The only way that Christ, who is now in glory,
in position of great high priest, can manifest
himself to the world is through his body. The
body of believers, his church. And the responsibility
that is ours is beyond comprehension. I would
to God. But in this heart -to -heart talk that
every minister listening to me, that every Christian
listening to me, I do not care whether you're
Roman Catholic, whether you're Greek Orthodox,
whether you're Protestant. I don't care who you
are. If you are born again, if you have been
born again, into his church and you are literally
a part of his body. I pray that somehow you will
get a glimpse of your responsibility. There was
a day when Jesus here on earth said of himself,
I am the light of the world. Then came the day
when he left. But before he went away, he gave
to us the greatest responsibility that he had
ever given to human beings. And he said, ye are
the light of the world. I am going away. I am
assuming the responsibility. of great high priest.
Now you are to be the light of the world in a
world filled with darkness, with sin, sorrow,
wars, distress, sickness, pestilence, humanity
without hope. frustrated, struggling. You are
the light of the world. You represent me. You
are the only Christ these precious folk see.
That, my friend, is the responsibility of the
church. The greatest responsibility. that Jesus
Christ gave human beings. Watch something. Turn,
if you will, please, to the book of the Revelation.
I shall refresh your memory for just a second
because this is my third in the series of messages
on the church. And we see here at the very beginning
of the book of the Revelation, the first three
chapters. And as you well know, the book of the
Revelation is all about Jesus. But it begins
giving us the history and testing of the church
between the Revelation of its original standing,
which was full of blessing. Oh, its original
standing had God's favor and God's blessing.
with the fruits and the gifts of the spirit being
manifested in its midst from its original standing
to the day and the hour in which you and i live
what a contrast between what the church was and
what the church is today. There was a day after
the day of Pentecost with their complete reliance
upon the Holy Spirit. For Jesus had said before
he went away, Ye shall receive power after that
the Holy Ghost has come upon you. The Holy Ghost
is your power. I will not leave you unequipped.
I will not leave you faltering. I will not leave
you without the power in your life to testify,
to witness, to be overcomers, to go through life
victoriously. No. I will send him, the mighty
third person of Trinity, the Holy Ghost, the
one who will be the oil in your lamp to keep
your lamp shining brightly in a world of darkness.
Ye shall receive power. After that, the Holy
Ghost has come upon you. What was the secret
of Peter when he preached that sermon? When at
the close of that sermon, more than 3 ,000 were
added unto the church. What was the power in
the lives of those early Christians? The power
of the Holy Spirit. They were men and women with
like passions and weaknesses. as we are today,
for human nature is the same. But there was a
secret. There was a secret in that early church.
There was a secret in the lives of these early
Christians. And their secret of power was this
glorious third person of Trinity. I believe with
every atom I might be that in that early church,
they had all the manifestations of the... gifts
of the spirit they had all of the manifestations
of the fruits of the spirit what my friend has
made the difference in the church then and the
church now We have lost our vision. We have lost
the secret. We have forgotten the purpose of
the church. We have forgotten. that it's not
by might, it's not by power, but it's by my spirit,
saith the Lord. Oh, that early church was very
power conscious. They were soul conscious. They
were spirit conscious. But something happened,
the first thing that happened among them. They
lost their first love that was the first weapon
that the enemy used. Ecclesiastical pretension,
departure from their first love, characterized
the close of the apostolic period. Next succeeded
the martyr period. Which brings us down to the
close of the tenth and the last persecution.
That little church of Smyrna. Oh, what that little
church went through. Then, decreasing spirituality.
And with decreasing spirituality, there came
the increasing of worldliness. For the two always
go hand in hand. On to the 7th century. Then
the papal church. Satan's great masterpiece on
earth is witnessed in the assumption of universal
authority and cruel persecution of the saints
of God. This covers the Middle Ages. The moral
characteristics of which have been well termed
the Dark ages. Then came the Reformation. The
Reformation was God's intervention in grace and
power. And introduced into Europe the light which
for 300 years has been burning with more or less
brilliancy. Then came Protestantism. with its
divisions, its deadness, shows clearly enough
how far, how very far short it comes to God's
ideal of the church in Christianity. That's the
church at Sardis. Another reformation, equally
the work of God, characterizes the beginning.
of the last century, the church at Philadelphia.
Until finally we come down to the very last state
of the church, as it is today, and no spirit
-filled, born -again Christian could write a
clearer description of the church than we get
from God's Word. If you have any spiritual insight
whatsoever, you could not describe the church
in its present state any better than it is described
in the Word of God. The present general state
of the professing church, which is one of lukewarmness,
is the most hateful. nauseous of any yet described.
And I left you in my little heart -to -heart
talk, reading that portion of the Word of God.
Here it is. I know thy works, that thou art neither
cold nor hot. I would that thou wert cold or
hot, one or the other. So then, because thou
art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will
spew thee out of my mouth. You make me sick,
the Lord said. You cause me to vomit. Because
you're playing politics. Because you're trying
to ride the fence. You're trying to please people.
Because you are neither cold nor hot, I will
spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest
I am rich, and who is there who can dispute the
fact that there never was a time when the church
was as rich? as it is today. There never was
a time when we had so much money for building
programs, bigger and better, enlarging what we
have. There never was a time when we had more
comfortable pews catering to the desires, the
comforts of the people. Because thou sayest I
am rich, increased with goods, and have need
of nothing. Oh, the smugness of it all. We have
need of nothing, not even the power of God. We
have need of nothing, not even the Holy Spirit.
We have need of nothing, not even God's Word.
We are self -sufficient. We are rich in this
world's goods. We are rich in prestige and much
learning. We have need of nothing. Knowest not
that thou art wretched and miserable and poor?
and blind, and naked. That's God's opinion. That's
God's conception of the church today. I counsel
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. I'll
tell you what the church needs today. I'll tell
you what Christians need today. They need persecution.
They need some good old -fashioned persecution.
They need to stand up and be counted. I counsel
thee to buy of me gold tried in fire, that thou
mayest be rich in white raiment, that thou mayest
be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesab,
that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke
and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent.
That is the picture of the church, this body
of believers that the Lord himself left to represent
him in a world of darkness. The tragedy of it
all is just this. We're in the darkest night
the world has ever known. And in the darkness,
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ should be
standing up and challenging the world. There
should be such power in the church that the church
should be able to meet the needs of human beings.
The church should be able to give hope, to give
comfort, to give eternal life, to give encouragement,
to give faith. Should manifest the transforming
power of the Son of the Living God. A broken
home. Father, that mother should never have to
turn to a psychiatrist, but to the church. And
the church should be able to give the answer.
And while the world is challenging the church,
the church is. Powerless because there are those
who have even gone so far as to deny the deity
and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. How can
you give hope to a lost and dying world when
you're not quite sure what you believe yourself?
And it's just like that. No nation is stronger
than its spiritual forces. Our own nation is
no stronger than the church today. But watch
something. This is a dark picture I've been painting
to you. But remember something. Our Lord knows
no defeat. Never. You take the flood, go right
on down from the beginning of mankind, right
on down to the very end of this dispensation,
right on through to glory, until the very coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory. Our God knows
no defeat. Jesus Christ will never go down in
defeat. The church will never die. Never. I'll
tell you why the church will never die. In spite
of its falling away. In spite of its backslidden
condition. It will never die because it has a
living head. Jesus being the head of the church,
it cannot die. Jesus being the head of the church,
it must go through victoriously. And when we
have the great catching up, when we have the
rapture of the church, believe me, beloved, the
church will never go out in defeat. And I have
a glorious word for you. There's that little
book of Joel in the Old Testament and the whole
picture of the end time of this present age.
the times of the gentiles is given in this little
book in the old testament i read it to you that
which the palmer worm hath left hath the locust
eaten and that which the locust hath left hath
the canker worm eaten and that which the canker
worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. And
that is what we have in these seven stages of
church history. But something happens. Even though
the canker worm has been eating, even though
the locust has been eating, there is still life.
there life in the head life there it will never
die and i will restore to you the years that
the locust have eaten the canker worm and the
caterpillar and the palmer worm my great army
which i stand among you And it shall come to
pass that I will pour out of my spirit upon all
flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your
young men shall see visions. And upon my servants
and upon my handmaids in those days will I pour
out of my spirit. The church is going to go out
in glorious victory, in marvelous victory. You
say that's the Old Testament. I know, beloved.
But I turn to the second chapter of the book
of the Acts. And Peter, standing up at the eleven,
lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men
of Judea, and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem,
be this known unto you, and hearken to my words.
It shall come to pass in the last days. And we
are living in the last days, the closing moments
of this dispensation. We're coming now to the
end of the church age, the church dispensation.
We're making a complete cycle now. We're coming
right back. The church is going to go out in
glory. with all the fruits and all the gifts
of the Spirit being manifested. The same glory
that the church had when Jesus said, Ye are the
light of the world, it will be restored to its
original glory before the great catching up.
It shall come to pass in the last days, saith
God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh,
and that's the reason. You're going to see this
great outpouring, not upon those in the church,
but outside of the church. For God himself said,
because of your lukewarmness, I will spew thee
out of my mouth. I'll go out in the highways.
I'll go out in the byways. Where there are hungry
hearts, I will pour out of my spirit upon all
flesh. and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
your old men shall dream dreams, and all my spirits
and all my handmaidens, I will pour out in those
days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. Whether
this will be for a month, a matter of weeks,
I do not know, but this I know, when the church
goes out, it will go out in glory.