Greetings, friends, and welcome
to another broadcast of the Old School Primitive Baptist with
Elder Don Martin, Sr. Stay tuned for another gospel
message of God's free and sovereign grace. You know, Brother Mike
had provoked my thinking on a number of things while he was speaking.
And one of them was about It is as if
we have been on a train that has gone off the track. And if we had gone off the track abruptly
and we had run off the rail and just had a total wreck of destruction,
it would have been very obvious and known and even felt by those
who were on the train. When a train begins to go down
a way on a gradual course, deviating from the way that it was determined
to go initially and just branches off and heads off to the other
direction, it's a gradual thing and you don't really experience
it until you get to a place to where you say, as Brother Mike
said, And you look around and say, wow, what am I doing out
in the middle of this cornfield? Now you know me well enough to
know that I am not a preacher who tries to influence and to
impress people by telling them what I feel that they would like
to hear or want to hear. I know what most people that
make up society want to hear. Brother Mike had made mention
about what people like to hear. It's the cowboy church situation. I've heard about it. I know about
it. I've read some stuff about it. I know some people involved
in it over around the Brooksville area and places where they have
a cowboy church. People come there and they dress
in just regular jeans and long-sleeved western shirts and cowboy hats
and cowboy boots. Some of them wear spurs. I mean,
they really do the whole gamut, you know. And this is just what
they identify with. And then there's the bikers for
Christ. In up in my community there was
a, the First Baptist Church had a thing because they have a chapter
there, Bikers for Christ. There's about maybe a dozen fellows
there out of the congregation of two or three hundred that
ride motorcycles and therefore they have a chapter, Bikers for
Christ, there. And they wear these, these denim
cut-off little vest, and on the back is this big embroidered
emblem, Bikers for Jesus. And it has a scripture underneath
of it, indicating that we are a witness of Christ, and we are
bikers for the cause of the Lord. And like Brother Mike said, this
is all, it is all geared towards a particular group of people
that have an interest in a worldly hobby or thing to try to get
them by this influential means and methods to get involved in
the church and the end result is that hoping that they can
be persuaded to believe on Jesus. Now that's the end result. And
it is the end result of most evangelical churches today, and
I'm not talking about just the Baptists, but I'm talking about
all evangelicals that are out there trying to persuade people
and to build the Kingdom of God up here on earth in this time
realm by the means of the preaching and the of individuals to others
to try to get them and persuade them to believe on Christ, is
that they do all and anything they can do to get them to come,
to get under the sound of the gospel. They go out, they'll
knock on doors, give out pamphlets that I have taken and in times
past been involved. God forbid and God forgive me
for saying that if you come to Sunday school, young man that's
coming Sunday, we'll pick you up on our bus, we'll give you
a little beast bowl with a dog fish in it to take home. And
then there's those that are on the bus ministries that are the
bus captains and those that work with getting the children safely
on and off the buses and to the Sunday school buildings and so
forth, that at the end of the Sunday evening service, they
have a prize giveaway for the awards of those who brought the
most in on their buses. It's all a numbers game to get
people to come to church that they might be persuaded to become
a Christian. God never had authorized and
endorsed that means and method in the Holy Writ to build His
kingdom church. He never authorized that. He
never said go out there and bring them in and get them under the
sound and tell them about they have an opportunity to choose
this one called Jesus and that it's up to their decision to
make this commitment and to become an heir of God and have eternal
life. You want me to tell you where
the church of Jesus Christ as we see it in society has gone
awry? It has turned in and habitation of God's people. Now I'm telling you the truth
this morning, and I can back it up by the word of God. That
the Bible indicates that God's church is made up of those that
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And those individuals are those
which are the Church of Christ as the local called out group
of believers that are brought together to meet and to worship
God. Now let me ask you a question.
When you bring in a multitude and a majority of folks that
have been influenced to come because of your kind invitation
or a gift or some kind of carnal persuasion, what do you have
in that church building when it comes time for Sunday worship? You have a majority of unsaved,
unredeemed, unregenerate people that have come there looking
to kind of fulfill their little religious inkling. But they cannot
worship God of whom they do not know. They cannot sing out of
the songbook the songs of adoration and glory to God of whom they
do not know. They merely move their mouth
and make a sound with their lips, but they can't worship God. So
what's happened is, it is just like Jeremiah proclaimed and
Isaiah proclaimed when Israel by those outside of the twelve
tribes of Israel." God said, do not infiltrate and bring in
among you those outside the twelve tribes. For when you do, it shall
be an abomination unto you, and it is It is not pleasing in my sight.
And lo and behold, Solomon did exactly what God told him not
to do. He had 700 wives, and they were,
I can't even count them, I'd have to read them, but they were
probably at least 12 to 15 nationalities. They were black, they were mixed
breed, they were different, They were the Canaanites and Shiites
and Moabites and women of such beautiful and fairs in the sight
of Solomon that he could not avoid the temptation of taking
them among him in his kingdom and becoming intimate with them. And what did they bring with
them? All of these Canaanites, Moabites
and Shiites and all the other ites? of the pagan world and
realm of nations around about, they brought in with them their
pagan gods that began to influence Solomon. And he even began to
build shrines to their pagan gods. And God was bitterly upset
with Solomon and God began to withdraw His grace and loving
mercy upon Solomon. Let me tell you something. In
regarding what Michael had said about the train, when did it
go off of the track? It went off so gradually we didn't
know it. Let me tell you something. I
believe, by my observations, in the 67 years that I have been
alive in this country, in this society, That around in World
War II when they started putting married women to work in the
military factories is when a lot of the problems began in this
country. Because that's when men and women
who were married worked in the factories and labored to make
military machinery, and the temptations of them to be looking upon one
another in a way that they wasn't being satisfied by in their own
marriage situations began to be a temptation that was never
there before. And things began to turn. Morality began to turn into immorality
during that particular time was a great turning point. And I
see, I see as a vision in my mind as a bright spotlight of
God's grace across this nation from the days of the Great Awakening. when men would hear the gospel
of Jesus Christ preached and would weep over their sinful
state, fall upon their knees out in a wilderness field by
the preaching of one like George Whitefield in South Georgia and
throughout the region where he preached you could hear his voice
for three and four miles. It has been recorded in history.
He would preach with such fervent zeal and with such vocal ability
that men would hear him and come to hear who it was that was speaking.
And he preached with such authority and the Holy Spirit. of God that
men fell on their knees and cried out to God for forgiveness, that
they might find peace for their soul. And there was a revival
that moved across the land. And in New England, the Great
Awakening time, When there was others that were preaching the
gospel, and men and women in meetings came and flocked in
to tabernacles built by the hands of men that would hold 3,000
and 4,000 people, and they would cry out to God for salvation
and for help and hope because of the preaching of the gospel.
And this was before all this invitation system was even brought
about as a means of men. This was just merely preaching
the gospel of Christ and the cross of Christ, the blood of
Jesus, caused men to weep of their unworthiness before God.
And then what happened? This bright light of grace as
it shone down upon the land of the United States of America,
and as things began to materialize in God's sovereign purpose, who
has determined all things that come to pass, it began to change
the things and the morality of our society. to where in 1850
it was not known if any primitive Baptist churches, as far as some
of the corresponding minutes from some of the major and largest
associations of primitive Baptists in the United States had ever
recorded in their history records, there was not an account of divorce
among any of the churches in 1850. 1850, 1950, 2011, here we are and madness is rampant
everywhere. What happened? The train, it
definitely went off the track. And the brightness of the grace
of God's light, it's beam began to move across the nation. And
as it did, the grace as it was withdrawn, left an immortal people
behind to live and to fall away from the God. of which our nation stood for
by a majority at one time. I say a majority, I think it
was a majority of folks who would give a lip service conversation
to a belief in Christ in 1850. and in that era. Do you realize,
you talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ and his unconditional
election among those of his church people. Do you know that 78%
of the denominations in the United States of America in 1800 believed
and preached in a God of absolute predestination? and believed
in a God that was absolutely sovereign in all ways. And yet today we have a handful
of people, and it's mainly among the Baptists. And of course the
primitive Baptists adhere to that doctrine of God's free and
sovereign grace. But yet it is of the old line
of predestinarians of which we call ourselves that adhere to
the predestination of all things which come to pass. And the rest
of them have departed from that truth because it is not likable
to the natural mind and man as Brother Mike had preached. It
is camouflaged from those who have no understanding of it,
whose eyes are blinded to the truth. But to them who have been
revealed the truth of the matter, they love that doctrine because
that's where their hope is really grounded at. If God has not determined
us to be his children, let me tell you, dear brothers and sisters,
there is no possible way we could ever be the children of God apart
from his divine predestined election of grace, calling us out of a
life of sin and love. Yes, the train began to run off
the track years ago in the 40s and it began to run off the track
and society began to wax worse and worse and then it began to
swing from the 40s and the 50s and 60s and then comes the big
All this big Sunday school campaignism stuff that was never done before,
but all of a sudden now man comes up with ideas. We've got new
ways to get people saved. We're going to get them into
church by enticing them with things. And we're still doing
it today. They're doing it by the thousands
all around the country. But again, what I'm telling you
is, what they are getting in there as far as individuals are
people who are not able to worship the Lord God Almighty because
they have not been born again of the Spirit of God. They have
been enticed to be religious people because they have made
a decision to follow Jesus. You say, how can I say such a
thing? Because the Bible says that if
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. And in that new creature,
there is a fruit of the Spirit, which makes up things such as
the characteristics of joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, kindness,
love, and faith, and all these other things. This is all the
fruit of the Spirit. that is in everyone that is born
of the Spirit. And when you go to a church and
you see people and talk to people and they talk the religious game
on Sunday and the rest of the week they live like the devil,
they are totally deceived. They are nothing but a bunch
of carnal religionists that have no way of ever standing before
God and being justified in a state like that. That everyone that
God has determined to call who he is determined to call out
of this time world by his darling son Jesus Christ and by the willing
of the Holy Spirit and by the new birth that must be taking
place within the heart and mind of an individual can only one
come to know and understand what it is to be a child of God. I didn't start At least I didn't
think I was going to start there, but Mike provoked me into this
training thing. I'm going to say one more thing
and then I'm going to go into a skitter and then I'm going
to try to shorten it up as much as possible because of time.
Is that we are living in a society today where there is more single
parents and mostly mothers raising children. without direction because
the mother has to work to try to maintain some financial stability
and provide for the children. Whether it's a child, three or
four, how many. If that's not the case, then
grandmothers are raising grandchildren. It's a sad thing when our society,
you know, when I went to junior high school in St. Petersburg, I remember back in
1960, it used to be kind of a joke. And because the junior high that
I went to was on the southern part of town, near Blacktown,
it used to be kind of a joke that One of the most confused
days of the year was Father's Day in Blacktown. That was a joke. It ain't a joke
no longer. It's one of the most confusing
days in the white society as well now. Who's your daddy? I don't know. Where's your mama? I don't know. Are we hoodwinked
and blind as to why we have children that don't have any direction?
They don't have any moral upbringing. They don't have any teaching
as to what is right and what is wrong. It's because we don't
have nobody around to lead them and direct them. They're left
to themselves. Is there any wonder why they
come from areas and go into a convenience store with guns and bandanas
and rob a place for $30 cash and then shoot the clerk and
kill him? and have no remorse or conscience about it. They
don't care. They have been brought up to
not care. Why? Mom hadn't cared for me. Dad didn't care because I don't
know who he is. And grandma, she's getting so
old and she's so sick that she can't do nothing. And so here
I am left to myself and we have a society full of kids. It ain't
blacks only. It ain't Hispanics only. It's
black and white and red and yellow. It's everywhere. It is as if
that grace of God's light beam that shined brightly in the Great
Awakening and across the preaching of Whitefield and the other religion
preachers of the gospel that God used to minister the truth
of the grace of God has just slowly moved across the continent
and is being withdrawn faster and faster. where our society
has become an apostate place to where you cannot hardly go
into what's called a church house and hear a sound gospel message
from the Word of God. And I say that from experience
and in my own community where there is denominations of whether
it's a Methodist or whether it's a Baptist church or whatever
it is, you go there, you have a big screen TV sitting there
and they will flash on there praise and worship songs which
you've never heard of in your life. You don't know the words.
They don't use hymn books no more. They merely just sing from
watching the screen. And then there's repetitious
choruses, one after another, to where you just feel like you're
exhausted by the time you get done singing. And then the minister
gets up and talks about all the programs that they're going to
have through the week, and where do you fit in to help out working
for Jesus. And then he may take and have
a sermonette. for about 15 minutes and then
always conclude it with, now it's up to you. You know, Jesus
loves you and now it's up to you to come and decide for him
and serve him. And this is a place where you
can come and have a home and get busy for Jesus. Isn't this
a sad situation? This is where we have come in
a society. Why? Why is it that the primitive
Baptists, the predestined primitive Baptists, that they are appearing
to become extinct? I'll tell you why, because God
is taking and winding things down to where there is a remnant,
as Brother Mike said, and as Paul writes in there, there is
a remnant according to the election of God. going to be able to hear the
truth of the matter and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
worship Him in spirit and in truth. And the rest are just
multitudes of religionists that have been told that here is the
way to life eternal, just make a decision. When the bottom line
is, has Christ decided for you? Has He chosen you? Has He elected you? Has He called
you? Because the Bible says that my
sheep, Jesus said, John chapter 10, hear my voice and they shall
follow me. They follow me. Not another shepherd
shall they follow. So they'll not follow a hiring,
one who's been hired to tend the sheep. But they're going
to follow the Good Shepherd, because you know why? They know
His voice. And it is a necessity that you
know the voice of the Good Shepherd, and that you have followed Him,
because He has called you to do so. For without that holy
call, And without Him causing you to come and believe upon
Him of whom God the Father has sent to redeem His people from
their sin, there is no hope of salvation. That's the truth of
the matter. We have fallen off the tracks.
And religion is going down the wrong way in a means and manner
of apostasy. According to what Paul said,
that in the latter days there shall come upon you a great apostasy. It'll be perilous times. And
we're living in them now. We're seeing it more and more.
Every day you look on the news, it's a new dilemma. Here it was,
Iraq. 3, 4, 5 years ago, or we can go back
to Desert Storm. That's been 10, 12 years ago.
Then we come up further. Then we go over here now, Afghanistan. Now Libya. Now let me tell you
what. When Saudi Arabia begins to rebel
against the kingship of the rule over there, And their oil supplies
begin to be hindered from being transported out of that country
to around the world. Five dollars at the pub will
just be pennies out of your pocket. It'll be seven to ten dollars
a gallon. And I'm telling you right now,
that they have got us around the throat and this nation's
government is just as much a fault as anybody. And we have let them
get us in a place to where it is going to put a strain on everything
that in this country is going on. You think about it now, just
think about just one thing, that if fuel gets so expensive that
everything that is transported by truck or train, mostly truck,
has to be lifted up by at least 25 or more percent to pay for
the transportation cost, how much that's going to cost your
household. And you just think about that when things get so
bad that they cannot fill the grocery shelves of your local
grocery store because of cost and transportation and other
things of the economic dilemma that's coming about our nation,
what it's going to be like. We have been so used to as a
people to go and get what we want when we want it at any time
we need it. I'm telling you, friends, I'm
not a prophet nor the son of one. Those times are going to
be shortly coming to an end. So take heed and be ready and
look into Jesus who said, I shall supply all your need according
to the riches in glory by Himself, Christ Jesus. God said, I'll
never leave you desolate. He said, I'll never forsake you
either. We have that blessed hope to
those that be Christ. That He shall protect us and
He shall provide all that we need. Not what we want! See,
we have been able to provide pretty much what we want. But
God promises He'll provide what we need. And sisters and brothers,
that's a big difference. And we have yet to learn, I think,
that lesson. May God be with us, may God help
us, may God be Our helper, hope in a time of need, is my prayer.