Why Do Many Depart From Faith

I request you to open your Bibles
again to Luke 11. Now, beginning at verse 14, the
Scripture tells us that our Lord cast out a dumb demon spirit,
and when the demon had gone out, the person spoke, and the people
wondered, the people were amazed. But some of these Jewish leaders
who hated Christ, who sought to discredit his ministry, his
word, said, he casteth out devils, demons, through Beelzebub, the
chief of demons. To which our Lord replied, now
this is important, he set a kingdom that is divided against itself
is brought to destruction. A house divided against a house
will soon fall. Now, he said, if I cast out devils
by the power of Beelzebub, the chief devil, then how shall Satan's
kingdom stand if he cast himself out? The devil would be destroying
his own work. He would be destroying his own
purpose. He would be defeating his own
design. Now he said, you say your sons cast out demons. I
don't know whether they did or not, but this was their claim.
Perhaps they did. But he asked them this question,
by whom do your sons cast out devils? You say they cast them
out by the power of God. Why do you judge me on a different
basis? Why do they cast them out by the power of God and I
cast them out by the power of Satan? They, he said, will be
your judges. If I cast out the devils by the
power of God, then the kingdom of God has come among you. But he says in verse 21, actually
the only way that the power of Satan can be broken, the only
way that Satan can be cast out, the only way that Satan can be
dethroned, is for one who is stronger than he, the power of
God. to come upon him and overcome
him, to defeat him, and take away his power, take away his
armor, divide his spoils, and drive him out. That's the only
way that Satan can really be cast out, is one stronger than
he. You see, verse 21, when a strong
man, Aaron, keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. But when
a stronger than he shall come upon him, and this is the only
way that a sinner can actually be saved. The only way that the
power of Satan can be broken, the only way that the power of
Satan can be defeated, the only way that Satan can be driven
out of a sinner's heart and a rebel's life is for God to do it. That's
the only way. One stronger than he. The sinner
cannot do it because he's not stronger than Satan. The church
cannot do it because the church is not in itself stronger than
Satan. Only the power of God. You remember when Michael, turn
to Jude chapter 9, in Jude 9, when Michael the archangel, now
we are lower than the angels, and here Michael the archangel
in Jude 9, when he contended with the devil, he disputed about
the body of Moses, he did not bring against the devil a railing
accusation, but he said, Satan, the Lord rebuked him. The Lord's
the only one who can. Job was no match for Satan. We're
no match for Satan. The only one who can conquer
Satan and overcome him and drive him out is one stronger than
he. He's stronger than we. And so this is the only way that
Satan's power can be broken. This is the only way that he
can be driven out. But every exit of Satan is not
Satan-driven out. We see in verse 24, when the
unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he goes out willingly. Here's a picture of a voluntary
exit. He goes out willingly, he walks
through dry places, he finds no rest. Whatever he's looking
for, he doesn't find. He says, I'll go back to my house.
It never ceased to be his house. It was his house when he was
there. It was his house when he left. It was his house when
he came back. Now you have a house. You live there. You own it. You
control it. You're the head of that house.
You go on a vacation. Nobody drives you out. You go
out because you want to. And you go on for two weeks,
and when you get your vacation over and finished, you say, I'm
going back home. You get in your car and you drive back home,
you've got the key, you open the door and you go in. It's
your house, it's your house when you left, it's your house while
you were gone, it's your house when you came back. And here
Satan left, but he was not driven out. He was not conquered, he
was not overcome, he was not forced to leave. And therefore
he came back. He came back. And when he returns
to that empty house, he brings more devils in with him. And
the last state of the man is worse than the first. Now, if
you listen to these words of our Lord, you see how they started?
He was casting out demons, and that's what salvation is. It's
our Lord, by the power of his Spirit, conquering Satan. We
are servants of sin. We do the bidding of Satan, we
do the will of Satan, we walk according to the prince of the
fire of this area, the children of disobedience, just like the
others, you know, children of wrath, we do the bidding of Satan,
and Christ comes when he saves us, and he breaks sin's power,
he conquers Satan's power, he drives him out. But now, every
time Satan leaves is not conversion. Because he can leave on his own
accord, he can leave when he wants to, it's his house, he
can go and come as he pleases. And we're going to see, if you
listen carefully, if God will give us a little liberty tonight,
you're going to see the difference in true conversion and false
conversion. Now true conversion, our Lord
was casting out demons. And these people said, now you're
doing that by the power of the devil. No, he said that's not
so. He said a kingdom divided against
itself wouldn't stand. Satan's not going to cast himself
out. That would defeat his purpose. That would defeat his designs.
That would destroy his work. He's not against himself. The
only way that Satan can be driven out is for one stronger than
he, on purpose, to come in and conquer him and overcome him
and take his armor out of his hands and divide his spore and
send him running. And that one is God. And God,
when he runs Satan off, he sets up his throne and his kingdom. And it's not Satan's house, it's
God's house. Your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost. Satan has no rights to it any
longer. He has no claims on it any longer.
He can't come back If he did try to come back, he would be
driven away again. And that's that's true conversion.
It's a work of God It's a powerful operation of grace It's a work
of God in which the forces of evil are overcome by the power
of the Holy Spirit and cast out forever Now, false conversion
may be termed, as we'll see, a reformation. It may be a profession
of what a person doesn't really possess. It may be a temporary
change. It may be a religious enthusiasm.
But it's the absence of God, and for a time, the absence of
Satan. It's the absence of God, the
living God, the true God, and it's also Satan leaving a man
alone for a little while, but not for long. Now let's look
at true conversion first of all, beginning with verse 21. Here
Satan is called a strong man. When a strong man, now if you
want to know how strong he is, now God is omnipotent, almighty. David said, our God's in the
heavens, he hath done whatsoever he pleased. This Bible teaches
that God controls all things, that God rules and reigns and
does his pleasure in creation, in providence, in salvation,
that he cannot be defeated. He said, can I not do with my
own what I will? He told the prophets, he said,
go down to the potter's house, I'll show you my power, I'll
demonstrate it to you, I'll illustrate it. He said, you see that potter
working with the piece of clay on the wheel? He said, he makes
that vessel as it pleaseth him. Can I not do with my own what
I will? Israel is the clay, I am the potter, and I'm able to make
of the same lump one vessel under honor and another under dishonor.
God's almighty. He's sovereign. But Satan is
powerful. He's not all-powerful, he's not
almighty, he's not omnipresent. He's not God. But if you want
to know how strong he is, ask Mother Eve how strong he is.
He is a strong opponent. He's subtle, he's crafty, he's
deceitful, he's a liar. He's strong, he's powerful. He
conquered her. Ask Job how strong he is. Here
Job is sitting one day on top of the world, and the next day
the world's caved in on him. All the work of Satan. by God's
permission, but the work of Satan. Ask Job how powerful Satan is.
Ask Solomon, perhaps the wisest man who ever lived on this earth,
other than, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ. But Solomon was
outwitted by Satan. Solomon was outwitted. His heart
was led astray by Satan. The apostle of our Lord, himself,
who boasted, I'll never deny you. Though these other fellows
might deny you, I never will. I never will. And our Lord said,
Satan, Peter, Satan hath desired thee that he might sift thee
as wheat. And that's what he's going to
do. He's going to give you a lot of trouble. And he did. He gave
him so much trouble. Satan hath desired thee. And
you know, when our Lord taught his disciples to pray, You check
this in some of your better translations of the prayer. He said, Forgive
us our sins. Lead us not into temptation.
Deliver us from evil. That is the evil one. That's
exactly what that verse says. Deliver us from the evil one. Don't turn me over to Satan.
God, I pray, don't turn me over to Satan. God, I pray, hedge
me about. Don't, don't subject me. to his wows and his subtleties. Don't do it. You think you're
immune? God may let you find out someday
just how strong he is, but he's a strong man. That's the way
he describes you, a strong man. And he's armed. What's he armed
with? Well, he's armed with lies. He's
the father of lies. And he is so subtle in his lies
that our Lord said, that he will deceive, if it were possible,
the very elect." That's how subtle he is. His lies make sense to
the natural mind. His lies make sense. The Apostle
Paul was worried about the early church. He said, I'm concerned
about you, I care, lest Satan, through his subtlety, like he
deceived leads you astray from the simplicity of Christ. Paul
was concerned about it. He's armed with life, he's armed
with pride. That's one of his chief allies.
Human pride. Human pride. Satan can do more
with human pride. Satan can destroy homes, he can
destroy churches, he can destroy mighty works, he can destroy
empires, he can destroy these things through pride. That's
all he needs. He works with pride. Your pride,
my pride, He sure does take that old ally pride, and he can absolutely
destroy you with it before you realize it. He's armed with the
lust of the flesh. He knows what you like. He knows
what you enjoy. He's armed with self-righteousness.
He's armed with prejudice and bigotry. That's one of his chief
allies, prejudice. He's armed with deceit. But by
any means, by any means, he keeps control of his palace. His palace? That's right, it says here, when
a strong man's arms keep his palace. What is a palace? Well,
a palace is the home of a king. And that's what Satan is, he's
a king. He's got a kingdom. It's a kingdom of darkness, it's
a kingdom of evil. But it's his kingdom. And when
he reigns in the human heart, he's king of the human heart.
Our Lord said, know ye not whom ye yield yourselves servants
to obey? His servants you are, his subjects. Turn to Ephesians 2, let me show
you. Ephesians chapter 2, you are his subjects. He said the
natural man is not the subject of King Jesus, he's the subject
of Satan. He's not the servant of King
Jesus, he's a servant of Satan. He doesn't do the bidding and
the will of God, he does the will of Satan. Look at Ephesians
2, verse 2, wherein in times past you walked according to
the course of this world, you walked according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our citizenship,
our behavior in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the mind And we're by nature the children of wrath,
just like everybody else. Satan was king, he reigned in
our hearts. He controlled us. And when in
this condition, when the natural man, that strong man, Aaron,
keeps his palace, his kingdom, his castle, his goods are in
peace. His goods are in peace. Now,
there is a peace which the natural man has. Satan gives him peace. He cries peace. There is no peace,
but he cries peace. Satan makes the conscience lie
still. And this is the kind of peace
it is. You can go up to a lot of worldly people, people who
do not know God, who have no love for God, no knowledge of
God, and tell them, you're not at peace. They say, you're a
fool, I'm in perfect peace. And they are at peace. They have
a certain peace. It's an outward peace. Turn to
Psalm 73. David describes it here. And
do you know something? This bothered David, that the
wicked had peace. That's right. It bothered David.
He was concerned about it. It troubled him. He said in Psalm
73, verse 3, look at it. I was envious at the foolish
when I saw their prosperity. the prosperity of the wicked.
There are no bands in their death. They died contented. Their strength is firm. They
are not in trouble. They are not plagued. Pride compassed
them about as a chain. Violence covered them as a garment.
But their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than
the heart could wish They're corrupt. They speak wickedly. They use God's name in vain.
They speak loftily, proudly. They brag. They set their mouths
against the heavens. Their tongues walketh through
the earth. And God's people return hither,
and waters of a full cup are flung out to them. They say,
how does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most
High? Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world, increase
in riches. Have I cleansed my heart in vain?
Have I washed my hands in innocency? All day long I'm plagued and
chastened every morning. Oh, they have peace. It's an
outward peace. Who needs Christ? Who needs a
new birth? We're happy. We're enjoying life.
Their laughter is loud. Their jests are endless. They
have peace. Peace. Not a heart peace, but
it's peace. And then secondly, it's a peace
that comes through ignorance. They're ignorant. You can't have
a man worried about sin who has no knowledge of sin. Paul said
that. He said, I didn't know sin until the law came and I
died. Paul was at peace. He'd run around
killing Christians, putting to the sword men who loved God.
and had perfect peace about it. In fact, Christ our Lord said
to his disciples, the day will come when the people who kill
you will think they are doing God a service. They are ignorant. How can a man worry about judgment
when he doesn't know anything about judgment? Worry about eternity
when he is ignorant of eternity? There is a preacher standing
one day talking to an unbeliever, a rebel. And talking about death,
and the unbeliever said, well, preacher, I'm not afraid to die. And the preacher looked at him
and said, well, see that old mule out there in the field?
Old mule standing out there with his ears up, you know, and chewing
on something. The preacher said, you've risen
just about as high as that mule. He's not afraid to die either. He's not afraid to die either.
That doesn't mean anything. Peace that comes through ignorance
is not peace. Now, the man who can claim peace
is the man who knows what a sinner he is, and he knows something
about God's righteousness and God's judgment against sin, and
something about death and judgment and eternity, and he can still
rest in Christ. That man knows what peace is.
And then this peace is a thoughtless peace. A man receives a letter,
gets a letter in the mail. He doesn't open it. He gets the
letter and sticks it in his pocket. And he goes around with that
letter in his pocket for days and days and days. Has fun, lives
it up, has a big time, eats out, has enjoyment, all these things.
This letter in his pocket, unopened, is a warning that there's a plot
against his life. And people have risen up against
him and are going to destroy him. And that letter is unopened.
He keeps it in his pocket. And when he dies, Somebody opens
the letter, and there's all the information about this plot against
his life. And somebody said one time, the
Bible is to most men God's unopened letter. Here's all the warning
right here. And we don't read it. It's a
closed book. It's an unopened letter. So men
have peace because they never open the letter. They never read. And then it's a superstitious
peace. I'm okay, you're okay. Seen that book? You're not OK
and I'm not OK. We're in trouble. We need mercy. We need grace. Let men have a
superstitious peace. I'm OK. Everything's all right. I've got my profession of religion.
I've been sprinkled as an infant. I was raised in a Christian home.
My parents were Christians, you know. I go to church on Easter,
Christmas. I pay my dues to the church. I treat my neighbor right. I
hang on to these traditions, these superstitions. I was reading about Joab. This
is a sad story. Joab was a great man, wasn't
he, Charlie? He was a great man at one time.
God used him. But old Joab, he just got messed
up. And he killed two, as Solomon
said, two men much more righteous than he. And then when God made
Solomon king, Joab sided against him. He sided with that fellow
Adonijah. And Solomon had to put him to
death. And King Solomon sent out the
decree that Joab was to be slain. And they started hunting him.
And you know where they found him? Joab ran in the tabernacle
of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar, and there
he sat, hanging on to his religious ceremony, hanging on to his religious
profession. And they came back and they said,
Joab's down there in the temple, in the tabernacle, hanging on
to the horns of the altar. Solomon said, tell him to get
out of there. They went down and told him, he said, I'm not
going to leave, I'm staying right here. He thought that would protect
him. He thought from the hand of Solomon, the fact that he
was in the tabernacle, holding on to the altar, to the very
horns, right there in the tabernacle, that nothing could touch him.
Men today hang on to their baptism and their sacraments and their
catechism and their covenants and all these things. Nothing
will harm me here. Solomon said go down there and bury him right
where he's sitting. And they went down there and
killed him right there on the altar. And that's what God will
do with our superstitions, too. But this strong man, armed with
lies and deceit and pride and all of these allies of the flesh,
he keeps his palace, and his goods have a certain peace. There's
no warfare, there's no trouble, until something happens. And
that's when one's stronger than he. When the Holy Spirit comes
upon that sinner and the Holy Spirit of God performs a work
of grace and reveals sin and reveals satanic influence and
power and reveals inability and gives that sinner a hunger and
a thirst for righteousness, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes with
all of his armed with truth, armed with beauty, armed with
grace and mercy, armed with the good things of God. And he comes
and the battle is not between me and somebody else. The battle is between my Lord
and Satan. Let my people go. Moses went down there to Pharaoh
and he said, Let my people go. And God Almighty comes to Satan
and he said, That one's mine. Let him go. Turn him loose. And
our Lord Jesus Christ came down here and engaged in conflict
with the forces of evil to redeem my soul. And he met everything Satan could
throw at him, he even met everything heaven threw at him. The holy
law of God, the hatred of men, the justice and righteousness
of God, and the subtlety and craftiness of Satan himself.
Our Lord Jesus Christ for a time was in the hands of wicked men,
for a time was in the hands of Satan up on the mountain. And
for time was in the hands of God Almighty in his wrath and
judgment, and he conquered all. He paid the debt in full. And
he disarmed Satan, took his power away, took his government away,
took his reigning scepter away, took his control away, took his
influence away, and drove him out. That's right. Oh, we've still got a body of
death and a body of sin, but it's not Satan. It's flesh. There's a difference. There's
a difference. Satan, Satan, not there. Christ
is there. He set up his throne. He raised
his banner to the top of the flagpole. This is my territory. That's what Christ said. This
belongs to me. Not some little old silly decision that a fellow
makes, well, I believe I'll run Satan off and join the church.
Yeah, you've got your hands full running Satan off. You've got
your hands full running yourself off, let alone him. You can't
do anything with yourself. You don't have the power to straighten
yourself up, let alone straighten him out. It takes God to conquer
Satan. It takes God in the flesh to
satisfy the law and deal with the forces of evil. We wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers
and rulers of the darkness and spiritual wickedness in high
places. We deal with one not who can
create, but one who can sure destroy creation. And he did. He destroyed God's creation. We deal with one not who can
save, but who can damn. We deal with one not who can
build, but who can sure destroy. We deal with one who can take
even the perfect Adam and make him rebel against his God. And you think you're safe? Who
can take Peter, one of the chosen eleven, and make him swear he
doesn't know his Lord. That's power. But this is salvation. All right, but now let's look
at a false conversion. Christ, our Lord's talking here,
and He's dealing with conversion. He's talking about Satan. And
that's what the difference is. If a man is unsaved and unregenerated
and unredeemed, Satan is his God. He are of your father the
devil, Christ said, his works you'll do. You're not of God. He that is of God, here's my
word. And Satan is armed and keeps
his palace, and he's not going to give it up unless somebody
stronger than he comes upon him and conquers him and overcomes
him and disarms him and drives him out. And that's what Christ
does in salvation. That's what he did to the Apostle
Paul. He unhorsed him. He put him in the dust. He broke
the power of Satan. He drove Satan out. But now,
look at this. You want to know why some folks
depart from a faith? Well, watch this. Verse 24, when the unclean
spirit, that's Satan, demons, is gone out of a man. Now watch
this. He left. He was not driven out. He left. There was no conflict. He wasn't conquered. He wasn't
overcome. He wasn't disarmed. There wasn't
any battle. He was not overcome in a conflict
at all. He went out, you want to talk about free will? He went
out of his own free will, Charlie. He just walked out. There's free
will right there. He said, I'm going to leave this
place a little while. And he left. You see that happen
all the time. A fellow's a sinner yesterday
and he's a saint today. Oh, he doesn't know anything
about the work of the Holy Spirit, he doesn't know anything about
mourning over sin, mourning apart, he doesn't know anything about
repentance, he doesn't know anything about seeking the Lord, he doesn't
know anything about saving grace, he doesn't know anything about
substitutionary work, he doesn't know anything about conflict,
he just decided that he'd go to heaven instead of hell. Preacher
told him said you believe this you believe that you believe
that yeah, I believe that well Come on down here now and give
me a hand or write to me or call some personal worker on the phone
And they'll talk you right into heaven That's what's being done no conflict
Pick up telephone your center. Yes, sir. You believe the Bible.
Yes, sir You won't be saved. Yes, sir. You believe Christ
died on the cross. Yes, sir. Will you say I am? Thank you
Oh send us $10 and hang up. That's what's happening. No conflict
there. He left. This is just exactly
what's happening. We get these junior boys and
girls, and we talk them into a profession. We bring a high-pressure
evangelist in. He comes in with a chalk artist
and a hornblower, and he comes in with a singer and put on a
show, and they preach a sermon and tell some stories and a few
jokes and an illustration, and the choir sings softly, just
as I am, all heads bowed. Anybody here want to go to heaven?
Come on down, come on down. And they come down, no conflict,
no mourning, no beating upon the breast, crying, God, be merciful
to me, O sinner. Lord, save my soul. Can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? Died he for me who him to death
pursued? Can it be?" No wrestling, no
conflict. He just left. He just left. But I'll tell you this, sure
as you're a foot and a half high, he'll be back. He'll be back. I tell you, if God didn't save
you, He'll be back. If God didn't do a mighty, conquering,
overpowering work, He'll be back. He may stay gone 5 years, 10
years, 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 months, I don't know, but He'll be back.
He'll be back. You belong to Him, and He'll
be back. Satan he'll be back and he did
and you know what turn to Matthew 12 now this this story of our
Lord is in another place in the scripture in Matthew 12 and He
said this this demon this evil spirit. He came back to his house
and Matthew 12 44 says this and when the unclean spirit comes
back, verse 44, he said, I'm going to go back to my house
from whence I came out. And when he's come, he found
it how? Empty. Empty. Empty. You know how I know this man's
not saved? Because the house is empty. And where Christ dwells,
it ain't empty. He fills it with himself, with
his fullness. This place is empty. It's dead
empty. Christ doesn't dwell there, or
Satan couldn't have come in. But he came in, the door was
unlocked, it was open, it was a lifeless place. It was empty
of grace and empty of God and empty of glory and empty of anything. It was empty of Satan. He found it empty. Now a man
who has been born again is not empty. Christ said, I and my
Father will take up our abode in him. And then he found it swept. It
wasn't washed, it was swept. You know what sweeping does?
Sweeping takes away the loose outward dirt. He quit drinking. He quit swearing. He quit going
to the places of the world. He stood like the Pharisee, and
he said, Lord, I thank you. I'm not like other men. I'm not
an extortioner. I'm not unjust. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not even like this publican.
Christ said, you're outwardly clean. Inwardly, you're full
of dead men. You swept up the loose dirt.
You've moved the boulders. You've moved these outward things.
But down underneath, It's still rotten, putrid, full of jealousy
and envy and hatred and malice and all these things. He found
it swept. It's a pretty neat looking place.
Pretty neat looking. And then thirdly, he found it
garnished. You know what the word garnished
means? It means decorated. He found it decorated with pictures.
He had a picture of Christ over here on the wall. He had a crucifix
over here. He had a picture of Christ in
the garden. He had a picture of the Lord carrying the sheep,
you know. He had all these religious slogans hanging around everywhere.
Only one life will soon be passed, just what's done for Christ the
last. He had all these slogans, these pictures, these crosses,
all of this sort of thing. All sorts of religious ideas. All sorts of religious clichÃ©s.
He had theology. He had books on prophecy and
all the answers to the unanswerable, you know. He had all that junk.
But all of us cold and dead and lifeless. Nothing but an outward
show. So you know what the old demon
did? You know what he did? He went out and got himself more
demons. And he moved in with that whole
crowd. And you know what our Lord said? Verse 26 of Luke 11,
back to the text. He came back. He came back. He didn't, he wasn't driven out,
he walked out of his own free will. And I'll tell you, these demons,
if you'll check, when they speak, the man speaks. You remember
when our Lord came to the man in the tombs, and he gnashed
his teeth, and he said to the Lord, have you come to torment
us before our time? Those demons and that man were
inseparable. And that's the reason when Christ
saves a sinner, the man suffers under conviction and under the
work of the Spirit and under the slaying of the Spirit. That's
the reason the man feels it. It's Satan that's being whipped
in him, but that man's being whipped by God. Because though
Satan motivates us and Satan produces our evil, we do it. We do his bidding. And that's
what conviction is. He said, this is my house, this
place where I live, this is my palace. And when Christ, when
he takes over and moves in, he's got to move Satan out, got to
defeat him, overcome him, drive him out. But now Satan may leave. And when Satan leaves, the fellow
that's been doing the blasphemy, he quits blaspheming. He used
to say God's name in vain and every other word, but he got
religion. And the demon of blasphemy is not there anymore. He's out
trying to run around through dry places. And so you say, well,
man, it's easy to quit my drinking and quit my swearing and quit
this and quit that. Sure it is. But you wait until
that old boy comes back. He'll be back, and you'll find
out. And you know what happens? He
brought seven other demons with him, and I'm going to tell you
what some of them are. First of all, he brings with
him the spirit, and that's what demons are, they're spirits.
Demons are not little imps running around with pitchforks with pointed
tails and red and cloven hoofs. Demons are spirits. And he brings
back with him the spirit of self-justification, like Adam. That rebel who got
religion can find someone to blame now for his indifference.
Never himself. Never himself. What have you
done, Adam? Well, a woman, that's who did
it. It wasn't me. The woman, what have you done?
It's the serpent that you made, it wasn't me. You see, the fallen
one always justifies himself. He may be hiding from God, he
may be running from God, he may be naked, he may be trying to
cover himself, but when God confronts him, he's going to justify himself,
and if anybody else confronts him, he'll justify himself. We
always find a reason for where we are. We may be in the wrong
place, doing the wrong thing with the wrong people, but we'll
find a way to justify ourselves. If he's not in God's house worshiping
God, he's got a good reason. If he hadn't prayed for a week,
he's got a good reason. If he hadn't studied God's Word,
he's got a good reason. If he's doing this, that, he's
got a good reason. That's that spirit of self-justification.
I tell you another spirit he brings with him, that's the spirit
of pride. refused to be taught. You know, the impossible person
to teach anything about God's Word is the fellow that's had
religion and lost it. He's as hard as nails. He won't
listen to the preacher of the gospel. He's his own teacher.
He's his own theologian. He refuses to be humble. He's
gospel-hardened. He's got all the answers. You
can't teach him a thing. You can teach a babe. You can
teach a sinner. You can teach a beggar. You can
teach a stripped man, but you can't teach one of these religious,
fallen people. They won't listen to you. They
won't even attend church. And then he brings with him not
only the spirit of self-justification, the spirit of pride, but he brings
a critical spirit. The most critical people on earth
are those who have had religion and lost the joy of it, and lost
the reality of it. They're not what they ought to
be. They'll tell you that. I'm not what I ought to be. But neither
are you. They'll let you know that right
now. And they search out other people's weak points. They search
out your weak points. And they find your weak points
to give them comfort. Did you know that? You'll be
doing business with them. They've had religion, you know,
and lost the joy of it and lost interest in it. They're indifferent
now. But they'll watch you. And you'll do something wrong,
they'll say. Now, I thought you was a Christian. Oh, they love
that, you know. They like to get something on
you because it makes them feel so good. It justifies them. Hmm? I know what I'm talking
about. I've been around people long enough to find out some
things. That critical spirit. Critical. Oh, how critical. And
then they get the spirit of covetousness. I've seen this a thousand times,
roughly speaking. But all of the interest and energy,
you know, when that demon first leaves, boy, they're on fire
for God, they're on fire for religion, on fire for somebody,
and they've got all that interest and energy and enthusiasm, and
then when they lose it, they funnel it into another direction. Flesh, the pursuits of the flesh,
they get a spirit of covetousness. You know some of the Some of
the most well-to-do people on earth are people that used to
be on fire for God. Fleshly comforts replace spiritual
comforts. You see, at one time they found
temporarily some comfort in this book, and now they find it in
plush luxuries of the flesh. I'm telling you the truth, and
that's an evil spirit, an evil spirit. You think God, you think
all of our prosperity is of God? If you do, you think wrong. Spurgeon
said, for every one man I've seen fall because of poverty,
I've seen 50 fall because of riches. The wise man said, Lord,
keep me from riches, lest I forget you. Keep me from poverty, lest
I steal. I don't want to go either way.
But this is the spirit. When that old demon comes back,
he brings a spirit of covetousness, covetousness. And all of that
energy and interest and zeal that once was funneled in the
direction of knowing God and loving God and walking with God,
well, he's lost that. Some God, his idea of God, at
least religion, and he's got it funneled over here into the
flesh. And then he brings with him a
spirit of presumption, some kind of false refuge, lulls him to
sleep. And somehow he feels like, well,
I'll be all right. I know that I don't have what
I ought to have. I don't have even all that this
book says I ought to have and know God, but somehow I think
I'm going to be all right. I think that when I'll stand
at the judgment, I'll say, Lord, now wait a minute. I built things
in your name. I prophesied. I preached. I cast
out demons. I did all these things. I never
knew him. The thief on the cross didn't
do any of those things, but he knew him. He knew him. And you see this spirit, here's
another spirit that goes right along with this one. is the spirit
of misplaced values. The spirit of misplaced values.
You hear this man standing at the judgment, and he thinks God
thinks like he does. And he's talking to God about
material things. Lord, I did this, that, and the
other. Works. And God's talking to him about
love, about a knowledge, a saving union. I never knew you. That's
where it is, salvation is in knowing God, not doing for God,
in knowing God, not serving God. Christ said I didn't come to
be ministered unto. I wish we'd quit using this term,
and I guess it's all right, but I guess it bothers me a little
bit, serving the Lord. I'm not serving the Lord. The
Lord is serving me. He said I didn't come to be ministered
unto. I came to minister and to give
my life a ransom for many. I know what you mean. I know
what you mean. I know that we've adopted these things, and I don't
know whether we ought to maybe not use that type of language
because Brethren, when we've done everything that we are required
to do, we're still unprofitable servants. We haven't done anything.
We give God back everything he's given us, we haven't given him
anything. And actually, if I have any ability to preach, it's not
my ability, it's him. If we have any grace, it's not
our grace, it's his. If we have any fruit, it's not
our fruit, it's his fruit. That's what's wrong with all
this rewards in heaven junk. That's what it is. It's just
trying to get people to serve God down here so they get a yo-yo
to play with in heaven. Maybe they'll have a crown a
little higher than somebody else's, or a mask a little bigger than
somebody else's, or a car a little longer than somebody else's,
and they can brag throughout eternity about what they did
and what the other fellow didn't do. But why should God reward
me for something I didn't do, something He did? Anything this
church accomplishes, we don't do it, God does it. Let God reward
Himself. He is our reward, he is sufficient. And then what Job 27, and I'll
quit. Job 27, Job 27, this old demon of indifference,
the demon of indifference. Job 27, verse 8, What is the
hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained? If God takes
away soul, will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him? Will he delight himself in the
Almighty? Will he always call upon God? No. Now, that old spirit
of indifference will rob him of what he called prayer, what
he called worship. what he called that sweetheart
love. You remember when Brother Barnard used to preach to us
from John 21 on sweetheart love? He read a scripture in Revelations,
he said, you left your first love. If Christ is your love, your
first love, you'd never leave him. He grows sweeter every day.
And he sat Peter down beside that fire and he looked at him
and he said, Peter, do you love me? Do you love me?" And he asked
him that three times. Do you love me? Well, feed my
sheep. Feed my sheep. Old Peter had
run out. He'd gone fishing. You know, the disciples were
up there in the upper room, and the Lord had risen, and they
didn't know about it. And Peter looked. Fishing was
his life. Fishing was his work, his vocation.
And they sat around and looked at each other for a little while.
The Lord was dead. Their hopes were dashed to pieces, and he
looked around to the rest of them, and finally he said, well,
I'm going fishing. I'm going fishing. I'm going back to where
I come from. I'm going back to where I was. I'm going back to
doing what I was doing when I met the Lord. I'll see y'all. They
said, wait, and we'll go with you. And they was all out there
fishing. And that's when the Lord appeared to them on the
bank, and he called them ashore. And that's when he sat that old
boy down across the fire and looked at him and said, now you
love me. Now you feed my sheep. you come home to your first love.
And if you ever had one, you will. And if you didn't, you'll
just keep on going into that horrible, horrible blackness
of indifference, all the time thinking that everything's all
right. Satan's deceitful. He's deceitful. Our Father in
Heaven We thank Thee for speaking to us through Thy Word. We believe
that Thou hast made known to us that which is written, that
which our Lord preached on this occasion. And we thank Thee for
the liberty we've enjoyed. We thank Thee for the Holy Spirit
bringing us a message and the warning which we have in Thy
Word. Lord, O God, if I have not loved Thee before, let me
begin today. If mine is a false profession,
a temporary reformation, if the evil spirit has gone out and
this is his house and he'll be back, O God, conquer him. Drive
him out. Reign. Let Christ reign. Let Christ be enthroned. Deliver
us from the evil one. In the name of the stronger one,
we pray. Amen.

Why Do Many Depart From Faith

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Why Do Many Depart From Faith

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