In
Luke, the 19th chapter and verse 41, we read about Christ
entering into Jerusalem. We live in a day when we need to
go back to the truth, that is, to get back to the Word of
God. Too many people in the world and alas, in the
religious realm today, are like Pilate, who said,
"What is truth?" Many know that we need the
truth to set us free. Well, we need to get that truth out
to the people. When Christ came near and beheld the city
of Jerusalem, He wept over it. If Christ would come and
behold us as a church today in our city, would He not weep
over us also?
Why did
He weep? They were crying, "Hosanna, Peace on
Earth." But they did not know anything about peace.
There are some things that go with peace and you cannot
get peace without them. Let us consider another thing
about Christ's entry into Jerusalem. Christ told them to
get a mule, the foal of an ass. That did away with Christ
coming In a triumphant way. That put an end to all the
splendor and Christ setting up a literal kingdom. No, He
came meekly and sitting on the foal of an ass.
He told
them where they could find a mule, the foal of an ass.
There is a significance here, that may be passed up -- a
colt that no man had ever sat on. Just any colt would not
do. Down through the history of Israel, the king rode on a
mule. He rode that mule until it died and nobody ever sat
on that mule, but the king. The mule was white. When that
king died and they were ready to crown another, the mule
was passed on. Whenever anyone saw someone riding that
mule, they knew that He was a king.
In first
Kings, we read, "The King, David, said: Call me Zadok
the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of
Jehoida. And they came before the King. The King also said
unto them, Take with you the servants of your Lord, and
cause Solomon to ride upon my own mule, and bring him down
to Gihon." It was in this way, that he let all Israel
know that Solomon was his successor. "But when Christ
entered Jerusalem, he sat on a mule that no man had ever
sat on before Him. This is a kingdom to be set up, not one
that is being handed down. This is the kingdom of God and
not one of man. So, no man had ever sat before on this
mule. Men who handle the mule, know that you do not stay
on a mule's colt the first time you try to ride on it.
Moreover, the crowd was crying out, throwing their hands
in the air, and there was much excitement. In the midst of
it all, Christ rode that mule straight into Jerusalem. The
mule acknowledged his Master, even If man did not. Why was
it--that Jesus wept? Because; they did not know the things
that belonged to peace. We are living in that kind of a
day and age.
People
come to an altar when they have a need, but they need too
get on a foundation where they can stand, no matter what
comes. God wants His people to get to a place of good
solid ground and get an experience that, whether it rains
or shines, they can go right on through, any way. We will
'look at these stones.' It would be foolish for a farmer
to try to work the areas, which are very stony. A farmer
knows better than to sow in a stone patch. So, he picks up
the stones and clears the ground, before he begins to do
anything else. May God help the ministry to realize that.
The
stones are impediments that would hinder the growth of the
plant, as they would absorb the moisture that belonged to
It. Because of this, Jesus said, they never get a real
experience of salvation. The stones lay on the surface of
the ground as a sign to all, that the earth is thin and
there is solid rock underneath, and not too much soil to
work with. This is a picture of a hard hearted individual,
who is utterly selfish and has no capacity for
self-denial. Let us get a true picture of this type of
individual. There is a quickness of comprehension, for he
is able to take hold of the Word quickly. This type of
Christian is often heard shouting in the services on
Sunday but we seldom see him in a prayer meeting. And, why
not?
There is
no depth, or true root, or love of God or appreciation of
God in his heart. His is just a light emotional case--just
beneath the surface. Christ would have us know, in a case
like this, the heart is still cold as a rock. In the 11th
chapter and verse 19, we are told concerning the people of
today (the time of Christ's coming) "I will take the
stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of
flesh." In Proverbs 4:23 we read: "Out of the
heart are the issues of life." The heart is the
center of all. If we can get a people with a new heart, we
won't have to deal with so many old issues.
When we
get a new heart within us, we will get a new Issue. Paul
picked up that very fact when he said, "If any man be
in Christ he is a new creature. Old things are passed away
and behold all things have become new." When he gives
us one heart we will act alike and we will 'walk the same
walk.' Listen to this: "I will take the stony heart
out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that
they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances to do
them." They shall be my people. Who? The people that
really get a new heart and walk in His statutes and keep
His ordinances to do them.
But there
are some other stones. In Isaiah 6:3, God gave a
commission to the ministry. It takes the love of God to
pour out the 'wrath of God' upon a false spirit or system
and yet have enough of the 'love of God' that the man you
are preaching to will know that you love him even as you
are preaching and pouring out the truth upon him. It is
one of the dangers of this age that the enemy strives to
get a group of people to compromise or apostatize and turn
from the truth and then he strives to get others to
despise them. But you have to love them and if a brother
errs from the truth, God bids us to convert him and not
'brush him off' and say we are none of his any more. This
"groupitis" is one of the worst things that ever
hit God's people, and the first thing I am confronted with
is, "What group are you with?" I just answer,
"I am a member of the group in the 14th chapter of
Revelation and the 15th verse; the one that 'follows the
Lamb whithersoever He goeth,' also, those 'standing on the
sea of glass, mingled with fire,' the one that 'has
victory over the beast and over his image and his mark and
the number of his name.' I believe 'that answer,' takes
care of any of the devil's work that he has come up with
or that he can come up with. If we are not careful, the
enemy will do a destructive and terrible thing to the Body
of Christ. You don't need to put any emotion in 'this.'
God's already put enough in it. If you pour this Word of
God out on any man, and he is guilty, he is hurt bad
enough without you giving him a 'cold shoulder.' Some
people 'wither under it.' It let's us know what kind of an
experience they have.
I don't
think we've preached anything yet, that's not Bible --
just 'raised the sun' a little. The divine ploughman or
minister has a big Job. In Isaiah 62:10,God says to the
ministers: "Here is your commission: Go through the
gates, prepare the way of the people. Cast up the
highway." Now, why can't the people 'get along' with
the ministry preparing the way? Why do we get all these
sects and divisions? Because. 'False ministers' have also
prepared a way. But the prophet said: "Woe be unto
the pastors who have scattered my flock." Christ
said: "There is one way." And He prepared a
ministry to tell of that one way that He prepared. Any man
that is saved is in the 'hollow of God's hand' and is in
God's fold, and unless a false preacher 'let's the fence
down' some place, the sheep will not get out.
"Prepare a way for the people. Cast up the
highway." If you ever get on the 'highway of
holiness' you are as sure of Zion as If you were there
already -- because that is where it ends. The 'way of
holiness' leads to Zion. The way is so simple, that a
wayfaring man, though a fool need not err therein, and
again, it is only understood by those who pass on it.
When the
Word of God goes forth, it reveals to every man, 'where he
stands' before God. A sinner can't stand, because he
withers under the preaching of God's Word. God does not
want people deceived as to 'where they stand' in His
sight. He does not want them to think they are alright,
when they are not 'where they should be.' Thank God,
through the name of Jesus there is an ointment, that
contains an oil, to heal every sinful condition --
whatever It may be. If ever you have real peace in your
heart, you will have to have the wounds of sin completely
healed.
People
today are in the "sin more or less" business;
crying peace when there is no peace. The 'sin business'
must be completely stopped. The seeming healing is like
the cancer or some other terrible sore which has part
healing over the outside and it leads one to believe that
it is healed, when it has only 'crusted over.' And If
'that place' remains healed, it will 'come out' some other
place. Why? Because. It is in the blood stream. Christ
does not heal from the outside. He goes to the seat of it.
God covers it with His own precious blood and purifies the
very seat of infection in our lives. He puts a new heart
within us. Again, I say, we cannot have peace without
righteousness.
"Mercy
and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have
kissed each other." Psalm 85:10. "For the law
was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ." Mercy and truth have met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. John 1:17.
If you want righteousness, peace will come right along. Do
you want peace? You will have to take righteousness too.
They are living together in Jesus Christ. "And the
work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of
righteousness, quietness and assurance forever."
Isaiah 32:17.
"The
work of righteousness shall be peace." "Who is a
wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show
out of a good conversation his works with meekness of
wisdom." James 3:13. Verse 14, "But If ye have
bitter envying and strife In your hearts, glory not and
lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from
above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." Verse
15,"For where envying and strife is, there is
confusion and every evil work." Verse 16, "But
the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then
peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy
and good fruits, without partiality and without
hypocrisy." Verse 17, "And the fruit of
righteousness is sown in peace of them that make
peace." Righteousness and peace go together. You will
never know an ounce of peace until you become a righteous
Individual.
That is
why Christ wrote to the church of Laodicea (the day and
age in which we are living) "You are wretched, you
are miserable." God's people who have apostatized and
compromised are miserable. They have forgotten their
resting place. They have gone too far back into the world
and are reaching out into It. Why? They are not getting
any satisfaction out of their experience.
Who is a
wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show
out of a good conversation his works with meekness of
wisdom. Christians biting one another? Christian
cannabalism? (Backbiting) If you bite one another you are
consuming one another, and where there is strife there is
confusion. The wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable. You have to be righteous, you have to be
pure to know an ounce of peace, also gentle, and easy to
be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality. (There is a lot of earthly and devilish wisdom
going around) Also, we must be without hypocrisy; the
fruit of wisdom is sown in peace.
Do you
want peace? Then sow righteousness and bring forth a crop
of peace. You just cry "peace" where there is no
peace, If you are not living right. Peace is the result of
righteousness.
'Light'
evangelism is a curse to our land -- 'this business' of
'raising hands' and making 'mass decisions' for Christ
without the bed rock repentance required in the Word of
God. Some people who do not look deeply into the results
declare that they are doing good. They (the evangelists
who do this) are sowing seed in stony places and so
erecting a wall about them, making it all the harder to
reach them with the real Gospel message of truth. It is
not making a decision for Christ under the influence of
the service, but the singing of touching Invitation songs
and the melting death bed stories that cause them to
decide for Christ and then when they leave the service are
soon led away. One cannot make a real decision for Christ
merely under the singing of songs and death bed stories;
also, the telling about heaven and not explaining that
they will have to remain a few years and fight the devil.
In
Revelation 14:8, we read about the pouring out of the
vial. The opening of the sixth seal happened about 1880.
God gave a commission to His ministers to leave Babylon
and pour out the truth upon her and avoid the plagues that
were to come upon her. So, the 6th seal ministers put up
their Revelation charts and poured out the truth on
Babylon. People 'came out of her' and stood for truth
against ridicule and persecution. But the Word of God says
to give her a second cup. Now who is going to give her a
second cup?
In these
last days and right here on earth it must be done. We have
a generation of young people who have never heard such men
preach as F.G. Smith or C. E. Byers and other of the older
brethren who were true to the call. The cup must be poured
out on them also. The fourth seal was poured out on the
sun, the very New Testament. What for? To revive the
people and put them in a position to pour out the last
three, which are no more or less (but just expanded a
little) a repetition of the first three of the same
message, "Come out of her my people." Roman
Catholicism would tell you that they are not what they
used to be, but there is the same spirit, backed by the
same evil power that has always backed up this great false
system and God wills to have the truth poured out on them.
We are
living in a day and age of which Paul wrote to Timothy
that perilous times would come in the Church. The world
has always been in a perilous condition. But in these
times people will profess to love God and love the world
and worldly pleasures more. Ministers say that they cannot
get people to attend services on Sunday nights. Why? They
want to go boating, or driving, or watch television. These
are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a
form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof. The
ministers of these people say: "We are still
preaching the Word." Maybe so, but where Is your
power? Old fashioned Holy Ghost power still makes the
sinner tremble. If you give them a vision of hell under
the power of the Holy Spirit it won't run off them like
water off a duck's back. I saw a man standing in the back
of the building, shaking under conviction and I went back
and laid my hands on him and said, "Brother, God
loves you." That man went to the altar. He said
afterward, "Brother, when you laid your hands on me,
God put me in the furnace." He had never sweat as
hard, unloading coal, as he did under conviction for his
sins; the power of God was working on his soul, and that
power is just the same today. Do not believe 'that
business' of 'no conviction' in these days, for sin. God
fashioned the hearts of men alike. If mankind is changed,
then Christ would have to change, but He is the same today
and forever; He will never change. His power is as great
as it ever was. And be sure my friends, that power from on
high will be given to the ministry of today -- that is
willing to pay the price. Thank God, I know when it came.
I know when God led me forth from the sixth seal, and gave
me a glimpse into the seventh seal age and touched my soul
with power that I might know, and sent me forth again with
something that gave me the greatest boost I have had in a
long time
Power has
been given to the ministry of today, who will walk humbly
and not be ashamed to be led of God, in this dark hour, to
scorch men with the truth of the Word of God. But why must
men be scorched? Too much man. "And men were scorched
with a great heat." Men are the only 'thing' that
ever gets scorched. This very movement that calls itself
the Church of God is becoming an organization of men with
its committees and societies and men, men, men. The
ministers are preaching men's thoughts, and reading men's
books, and repeating men's exerts. They think that people
won't receive a message any more unless Matthew Henry or
Adam Clarke, said so. These writers have given some good
words along the lines of history, but we are living in a
day and age when we can't afford to look back, but must
get our message fresh from God and march on from there.
The two
witnesses lay dead for 350 years or three and a half
centuries. The people gave gifts to one another, or gave
degrees of honor for learning and higher education. If you
see this happening around 'the Church of God,' then you
may know that this place is one, where the witnesses are
dead. When someone studies for a number of years, he of
course, is in a more 'elevated position' than his fellows,
and he gets to wear a black hat with tassels on it, and
gets a DD or something a little lower, for a present
bestowed upon him. But Jesus said we were all brethren,
so, if we are all on the same level, why bestow gifts of
honor and acknowledgement upon each other? When the two
witnesses are alive, God will give us all gifts. When
honor began to be shown one another, that is when all
'this kind of thing' got started in the church, and it
happened right among the saints in the church.
When the
saints get inflated ideas about being so big in their own
eyes, that they can learn nothing from the older brethren,
who have suffered, and sacrificed to carry this message
through the years, and we seek out a minister that,
although he has no vision of the true Body of Christ, the
Church, however, has won a degree in higher education --
and that degree Is supposed to qualify him to preach his
Ideas to the church. Well, we are just bringing in
'stones' from Babylon. Now, 'there' is where the trouble
started. Do not bring them, for we don't need them. We
have 'a foundation' and it does not include 'stones' from
old Babylon.
"Wilt
thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in
thee?" Psalm 85:6. I am a firm believer that we have
reached the time when this gospel is making it's 'last
round.' With plain and true preaching of the precious
Word, we will see old time rejoicing, see crutches laid
aside, see everything that the gospel brought with it in
the apostolic days. What are people rejoicing over today?
They are rejoicing over love instead of 'the lover,' and
over the blessing Instead of 'the blesser,' and over the
gift instead of 'the giver.' God wants the Church to
rejoice in Him even if He has done nothing outstanding at
the particular time. Do lovers wait to show their love
after some special attention? No. They love to be even in
the very presence of each other and it is not necessary to
perform some special deed of merit to praise and
appreciate one another. So our love for God must reach the
place where we can worship and adore him for himself.
