and he faced the end, the cross bloomed on a thousand hills. The walls of old empire sagged before the march of the new humanity in the earth. The eagles of Caesar would soon flounder in the dust, for Paul had finished his assignment; his mission was accomplished. He was going Home to be with Him whom he loved more than ever he had loved life itself.

One can fairly hear his testimony, ringing like a requiem to a departed world: "I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that Day!

Copyright 1995 Sammy Poole

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BELIEVERS

'Sermon Two' in the Dr. Lon R. Woodrum series from the Sammy Poole Library

Published April 23, 2003 

The New Testament has much to say about people who believe in Jesus Christ. And to all such believers many promises are made, including the promise of eternal life. But the question often arises: what does it mean to believe in Christ? The answer is found in the Word of God.

In the first place, we must believe in Jesus' witness.

Jesus, while among men, kept insisting that he had not originated in this world, but that He came from a higher world. "I came forth from the Father," he said, "and am come into this world." (John 16:28). When the religious leaders boasted that their father was Abraham, he calmly told them the HE lived before Abraham was born!  (John 8:58). Once, in a prayer, He referred to something quite unimaginable to an earth-being: the glory he had with God "Before the world was," (John 17:4) He went even further when He said, in essence, that, anyone wishing to see God Himself had to but look at Him. (John 14:9). 

Jesus said many more astounding things about Himself. All these claims are recorded in the Gospels. He claimed to be the "Way, the Truth, and the Life;" and that man's only access to the Almighty was through Him! Everything which God possessed was His also.  He called Himself the "Resurrection and the Life," and said that everyone in the world should hear His voice, and come out alive. He insisted that Satan, the "prince of this world," had no power whatsoever over Him. In fact, through Him the devil would be cast out of the world!

He assured His disciples that they need not be disquieted over tribulation; for He had conquered the world. He stated that Divine judgment had been shifted from the Creator's hands into His. He promised that after men had killed Him, He would return to life and ascend into Heaven; and that at another time He would come in awesome power and glory to judge the nations. He had come, He said, to give men not only life, but to give it in abundance.

Many more claims He made about Himself. To put it briefly, He said He was God. It was this very  claim that eventually sent Him to the cross. Doubtless, the religious leaders of His day who called so loudly for His death, would not have urged His execution simply because He presented Himself as the "Messiah." They might have let Him live if He only claimed to be the Son of God. But when He insisted that He was God in human form, He sealed his doom-warrant.

One of the claims which Jesus' enemies saw as His claim to Deity was that He said he came to seek and to save the lost. He claimed to have the power to forgive sins ... which, in their eyes, only God could do. Indeed, to call oneself the Savior of mankind is no small thing. 

Some time ago a man faced a large crowd in New York, and said, "I am your Savior." But Jesus did not merely make statements about His ability to save the world from sin; He demonstrated His right to such a claim, in many ways.

"The ... works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me." (John 5:36). Christ came with the proper credentials! The man who spoke in New York has not yet presented his. He needs to have a trial run, so we can check him out! He would need to turn water into wine, heal a man who had been 38 years sick, give sight to a man "blind from birth," quiet a hurricane, walk on water, feed 5,000 men, (not counting women and children), with a few loaves and some small fish, and raise a four-days dead man, from the grave! And to come back from the grave himself after being killed! Only a man who can offer adequate credentials may claim to be a 'Savior.'

Jesus not only calls Himself a Savior, He calls Himself the "Truth!" There have been, and still are, questions about God that remain unanswered. But whatever truth God wanted us to know, He revealed in Christ. Hence, if Jesus is what He claims to be, any teachings which oppose His are untruths!  

Moreover, Jesus claims to be the WAY. Again, if His witness be true, then any lifestyle that differs from His, is wrong! Too, He claims to be the LIFE! Difficult as this may appear to many modern minds, it must be so, else Jesus has erred more deeply than any man earth ever knew!

Unquestionably, from a New Testament viewpoint, one of the things necessary for one to find eternal life is an utter confidence in the witness which Jesus gives regarding Himself.

IN THE SECOND PLACE, WE MUST BELIEVE IN JESUS' WORD:

Jesus said a remarkable thing: "In the volume of the Book it is written of me." (Heb. 10: 7) Other men have had books written about them while they lived, or after they died: but the whole Bible is His Book! 

We are familiar with the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Malachi, the Book of Matthew; but when we hold the Scriptures in our hands, we can say, "This is the Book of Jesus!" 

Every Bible student knows how mightily Jesus towers in the New Testament; but Jesus announces His own prominence in the Old Testament. "Search the Scriptures ... they are they which testify of me." (John 5: 39). Jesus is in Genesis AND in Revelation; and in all the 64 Books in between. Christ Himself is the "Word of God;"  but so is the Book that is written about Him.

A man on television once said, "I take the Bible seriously, but not literally;" which is another way of saying that the Bible is not literally true! But some of us are confident that in our time the evangelical world shall fall or prevail, according to whether it takes the Bible to be the literal truth, given by God to man.

A man told me he believed in Christ but was unable to accept as true all the things the Gospels report His as saying. He insists he cannot believe Jesus said He would come "a second time," literally. But authentic Christians cannot so easily "accept Christ," while rejecting His message. His Word is the last court of appeal to the truth. His guidelines are not retractable. "Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in Heaven." (Ps. 119:89). 

The Scriptures are the Lord's changeless manifestation to mankind; and all that we need to know about man's redemption is written in that Word. Many more things, doubtless, God could have shown us; but none would be necessary to our salvation. And had He spoken more, could we have understood it? 

"If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you Heavenly things?" (John 3: 12-NASB).

Jesus has promised everlasting life to those who believe in Him, but to believe in Him means to believe His God-inspired Word. Believing in anything else will lead us farther and farther from His Kingdom.

TO BELIEVE IN JESUS, WE MUST BELIEVE IN HIS WAY.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth," God once said through His prophet, "so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa. 55:9). One thing any student of the Bible understands early is that the ways of Jesus are not the ways of the world; and that His disciples must take His way ... not the world's.

"I am not of the world," said Jesus. (John 17: 14). Nor does all our present day philosophizing make Him of this world, yet. "The world, the flesh, and the devil," are not as much His enemies as they were nearly two millennia ago. This world is vastly involved in self-service, pride, greed, and numerous other things with which Jesus can never come to terms. Humility, sacrifice, honesty, compassion, justice ... these are the things of our Lord; and how often they run contrary to the world's lifestyle!

Jesus once said a disturbing thing! "The gate is small, ad the way narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it." (Matt: 7: 14-NASB). Only courageous spirits take a road that is something of a death-march, and never runs parallel to the turnpike where millions travel. The Christ-road can be lonely. It can bring agony. It can even get one killed!

Behind that song which says, "Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee," lies the story of one who was thrown from a home into the cold streets for becoming a Christian. The cross gleams brightly on some church spires, or on some pendant; but it is an ugly thing to Him who must be spiked to it! But there is no Easter dawn on 'this side of Calvary!' The Apostle Paul often talked about the joy he found in the Lord; but he also said, "I am crucified with Christ!" And in another instance, he spoke of "dying daily."

"I am the way," Jesus said. And many scholars have had a difficult time with His words when He said, "All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers." (John 10: 8). But if there is any other way than Christ's, the Scriptures are silent about them,

"He that believes in me has everlasting life," Jesus said. But believing is more than nodding toward Him. It is more than experiencing some warm feeling over the thought of Him. It means utterly trusting his witness: believing His Word; accepting His Way. HE demands of us something of a death-march; but He offers us a "joy unspeakable and full of glory." And, He offers us a life that will never die

Copyright 1995 Sammy Poole ____________________________
Greatness in a Time of Tempest
 By Lon Woodrum
Courtesy: Christianity Today
Published April 11, 1969

More than sixteen years ago on a January day in Washington the General arose and said, “Since this century’s beginning, a time of tempest has seemed to come upon the continents of the world.”  The General, who had become President of the United States, was Dwight David Eisenhower. Now he has marched from our midst, and the tempest has grown worse. It is well to recall that he never quit smiling. Gloom overtook the spirit of the earth, but the General’s signal to mankind shone like a flame, and left a gentle glow in the world.

He himself probably never realized the power of that smile, which was something like a quiet banner flying from a tough garrison. For that matter, he never seemed to understand how much the people cared for him. Ike had faith in the people, for in the truest sense he was always one of them; and they responded by trusting in him.

Eisenhower was a soldier in quest of peace, and historians will accord him a prominent place among the “the men of good will” in the earth. In a strongly critical review of Ike’s book WAGING PEACE, Henry Kissinger of the Washington Post, after maintaining that the President’s “abstract moralism” had clouded his world-view, said, “Still, when all is said, one is left with a residue of good will, dedication, efficiency – of an honorable and decent man striving devotedly for peace in the world with only the welfare of mankind, as he saw it, as his aim.” (The Washington Post, October 17, 1965).This was his power over people. He was a great and good man, and even his critics had to salute his moral manhood.

The General was downgraded by some for his handling of government affairs. But time may show that character is even more important in the White House than executive ability. Goodness is, as Thoreau observed, an unfailing investment, and this is especially true of goodness in the head of a mighty nation.

Eisenhower’s personal faith in God was the indestructible bastion of his life. Reverence for the Lord was hard-driven into his spirit during his boyhood days in a railroad worker’s home where prayer and Bible reading were a way of life. That faith engirded him when his command launched a thousand ships at Normandy. It sustained him in his climb to the White House. It was reflected in his devoutness as President. His Washington pastor, Edward L. R. Ellison, instructed Ike in the meaning of the Cross, before he laid his hands upon the head of the United States President in Christian baptism.

Secretary of the Interior Fred Seaton once discovered Eisenhower praying in his office. The President brushed off Seaton’s apologies. He had been asking God for guidance, he explained, in a crucial decision that could mean peace or war in the Far East. Scoffers may doubt that God answered that prayer; but the war did not break out in the Far East while Ike was President. The General’s brother, Milton, once said that the President prayed as naturally as he ate his breakfast. He opened his Cabinet meeting with petitions for God’s direction, and, again and again he exhorted the American people to pray and to practice their religion.

Millions have heard about an experience Ike had when he was sixteen. Blood poisoning developed in his leg, and doctors advised amputation. But Ike refused. (Had he not refused he would not have been commander at Normandy and, later, Commander in Chief in Washington.) The entire Eisenhower family went to prayer. The doctors said nothing short of a miracle could save Ike’s leg. The miracle came, and less than a month later the future President walked on two good legs. In later years Ike felt that he survived heart attacks because of the prayers of people around the world.

In the zero hour of the assault on Sicily, a storm threatened both the landing craft and the airborne troops. Saluting the roaring planes, Ike knelt in prayer. And God, Ike believed, “came through.”

The General ever insisted that faith and prayer were necessary for the preservation of democracy. He under-scored the fact that the founding fathers dreamed not of a godless liberty but freedom “under God.” Without personal faith, he said, he himself could never have accomplished his task as chief of state. He accepted the discipline authentic religion imposes on individuals and urged the people to accept it.

Perhaps Eisenhower unwittingly pointed to some of his own finest qualities in his acceptance speech at the Republican convention in 1956: “We must have the vision, the fighting spirit, and the deep religious faith in our Creator’s destiny for us …that out of our time there can, with incessant work and with God’s help, emerge a good life, good will, and good hope, for all men.”  And the conviction that it was “with God’s help” –

An expression he often used – "that men could discover authentic existence". 

The Letter
Lon Woodrum
(A gift to Sammy Poole from the author.) 

An old man, imprisoned in the great fortress, was writing a letter to a young friend. He had been writing many hours and was nearly finished. Suddenly, a draft swept through the already chilled cell and the man shivered. The autumn was far spent, and he knew that the winds of winter would soon be moving in from the north. His pen scratched on the parchment: 

“When you come, bring with you the cloak I left with Carpus in Troas.” 

Then he remembered his notebooks – the memoranda he had written during flashes of spiritual insight, as the Spirit opened his mind to vistas of theology. Perhaps he was the only person who would fully understand them! His pen rustled as he wrote: 

“Bring … my scrolls, especially the parchments.” 

He needed a coat against the coming winter, and he needed his books. But suddenly the prisoner felt another need: the need for friends. Many of his old friends were dead now, for he had lived longer than most men had in his time. Some of his friends had abandoned him. Some left to pursue other missions for the Lord. His pen stirred again: 

“Demas, because he loved the world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.”

 His pen stopped, and a faint smile lighted his face. 

“Only Luke is with me.” 

What a joy it would be to see himself surrounded again by those faces he had grown to love. Would it be possible before his course was completed that he might see some of them, again? He wrote quickly: 

“Get Mark and bring him with you.” 

A swift memory playback brought Mark’s face into focus. He took in a long breath, remembering when he had dubbed Mark a “quitter,” for Mark once left him when the going got rough. But Mark turned out all right, after all. The old man was glad, for Mark had proven to be a useful co-worker. 

The chill nagged at the old man’s frame. He shut his eyes, remembering all he had been through; all that had been accomplished. Cities swept through his mind like drifting smoke: 

Antiock: where he had confronted Simon Peter to his face. 

Philippi: where he had been delivered from jail by an earthquake. 

Lystra: where a mob had beaten him into unconsciousness. 

Athens: where he had faced the philosophers with the Gospel. 

Malta: where his ship was scattered on the rocks. 

He opened his eyes again, and focused on something he had already written in the letter: 

“I was appointed a herald, and an apostle, and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet, I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” 

A recurring thought crossed his mind again. Perhaps he wouldn’t need the coat and the books, after all. He hadn’t asked for much; just a coat, and a few books. He hadn’t asked that an offering be taken for his benefit. People might send him material things, but it really wouldn’t matter – though he would be grateful for their generosity. What mattered was this: He had “Kept the faith.” 

The imprisoned man had no way of knowing that a million boys would be named after him; that a million sermons would be preached from his life and writings; that cathedrals would climb skyward bearing his name. But had he foreknown this, it really wouldn’t have mattered greatly to him. He had no hunger for the world’s honors, because his mind was set on greater things. He was en route to a kingship! In fact, he had mentioned that in his letter: 

“There is laid up for me a crown …” 

All he needed was a coat and some books, and to see the warm, shining face of a young convert named Timothy, whom he deeply loved. He reflected on the almost finished letter. 

“Paul, an apostle … to Timothy, my dear son.” 

The old man smiled gently into the deepening cold. His stiffened fingers thrust the pen once more: 

“Do your best to come before winter.”

‘BOB’

Massey Hall in Toronto, Ontario was packed with people that night. They had come to hear the missionary who had flown from Taiwan. 

On the platform I sat with 37 other clergymen; and it was an impressive moment for me when the missionary picked me out and told the great audience how much I had to do with shaping his spiritual life and commitment to the Lord.  

My memory did a swift playback. I saw this missionary as he was years before. He was then a student at Pasadena College where I was speaking daily to the student body. 

There was something different about the young fellow, which had gripped my attention. He had a drive that was taking him somewhere with visible momentum. I remember thinking: “He might make a great actor, attorney, or journalist.” His personal charisma would have been a great asset in either of these fields. I imagined him performing in a great drama, or holding a jury’s attention by the force of his expressions. Or, he might have been a big politician; I did not doubt his ability to gather votes! 

However, at the time I first met him he wasn’t certain where he was headed. He was young, charged with energy, and had a quick, searching mind. He was also a walking questionnaire! And I was the target of his questions. At times, I almost turned away from him – for he wanted to know about things I hadn’t heard of!  

But he was in dead earnest. He was a truth-seeker. So I bore with him, and did my best to explain the Gospel to him, as I knew it – for I hadn’t been too many years in the business of preaching myself. When I spoke at the chapel, he sat listening with his whole being. When I spoke of things he didn’t understand, he bombarded me with questions afterward. 

In another quick playback of memory that night in Toronto, I recalled him addressing a large crowd in Seattle, Washington, where he was director of Youth for Christ. While he held that office, I flew to Seattle several times to share in the services, always with many decisions for Christ being made. 

But not long after those days in Seattle, he went on a missionary tour to the Far East. What he saw on that trip affected him for the rest of his life; he was never quite the same, again. Those of us who knew him sensed the burden he bore for an unredeemed world; and we felt it more clearly when I read his book, LET MY HEART BE BROKEN. His prayer was, “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.” 

Those things flashed across my mind that night in Toronto as Bob Pierce spoke for an hour to a hushed audience. He held the people, as if by some spell as he talked on and on about the awesome, aching need of the world he had found in the East. People wiped away tears as he pictured the vast mission field. 

Bob Pierce: Founder of World Vision, one of the great missionary organizations of the earth, the man whom Billy Graham once called the greatest missionary statesman of his time.