Your Bibles if you will with
me to the book of 2nd Timothy chapter 3 I'd like to read the
first seven verses this morning. Having read the
chapter before, I want to read the first seven verses. And I
want to read this. You can follow in your Bible
if you have a King James Bible or whatever you have. I want
to read this from a literal translation of the scriptures, which I think
is very true to the original. And so I'll read the first seven
verses. But know this, that in the last
days grievous times will be at hand. For men will be lovers
of themselves, lovers of money, braggarts, arrogant, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural feeling,
unyielding, slanders, without self-control, savage, haters
of good, betrayers, reckless, puffed up lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying
the power of it, even turn away from these. For these are those
creeping into houses and leading silly women captive, the ones
having been heaped with sins, being led away by various lust,
always learning but never being able to come to a full knowledge
of the truth. I want to speak this morning
primarily on verse 5, having a form of godliness, but denying
the power of it, even turn away from these. I wanted this morning
to open up, as it were, this chapter to you before we got
into our message, and there's some phrases here that I think
are interesting and that we need to talk a little bit about. I
recognize that we're living in difficult and strange times,
and we see some things every once in a while that are so unusual,
some things maybe that we never experienced before in our lives
as believers. We see unusual happenings, we
meet unusual people who have different ideas and opinions
and who seemingly are in a position where they have a great difficulty,
with great difficulty do they live the Christian life. And
so some of these expressions that we have here, I think, reveal
somewhat of the truth that we're to face. And, you know, we need
to become more acquainted with the Word of God. We need to study
it. We need to think about it, because the Bible gives us, I
believe, a perfect revelation of the mind of God, and God,
of course, knowing all things, From the beginning, He knows
exactly what's going to happen. And by His Holy Spirit, He has
led the writers of Scripture, and they have spoken according
to the mind of God and according to the truth. And so as we give
up our hearts and minds to the Word, I believe that we'll learn
some precious truths that will help us and will stay us in the
difficult times that we're experiencing and will experience here in this
world. Now we find that Paul mentions
that in the last days, and that expression, the last days, It
means that time from the ascension of Jesus Christ unto the end
of the world. Now it could refer to any period
in that time, but specifically in the Word of God, that's what
it's referring to. We know our Lord Jesus came down
from heaven, and He lived here in this world, and He suffered
death. And he was buried, and God raised
him up from the dead. And from the day that God raised
him up, on that first day of the week, when God raised him
up from that time unto the very end of the world, are looked
upon in the Word of God as being the last days. Paul says that
in the last days, he said, I want you to know this, in the last
days perilous times shall come. Now in the Greek, it is difficult
times. It's difficult times for believers. It's difficult times for those
who live in this time period from the ascension of our Lord
until the end of the world. It'll be a very difficult and
trying time. The reason is given, of course,
in verse 2 and 3, and it is because of these characters that Paul
mentions in verse 2 and 3 and 4. And I think this morning as
we look at these various characters, we'll be able to discover somewhat
why that the times, the last days, why that they're so perilous. First of all, we notice in verse
2 here, for men shall be lovers of their own selves. Now, they
will neither love God nor men, but in comparison with themselves,
they just simply are hung up on themselves. They're lovers
of themselves. They don't care about anybody
else, but old number one. They live for themselves. And
we see that in our day and time. See it very clearly that men,
that they love themselves more than they love God or anybody
around them. Charity which seeketh not her
own will not be found in these difficult times. Charity, that
means love for those around us and those that are lovers of
God that will not be found. Be very scarce in these last
times. Men shall be holy for themselves. They'll be living for themselves. And then we see that they're
covetous. That means that they are lovers of money. so that
they will get it any way they can, and once they get it, they
will tenaciously hold on to it because they're covetous and
they're idolaters, and that presents a great deal of difficulty in
the last days. Now bolsters also are mentioned
here. That means those that are brackets.
braggarts, those that will brag and boast of themselves and set
themselves forth in pride, and they are braggarts of what they
have not. Now many people are vain, they
seek vain glory, and they're empty, but yet they think they're
somebody, and these are braggarts. Now also, the proud are mentioned
here, that's those that are lifted up in an opinion of themselves.
And certainly that characterizes the day in which we live. So
many, many people, you cannot say a word to them. You cannot
talk to them because they're lifted up with a high opinion
of themselves. And then blasphemers are mentioned,
and they're speaking evil. They speak evil of God, and they
speak evil of men. They're always talking down.
And I met one individual here some time ago that when you talk
to him, it was always what he had to say about somebody else
and some other situation, never having a word to say about himself,
and never attempting to, in any way, shape, or form, say anything
up-building and something that would be a blessing, but always
downing other people. Speaking evil of God and men.
These are blasphemers. And then it mentions that in
these perilous or difficult times, we would find disobedient to
parents, stubborn and rebellious children, rebellious against
those that brought them into this world, would not submit
themselves to the authority of parents. And we live in that
day. That is characterized never before
in the history of this world have those in authority assisted
the rebellious and those stubborn children that have been brought
into this world in the last generation in that the authorities are against
you disciplining your children. And they tell the children that
their parents really have no authority whatsoever to discipline
them or to try to get them to submit to them. ...breeds exactly
what Paul says and numerous, numerous... They're in disarray because of
the stubbornness and the rebellion of children. carries over to the policeman
and he carries over because you know the parents are a type of
and if you cannot submit yourself and will not submit yourself
under your parents you'll be thumbing your nose at God too
and I believe that this will also show up when you get out
on When you begin to drive and when you begin to try to outwit
the authorities and so on and so forth, rebellion is rampant
in our day and in our time. And then we read whether these
people are unthankful. They're unthankful both to God
and men. There are very few people who realize that the air they
breathe and the water they drink, the clothes they wear, the food
they eat, that these are gifts of God, and that you're not here
entitled to these things. You're here to enjoy these things,
and these things are a privilege given by God, and we need to
be thankful in our hearts. We need to have gratitude in
our heart for what God has given us. We're not here just to collect.
What we think is ours rightfully, we're here to give thanks to
God for what we enjoy and what we're able to enjoy of God's
bounty in this world. But we're living in a time when
you see very little gratitude among men. They're just not thankful
in their hearts. Now, I know that God is a merciful
God. I've experienced His mercy in
my own life. And God's people, as God's people,
we ought to be more grateful unto Him both for His Son, the
Lord Jesus, and for all of His providential mercies which He's
bestowed upon us day by day as we've walked here in this world.
And then we read also that these are unholy men. Now that means
they're just the opposite of God. We know the Bible says that
God is holy. He is holy. And these are unholy,
unholy men, ungodly men. And in our day and time, we see
it all around. Now then, we also see that they're
without natural affection. And oh my soul, we dare not say
anything about those who do not have natural affection in our
day and time. The day is coming very soon when
you're going to be listed and branded as being prejudiced and
you're going to have to pay a heavy fine if you say anything about
those who are without natural affection. But the Bible is very
clear on it, brother, sister, that God blesses, the scripture
says, that marriage is honorable and all, and the bed undefiled,
but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. And the Bible
is clear on the subject that men ought to have affection,
that it's natural for men to have affection toward women,
and for women to have affection toward men. It is unnatural for
men to have affection for men and for women to have affection
toward women. Therefore, we, in our day and
time, we know what's going on in this world, and there's some
Christian so-called denominations that are now sanctioning same-sex
marriages in America, and this is just a sign of the time. homosexuality
and lesbianism running rampant in our nation. And the Bible
says this is going to make it difficult in the last days for
the Lord's people. You hardly know when you meet
somebody on the street whether or not they're natural or whether
they're unnatural. But the Bible says that in the
last days men will be without natural affection. And we need
to be aware of it. This is wrong and it's sin before
God. Let anybody say what they want.
And I admire a politician that'll stand up and say he believes
it's wrong. I think that that's the thing
he ought to do, and I know he'll become very unpopular for doing
so, and preachers the same. And then we read next where these
men are truce breakers, men that will be held by no bonds or leads,
implacable. They're so full of malice that
they will admit no terms or covenants. of peace. These are truce breakers. You know what can't make any
difference? One week they'll stand and look you in the face
and tell you how much they love you and how much they're all
just taken up with you and how much they agree with you and
within a week they're ready to, as it were, to cast you aside
and to just simply do If they could, whatever, I don't know
what their idea would be, but they're full of malice. And they
admit no terms. You can't talk to them. And there's
no covenant of peace that you can make with these people. And
they're false accusers too, Paul said. Now in the Greek, that
means these are devils that are venting their malice by lying
on other people without any regard to the truth themselves. Have
no regard for the truth. They're lying and they're telling
falsehoods. And they lie on others, and this
world is full of this kind of sin. Now incontinent also, and
this word means without self-control. How many people have you met
in your lifetime that was out of control? Absolutely, totally
out of control. Looked like once in a while they
had a little control, but if you stayed around them very long,
they were out of control. They could not control themselves.
Well, that characterizes the last days. People are out of
control. And don't be expecting, as you
go out into this world, to find people that are in control. Just expect that you're going
to find them out of control because it's going to get worse day by
day as we live in this world. And these people have said that
they're fierce, means cruel, and they have no gentleness.
They're savages. Savages. And I'll tell you, you
don't have to look very long on the television or in the newspaper
and you'll find that this generation is characterized by the savages
that are loose in our streets today. And also despisers of
those that are good. They hate good men. They hate
good people. These people have no use for
anybody that's godly. No use for anybody that loves
Christ. No use for anybody that loves
the gospel and will stand for the gospel and preach the gospel
of God's grace. And then we're told that they're
traitors in verse 4. And this signifies the betraying
of any trust. It is in the scriptures applied
to Judas and it's also applied to those who crucified the Lord
Jesus Christ. Betrayers. Those that are traitors. And then it says they're heady.
This means they're rash and they're inconsiderate. There isn't a
thing in the world they wouldn't say to you. Say anything. You
say, I'll give you a piece of my mind. They don't have enough
mind to give away, but they're going to say it anyway. I'll
give you a piece of my mind. I'll tell you what I think. Well,
they're rash and they're inconsiderate people. And the next thing says
they're high-minded. They're blowing up. You know,
a few weeks ago, I talked to you about the verse in the scriptures
when we were talking about pride. about the verse in the scriptures
that says that a preacher ought not be anomalous. Lest he be
lifted up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation that
the devil fell into. And I said that being lifted
up there, that that word in the original, it meant puffed up.
And it's like, you know, they used to make the old footballs
and the old basketballs and they had a bladder in them. And you
would blow up the bladder in the football or the basketball,
and it would make it so you could play with it, use it. They quit
doing that a few years back. But anyway, and we explained
to you that this is the difference in men, and especially in preachers,
that a preacher is not supposed to be somebody who has a thin
bladder. meaning that he's not to be puffed
up quickly like you take a balloon while a child can blow up a balloon
right now don't take much wind to do it but I mentioned I think
in my illustration that if you take a 1020 truck tire tube and
you try to blow that up with your mouth you're not going to
do it because it's thick and it takes a good air compressor
to blow it up And so a preacher's got to have somebody who's got
a thick bladder. And in the majority of people,
you find they've got a very thin bladder. It don't take much to
puff them up. And they think they're somebody.
And they get real self-righteous right quick. And they're all
puffed up. They're high-minded, blowing
up with an opinion, high opinion, of themselves. And then the scripture
says these people are lovers of pleasure more than lovers
of God. Rather gratify their own appetites. Rather, much rather do it. It's
what I want. It's what I desire to do. It's
what I feel like I want to do. It's me. I mean, I'm somebody
and I want what I want. Well, they love pleasure and
they love to gratify their own appetite rather than please God. It's not what God wants, it's
what I want. That's this generation. Am I
telling you the truth or not? It's exactly what this generation,
what it's all about. Now then, Paul says that these
people that he's described, he tells us here that these people
get into the church. And he says these people have
a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. And from
such, he said, you turn away. And he's warning us of these
characters. They're going to appear in the
last time. Now the like has appeared in other days, but we're led
by his warning to believe that they're going to appear in greater
numbers in the last days than in any previous age. in our time. They swarm like flies in our
day, and they make this time a very exceeding perilous time. And it's all because these people
are around and in the churches. Now, the reason is having a form
of godliness, Paul said, but denying the power thereof. Now,
men would be as they always were, but now they're covered over
by a mask, or by a visor, as it were, of profession, of religious
profession. Think of these people as they
get into the church. Now this is what would make the
days of perilous, that is difficult to the people of God to have
these people in the church. If they live next door, that's
one thing, but when they get in the church, that's another
thing. The word which is here translated
form signifies the shore, the image of a thing which is dead
and ineffectual in opposition to the reality in life which
is quick and powerful. They have a form. They have the
outward. And they went through the motions
of the form of religion. Don't you see? But they don't
have anything inside. I just received a telephone call
the other day from a fellow in North Dakota. who said to me,
he says, I have everything you can think of. He said, I've got
boats, I've got campers, I've got a good business, and I've
got money. But he said, I am hollow on the
inside. I do not have anything on the
inside. Well, I sent him some tapes and
talked to him a little bit, and I hope that maybe the Lord might
see fit to bring him into a right relationship with the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the day will come when he'll have something on
the inside. Now then, it's easy to show the
difference between the form and the power. The one is the name,
and the other is the thing. The one is the appearance, and
the other is The reality of that. Then the one is the body and
the other is the soul. Some of these, as they get into
the church, you can't tell the difference. Because all you see,
they have the form. And Paul does not look at the
future and paint it with rose color. He said it's going to
happen more and more. He's no smooth-tongued prophet
of a golden age. Paul gives us no—the Word of
God gives us no reason to believe that things are going to get
better and better until this age ripens into a millennium. No, no. There is but one event
which will change the world, and that is the second coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The tares and the wheat, they
grow together even to this hour. And the only thing that's going
to change it is when God sends his angel forth to reap the harvest. And whenever the angel goes and
separates the tares and the wheat, and takes the tares and wraps
them in bundles and throws them in the fire to burn, And the
only thing, beloved, that's going to save this generation of God's
elect is the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Apart from the
coming of Christ, the world is more likely to sink into a pandemonium
than it is to rise into a millennium. I tell you the truth. A divine
intervention and interposition seems to me to be the hope that
is best set forth to us in the Bible, and seems to me to be
the only hope that's adequate to the occasion. Let the politicians
do what they can, things will grow worse and worse spiritually. Notice verse 13, but evil men
and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived. Now there will spring up then
a body of faithless men in religion and in the churches who profess
to have the faith of the Bible, unsaintly men who will unite
with the saints, men having the form of godliness, but denying,
Paul says, the power of that godliness. We may call these
hard times, and yet harder times may yet come, so that the church,
even more than today, will need to cry mightily unto the Lord
to keep her alive. And one of the things that haunts
me is the little prayer that's going up from the people of God
in our day and time. Brother, sister, if there ever
was a time when we were feeble, it's now. We're feeble in this
business of crying unto God about the conditions and the circumstances
that are all around us. Well, true religion is a spiritual
thing. It is a spiritual thing, but
it necessarily embodies itself, I think, in a form. Christian
people fall into a certain outward method of procedure, a peculiar
outward mode of setting forth their faith, which becomes, to
true godliness, what the body is to the soul. The form is useful. The form is necessary just as
the body is useful and necessary. Now you hear me out. If you get
both the form as modeled in the Word of God and the power as
bestowed by the Spirit of God, you do well and are members of
the living family. But some people get the form
without the power and they're dead spiritually and they're
lost. even though they're in the church.
The body without the spirit is dead, is what the Bible says,
and what follows with death in the flesh? Corruption. Corruption. So horrible that even love itself
has to cry out, bury my dead. out of my sight. Remember when
Abraham said that about his wife? He said, bury my dead out of
my sight. And so even in the churches,
there are some people that'll get to stinking sooner or later,
and we'll have to try to, if we're able to do so, and detective
with spiritual eye, we'll have to do something about it. So
if you have the form, without the life of Christ in you, you're
dead regardless of what goes around you think. Do you have
the life of Christ in you? Decay and corruption. Why? Listen to me. The raw material
of the devil is an angel befit of holiness. That's what you
make a devil. You can only make a Judas out
of an apostle. Those who are good outwardly
without real union with Christ decays into the foulest thing
under heaven. One Judas. is an awful weight
for the world to bear, but my soul, we have a whole tribe of
them in present-day religion, a whole tribe of Judases. Well, note, if you will, two
things about this text, and we'll hurry. First of all, we have
what they had, these people that had the form, and what they did
not have was the power, and then there's a word of exhortation
that I'd like to give quickly. Well, what they had, they had
a form of godliness. What is this form of godliness
that these people have? Well, it's profession. It's a
profession of religion. You know, in our day and time,
we've had people walk in the aisles, making a profession of
religion. We got preachers that are wringing
professions out of men and women every day. They're attempting
to get people to make a profession of religion. Well, it's attention
to the ordinance of religion that we see these people giving
outwardly, to the ordinance of religion. These, so far as they're
scriptural, are few and very simple, but nevertheless people,
they get involved in them when they're not entitled to be involved
with them. Now there's baptism, wherein
is a figure, the believer is buried with Christ, that he may
arise in the newness of life. And there is the Lord's Supper,
wherein in type and emblem the believer feeds. upon the Lord
Jesus and sustains that spiritual life which came to him by the
fellowship of Christ in his death. But those who have obeyed the
Lord in these two ordinances have exhibited in their own persons
the form of godliness. When you say, well, I want to
be baptized, and you are baptized, and when you say, I'm coming
to the Lord's Supper, and the Lord's table is set here, we
pass the elements, and you partake of them, then you have involved
yourself in the form of religion to some extent. Now then, every
baptized person and every communicant at the Lord's table should be,
must be saved, they must be godly and gracious souls, truly united
to Christ, or the form, baptism, the Lord's Supper, is meaningless. wouldn't have a thing on earth
to do with you being right with God. But neither baptism nor
the communion will ever save a man's soul. Where there is
not the life of God in the soul through the Holy Spirit, regenerate
these ordinances will profit you nothing. They will profit
you nothing. What I'm trying to say, the N
word has got to be there. I'm talking about it being hard
work. I'm talking about God must do something in a man's heart.
And if all he has is the outward forms of religion, he has nothing. There are those who have been
baptized, go to the Lord's table with us, sad to say, and these
people are ungodly and presumptuous and they're guilty of sacrilege
and blasphemy and living apart from and have no regard for the
things of God, and we may be sitting beside them on the Lord's
day." Form. They got the form. Well, next,
let me say this. A form of godliness involves
attending church. Those who are the professed people
of God are accustomed to come together at certain times for
worship. They join in common prayer and
in common praise and in common singing and praising God. Songs that are common to us all
and we love them and we desire them. They listen to the word
preached. They mingle among the professed people of God. And
this is very proper. It's a very proper form and it's
full of blessing. And we're told in the scriptures
not to neglect it. We must do it. Now a man, I think
believers, somebody said a dog does very well by himself, but
sheep, they like the flock, and they want to be with the Lord's
people, and that's good, that's proper, it's right. But we're
not going to heaven alone, are we? We don't want to go to heaven
alone, do we? No. Well, we want to go to heaven,
but we don't want to go alone. We love the Lord's people. And
by this we know we pass from death to life, John said, is
that we love the brethren. And we don't want to go to heaven
alone. Now, I read a story about a lady who was on board a ship,
her and her children. And they were sailing to England.
And her husband was back in the States. many years ago and was
here, and he got a telegram. There was a huge storm came up
on the ocean and the ship sunk. And he got a telegram from his
wife and had two words, saved alone, saved alone. The children had perished. And
what a telegram that is. And nobody that's a true child
of God wants that to be the saying about their lives. Saved alone. No, we would love to have our
families saved. We'd love to have our neighbors
and friends and relatives. We'd love to have them all saved. And one reason is, is because
God's people love to go in flocks. and they love the Lord's people.
So the sheep of Christ love to be together in the same pasture
and to follow in the footsteps of the Good Shepherd. The form
of godliness is proper and useful, but it's of no value without
the power. You say, well, I just come to church. I don't know
whether I get anything out of it or whether I don't. Well,
the form is useless without the power. Unless God touches your
soul and unless you get the salvation of God fixed into your heart
by faith in Christ Jesus, the form is useless. Next, there
is the religious talkers that they flavor their speech with
godly phrases when they're in company that will relish it.
They talk and they use the language of Canaan. And don't get me wrong,
I wish we could revive that old habit spoken of in the scripture,
they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. Holy conversation
causes the heart to glow, and it gives us a foretaste of the
fellowship of the glorified over on heaven's shore. But there
may be a savor of religion about a man's conversation, and yet
it may be a borrowed flavor. He may have borrowed it from
somebody else. He might have heard somebody else use that
language and now he's adopted it as his own. That religion
which comes from the lips outward and does not well up from the
heart is not that living water which will spring up unto eternal
life. Tongue godliness is an abomination
if the heart be destitute of the grace of God. I'm telling
you, tongue godliness is an abomination if the heart is destitute of
a work of grace. Has God done anything in your
soul? Or do you just have the form? Next, some have a form
of godliness upheld and published by religious activity. All the
emphasis that is placed on this today. Oh, we'll give you a job
in the church. We'll just give you something
to do. That way we'll keep you active. Give them a job. It'll
keep them in the church. But let me warn you of this.
You can be intensely and energetically active in the work of the church
and know nothing of the power of regenerating grace. Know nothing
about what it means to be translated out of spiritual death. unto
life, teacher, preacher, deacon, whatever, it makes no difference.
Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, know my thoughts,
and see if there be in me any wicked way, and lead me in the
way everlasting. Well, let me inject this right
here. Let me ask, how did we come by our form? How'd we get
it? How'd we get our form? Everybody
here, most all of us have a form. We've been baptized, we've come
to the Lord's table, we attend the church? Did we inherit it
from our parents? Is that where we got it? Or is
it on account of our marriage or friendship? Do you just have
a natural religious disposition? I've known a few people that
were just religious naturally. They just had a disposition.
They just was religious as all get out without any impression
from anybody or anything. Well, that which is born of the
flesh, the Bible says, is flesh. And that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. Beware of anything which grows
in your garden which grows up without God being the one who
planted it, my friend. Beware, because it's a weed.
If God didn't plant it, it is a weed. Then there are those
who take up the form because of the respect they feel it will
bring them. There was a time when it cost
something, beloved, to be a Christian. There was a time when it cost
something. Hypocrites were fewer in those days, for a profession
cost too much. A man might be led to the stake
and he might not be given a hearing to recant. And it costs too much
in days gone by to be a Christian and to be known as one publicly. But the cross is now worn as
a decoration. The cross, as the instant of
our Savior's shame and death, is forgotten, and instead it
is made a trinket, a badge of honor, a jewel, wherewith ungodly
men may adorn themselves. You see a lot of people wearing
the cross around their neck. That's a symbol of death, and
the Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross, and these people have
died to nothing. They're very much alive in their
sin and their rebellion to God, but they have the form. This
is indicative of the deceitfulness of the age. Beware of seeking
respect by hypocritical godliness. Honor gained by a heartless profession
is in God's sight the greatest disgrace. Next, it brings them
ease of conscience. Men like the Pharisees are able
to thank God. They're not like other men. They got the form.
and are not like other men. We're not heathen. My friend,
you're as much a heathen as the Hottentots over in Africa if
you have not the grace of God in your heart. I'm not trying
to abuse you. I'm just simply telling you we
need to face up. It takes an inward work of the
grace of God. The outward is not where it is. Of all people, these people are
the hardest to reach because they have hid themselves in the
churches. They got in the churches. These are the last likely people
to be saved, humanly speaking, because they got to form, and
they've been to the Lord's table, and they've been baptized, and
they do attend the services most of the time, and so therefore,
they're all right. They seem to be out of reach
of shot and shell of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
we've tried to show you what Paul's talking about, what these
people had. They had to form. They got it,
they got the form. But now what they did not have,
something you can't see with the naked eye, except as it manifests
itself in the life of the person who has it. What they did not
have, they had the form, but they did not have the power.
What is the power? God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ,
in the soul of a man, is the power. Let me give that to you
again. God himself, in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, in the soul of a man, is the power. And I tell you, my friend, you
say, I'm seeking something, preacher. That's what you better seek.
God in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory. You say, I want something better
than what I got, preacher. Seek the best, and the best is
God. living in a man's soul through
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is life from the
dead. This is life in the soul of the
elect by the power of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost teaches
a man to Christ. The Holy Spirit gives the gift
of repentance and faith to those which God saves. Man who is born
of a woman is unclean and must be brought by the Spirit of God
to that fountain that's filled with blood. drawn from Emmanuel's
veins. The Spirit of God must be a withering,
must do a withering work in the heart of the one that God saves,
bringing that individual down and planting in them the gift
of life, creating in them a new person. There's no salvation
apart from union, you being joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there's some things missing.
in the preaching of our day and it is because these things that
are missing that we have so many people that are going along for
the ride many people that do not have the power they have
the form but not the power men are saying and crying peace peace
when there is no peace telling folks they have peace with God
just simply because they walked the aisle have peace with God
because they went into the inquiry room have peace with God because
they signed a pledge card, made a profession, and they have no
peace. But they're told everything is
all right. Everything's all right. Men are
exalted who have never been humbled. Men are filled who have never
been emptied out. Men are given hope who have never been without
hope. And my friend, if you cannot remember the time when you were
without hope and without God, consequently, I say to you this
morning and very likely, you still don't have any hope. You're
still without hope, without God. Everybody that has hope, genuine,
living hope in the Lord Jesus Christ knows there was a time
when he didn't have it. There was a time when they were
without it. They weren't born with it. They had to acquire
it as God was pleased to give it to them as a gift, a free
gift. Men are given hope then, who have never been without it.
Men are healed, who have never been sick. Men are saved, who
have never been lost. And I'll tell you what, if you've
never been lost, you cannot be saved. Because Jesus Christ came,
what does the Bible say? To seek and to save that which
was lost. And I'd like to say that I believe
He saves everybody that gets lost. Everybody that truly gets
lost Everybody says I can't go on living this way. I've got
to be saved. I've got to be found I've got
I've got to have Christ and when you get lost totally utterly
lost Then, my friend, it is that God in Christ reveals himself
to you. Now, men are given life who've
never been dead. Preacher said, you got it. Well,
you haven't got it until God says, I am thy salvation. Make no difference what the preacher
says. You don't have it until God says, I am thy salvation. You ever said that to you? Well,
may the day come when he does very shortly. Now, men are given
grace who have never been guilty. You know, it's one thing to want
mercy, another thing to receive it. But there's no mercy for
anybody who's not guilty. Mercy is for guilty people. Are
you guilty? Are you guilty? Well, you may
be, according to your own standards, pure, and you may be virtuous
according to your own standards, my friend, but you're not innocent.
You're not innocent before God. You're guilty of sin before God. And all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. And until God is pleased to bring
you to that place where you know your guilt, Grace, mercy will
mean nothing to you. Now the conduct of people in
religious circles today is the conduct produced by the preaching
of our day. We've just got where we are by
what we've heard. And preachers haven't got up
and told people the truth, that it takes the power, the form,
we'll never get it. True faith in Christ, the knowledge
of God, which is salvation, is the product of true preaching
and the Spirit's work. Men who have the form of godlessness
are strangers to this spirit power. True godliness lies in
spiritual power, and as they are without this, they are dead
while they live. Having a form of godliness, to
die in the power thereof, is the sin of the age, the sin which
is ruining the churches of our day. They are degrading the name
of Christ. We want no clouds without rain.
We don't want any sham and mere pretense. We got more than enough
of that already. The best show of many in our
day is just on the outside. And like I spoke of the gentleman
from North Dakota, holler on the inside. Nothing is real in
today's religion. It's a sham is what it is. Folks, if you pray at all, pray
God to make you real. Pray God to make you real through
and through. A true relationship with God
is more than just acting. The form of godless joy into
an unholy heart is no value to God or man. I've read that the
swan was not allowed to be offered upon the altar of God in old
times because its feathers are as white as snow, yet its skin
is black underneath the feathers. God will not accept that external
morality which conceals internal impurity. He's not going to take
it. I'm talking about it's got to be real from the inside out
and not start on the outside, paint it all up, whitewash it,
make it all look good on the outside. No! It's got to be good
from the inside out. Regardless of how it stands with
me or you either one, I'm telling you the truth about it. I'm telling
you God will not accept that external morality and good outward
life which conceals inward corruption and sin and impurity. There must
be a pure heart as well as a clean outward life. The power of God
must work within a man. There's no value to man or God
in a religion which is dead form. If your religion is without spiritual
life, what's the use of it? Can you ride home in a car that
doesn't have an engine in it? You know, in the cold of winter,
can you warm yourself? with a painted fire. You know,
I heard sometime back that there was somebody that put a video
out of a fire in a fireplace. Oh, it was a nice video and it
was for people who wanted to pretend, get this now, that they
had a fire. My friend, what foolishness.
What foolishness. What good? That'll never work
in Montana, will it? I mean, you can't have a pretended
fire. You gotta have a real thing. That's what I'm talking about.
And so, listen to me. Can you eat of the picture of
a feast when you're hungry? Here's a man hungry, I mean he's
hungry and he needs something to eat. Would do any good for
you to give him a picture of a big banquet table all laid
down with all the goodies that you possibly get? Wouldn't do
you no good. Wouldn't do him no good. Picture does nothing!
Man's hungry on the inside. No, there must be vitality and
substantiality or else the form is utterly worthless. There's
no comfort in it. The form without the power has
nothing in it to comfort the soul. Warm the heart, raise the
spirits, strengthen the mind against the day of sickness or
in the day, an hour of death. See, that's the reason we got
to face these things now while we're breathing and while we're
all right. Day's gonna come when that breast's gonna get short.
Day's gonna come when the doctor's gonna say it's no use. Ain't
nothing gonna help you. You're done. And what is gonna
comfort you in that day? Well, all this outward forming
ain't gonna do it. Ain't gonna do it. It's what
you got in here! that's going to comfort you in
that day. What you've got in your heart, in your soul. If
our religion is all form and no Christ, what will it do in
the swelling of Jordan in the day of our death? What's it going
to do? Well, I'm going to close here and talk just a little bit
about what we can do. The exhortation. From such, he
said, you turn away. You turn away from this. You
turn away from this form of godliness without the power. Pray to God
that we may never, you listen to this, that we may never wear
a sleeve longer than our arm. Do you get the point? That we've
got something that are in form that we don't have an actuality,
that we'll never wear a sleeve longer than our arm. I mean,
may we never go beyond what is really and truly our own. It would be better for you to
go to God every day as a lost soul and cry for mercy than to
profess yourself saved while you're still lost. Be better
for you to go every day, Lord, I'm lost. Lord, I'm unclean,
I'm undone. Lord, there's no good thing in
me. Lord, have mercy on me. Then for you to go out and pretend
that you're some religious person, that you're a hypocrite. Ain't
nothing real about you. You're shamed. You're lost. And you ought to just admit it
before God. Well, you may say, Preacher,
I am sure that I am a hypocrite. You may be here this morning
and you say, Preacher, I've listened to you and I'm sure I am a hypocrite. Well, let me say that I never
met a hypocrite who thought he was one. Never did. Never met a hypocrite that thought
he was one. If you think that you're a hypocrite,
if you're really sure of it, my friend, I think you're pretty
safe. I think you're safe. And I don't think you ever will
meet a hypocrite that thinks he's one. It's those that don't
think they are. That's the ones that are hypocrites. Well, you say I feel condemned,
preacher. Well, he that feels himself condemned may hope for
pardon, may hope for mercy. There's mercy for condemned sinners.
There's mercy for ill-deserving sinners, hell-deserving sinners.
Mercy! God will save those that are
ill-deserving, hell-deserving. If you're afraid of yourself,
I'm not afraid of you. You understand what I'm saying?
If you're afraid of yourself, I'm not afraid of you. It's that
fellow that's cocksure about it all. Says, there ain't nothing
wrong with me. I'm alright. There's nothing
wrong with me. I got this thing settled. Settled
a long time ago. I mean, I walked the aisle. And
I signed the card. I shook the preacher's hand.
I mean, it's okay with me. It's settled. Well, I hope it
is, but I'd rather have the fellow that says, well, you know, I
hope I am saved. I hope I am a child of God. I
hope I am in Christ. I pray every day I am. I pray
every day that I'm right with God. I do fight, preacher. I
do struggle. I am having an awful time. I
have trouble with my own flesh. I have trouble with my own heart.
I have many difficulties and many steep hills to climb, preacher. I'm not afraid of you. That's
fine. All God's living family is that
way. They got trials, they got discouragements, they got temptations,
they got difficulties, they have many, many afflictions in this
life. But as that fella says, I know
I'm alright. Why, if anybody goes to heaven, I will. Oh no,
my friend. I'm afraid of you. But I'm not
afraid of the man who is afraid in his own heart that maybe things
are not just quite right. Now, if you tremble at God's
Word, then that's one of the surest marks of God's elect,
is somebody that trembles at the Word of God. You read some
verses, sometimes it just tears you up. Oh, it just makes you
feel like you're nothing. It just makes you feel like there
ain't no way in the world you could be a Christian. Well, if
you tremble at the Word of God, then that's one of the surest
marks that you're a believer. Those who fear that they're mistaken
are seldom mistaken. If you search yourself and allow
the Word of God to search you, I believe it's well with you.
If the Spirit of God leads you to weep in secret for your foolishness,
for your weaknesses, your frailties, your failures, and your sins,
and to pray in secret for the grace of God to enable you to
overcome. If it leads you to seek after
holiness, if it leads you to trust alone in the Lord Jesus
Christ, then you know the power of godliness. You know the power
of it. And heaven never denied it. You
never denied it.