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The
Laodicean Church
Christ, my
friend, is screening the professing church. Many are being
spewed out. There were many different things down through
here that stirred Christ when He wrote the letter. When He
saw sin and corruption working, His eyes were as a flame
of fire. Brother, He was ready to burn it up, but this
condition today, that the professed people of God has
gotten themselves into---it doesn’t stir Christ. It
makes Him sick. Why? Back here He was stirred---He was
ready to fight for them. Why? They didn’t have a full
light. They didn’t know how to do better. But, Brother,
here we’re boasting of an evening light, when full light
has returned, and then living such low lives. We’ve got
everything we need for understanding. He has given us the
greatest message that any man ever stood on the earth and
preached. Talk about the morning church---they had nothing
beside our message. We have a message that brings the
church clear through. We have a weapon against every
falsity that the devil ever came up with. God is ready to
fill us with His spirit. Then, my friend, when we live
along side, and lock arms with the world, brother, it
makes Christ sick. We see a ministry standing up and
trying to split the Scriptures---they’re worse than a
bunch of lawyers. Do you know what a lawyer does? When
you’ve done wrong, he will hunt the law books through
and try to find an alibi for you. You go to camp meeting
now, when you want to get your soul heated up, and all you
do is get a guy that gets up there and searches the
Scriptures through and tries to find a loop-hole to let
you have your worldliness and ungodliness and still be the
people of God. Christ said, “It makes me sick!”
I went to a camp meeting
when the Lord awakened me on these things. Now, I thought
it was me, and my wife thought it was me, and a lot of
people thought it was me---a man stood up and said, sin is
still sin, but what is sin? He started back with the older
brethren---they said wearing a necktie was sin. We found
out it wasn’t. He mentioned several other things---never
used a Scripture, just made statements. Sin is still sin,
but what is sin? He left those people in a vacuum as to
what sin was. I got sick. I don’t mean, I got sick,
spiritually; I got sick, physically. My stomach was upset.
I had a little fever. I went to the car and I said to my
wife, I’ve got to go home. We got in the car, and got
out on the highway, and she preached me a message, bless
her heart! She did it for my good, I guess. She said,
“You have to get over this.” I said, “I’m
trying.” She said, “You can’t just get sick because
everybody won’t hold the standard up where it
belongs.” I said, “Well, maybe I can’t.” The
nearer home I got, the better I felt. I was laying on my
bed that night, and Jesus came to me. He said, “Don’t
feel too bad, son, it makes me sick too.” God blessed us
with facilities, gave us the “greatest message that ever
was”. Our congregations in the great camp meetings are
loaded with afflicted ones, crippled---oh, it breaks my
heart! People coming in on crutches, blind, deaf, lame;
sinners on every side, and men bound. Then, God gave us a
Word, and a Spirit to deliver mankind; and then get up and
fool around and play around and waste the time. My Lord,
and my God, what is the judgment going to be for us, if we
don’t wake up out of this condition? I won’t hurt
anyone---these things lay heavy on my heart. Somebody
said, “Who are you responsible for?” I’m responsible
for my life, and those that hear me. It’s all the
farther I can go---and pray for others.
Lord, help us to see,
that we’re in a Laodicean age, a mixture of hot and
cold. This lukewarm business comes from mixing cold and
hot together again. All over the country there is some hot
ones and some cold ones mixed together. Somebody said,
“What are we going to do?” God bless your heart, if
that place is cold and dead, if man rule has taken it over
and you cannot pray the thing out, run for your life!
Brother, there are more, cold there, than there are hot.
You’ll be cold too, in a little while. If you can’t
heat it up, run for your life! May we not be deceived,
Christ gave us counsel for this age.
Now, I know some disagree
with the seventh seal message, but they wouldn’t if they
would sit under it and study it. It’s not what it’s
branded to be. The church got into trouble all through
here, when the time, came, Christ opened the seals and
gave them light to get out. I told a group of ministers,
when they questioned me the other day about preaching it,
I said, brother, it is nothing more than God opening the
seal to show His Church how to get out of this
lukewarmness and this dead condition. It’s nothing, of
setting up another organization, or nothing like that. No,
the people of God have just been living on too low a
level, and He is calling them to that height of a
spiritual position, that they need to come to. Oh, it
won’t put us on a bit higher plane, than the early
reformers had. No, we have lowered the thing from there,
as a whole. God is calling, to put her back there. Why? He
is going to present Himself a glorious church, without
spot or wrinkle. Amen!
We read in the 22nd
chapter of the Revelation, verse 10, where the angel told
John to seal not the book, for the time is at hand. When
the sixth seal was opened, there was still a portion of
the Word not opened. Some of it was sealed up, but thank
God, when He broke this last one, which does nothing more
than takes us through this Gospel Day again, only a little
more implicit; it gives a little greater understanding
about this lukewarmness and how to war against it; how to
lead people out of it. Thank God, He said, “The time is
at hand. Seal not the book,” (no part of it). It’s
open now---the book is opened up completely. We’re
ready, we’re in preliminary judgment and ready for the
final judgment. Now, don’t be deceived. If lukewarmness
has got hold of you, don’t you know, just like back
here, God charged the pastors. What for? He’s sending
judgment for leading His people from the old paths. He’s
charging some right now that calls themselves the Church
of God. He’s going to chare some pastors. Why? They’ve
led His flock from the straight and narrow way. They’ve
led them out there and they have lost their resting place.
They’re in an uneasy state. They’re even seeking for
pleasures in the world again. Why? They have lost their
resting place. Now, you are to be pitied, if a preacher
has led you astray, but if God has brought you light and
shown you your condition, and you will not come back,
you’re not to be pitied any longer. Don’t forget,
Christ is the good shepherd. He’s the chief shepherd
over all the under shepherds, and He said, “My sheep
hear my voice, and they follow me.” What did He say? He
didn’t say to reconsecrate. He said, “Repent.”
Repent from what? Repent from the sin of lukewarmness.
Repent, take My counsel, get white raiment, get your eyes
anointed, which is always a symbol of the baptism of the
Holy Spirit. Old Saul got his eyes anointed, and then he
could see. Let’s get our eyes anointed, so we can see,
get on white raiment, buy of Me gold tried in the fire.
God has got His church in
the fire. Yes, He has, but listen, when the goldsmith got
the gold in the fire he never goes very far from it. You
know how long he leaves it in there? The goldsmith just
leaves it, (the gold in the fire) until he can see his
face in it. That’s when he knows it’s pure (gold).
Even so, Christ is going to leave His Church in the fire,
until He can see His own glorious image there. Thank God,
when He sees that, He’ll pull us out because we’ll be
pure gold. All the dross will be gone.
Brother, when we’re
pure gold, one brother said---pure gold is 24 carat. It
is. When we become pure gold, we will fit the symbol in
the Revelation; the four and twenty elders, 24 carat. They
symbolized the church. God wants to make us pure gold. May
we be awakened. If you’re sick of this condition, of
good and bad sporting together---only one thing to do.
Step away from the bad; step to higher ground. All of
these many beasts, that the church met, had heads, but
there were two things the church had that none of the
beasts had. God gave her two wings. They can butt their
heads and blow their horns, but they can’t fly. So the
only thing for the church to do is to take wings and fly
above this mess!
Listen to the Spirit of
God. Let God lift your burden, put you on fire, where you
can go back to your places. If you will let Jesus work you
over and fix you up until you are His workmanship again,
you will not have to go back to your congregation with
your head down, wondering if it’s going to affect you,
and cause you to lose that which you have. If you get
enough of this fire, you can go back and set that place on
fire. We’re expecting a great fire to break out over our
country, that’s what we are praying for. We don’t want
it just here; we want it everywhere. We want the light
here, and there, and everywhere. It’s our only hope,
individual-wise and nation-wise. It’s America’s only
hope---getting back to God. We don’t need guided
missiles. We need guided men and women. All this group
right here---if we could get this group right here, to
everyone go home and get out the family altar, and pray a
hole right straight through to heaven, brother, we’ll
have an effect on this world. They’ll move, if we’ll
get hold of God and use the weapon of prayer that God has
given us, and live, my friends, as God would have us live.
There can no country touch us, unless God says so. Talk
about an iron curtain, that’s nothing beside a wall of
fire. A wall of fire will melt down the iron curtain. God
showed old Israel what He would do for us as a people, if
we would serve Him and be obedient. What did He say?
I’ll fight your battles, and there gathered in the
hundreds and thousands, and all God had to do, was to just
send an angel down through, and fluttered their wings, and
knocked the whole business out. Amen!
Brethren, we’re serving
a God that will do literal things and physical things for
us, if we will put Him first in spiritual things. First,
seek the kingdom of God, then all His righteousness, and
all these other things will be added unto us. Our Country
is suffering as a nation because of her own doings. May we
realize and get back to God. Friends, there’s no greater
time to start than right now. Start your way. Don’t
“lay this book down” and remain lukewarm. Get on fire.
Stay in the furnace until God brings you out. Folks
sitting beside me all have come out as pure gold. Thank
God, come and meet His conditions, let Him lift you, let
Him put the fire of God in your soul; get to the place
that you can enjoy this thing instead of enduring it. Do
you know why I am preaching the Gospel? I’m preaching it
because I want to. I’m preaching the Gospel because I
would rather do it than eat. I would rather do it than
anything else in the world.
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