Playing Church Part 2

 

Paul, writing to the Galations, said, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ... If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:6-9). Then Paul wrote to Timothy, saying, "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away" (II Tim. 3:5). Again he said, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears" (II Tim. 4:3). The average person attending church today goes through a form of worship. His heart is not touched, and he goes back home or to work to live the same life he always lived. The Gospel is one thing, and one thing only, as stated in I Cor. 15:1-4, "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand... For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, or the Gospel of God, is the fact that Christ died on the cross as our Substitute, was buried as our Scapegoat, rose as our Justifier, and is revealed to the heart by the Holy Spirit. The Gospel is good news only to a guilty, lost sinner. If a sinner never stands before God guilty, with his mouth shut, which indicates he acknowledges he is guilty, the Gospel never becomes good news to that individual. In the average congregation today you do not find guilty sinners. For a sinner to be awakened to the fact he is lost is something unheard of in the average church. They have played church so long, and folks have gotten use to playing church, until they do not want anything else. Then when Holy Spirit conviction falls upon that audience, rebellion against God and His Word begins to be manifested. They have played church so long in their empty religious profession, until when a lost sinner comes into their midst, it is something unheard of. In the average seminary and Bible school they know nothing about lost sinners, or sinners being awakened to their lost condition. This has all resulted in bringing in "another gospel." This "new gospel" is a new type and kind of preaching. It employs the same language, but its content is not the same and its emphasis is not on total depravity, Holy Spirit conviction, and blood redemption in Christ. Its emphasis is on decision for Christ; they know nothing about Holy Spirit conviction and Bible repentance. They will use such expressions as old-time, sin-convicting or mourners' bench revival or heaven-sent revival, but they mean additions to the church and emotional arousement. When you begin to preach and drive the truth home to the hearts of individuals under the power of God's Holy Spirit until they see they have no foundation to rest their hope on, they will rise up in rebellion against you. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," will not bargain with the world. God does not run a bargaining counter. The glory of Adam's flesh must and will pass away, must and will come to an end. The Holy Spirit must and will wither the flesh of every sinner, whether in or out of the church in bringing that individual to Christ. He will come to the end of all flesh, because Gal. 6:14 says, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." When God gets ready to save a sinner, He sets aside everything that sinner is by nature, or ever hopes to be, and makes a new creation. Salvation is wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit through the Word. Paul said in Gal. 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God..." Brother, a sinner coming to Christ comes by the way of death. Salvation is a resurrection from death unto life. You don't play church under Holy Spirit conviction; Holy Spirit conviction breaks up the sinner's playhouse, and that sinner is made to face the fact of his own depraved, lost, wicked, corrupt condition out of Christ, and he is brought to the end of all flesh. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ recognizes that the sinner is under the law, has transgressed the law, and God's Word says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:4). The Gospel recognizes every sinner as guilty, judged guilty, and the sentence is death, but the Gospel has made provision for that guilty sinner in the death and resurrection of our blessed Lord. Christ died for guilty sinners, but the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus means nothing to that sinner who has never been convicted by the Holy Spirit and made to see and made to feel the keen sword of justice and the sword of total depravity in the depths of his own heart. That sinner will continue to play church until he sees the depths of wickedness in his own heart, and that his own soul is just a bottomless pit of Hell. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ recognizes the totally-depraved condition of every man and does not seek to mend or add to or make over or renovate that life, but the Gospel demands and gives a new creation in Christ Jesus. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make the blessings of the atonement effective and real in the hearts of God's children. But the average church member today has no clear concept of salvation in Christ: it's a "hope so," a "maybe so," a "think so;" and they live under the supposition that maybe they will be saved and go to Heaven when they die. This "new gospel," or "another gospel" that is being preached today, is not opposed to the human race, but rather friendly, and is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. The emphasis today is the church for the young people is on the social life. I received an invitation to join the softball league for the boys of our church life. Some of the churches will not allow boys to play on their ball team unless they are members of that church; they use that as a means to get the boys to join the church. What is this, but playing church! That group of boys is on the road to Hell - playing church! It is said that old Nero fiddled while Rome burned - how many of us preachers are playing church when our folks are on the road to Hell and don't know it! There is only one way to hold our young people to the church - preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ under the power of God's Holy Spirit until they are awakened to the fact that they are lost and doomed and damned and ought to go to Hell, and then turn to Christ for salvation. Then they are made new creatures in Christ Jesus (II Cor. 5:17). They will not love the world or the things in the world (I John 2:15-17) This "new gospel" preached today does not interfere with Adam's life, nor does it seek to change it, but lets the individual live for his own pleasure. They say, "We must direct the life of the individual." Therefore, they take delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies, instead of singing cabaret songs and drinking hard liquor; and today the converts of Hollywood are going a step farther and putting "be-bop" or "rock and roll" tunes to many of the religious hymns to attract the young people. Furthermore, they are making a move to update our church music, leaving out all the "Blood" songs, the songs of redemption and songs of our Redeemer. This "new gospel" puts emphasis on enjoyment, though the fun is now, they say, on a higher moral plane, if not intellectually. The "new gospel" brings the world into the church to hold its young people, to fill its pews, and to raise its finances. They continue the game of "playing church" while souls slide down to Hell without warning! The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ demands a complete abdication, surrender, and forsaking of everything in the heart that they might win Christ. Paul said in Phil. 3:7, 8, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." Then Christ, speaking to a group of Pharisees, said in Luke 14:33, "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." He said again in Luke 9:23, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." These are the demands of the Gospel; you will meet those demands or never be saved. You can't, within yourself; they must be wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit. This "new gospel" preaches similarities and makes no unpleasant demands, but offers the same things the world does, only on a higher plane. This new gospel seeks to give the sin-mad world what it clamors after on a religious basis. Today, if you are religious, attend your church, do the best you can, they'll preach you into Heaven when you die. But I want you to get this one thing - the cross is a symbol of death. Take the cross out of the Gospel, and you have no power. That is exactly what has been done today. Holy Spirit conviction, which is an ancient mystery, reveals to the sinner his state of corruption, his total depravity, his sentence of death, and the cross stands for the abrupt end of a human being. That sinner must die; he must be slain by the Eternal Spirit of God, and brought to the end of all flesh. Very few know what I mean by that statement. Listen, sinner, before you come to the place of death, after which you are raised to new life in Christ, you have actually said good-bye to the world, you have said good-bye to your family, you have said good-bye to your friends, you have said good-bye to yourself, because you are not coming back. You are not walking down the aisle making a profession of faith to have your life redirected or reconsecrated. You are going to the place of death; you are going to die. You are going to tear up all your blueprints of your life. The person that we once knew, we will never know again. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ makes and knows no compromise, bargains with nobody, spares nothing because the glory of man and all that man is in the flesh must be withered and put to death by the Holy Spirit. The Gospel does not and will not try to keep on good terms with anybody; it strikes swiftly and hard, and when the Gospel under the power of God's Holy Spirit has finished its work, the man you once were is no more: you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. This the world hates and fights and despises - the Gospel of the grace of God - I mean, the religious world with religious leaders. Adam's race is under the sentence of death and must die: there is no way of escape. God cannot wink at or pass over any sin. It must be paid for by a Substitute, and that Substitute is Christ; such salvation can only be wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit. Any type of evangelism or preaching or teaching which puts the emphasis on the good of man or the will of man, and seeks to placate man and lift man up on a higher plane by his decision or by development or teaching or by culture misses the Christ of the cross, leaves the sinner more blinded than he was, and damns every soul that it touches. Brethren, we have played church so long until we don't know anything else, do we? The evangelist or preacher, or personal worker, so-called, who seeks to bring business men or anyone else into the church by telling them it is the manly thing to do has missed Christ altogether, and therefore makes the individual twofold more the child of Hell than he was before. Any individual must, under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, recognize himself condemned, lost, and at the mercy of Jehovah God. He must forsake everything that he has, leave nothing covered, defend nothing, excuse nothing. He must bow his head, admit that he is lost, condemned to die, and realize that Christ died for him. By the grace of God he must throw himself completely upon the mercy of God in Christ and ask God to save him. The cross that ended the earthly life of our Lord puts an end to the sinner. The resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead raises the sinner to new life in Christ. This is God's Word. How far short we have come today! For God's sake, let's quit playing church, quit drawing our breath and drawing our salaries and letting our people go to Hell. Let's quit being children and trafficking in the souls of men. Let's preach for Holy Spirit conviction, Bible repentance, and regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit and a new creature in Christ Jesus our Lord.