When I have, in these going on 33 years of preaching
and pastoring, seen so many who profess so loudly the name
of Christ and who seem so devoted and who seem so consecrated. When I've seen them, the great
majority of them eventually lose all interest in the things of
our Lord and become most indifferent and careless in pertaining to
spiritual matters. Those who have been preachers
and who have preached, as I attempt to preach, man's utter ruin in
God's sovereign choice and elective grace. And they have sounded
without fear, boldly, the redemption that's in Christ Jesus and contended
for that effectual, invincible call of God's Spirit. and even
called on others to persevere. And they have failed themselves
to do that very thing. Men who have been preachers,
men who have been elders and deacons, and young people who
were in every service with their parents all their lives, Sunday
morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Bible conferences, As the years have gone by, I've
watched them drop along the way. Oh, they still believe the Bible's
God's Word. They still believe that somebody
named Jesus died on a cross and was buried and rose again. And
they still believe they ought to go to church to worship God
once in a while. And they still believe in heaven,
they still believe in hell. and they still believe it's going
to be a judgment. But as far as any day-by-day interest in
Christ and hunger and thirst for his presence and his righteousness,
as far as any conquering influence of the Holy Spirit in their lives
to make them a blessing to God and to his people, it's not there.
It's not there. And still, you would have me
assume that everybody who names the name of Christ is saved when
our Lord said, many will say unto me in that day, wait a minute
Lord, we preached in thy name and did many wonderful works,
cast out demons, and they'll hear the Lord say, I never knew
you, depart from me. You would have me go on assuming
that these people know Him who conquers those who name His name,
who reigns over them? The Scriptures are full of warnings,
my friend, to professing believers, energetic, enthusiastic, zealous,
professing believers, to beware, beware. The warnings all the
way through the Bible, beware of presumption, beware of indifference
in this matter of faith. It's not enough to begin a race.
People who are crowned, Paul said, finish it. It's not enough
to profess Christ. Paul said, I have kept the faith. I've finished my course. There's
laid up for me a crown of righteousness. The scripture says, examine yourselves
whether you be in the faith. Give diligence, give diligence.
Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. If you do these things, you'll
never fail. Take heed, brethren, lest they be found eventually.
Lest they be found in you eventually. an evil heart of unbelief. And
unbelief is still an evil heart no matter where it's found. It's
an evil root. Woe is unto me, Paul said, if
I preach not the gospel. Me? He said, though we are an
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel. Let him be accursed. He never
leaves himself out in these examinations. There are three reasons, there
are three basic reasons for constant examination of faith, in the pulpit or in the pew.
There are three reasons for constant examination of our faith and
our interest in Christ. And these three are as follows,
and I want you to get this, there are three reasons. Number one,
Jeremiah said the heart is deceitful. Turn to Jeremiah, if you will,
chapter 17. Jeremiah 17. Now this is the
first reason why I must not take for granted my interest in Christ,
my relationship with God, my eternal standing before God. I must not assume or take for
granted this matter because my heart is deceitful. He says in
Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful above all things. There's
nothing as deceitful as a human heart. And it's desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart.
I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways
and according to the fruit of his doing. Solomon said, keep your heart
out of it of the issues of life. Is my heart right with God? Do I seek, am I concerned in
my heart with the glory of God? That's the reason I must constantly
examine my relationship with Christ, my faith, my gospel,
because my heart is deceitful. I thought this was of the Holy
Spirit. I thought, I thought that I knew the Lord. I gave, I gave evidence to others
that I knew the Lord. I was encouraged by others. I
had a keen and sincere interest in these things. What happened?
What happened? Your heart deceived you. Your
heart deceived you. And that's the reason we must
constantly examine our faith, because our hearts are deceptive.
They're deceitful above everything. There's nothing as deceitful
as a human heart. And that's where God looks. He
looks on the heart. It's not the outward profession
or outward appearance that God is interested in. It's the heart.
And here's the second reason. It's because not only the heart
being deceitful, but Satan is a powerful adversary. Let me
show you some scriptures. He's a master of false profession. He's a master of deception. Somebody
said that Satan knows more about human nature than anyone in the
universe but God. That he's been in the business
of deception. He's been in the business of
deceiving people for 6,000 years. He knows every trick in the book. And you'll find, if you will,
turn to 2 Corinthians with me, that Paul has a lot to say about
this arch enemy, this 2 Corinthians chapter 11, this roaring lion
who is going about seeking whom he may devour. But he does it
in a crafty fashion. He can bait the hook with the
most tantalizing and beautiful bait. People think Satan baits the
hook with drugs and drink. Not on your life. He baits the
hook with a lot more subtle things than that. 2 Corinthians 11 Paul
says, I fear lest by any means as a serpent beguile Eve through
his subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that's in Christ. Verse 13, look at verse
13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, Satan himself is transformed into an
angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works." Brethren, Satan has ministers,
preachers. Am I one of his ambassadors? And they preach just enough truth,
just enough truth, so as to deceive men. That's right. John said, you try the spirits,
for many, many false spirits and false prophets have gone
out into the world. You'll see that in the Bibles,
1 John 4. You look over there, 1 John 4. The fourth chapter
of 1 John. And it's verse 1, 4-1, 1 John
4-1, Beloved, believe not every spirit. Try the spirits, whether
they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out
into the world. Satan's a powerful adversary.
Ephesians, Paul said, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood,
but against principalities and powers, spiritual wickedness
in high places. Listen to this. He tells us to
take the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6, verse 11. Ephesians, put on the whole armor
of God that you may be able to stand against the trickery, the
wiles of the devil. He's shrewd. He's a deceiver. Because we wrestle
not, our battle's not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world,
spiritual wickedness and high place. Here's the third reason. I've got to examine constantly
my faith. Every man has religious inclinations. I've got to determine whether
they are of God or whether they are of Satan. God is a spirit. God is spirit. What is Satan? He's not a human
being. He's in the spirit world too.
He's out there not spiritual, not righteous, not holy, but
he's not in the flesh. He works through the mind. He
works through the heart. He works through the emotions.
He works through the influence. So it's not flesh and blood I'm
dealing with, you see. It's every man has religious
inclinations. What we've got to find out is
this of God or is this of Satan? And the third, third thing is
this. Our thoughts are not God's thoughts. This is the tragic
thing. Our thoughts are not God's thoughts.
Turn to Isaiah 55. In the 55th chapter of Isaiah,
verse 8. In verse 7, 6 and 7, the prophet
Isaiah is talking about seeking the Lord. Seeking the Lord. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness,
for a relationship with God. And he says, you seek the Lord
while he may be found. Call upon him while he's near.
Verse 7. Now let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts." Verse 8 says, "...for my thoughts are not your
thoughts." God looked down on earth in Genesis
6-5 and said every imagination of thoughts of man's heart were
evil continually. Solomon said in Proverbs, there's
a way that seems right unto men, and the end is destruction and
death. 1 Corinthians 8, I'd like for you
to turn over there with me. 1 Corinthians chapter 8, verse
1 and 2. 1 Corinthians 8, 1 and 2, listen
to this. Now it's touching things offered
unto idols. We know we have, we all have
knowledge, understanding, But knowledge puffeth up, charity
edifieth, and if any man thinks he knows anything, he doesn't know anything yet
as he ought to know. And then Paul said we're not
sufficient to think anything of ourselves. Let's get this
clear and let's get it straight. My thoughts are not God's thoughts. And that which seems reasonable
and logical to the human mind is foolishness with God. The
things of God have to be revealed. It's a mystery. Our Lord said
to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, unless a man's born again, even though
you're a master of Israel, even though you're a ruler of the
Jews, even though you're an intelligent man, unless you're born again,
you can't even comprehend, understand the kingdom of God. You can't
intelligently Talk about the Kingdom of God. But we think we can't. And that's
where our very thinking processes are geared to the wrong things
and in the wrong directions. Our thoughts are not God's thoughts.
This is why we must examine ourselves and examine our faith, because
the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. And because Satan, as
a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour, and
his tools, the tools of his trade, are subtlety and deceit. It's
the smooth, beautiful way, angel of light, messenger of righteousness. And because I don't think straight
of myself, I don't think like God thinks. My wisdom is foolishness. We must not trust our hearts
and trust our feelings and trust our thoughts. They're not reliable. Our foundations of faith and
hope have got to be of better substance than these. Well, where
are we going to go? Well, look at my text now in
Acts 17. I think sufficient foundation
has been laid for me to say these things. You men in this congregation
who drive automobiles, who travel a lot, you check your tires every
once in a while because your life depends on it. You check the condition of your
automobile. You men working at plants, you
check the condition of the cranes you operate because your lives
depend upon these pieces of machinery. Why don't you check every once
in a while that which binds you to the Lord, your faith? It's a pretty good idea, wouldn't
it? Constantly. Well, how do we check
it? Well, here in verse 2 of chapter
17 of Acts, Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three
Sabbath days he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. Out
of the Scriptures. Paul reasoned with them out of
the Scriptures. When the Ethiopian eunuch was
seeking the Lord, where did he seek the Lord? He sought Him
in the Scriptures. He was reading the Scriptures.
And when Philip joined himself to the chariot and saw him reading
the Scriptures, he asked him if he understood what he read,
and he said, how can I except some man show me? And he got
up in the chariot with him and began at the same Scriptures
and preached unto him Christ. Turn one page to Acts 18, verse
28. This is talking about the apostles.
In Acts 18, 28, "...he mightily convinced the Jews, and that
publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ." The
Scriptures. These things are written that
you might believe. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. Paul said, the gospel I preached
unto you is crossed out for our sins according to the Scriptures.
That he was buried and rose again according to the Scriptures.
Here, here, here is the place to establish your faith in the
Scriptures. This is it right here. You know,
even our Lord, and what distresses me today in preaching is the
absence of Scripture. And when I listen to people discussing
spiritual matters, the absence of Scripture. When I listen to
people argue doctrine, the absence of Scripture. Our Lord used the
Scriptures, even in His temptation with Satan. Turn over there with
me just a moment in Luke chapter 4, Luke the 4th chapter. In the 4th chapter of Luke, when
our Lord was tempted of Satan, I'm going to show you something.
that I've never seen in this scripture before. God revealed
this to me while I was reading this, preparing this message.
Our Lord, when Satan tempted him, the devil said to him in
verse 3, Luke 4, the devil said, if you're the Son of God, command
this stone that it be made bread. Now, our Lord Jesus could have
said a whole lot of things to him, the wisest of the wise. wisdom itself is Christ our Lord. But he used the scriptures. And
he said to him, it is written, and this is taken from Deuteronomy
8.3, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word of God. Our Lord used the scriptures.
That was the foundation of what he was telling Satan. That's
what he believed, that's what he knew, because God said it
in his And the devil, taking him up into high mountains, showed
unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
And the devil said, All this power will I give thee, and the
glory of them. He showed him the kingdom of
the world, the flesh, the riches of the flesh, and the power of
the flesh, and the influence and glory of the flesh, the world. And that is delivered unto me,
to whosoever I will I give it. If you will worship me, fall
down before me, All of it will be yours. And Jesus answered
and said, Get thee behind me, Satan, it is written, this is
taken from Deuteronomy 6, verse 13, Thou shalt worship the Lord
thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to
Jerusalem. Satan brought him to Jerusalem,
set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you
be the Son of God, cast yourself down from hence. Now then, Satan
starts using the Scriptures. But he takes it out of context
and he twists it and he makes a false application of it. And
anybody who knows the Word of God knows that he used this scripture
wrong. He told the Lord Jesus, he had
him up here on the temple, on the pinnacle of the temple, on
a very high place. And he said, you believe in God's
sovereignty. You believe in God's purpose.
You're the Son of God. Nothing can happen to you. You
are the Son of God. Nothing can happen to you. You
can't die till your time comes. God has ordained and ordered
all things. Doesn't it say in the Bible,
He'll give His angels charge over thee? See it right here?
Doesn't it say that in the Bible? He'll give His angels charge
over thee to keep thee? You can't die out of your time
until God ordains, God's sovereign, so you can do anything you want,
just jump off of here. And the Lord Jesus answered him
with some scripture. It is written, verse 12, Thou
shalt not test or tempt the Lord thy God. Well, if I believe what
you believe, preacher, God's ordained a people, elected a
people, I wouldn't pray. If I believe what you believe,
that God's sovereign, well, just throw yourself in front of this
truck thing. Nothing can happen to you to God's purposes, and
God will. Thou shalt not test or tempt
the Lord thy God. What I'm saying is the Lord Jesus
Christ used Scripture. That was the foundation, Scripture,
for all that he taught. And then when he taught his disciples
who he is and what he came to do, What did he use? Turn to
Luke 24, verse 44. He used the Scripture, the Word
of God. Now look at this, in Luke 24,
verse 44. And he said unto them, These
are the words which I preach unto you, while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in
the law of Moses and the prophets in the Psalms concerning me.
Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the
Scriptures. The sure foundation of faith.
is the Word of the Living God. When the Apostle Paul, anointed
of God, chosen of God, miraculously called of God, sent of God, the
commissioned Apostle to the Gentiles, everywhere he went, he reasoned
out of the Scriptures. That's the only foundation. He
reasoned out of the Scriptures. Over in the book of 2 Peter,
You needn't turn to it. Let me just give you this quickly.
In 2 Peter 1, 16-21, Peter was talking about being on the Mount
of Transfiguration with the Lord when He was transfigured before
the apostles and Moses and Elijah appeared with Him. And he said,
I was there. I saw the glory of the Lord. I heard the voice of God speak. This is my Son, hear ye Him.
But Peter said, We have a more sure word of prophecy that is
more to be relied upon than sight, hearing, or feeling. And that's
the Word of God. And this must be my foundation
of faith. Look at our text again, Acts
17, verse 2. And Paul reasoned with them out
of the Scriptures. Now then, listen to me. The false
prophets will wrest the scriptures out of their context like Satan
did. He said to the Lord Jesus, jump
off here. Doesn't the Bible say he'll give
his angels charge over you? And you know, as you listen,
you say, brother man, how am I going to know a false prophet?
Weigh the scriptures in the light of the scriptures. And when you
hear a statement like that, cast yourself off. He'll give his
angels charge over you. Here's a command to violate other
scriptures, proving it by the scriptures. You can't do that.
Here's a command to do something which the scripture forbids,
and using the scriptures as a motivating power. Scriptures interpreted
by scriptures. Somebody said, if you want to
know what something means in the Word of God, put it on a
pedestal and then throw the scripture at it. And if you can knock it
off with other scriptures, then that's not what it means. Here's
our foundation of faith. Paul reasoned out of the Word
of God. Make the Word of God the food
upon which you feed, that upon which you meditate. Memorize
scriptures. Study the scriptures. Study them
with an open heart, with a hungry heart, with a willing heart,
to be taught of God's Word. Then secondly, here, verse 3,
is the true message of faith. Now, the Scriptures are my foundation
for faith, and this is my object of faith. Verse 3, look at it. And are the Scriptures opening
and alleging that Christ's must needs have suffered? and risen
again from the dead. And this Jesus whom I preach
to you is the Christ. Christ our Lord must suffer."
Now listen to him. He said to his disciples, the
Son of Man must go as it's written. The Son of Man must suffer persecution. The Son of Man must be lifted
up. Why must Christ die? Why must
my Lord suffer and bleed and die? Why? But if Christ die not, if Christ
does not suffer, bleed and die, Abel's sacrifice means nothing. The Passover lamb means nothing. The brazen serpent lifted up
is nothing but a myth. The tabernacle with its holy
of holies, with its altar of incense, with its mercy seat,
The tabernacle with its priesthood and atonement is a farce. It means nothing. Christ must
suffer. The Lamb of God must die. Paul
stood with the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ Jesus
must suffer and die. Because if Christ suffer and
die not, the justice of God has no satisfaction. The mercy of God has no channel
of expression, the law of God has no honor, the gospel contains
no good news, the sinner has no savior, the believer has no
mediator, and the dead have no hope if Christ does not suffer. From the scriptures, what does
able sacrifice mean? It means that God's Lamb will
someday die. What does the blood on the door
and the lintel mean? That the blood someday of Christ,
God's dear Son, will be put on the door, on the lintel and side
post of my heart. Christ our Lord must suffer and
He must die and He must rise from the dead because Paul said,
if Christ be not risen, your preaching is in vain. Your faith
is in vain. You are a false witness of God.
You are yet in your sins, and those that sleep in Christ are
perished, and Jesus Christ himself is an imposter. That's our message. That's the
object of this faith. The Scripture is the reason.
And Christ, the suffering substitute, the risen justifier, The enthroned
mediator is the object of our faith. You see that? And he says
in verse 3, the last line, and this Jesus, whom I preach to
you, is the Christ. He's the Christ. My friends,
ever since God announced redemption in the Garden of Eden, it was
announced on the basis that the Christ would come. He said to the serpent, I'll
put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her
seed, and thou shalt bruise his heel, but he'll bruise thy head.
God announced redemption right then. God announced victory. God announced hope for the sinner
on the basis of a coming Messiah. Moses came as a prophet. God,
who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake to our fathers
by the prophets, Moses came and said, I'm here to tell you what
I know, what God has taught me. With my limited knowledge, I
know in part, I prophesy in part, but I'm here to tell you this,
God will raise up from among you a prophet from among the
brethren, like unto me, in flesh and blood. You hear him. You
hear him. And when Aaron came with the
Passover lamb, when Aaron came with his sons, the sons of Levi,
and as the high priest of God went into the Holy of Holies
and took that blood and put it on the mercy seat, he said, I
do this only waiting for God's lamb to come and shed His blood
and put it not on the mercy seat in the holy place made with hands,
but in heaven itself. before the presence of God on
the eternal mercy seat and obtain redemption. I do this because
someday He's coming." And Paul stood here and said, from the
Scriptures, this Jesus who suffered and died, whom I preach unto
you, that's who He is. He's the Christ. He's that virgin seed. He's that
prophet. He's that priest. He's that atonement. He's that Messiah. He's that
deliverer. He's that emancipator. He is
the One. That's what I'm saying. He's the sinner's hope. He's
justice satisfaction. He's the law's honor. He's God's
reconciler. And when Simeon, that old, gray-haired,
feeble man of whom the Scripture says, he was waiting for the
consolation of Israel, the Messiah, that prophet, the priest, the
one who was coming, the one whom God had promised for 4,000 years. He was in the temple that day
and the Holy Spirit said to him, you will not die until you see
God's Christ. God's Christ. Many antichrists
had come, but they didn't fulfill the Scriptures. This Christ fulfilled
the Scriptures. You don't trust anyone unless
he fulfills the Scriptures. Somebody said, well, suppose
a young woman announced that her son was virgin-born. Would
you believe her? Yes. Yes, I would. If. If when that child was born,
God put a star over his birthplace. If when that child was born,
God sent a legion of angels down here to announce his birth. If when that child was born,
the heavenly chorus sang, glory to God in the highest on earth,
peace, goodwill toward men. If that child would grow up and
the rulers and the people could find no fault in him, And if
the voice from heaven would say, this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. And if that man should walk this
earth and raise the dead and heal the sick and give sight
to the blind and hearing to the deaf and strength to the lame,
I'd believe her. And if everything he did was
prophesied hundreds of years before he was born, And if when
he died on a cross, the sun refused to shine, and the rocks trembled,
and the earth broke open, and the dead would come forth, I'd
believe her. And if when they took him down
from that cross before he died, he prayed for those who nailed
him there. And if when they took him down
and put him in that tomb, that on the third day he'd roll the
stone away and walk out. I'd believe her. And if forty
days later he stood on a mountain and while the disciples stood
around and watched him, he ascended right up into the very presence
of God. And once again the angel stood
beside these people who watched him go and said, this same Jesus
is coming back. I'd believe her. That's why I
believe the Lord. He fulfilled the Scriptures.
He fulfilled the Scriptures. That's the foundation of faith. Old Simeon stood there and they
brought that child and put him in Simeon's arms and he said,
Now Lord, I'll die. I've seen your salvation. Alright,
in closing, I want you to look at the results of Paul's message. He preached the Scriptures. And
he openly, openly declared that Christ has come. Jesus is the
Christ. He died and rose again. Verse
4, some of them believed. Verse 5, some of them didn't
believe. And those that didn't believe
got mad. And they stirred up everybody in town. And they couldn't
get to Paul and Silas, so they got Jason and his friends, the
other believers, out. And this is what they said. They
said to the rulers, these fellows that have turned the world upside
down, they've been in our town. They've been preaching. And these
men had reached a conclusion from the message of Paul. They
had arrived at a conclusion. They were going to sum up what
Paul was preaching. in just a few words, and this
is astounding. I was reading this out in Texas
the other day, and it occurred to me, I wonder what folks would
say is the summary of your message and my message. I'm not talking
about a believer, I'm talking about an unbeliever, an outsider,
an unbiased person, a person who just heard us preach and
heard us talk and heard us sing. What would they say we were preaching?
Just summarize the whole thing. What would they say we're preaching?
Well, you know what they said when they summed up Paul's message?
They said, these fellows have come down here preaching that
there's another king. That there's another king! That's
the summary, that's the conclusion they came to after Paul's message
was put. That Jesus Christ is not a pitiful,
defeated, intimidated, frustrated failure. That wasn't the conclusion they
got from Paul's message. They didn't come to the conclusion
that Paul was preaching that Jesus wanted to do something
and couldn't do it, that he was crying his eyes out because the
world wouldn't let him have his way. They came to this conclusion
that this Jesus is more powerful than Caesar, more demanding than
Caesar. There's another king named Jesus. He's Lord, sovereign, absolute
monarch. This was the conclusion. And
I'm telling you, that's what Paul preached. I don't know what
we're preaching this day, but this is what Paul preached. And
let me show you something here. The thief on the cross, do you
know in what character that he believed on Christ? Now this
thief on the cross was saved. We know he was saved. Christ
said that he went to glory. He wasn't a theologian. He wasn't
a deacon, an officer in the church, or a preacher. But we know he
went to glory. Christ said, today shalt thou
be with me in paradise. Do you know on what grounds and
in what character that he believed on and received Christ as Lord
and King? He looked over there and he said, we are receiving what we deserve.
But this man had done nothing amiss. Lord, remember me when
you come in your kingdom. You're a king, you're not going
to stay dead. You're a reigning monarch, a sovereign ruler. Remember
me when you come in your kingdom. Do you know when Saul of Tarsus,
listen to this now, on the road to Damascus. When was Paul saved? When he meet God, on the road
to Damascus. When he told others about his conversion, he went
back to that time. That's when he met the Lord.
In what character did Christ reveal himself to us? Paul fell
down on his face before the Lord, and he said, Who art thou, Lord?
Who art thou, Lord? And our Savior said, I'm Jesus
of Nazareth, whom you persecute. Now listen to him, Lord, what
will you have me do? Lord, what will you have me do? Our master is Lord Thomas. Thomas, after the resurrection,
when this whole thing cleared up for Thomas, in what character
did he worship the Lord Jesus? He fell at his feet and he looked
up and he said, my Lord and my God. I know that today, and I hope
you're understanding what I'm saying, I know that today the
emphasis is upon Jesus saves, or Jesus the Savior. Accept Jesus
as your Savior. And the whole world's done that.
And it hasn't affected their thinking, it hasn't affected
their lives, it hasn't made them servants of the Lord, it hasn't
changed their their attitude, it hasn't changed their spirit,
it hasn't changed their directions, it hasn't changed their occupations,
it's had no influence on them. But now then, those who have
received Christ as Lord, as King, as sovereign ruler, It's changed
everything about them. They're under new management.
They're under new control. They're dominated and controlled
by a king. By a king. You see what I'm saying? I hope
you see what I'm saying. Because that's the conclusion.
When these people listened to Paul, the conclusion they came
to was this, that he's preaching there's another king. Caesar
didn't mind another Savior. He could put up with that. That
still may have left him to be the king. Caesar could put up
with another religious leader. That's all right. You can have
all the religion you want to have. Caesar doesn't care. Caesar
could put up with another so-called influence or social pattern. But Caesar ain't going to move
over for another king. You see what I'm saying, Charlie?
I don't know what I'm getting through or not on this thing,
but Caesar's not going to put up with another king. And I see
all these pop singers getting religion, accepting Jesus as
their Savior, and they go right on rocking. And I see the Hollywood
stars, they accept Jesus as their Savior, and they go right on
Hollywooding. And I see the hot shot hoop-de-doo. Entertainer gets saved and he
goes right on hot-shotting it, you know. You see, Caesar doesn't
care. The world doesn't care how much
religion you get. They don't care how much doctrine
you believe. They don't care how much, how
much, how much form and ceremony and rituals you go through, bowing
and scraping, you can crawl, you can wear crosses, wear them
so big that you have to have a support to hold your shoulders
up, you know. They don't care. Caesar doesn't
care.