The Missing Note In Present Day Preaching

We're going to do a little plowing
today on this telecast. As old Dr. A.D. Muse from Louisville,
Kentucky used to say, we're going to do a little cornbread, tater-row
preaching, plain language. I'm speaking today on this subject,
the missing note in present-day preaching. The missing note in
present-day preaching. We've got to have a text if we're
going to preach a sermon, so we're going to take John 16,
verse 8, for a text. And when he is come, he will
convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. My friends, faith is the product
of preaching. Preaching is mighty important.
Our Lord was a preacher, so our Lord began to preach. And the
apostles were preachers, and then when our Lord went back
to glory, he told his disciples to go into all the world and
preach the gospel. And faith is the product of preaching. Whatever belief you hold, whatever
belief you hold, are the results of the preaching you've heard.
You maybe do not know that, but that's true. Faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Now, if you've heard
the true word of God, you've got true faith. If you have heard
a false presentation or interpretation of God's word, you've got a faith
that's false. It's in a false doctrine. So
faith is the product of preaching. That's how important preaching
is. I'll tell you something else. A knowledge of God is the product
of preaching. What you know about God, or what
you don't know about God, is the result of the preaching you've
heard. That's right. What you know about God, about
His attributes. What do you know about God's
attributes? about his purpose, about his glory, about his dealings
with men. Whatever you know or whatever
you don't know is the result of the preaching you've heard.
And then I'll tell you something else. Our religious conduct is
the result of the preaching. It's the product of the preaching
that we've heard, our attitude toward God. If there's no fear
of God before their eyes, well, a God who should be feared has
not been If there's no belief in the power and sovereignty
of God, then a sovereign God has not been preached. If there's
no faith in a just God and a redeeming God, then it's because a just
God and a redeeming God has not been preached. So what you know
about God's dealings with men and God's attributes and God's
purpose is the result of the preaching. It's the product of
the preaching that you've heard. Now this is true. There's no
question about it. There's something missing. in
present day preaching. Why do I say that? Because true
faith is hard to find. True, saving faith is hard to
find. And a right knowledge of God.
This is eternal life, to know God. Not just any God, not a
God, the true and living God. That's what Christ said. This
is eternal life, that they might know thee, the true and living
God. And there's very little knowledge
of God. And there's very little proper godliness and righteousness,
what's all but non-existent. The dishonest church member is
the rule rather than the exception, as it ought to be. You're going
to find tares among the wheat, but who would ever think that
we're living in a day when wheat would be hard to find among the
tares? Or we've got large church buildings,
we've got them on every corner nearly, but most of them stand
empty most of the time. That is, except for a dutiful
Sunday morning formal ceremony called a church service. And
we've got millions of Bibles. They're just everywhere. Everybody's
got one in his home, but they go unread. There are millions
of Bibles, but folks don't know what's between the covers. They
know there's a book in there called Genesis, and maybe one
called John, and maybe one called Revelation, but they don't know
anything about the rest of the Bible. And then we have moral
reformation, but most of it is like the Pharisees, whited sepulchers,
inside full of dead men's bones, appearing beautiful to men, but
God looks on the heart and God's displeased with what he sees.
We have a superstitious regard for religious things. That's
right. Nearly everybody goes to church three times in his
life. He goes there as a baby to get sprinkled. And he goes
there as a young man to get married. Folks just wouldn't think about
getting married except in church, you know. They may never darken
the door any other time, but they go there to get married,
and then they go there to get buried. They wouldn't think about
having a funeral without having a preacher. The preacher may
not even know the man's name. He may have to read it in the
paper. But they wouldn't think about being married or buried
without a church service or without a preacher because they have
superstitious They have superstitious ideas regarding religious objects
and ceremonies and rituals, but the rest of their lives they
live totally without God. Without any thought of God, without
any communion with God, without any faith in God. Everybody believes
in heaven, everybody wants to go there. But a living union
with Christ? A day-by-day walk with God? It's
unheard of. We have orthodox fundamental
doctrine. Most people believe that the
Bible is the word of God. Most people believe that God
created the world. Most people believe that Jesus
Christ came into the world and died on a cross, was buried,
and most of them believe that he arose again. And most of them
believe that he's coming back. And most of them believe there's
a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. But where, oh where, are
the new creatures in Christ Jesus? Where are those who have been
lifted? and exalted, those who have been washed and cleansed
and made new creatures in Christ Jesus. There's something missing. Where is the love for God and
love for one another? I'm talking about real merciful
love, forgiving love, gracious love, kind love. Where is it?
Where is that joy of the Holy Ghost, that joy in Christ, and
joy in God, and joy in life, and joy in death, that joy of
which Paul spoke when he said, for me to live is Christ and
to die is gain? Where is that? The world in which
I live, even the religious world, is a world of murmuring and complaining
and fault-finding and griping. Where is the peace? There's no
peace anywhere today. There's no peace in the heart,
there's no peace in the home, there's no peace in the church.
You know that. Something's missing. We're products
of the preaching we've heard. And our knowledge is a knowledge
that we've acquired from listening to preachers. And our attitude
and our conduct is a result of the preaching we've heard. And
if this is the result of the preaching we've heard, then something
deadly is wrong. Something's missing. And it's
time somebody pointed it out. Where is the peace? Where is
the patience? Patience in trial, patience in
affliction, patience in need. Anybody can have patience when
the sun is shining. Anybody can have patience when
the bills are all paid and everybody is well and everything is coming
up smelling like a rose. But when the day is dark and
the clouds are heavy and the rain is falling and there is
no light to be seen, that's when real faith is manifested. Patience,
waiting upon God, long suffering, It's able to say with Job, well,
here I sit, on the dunghill, scraping my balls with a piece
of glass, broke, but God gave and God took away, praise the
Lord. Where is that? Where is the gentleness
and goodness, the kindness? Where is the faith to overcome,
to walk with God every day, through everyday difficulties? Where
is the humility? It's a forgotten virtue. Something's
wrong. There's a missing note, and I
think I know what it is. I think it's found in John 16,
verse 8. And our Lord said this, when
the Holy Spirit is come, he will convince the world of sin. He will convince the world of
sin. What we're missing today is Holy
Spirit regeneration, Holy Spirit quickening, Holy Spirit conviction. Someone said, men are saved today
who've never been lost. They said, men are built up today
who have never been brought down. Men are healed who've never been
emptied. Men are healed who've never been
wounded. Men are given hope who've never
been without hope. That's what's missing. A real
saving experience. Men are given grace who have
never been guilty. Men are exalted who have never
been humble. They know not what it is to be
humble. Men are given a hope for heaven who have never, ever
repented of sin and fled to Christ for mercy. My friend, the Holy
Spirit never, never, never takes a man to Calvary for peace until
it takes him first of all to Sinai to be slain by the law.
The Holy Spirit never clothes a man with the righteousness
of Jesus Christ until that man has been stripped, literally
humbled and stripped of his own pride and self-righteousness.
That's what God did to Saul of Tarsus. He was a religious man,
but a cruel person. He was an orthodox Pharisee. Concerning the outward law, he
said, I was blameless, but he was a cruel man, breathing out
threatenings and cursing and going to destroy people for their
faith. And what did God do to him? Before
God ever exalted Saul of Tarsus, he brought him down, he humbled
him, he broke him. Before God Almighty ever gave
Saul grace, he brought him to the place of guilt. before God
Almighty ever raised Saul out of the depths of sin. He showed
him he was in the depths of sin. The Holy Spirit never speaks
peace to a sinner until he has grieved over his guilt. That's
what's wrong with the preachers that are going out today, crying,
peace, peace, when there is no peace. There is no peace. In Psalms 107, you ought to read
that sometime, that whole chapter. It starts out this way, Psalm
107, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Whom he hath redeemed
from the hand of the enemy, from the north and the south, the
east and the west. They wandered in the wilderness
in a lonely way. They found no city in which to
dwell, hungry and thirsty. They cried unto the Lord in their
trouble, and he delivered them out of their distress. First
God shut their mouths, first God stripped them, first God
humbled them, first God broke them, and then God spoke peace
to them. Our Lord one time was having
dinner in the home of a wealthy religious Pharisee. I don't know
why the man invited him there, but he did. So Christ went to
the home. And in those days they had a
table, round table, in the center of the floor, and the would recline
while they ate. They would recline on pillars
and their feet would be out behind them. They would be reclining
this way while they were eating around the table. And while he
was there reclining and eating, a woman came through the door.
She was a notorious person. Scripture says she was a harlot,
she was a sinner. And she came through the door
and she stopped at the feet of Christ and knelt down and began
to weep. And she washed his feet with
tears. And then she dried them, she uncladded her hair, and she
dried his feet with her hair, and then she began to kiss his
feet. And the religious Pharisee, moral man, was sitting up there
in his chair, he was watching all that, and he turned to someone
next to him and he said, now, if that fellow were a prophet,
if he was really a prophet, he'd know that woman's a sinner, and
he wouldn't let her touch him. And our Lord knew what he was
thinking. because Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. And he
looked up at him and he said, Simon, I've got something to
ask you. And Simon said, well, say on,
Master. He said, Simon, suppose that a fellow owed a debt of,
say, 500 pieces of gold, an enormous debt. And he didn't have a dime. He couldn't pay a, not a cent,
not a cent. Simon, and the man to whom he
owed the 500 pieces of gold, forgave him completely. Now,
there's another man who owed this same person only ten pieces
of gold, and he also was forgiven. Now, Simon, which one of them
will love his benefactor the most? The man who owed him five
hundred and was forgiven, or the man who owed ten and was
forgiven? Simon said, why, the one that owed him five hundred,
the one to whom he forgave the most. He said, Simon, I came
into your home. And you gave me no water at the
door to wash my tired, dusty, weary feet. But this woman, since
I came in, has not ceased to bathe my feet with tears. And Simon, you gave me no kiss
of greeting when I came through your door, not a kiss of greeting,
not a warm welcome. This woman, since I came in,
has not ceased to kiss my feet. And Simon, you didn't give me
any oil to anoint my hot, weary head when I came into your home.
This woman has not ceased to anoint my feet with precious
oil. Simon, her sins, which are many,
are all forgiven." You see what I'm saying? The mercy of God,
where is it? It's down at the feet of Christ.
And you're never going to find mercy until you find yourself
there. Now, too many of you preachers and deacons and Sunday school
teachers and religious and moralist and self-righteous religious
Pharisees are sitting up there in the critical seat. You're
sitting up there in the righteous seat. You're sitting up there,
you've never been humbled, you've never been a sinner, you've never
been lost, you've never been stripped, you've never been to
the slain of the Lord, you've never been brought through the
slew of the spawn, you've never been there. And therefore you'll
never hear him say, peace. And that's the reason they have
to get you to sign a pledge card to come to church. If you love
Christ, you'd worship him. To whom much is forgiven, they
love much. That's the reason they have to
twist your arm to get you to read your Bible, your daily Bible
reading. That's the reason they have to put the pressure on you
to get you to come to prayer meeting once in a while. That's
the reason they have to serve corned beef and cabbage down
at your church to get anybody to come down there to a missionary
meeting. It's because they don't love
Jesus Christ, and the reason they don't love him, they've
never needed him. They've never been lost. That's the missing
note in this present-day preaching. Preachers are trying to get folks
saved, they're not lost. They're trying to wish Jesus
Christ on a bunch of people that don't need him. They've never
been at the feet of Christ, they've never been broken, they've never
been shamed, they've never been humbled, they've never been stripped,
and consequently, they've never been saved. You can go on playing
church until you wind up swearing on a stack of Bibles that you
know God, while he says, depart from me, I never knew you, if
you choose. But I pray daily, Lord, break my heart. Lord, humble
me. Lord, strip away every self-righteous
fig leaf. Lord, show me who I am and what
I am, and shut me up to faith in Christ. More love, O Christ,
to Thee. More love to Thee. May I ever
be more loved to Thee." Our Lord gave another illustration in
Luke 18. I want you to listen to this
one. Here is the missing note. He said in Luke 18, verse 10,
two men went up to the temple to pray. One of them was a Pharisee,
that's the religious moral fellow, and the other a publican, a sinner,
no count sinner. Now the Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God I thank you I'm not like other men. I'm
not like other men are, they're extortioners, they're unjust,
they're adulterers. Well I'm not even like this publican.
I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift
his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast and cried, Lord,
be merciful to me, a sinner." Now, let's look at these two
men. Our Lord is illustrating what our problem is today. Number
one, the Pharisee. made his way into the temple,
right up to the altar, to the holiest place. He was familiar
with it all. He felt that he had a right to
be there. He was very familiar with the
temple and with holy things. He felt that he had a perfect
right. He was a good man, you see, a moral man, a religious
man. He was a man who fasted and prayed and gave alms and
tithed everything he possessed. He had a right to be there. He
wasn't like these other people. He wasn't an extortioner. He
wasn't unjust. He wasn't an adulterer. He belonged
there. But the publicans stood afar off. He didn't feel worthy. of the presence of the Lord.
He was a guilty sinner who felt unworthy in the presence of the
Lord. And he stood afar off. Someone
said he left room between him and God for a mediator. Maybe
he's like those people over there in Exodus 20 when Moses gave
them the law. The scripture says they stood
afar off from that smoking holy mountain. And they said, Moses,
talk to God for us. Don't let God talk to us lest
we die. Get between us and God. And that's
what this old publican's doing. He's standing afar off. He doesn't
feel worthy to come stomping up in his natural flesh into
the presence of God. This Pharisee also looked toward
heaven. And I'm sure he spread his hands
in a manner of obedience. That's the way they used to lift
holy hands in prayer. And he spread his hands in obedient
submissiveness to God. But the publican would not. He didn't say he could not, he
said he would not. He would not lift so much as
his eyes, let alone his hands. He wouldn't lift so much as his
eyes to heaven. His downcast eyes revealed his
shame. It revealed his grief over his
guilt, and his downcast eyes showed the state of his heart,
ashamed, embarrassed. in the presence of the Lord.
He would lift his hands and his eyes to God. He was unworthy. What did he do? Well, the Pharisee
literally denied his sins. There's no confession in anything
he says. It's all a self-righteous listing
of his good deeds. I thank thee, God, I'm not like
other men. Have you ever heard people talk
that way in this day? But I've never tasted a drop
of liquor in my life. I've never played a game of cards.
I've never been inside a theater. I've never danced. I've never gambled. I've never
done it. Lord, I'm so glad I'm not like other people. Other
people are awful. They're extortioners, unjust,
adulterous. Why, Lord, I fast and I tithe
and I give alms. I'm not like other men. I live
a moral life. The publicans smote upon his
breast. You know what that says to me?
That says that he knew the source of sin. He smote upon his breast. He looked to his heart. He knew
his heart was the source of sin and the fountain of sin, and
he was smiting his breast, crying, O wicked heart! O wicked heart! My friend, sin is not just an
evil deed, it's an evil thought. Sin is not just hate, it's the
absence of love. Sin is not just stealing, it's
ingratitude, or covetousness, or dissatisfaction with what
God's given you. Sin is not just murder, but it's
envy, jealousy, hatred, lust. God doesn't see as people see,
God sees the heart. And that's the reason our Lord
said, out of the heart proceeds those things that defile a person.
Out of the heart the mouth speaketh. He said, what you put in your
mouth doesn't defile you, that just goes down into your stomach
and is cast out into the draft. It's what comes out of here that
defiles you. For out of the heart proceeds,
Matthew 15, 17 through 19, out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornication, false witness, blasphemy. And
here this Pharisee was talking about what he hadn't done and
what he had done. and the publican was smiting
his breast, crying, oh my wicked heart, oh my wicked heart. The reason the Pharisee felt
superior to the publican was because he was blind to the state
of his heart. And then what's this? The Pharisee
dealt with trivial matters, and that's what most preachers and
churches are dealing with today, trivial matters. I tithe, I fast,
I pray, I give on. Paul says that's dunghill garbage.
He said, I did all that for God's sake. He said, I was a Pharisee
of Pharisees, concerning the law blameless. I was a Hebrew
of Hebrews. I was a tribe of Benjamin. I
exceeded many my equals. I count these things but dung,
that I may win Christ and be found in him. I did all this,
he said, for God's sake. This Pharisee was dealing with
trivial matters. Isaiah called it filthy rags. The publican had nothing to say
about his so-called good deeds. He prayed about important things.
You know what he prayed about? He prayed about sin. God be merciful
to me, a sinner. He prayed about mercy. God be
merciful. He prayed about sacrifice. God,
let your blood be propitiation for me on the mercy field. This
publican went straight to the Father. Straight to the Father. He didn't go to a soul winner
or a preacher. He didn't do that. He didn't
get sidetracked. He went straight to the Father. He knew what David
knew. My sins are against God. I've
got to deal with God. I can't stop and deal with you.
I've got to deal with God. He went straight to the Father.
And he prayed for mercy. I don't know what he knew about
the atonement. He'd seen the morning, evening sacrifice, I'm
sure, the Lamb slain. But this is literally in the
Greek what he's saying. God, accept the sacrifice and
show mercy to me. That's what he's praying. You
ask anybody that knows anything about the Bible, and that's what
this man's saying. God, be propitiated toward me
in mercy. I'm a sinner. He acknowledged
his sin. He didn't say, Lord, I'm a reformed
sinner now, I'm a church member, I'm a penitent sinner, I'm a
praying sinner, I'm a whitewash sinner. No, he just said, I'm
the sinner. Definite article. God be merciful
to me, the sinner. This is the missing note. We
don't have any sinners. We don't have any sinners. A
sinner is a sacred thing, the Holy Ghost that made him so.
They're hard to find. A self-confessed, unadulterated,
bona fide, genuine sinner who needs Christ is hard to find. But our Lord said, you know,
they complained about him eating with the Pharisees and publicans.
He said, I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save the lost. Listen to this, "'Twas for sinners
that he suffered iniquity, ruin, and hell.'" Can you doubt that
you are a sinner? If so, then bid all hope farewell. But believing what is written,
all are guilty, dead in sin. Look to the crucified Savior,
and hope shall rise thy soul within." This is a faithful Savior,
and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners. If there is a sinner out there,
I point you to Christ, and I say, look and be saved. These messages
are on cassette tape. We'll be happy to send them to
you if you want to hear them. There's a small charge. The tape
is three dollars, but it contains two sermons. If you'd like to
receive them, you write to me. The address will be given to
you by the announcer. And join us next week for the broadcast.
Until then, God bless you, everyone.

The Missing Note In Present Day Preaching

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The Missing Note In Present Day Preaching

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