I hear people say, what's wrong
with believers today? What's wrong with churches today?
I've said that myself, just lately. What's wrong? There's so much
division, so much strife and difficulty, and things that are
just totally inconsistent. with what we know and what we
profess and what our Lord commanded us to do and to be. You've said
that, and I've said it. If you haven't said it, at least
you've thought it. What's wrong? Division and strife and discord
and lack of love and lack of harmony and violation, in violation
of these principles of righteousness and godliness and things we know
and things we profess to believe and things our Lord taught us.
Well, let me say three things about this that may help you,
it helps me. This day is no different from
any other day. This is no different from any
other day. Would you like to look with me for a few moments
at some of the early churches and the things that occurred,
the things that went on in those early churches? Now, I'm not
talking about churches in the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages
and even the early ages. I'm talking about churches under
the leadership of the apostles themselves. The apostles of Christ
were their pastors, were their leaders. Now, look at the church
at Chora. In 1 Corinthians 3, let's look
at the scripture. These things occurred just a
matter of less than 50 years after our Lord ascended. We're
talking about in the days of Paul and Peter, James, and John. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul said,
verse 1, chapter 3, "...brethren, I, brethren, could not speak
to you, as unto spiritual people, but as unto carnal people, even
as unto babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with
meat, for up to this time you are not able to bear meat, nor
yet are you now able, for you are carnal, you act like natural
men. Whereas there is among you envying
and strife and division, Are you not carnal? Do you not behave
as natural men? Not as believers. You're acting
like worldly people. One of you says, I am of Paul.
I like Paul best. I follow Paul. I don't like Apollos. I'm of Paul. Another says, well,
I'm of Apollos. I don't like Paul. I'm going
to follow Apollos. Are you not carnal? You see how
natural that is? That's the way the world operates.
Who is Paul? Who is a Paulist but ministers
by whom you believe, even as the Lord gave to every... That's
just one example. All right, turn to 1 Corinthians
5. 1 Corinthians 5. Here is a young
man that was committing sin with his stepmother, living in an
adulterous affair with his stepmother. 1 Corinthians 5.1 in this church
at Carthage. It's reported commonly. It's
common knowledge. that there's fornication among
you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among
the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And you're
puffed up. You haven't mourned over this,
that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among
you. The church hasn't mourned over it and grieved over it and
been troubled over it. They've just overlooked it. Or
I look at 1 Corinthians 6, and they were going to law with one
another. They were settling their difficulties
before judges and lawyers. In 1 Corinthians 6, 1, dare any
of you having a matter against another go to law before the
unjust and not before the saints? That's what they were doing.
Some of them were settling their differences in court. I'll see
you in court. You ever hear people say that?
Believers don't do that or shouldn't do that. They do, but they shouldn't.
All right, 1 Corinthians 11. And they were getting drunk at
the Lord's table. This ought to settle the matter
of whether you use wine or grape juice at the Lord's table, shouldn't
it? But these fellows, some of them were getting drunk. In 1 Corinthians 11, verse 18.
Now first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear
there be divisions among you. And I partly believe it, Paul
said. For there must also be heresies among you They which
are proved might be made manifest among you. When you come together
therefore in one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper,
or you cannot eat the Lord's Supper, you're not observing
the Lord's Supper, for in eating every one taketh before other
his own supper, one's hungry and another's drunken. Have you
not houses to eat and drink in? Now there's some folks that have
taken this scripture here and said you can't have a kitchen
in the church. You have some Baptist brethren, dear brethren,
who've made a doctrine. Paul, here's what he's talking
about. When they came together to eat
the Lord's table, some of these people were unruly and undisciplined
and uncontrolled. And they'd come together to eat
the Lord's table, and they'd bring their supper, and they
wouldn't wait on one another to break the bread and distribute
it and pray over it. They'd just start eating, you
know. They were hungry. They'd take the wine and they'd pour
a heaping glasses full and drink it and get drunk. This got nothing
to do whatsoever with having a kitchen in a building which
is called a church. He's talking here about these
folks that are misbehaving at the Lord's table. Now that's
a Corinthian church. Let's look at the Galatian church.
Turn to Galatians chapter 1. Now these Galatians, Paul loved
these people. He had preached faithfully. to
these people. He had ministered to them the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here they were, Paul had
left them, and here some ritualistic, Levitical law preachers had come
in and had swayed these folks, and they had required them to
be circumcised, the men, and required them to keep certain
holy days and Sabbath days, and these folks had fallen for it.
Paul had preached Christ and Christ alone, the fulfillment
of all the laws and the fulfillment of all the Sabbaths and the fulfillment
of all circumcision and all rituals, but these little babes in Christ,
these little children, had submitted themselves to these false teachers
and policies in Galatians 1, verse 6. I'm marveled. that you're
so soon removed from him, that is, from the preacher that called
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. A marvel! You've been persuaded. You've
been misled. These false teachers have come
in and you just excluded me and isolated me and turned your back
on the true gospel of God's grace. And here you are following another
gospel. That's division. And then look over here at chapter
2. Here, Paul and Peter. This would be disturbing to say
the least. If you and I, we said, boy, I'd
like to have lived in the days of the apostles. It was all love
and all peace and all tranquility and all joy. No, it wasn't. Here this Sunday morning meeting,
had Peter sitting over here and Paul sitting over here. And they
conflicted in front of the whole congregation. Paul said to Peter's
face, I withstood him. Look at verse 11 of chapter 2.
When Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face,
publicly is what that's saying, because he was to be blamed.
Peter was wrong. Peter was wrong. And I challenged
him. Then look at the church at Philippi.
Here were two sweet ladies at Philippi that couldn't get along.
And Paul, in the Word of God, their division was so sharp,
and their falling out of fellowship was affecting the church in such
a way that Paul, in the very Word of God, rebuked those ladies
and told them to get their affairs in order. Look here at chapter
4, verse 2. I beseech Jodias, and I beseech
Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. Get straightened
out. You see, here are two prominent
women in the church, two leaders, and they've clashed, and it has
such an effect. If it wasn't important, Paul
wouldn't have mentioned it in a book that he wrote to the church
that he tells them to straighten up their fellowship. And this
is all the way through. I could go on this morning, but
that's sufficient to show you that the early church was filled
with problems. And you know why? The reason is this, contrary
to what you may have thought, believers are still human beings.
Believers are still human beings. The Bible says man at his best
state is altogether vanity. Don't expect too much of folks. They're still folks. We need
to remind ourselves that call it the old man, call it the old
nature, call it this body of death, call it what you will,
but there is no perfect man on this earth. If you'll turn to
the book of Philippians, you're already there, let's just look
at it a minute. In Philippians chapter 3, in chapter 3 of Philippians
verse 12, Paul said, not as though I had already attained, either
were already perfect. Paul says, I'm not perfect by
any means. Again and again he said, I'm
not worthy to be called an apostle. I'm the chief of sinners. I'm
less than the least of all the saints. I'm a human being. We need to learn to be patient
with one another because we are human. Turn to Romans 7, and
there's sin. You know, in Romans 7, verse
18, I hear people talk about, well, we need to get out of Romans
7 into Romans 8. I don't want to get out of either
one of them. I want to be right in Romans 7, I want to be right
in Romans 8. In Romans 7, verse 18, I know, and you have to say
this, now, brethren, if all anger and clamor and evil speaking
and covetousness and jealousy and envy. If all those things
were already suppressed and taken care of, why would Paul tell
us to put them off? Put off the old man with his
deeds. Why would he say that if it's already done, child?
It's not already done. It's not already done. The same
temptations that are known by men of this world are known by
men of the church. The same temptations and trials
that are known by women of this world are known by women of the
church. We're still human. And Paul said, and you know this
is so, verse 18, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, in
my natural person, I know that God's redeemed me, put his Spirit
within me, I long to be perfect, I want to be perfect, I abhor
evil. You do too. I hate evil. I'll
be glad when I'm just like Christ. But I'm not like Him yet. I've
still got a body of sin. I've still got a mind and eyes
that see what they ought not see, and a mind that thinks what
it ought not think, and a mouth that says what it ought not say,
and feet that go where they ought not go. And you do too. In my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. To will is present with me, but
how to perform that which is good, I'm talking about that
which is perfect. Can you do it? I don't find the
ability to love my neighbor as myself. I want to, don't you?
But it's still very, very difficult. I don't find the ability to bless
them that curse me. I want to. And by God's grace I can, but
not in my own strength. The good, verse 19, that I would,
I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Wouldn't you like to all the
time think nothing but perfect thoughts? Wouldn't you like all
the time that whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is honest, whatsoever
is good report, whatsoever is lovely, wouldn't you like to
just think on those things? Never open your mouth except
to speak praise to God and good to men. You say, yeah, I'd like to. Can
you? Do you? Have you? Verse 20, Now
if I do that which I would not, it's not I that do it, it's not
the godly man in me, it's not the true nature of Christ in
me, it's sin that dwelleth in me. I find in a law that when
I would do good, evil is present with me. We're not excusing it.
I'm not giving you an excuse for sin. No man who's saved is
looking for an excuse to sin. He's looking for a reason to
do right. He's looking for motivation to do right. He's looking for
a constraint. That's what he's looking for.
He's not looking for an excuse to sin. He's not seeking to justify
himself. If I justify myself, my own mouth
would damn me. But I'm facing things as they
are, telling the truth about us. We're not going to know the
truth about God and about his grace until we admit the truth
about ourselves. We're not going to flee to Christ
sufficiently and totally and wholeheartedly until we really
need him. I'll quit putting patches on
his righteousness when I realize that my patches are seeing themselves. I delight, verse 22, in the law
of God after the inward man. I delight in God's law. Now,
can you say that? I believe I can. I delight in
the holy law of God, in the holy character of God, in the holy
nature of God. I delight in every holy commandment
of God. I delight in it. I'll be glad
when it covers the earth like the waters cover the sea. I'll
be glad when there's nothing but righteousness and holiness
on earth as it is in heaven, won't you? But I see something
going on. I see another law in my members,
in my flesh, warring against this law of my mind, warring
against this delight in God's holiness, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members, O wretched
man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank God I've got deliverance
already in Christ, waiting for the day when it shall come to
pass. So remember that. Turn to Colossians 3 just a moment.
Let's look at this. You say, well, why do people
who are believers, who are Christians, who have been born again, who
are saved, who know the Lord, Why do they say the things they
say? Why do they do the things they do? Why do they act like
they act sometimes? They're human beings. God's children
are but men. David is a man after God's own
heart, but he's a man after God's own heart. Abraham is the friend
of God, but he's the human friend of God. Colossians 3 says in verse Now,
put off all of these. Put them off. Now, if they're
already put off, why would we be commanded to put them off?
If all this is taken care of in regeneration, in salvation,
or the baptism of the Holy Ghost, why am I exhorted to put them
off? Put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communications
out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing
you put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new
man. Put these things off. Laying aside these things. And
then let me show you this, the third thing. What causes this? Well, number one, this day is
no different than any other day. No different. The church in every
age has had problems. And we will have. In this world
you shall have tribulation. We will till Christ comes. Because
secondly, we're human beings. And because thirdly, There are
degrees of growth and sanctification. We're not all, we all have the
same faith, but not in the same degree. You see, faith is the
same, but it's not in the same degree. There's little faith,
there's great faith. And there are, turn if you will,
first of all to 1 John 2. You see, There are people who
are babes in Christ, in 1 John 2, and there are people who are
more mature, and then there are some who are greatly matured
in Christ. First of all, he says in verse
12 of 1 John 2, I write unto you, little children, because
your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto
you, fathers, because you've known him that is from the beginning.
I write unto you, young men, because you've overcome the wicked
one. I write unto you, little children, because you've known
the Father." He's not talking about our fleshly age, chronological
and so forth. He's talking about our spiritual
age. A man may be a babe in Christ
and be 60 years old. He may have just recently been
converted. Another man in the church, 60 years old, may have
been converted for 40 years. He may be a mature, settled, full-grown person in Christ with
great patience and with long-suffering and great love and strong faith
and so forth. You see, it turned to Hebrews
5. Let's look at this scripture here, Hebrews chapter 5. Paul
talks about the ability of some people to receive meat and some
who can only receive milk. And the difference is, there's
some children in there in the nursery that can't eat what we
eat. I had yet to give them milk,
yet to give them a special formula, yet to be careful. The bottle's
sterilized and washed and boiled and the milk is just right and
the nipples boiled and all that stuff. because they get upset,
they get the colic, you know, they get the stomach ache. But
there's some of you that can almost eat raw meat. The stronger
the better. You just thrive on that good
old doctrine of election and particular addiction and effectual
call and perseverance. If it's in the book, pour it
on, or you love it. But now there's some folks that
get the colic if you pour it on too strong, you know. They're
not ready for that. They're not ready to be rebuked.
They're not ready to be cut to the core. They're not ready to
give the glory all to God. I know some little babies in
Christ that couldn't take what I said from Romans 7 a while
ago. You know, when I talk about the things I would do, I do them
not, and that passage I read from 1 Corinthians chapter 5
about that fellow that was having an affair with his stepmother.
There's some churches that somebody got them walked out on me when
I read that. They couldn't take that. That's God's Word. You
just have to use some... I'll preach anything here. I've
been in this pulpit long enough. I'm going to preach the Bible,
the whole thing. I think I've got some meat eaters
around here. I believe I have. And I'm going
to give it to you like it is. But look at Hebrews 5, verse
12. Well, when for a time you ought
to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which
be the The first principles of the articles of God. He said,
you are such babes, your faith is so weak, your growth is so
slow, all you can take is go back there to the first principles. The first principles. Now read
on. And you are become such as have need of milk and not of
strong meat. For everyone that uses milk,
if you have to be delicately fed, to keep from offending you. You have to have the simplest
truth. You're unskillful in the word
of righteousness. You are a babe. You are a babe. You see that? A babe in Christ. I don't care how old you are.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even
those who by reason of use or habit, or they've been on this
diet a long time, have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil. You see, they're babes. That's
the reason you have problems, is that maturity is lacking. I don't want to be a baby, but
that's sometimes we are. We act like spiritual babes.
Philippians 3.12. Let's look at this one here.
I jotted this scripture down. Philippians 3.12. Let's see what
that says. Yeah, that's the one I read a
while ago. Paul said he had not attained that which he seeketh
for. And he's not already perfect,
but he's pursuing it. He's pursuing it. Now, here's
another reason why we have difficulties and trouble
and divisions. Because this day is no different
than any other day. Because believers are still human. And because their degrees of
growth, their degrees of sanctification, they're milk-eaters and they're
meat-eaters in the congregation. They're babies that have to be
handled carefully. And they're full-grown men and
women who have to handle them carefully. They have to be gracious
and like the Lord. But Satan's not asleep. Here's
the fourth. He's not asleep. And if he can
try Job, he can try you. And if Satan can enter the Apostle
Peter and use him, he can do the same thing right here. Only
by God's grace am I immune and delivered from the attacks of
Satan. When our Lord taught the disciples
to pray, he said, and deliver us and Forgive us our sins as
we forgive those who sin against us, and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from," you know what that word is, Darwin? That's
the evil one. That's exactly it. Deliver us
from Satan, that's what he's saying. And deliver us from the
evil one. He's powerful. He's not asleep.
He's not dead. We need to be prayed to deliver.
be delivered from the evil one. Let me show you, let me see if
I can make good on that. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Satan is not asleep. His ultimate
goal, now watch this. He causes division, but that's
not his goal. Division just accomplishes his
real purpose. He causes strife and discord
and a fellow falls along the way and the church is torn up.
But that's not his goal. That's just means to accomplish
his goal. You know what his goal is? That
you might miss Christ. That's his goal. That you might
miss Christ, miss the gospel. In 2 Corinthians 2, to whom you
forgive, Anything I forgive also, Paul said, for if I forgave anything
to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person
of Christ, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we
are not ignorant of his devices." Paul said, I didn't hold that
grudge. I forgave. I forgave. I kept
forgiving. For Christ's sake I forgave.
because I didn't want Satan to get an advantage. I didn't want
to open the door. You hold a grudge against someone,
and you know what? You open the door to that old
boy to come in. You have bigotry, prejudice,
ill feelings, all of these things, and the person against whom that
is directed He may go on in beautiful growth and God's blessing and
use him, but you're the one that has the disease. You're the one
that's been exposed to the germ. You're the one that's opened
the door for Satan. Satan's going to leave him alone. All of your
words and all of your actions and all of your deeds against
that person has no effect on him whatsoever. He's walking
under the smile of God's grace. By submitting to these errors,
you've opened the door for Satan. That's what Paul says here. I
forgave you for Christ's sake. Less Satan should get an advantage
of us. I'm not ignorant of his devices.
Let me show you another scripture, Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians
the 6th chapter, verse 11 and 12. Ephesians 6, verse 11 and 12. Paul says, put on the whole armor
of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For we're not wrestling against
flesh and blood. That's not our enemy, flesh and
blood. But our fight is against principalities
and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places. Our enemies are
not men. Our enemies are the powers of
evil. This is the realm in which Satan operates. It's a spiritual
realm. A spiritual realm. Well, let's
go back to our text now. in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. And
I'll move along quickly, just a few more minutes. I want to
point out some things here. Satan's ultimate goal is not
division and strife and to separate us from one another and to cause,
that's not his ultimate goal, to cause division. It's so you'll
miss Christ or I'll miss Christ. That's the reason. And so therefore,
Paul, in this text that I've chosen this morning, go back
here to verse 18. He says here in 2 Corinthians
5, 18, All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself,
and given us this ministry of reconciliation, that we might
bring others to a knowledge of Christ by the preaching of Christ.
We have the ministry of reconciliation. We have the ministry of redemption.
God has given to us a ministry. We have one objective and one
goal, and that's to preach Christ. That men might know Christ. Satan
has one objective and one goal, and that is that men might miss
Christ. And then verse 20 he says, this is the message of
reconciliation, that God was in Christ reconciling the world
unto himself. And then verse 20 he says, we
are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, in the stead of Christ,
we are representatives, ambassadors of Christ. Be you reconciled
to God. And then in verse 1 of chapter
6, he says almost the same thing. We are workers together with
Christ, and we beseech you that you receive not the grace of
God in vain. that you receive not the grace
of God in vain. Don't be sidetracked. Don't let
Satan get the advantage. This is the primary purpose of
preaching, of the church, of the ministry of the word, is
that you might know Christ. That you might not miss Christ.
Now I've got three things I want to give you and I'll close. Paul
says, I beseech you that you receive not the grace of God
in vain. Here are three questions. What
do we mean by the grace of God? Secondly, what is it to receive
it in vain? Thirdly, why are we so concerned
about this? I see these divisions and strife
and discord are are devices of Satan to take
the minds of men off of this important thing right here. If he can get you, dear friend,
if he can get you to fall out with the preacher and not go
and hear the gospel, you'll miss Christ. So his objective was
not the conflict between you and the preacher, it was so you
wouldn't hear his message. If he can get you to be divided,
say this church, here's a congregation of people who come to hear the
gospel, and they fall out with someone over here, here's a person
sitting here they don't like, or maybe that person, they work
somewhere and the person didn't pay the bill, well that's just
like those church members, so I'll quit church. Satan has used
that conflict so you won't hear the gospel. Don't be a dum-dum. Paul said, I'm not ignorant of
his divine. I know what that old boy is doing. You come to
church and something is said or done that offends you so you
don't come back next Sunday. Satan didn't want you to hear
that message next Sunday. And you were just dumb enough
to fall for it. You were just dumb enough to
fall for it. You let him make you angry. You let him get you upset. You let him Drive you away. You let him drive a wedge between
you and a brother so you wouldn't hear the gospel. You are a dummy. Your eating is not flesh and
blood. It's spiritual wickedness in high places. You see that? And you're falling for it. You're
letting him lead you around by the nose. You get offended and
upset and disturbed and all these things. He's doing that to you. To keep you from being in Christ. To keep you from finding the
peace and the joy and the rest and the confidence that's in
Christ and you're falling for it. Oh my. We talk about great things
and act like infants. The infants don't act that way.
But here are three things. What do we mean by the grace
of God? What is it to receive it in vain? And thirdly, why
am I so concerned about it? What is the grace of God? Well,
in the Bible, the grace of God can mean several things. First,
it means the free favor of God. I know that. Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. It means the free favor of God. The grace of God might mean the
work of the Holy Spirit. Paul said, He called me by His
grace. He called me by His grace. Thirdly, it might be the goodness
of God. Just the plain goodness of God.
The grace of God that bringeth salvation. The goodness of God.
Alright? A man can't receive the free
favor of God in vain, can he? Noah received the free favor
of God. That's bestowed on you. You certainly
don't receive that in vain. The work of the Holy Spirit,
you don't receive that in vain. He works on whom he will. He
effectually calls. And then the goodness of God,
I certainly can't receive in vain because the gifts and calling
of God are without repentance. But here's the fourth thing.
The grace of God, often in the Scripture, refers to the gospel
of God. The gospel of God's grace. The
gospel of God's grace. Now, men may receive that in
vain. They may receive it in vain.
What do you mean by that? Here's the second thing now.
The gospel, that is, what we were and what Christ did and
what we are now. His sufferings and His death
for our sins, His redemption, all of these things. His grace
chose us. His grace sent Christ. His grace
calls us. His grace keeps us. His grace
glorifies us. What is it to receive it in vain?
Now this is important. A man cannot receive the free
favor of God in vain, that's bestowed on whom he will. A man
cannot be an object of the Holy Spirit's work in vain because
the wind bloweth where it listeth. Nor can a man receive the goodness
of God in vain because God's gifts and calling are without
repentance. But the gospel of Christ can be received in vain. All right? What is it to receive
it in vain? Well, we're not talking about
people who've never heard the gospel, because these people
heard it. They heard it. They heard it
from Paul. We're not talking about people who didn't profess
to believe it, because these people did profess to believe
it. They received it. They received
the gospel. They sat and listened to it and
gave agreement to it. We're not talking about the people
out of the church, because this is a letter to people in the
church. All right? These are people. Paul says,
I'm afraid, I warn you, don't receive the gospel in vain. People
who heard it, people who believed it, people who had committed
themselves to it, joined the church, been baptized. What is
it to receive it in vain? Here it is, they received it
in their ears, they received it in their heads, They received
it in their minds, they received it in their mouths, but not in
their hearts. That's what it is to receive
the gospel in vain. It's to receive it, and the interpretation
of the word there is without effect. Without effect. The gospel received in the heart
convinces men of sin. and makes us aware of our sins
and our guilt and our trespasses. The gospel received in the heart
humbles the proud heart, humbles our heart, brings us down, abases
us. The gospel received in the heart
enthrones Christ, enthrones Christ in the life. The gospel received
in the heart produces the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace,
longsuffering. The gospel is seed in the heart.
Listen to me now. Replaces the world. I had a preacher friend tell
me that his father was a very successful gospel preacher years
ago. Preached to vast throngs of people,
big crowds. I said, what happened? He said,
I remember when it started. I remember when my dad got sidetracked. He did preach Christ, the gospel,
redemption by the blood. But he got sidetracked. Now I
remember when it happened. I remember when he got started
on the Masonic lodges and the evils of Masonry. He said he got to preaching against
the Masons. And he said, we had to have people
guard our house at night. People left the church. Some
masons came and confessed that they shouldn't be in it and all
that sort of thing. Then he began to preach something else. Let
me tell you something. I've had men come to this church who were
in the masons, who were in other lodges. And they sat and listened
to the gospel. And they were converted. And
they were baptized. And they loved Christ, but they
were still members. And I never mentioned it, not
one time. But after a while they quit going and quit paying dues. What happened? Something took
the place of that thing down there, you see. You're not going
to get a man to give up anything until he has something better
to take his place. And if he has something better
to take its place, it's easy to turn loose of that thing. I don't care what a person's
involved in, whether it be if it's damaging to him. I'm not
saying a man can't be a Mason and be saved. That's not for
me to say. I don't know. I just don't know. I've never
been one. I don't know the first thing
about them. But I'm saying this, when you come to know Christ
and Christ dwells in your heart, all these immaterial things,
these worldly things, these activities, you just don't have time for
them anymore. You don't have a desire for them anymore. You
don't have the interest in them anymore. Your interest is what? Your interest is Christ, and
the Word of God, and the people of God, and the Church of God,
and the Gospel of God. And it takes up your thinking.
It takes up your social life, your activities. I might stand up here and say,
you've got to give up your evil companions if you're saved. No,
you don't either. But if when you really come to
know Christ and he's formed in your heart, you'll give them
up. You don't enjoy their language. You don't enjoy the things they
talk about. You don't enjoy their fellowship. But you've got to
fill a glass, an empty glass, if it's filled, it doesn't have
room for all this junk. And this is till Christ be formed
in you, and this is what it is to receive the gospel in vain.
It's to hear it in your head, in your mind, in your doctrine,
and not in your heart. And you're kind of a strange
person. You're neither fish nor fowl
until you do receive it that way. You're in church one time
and in the world the next. And you're frustrated and you're
torn between a half a dozen interests. But when you receive the gospel
in heart, you have one direction, one interest, one Lord, and so
forth. And these things are just thrown
aside. Why are you so concerned about that creature? Well, two
reasons. There's no other way for a man to be saved except
Christ. That's all there is to it. No other way. A man's got
to receive Christ in his heart. I'm not talking about getting
religion or turning over a new leaf or joining the church or
trying to do better. I'm talking about receiving Christ
in the heart. That's the way a man's saved.
And secondly, the time is so short. Look down here at verse
1 and 2 of 2 Corinthians 6 one more time. We then, as workers
together with him, beseech you also, don't receive the gospel
of God, the gospel of the grace of God in your head only, receive
it in your heart. Not in profession only, but in
possession. For, he said, I have heard of
thee in a day, in a time accepted, in a day of salvation. Now is
the accepted time. Behold, today is the day of salvation. This is the time. While the Spirit
of God deals with me and while the Gospels preach, while we
live under the mercy and grace of God, while you have all your
faculties, seek the Lord. Seek Him in a living relationship.
Just having a church home and making like a religious person
on Sunday and saying, I believe the Bible, that's not salvation. Salvation is being engrossed
in Christ, being enraptured with Christ, being filled with Christ. Our Father in heaven, we pray
you'd bless the message of the morning. We realize that we have such
limited knowledge, and yet you're pleased to use the most feeble
vessel. We have this treasure. It's the
treasure. The gospel's the treasure. The
word of God's the treasure. This knowledge of Christ, that's
the treasure. But we have it in earthen vessels
that men may despise, that they may not care to submit to. But,
O Lord, open the hearts of all the people here to receive thy
word.