Lawless Church in a Violent Land

In the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 24, and verses 37 through 39, we find Jesus speaking of the end times, and he makes the following statement, But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be, for, as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating, and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. What Jesus says here is striking. He says, as the days of Noah.

Well, what were the days of Noah like? Let us turn in our Bibles to Genesis chapter 6, in verses 5 and 11, and see, verses 5 describes the condition of society at that time. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his was only evil continually. Now look at verse 11.

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. I don't know about you friends, but I cannot find a better description of America in my Bible than what is found here. Wickedness is rampant in the land.

Immorality grows like a great plague. Perverseness seems to permeate every fabric of our society, where evil is called good and good evil, and we live in a day in this country where violence is at its highest level since the founding of this nation. A sudden death is all around us.

All you have to do to be killed today is to just get up in the morning, get dressed, and go to work, and at your workplace, you either be gunned down, blown up, or stabbed to death, now even have your head cut off. You can be gunned down in a movie theater or just standing in line at a restaurant. There are more homicides today than ever before in our history.

It's as if the entire nation has become a violent society where teenagers attack and mob violence and beat up people through random acts of violence. There used to be a time in this country where it was safe to go out in public, safe to be a kid in school, safe to ride a bike on a public street, safe to take a walk. Not anymore.

Step outside your house today, and you are flirting with sudden violence all around you through carjackings, abductions, rape, and murder. It's as if this whole nation has gone crazy with violence and killing one another. Listen, friends, we're living in a very violent land, and it seems to get worse every day.

And to top it off, if there weren't enough criminals who have guns, now most every citizen carries gun permits and packs heat, both men and women. I'm talking churchmen and churchwomen carrying guns with them everywhere they go. It's like this country has reverted back to the wild, wild west of pioneer days.

And where is the church in all of this? Listen, friends, today in our country, we have the biggest bunch of lawless church members in its history. We have a lawless church today where everybody in church seems to be making their own rules as how to live their lives because we are in a dispensation of grace and there is no law. At least that's what they tell us.

But Jesus Christ never did away with the law. Rather, he said, I'm not one jot or tittle shall pass on the law, but all shall be fulfilled. The missing ingredient in the life of the average Christian today is holiness.

Where are the sermons on holiness? Where is holiness within the church? We are also desensitized to sin. We don't even blush anymore. When was the last time you saw someone blush in this country? I can remember the last time I saw someone blush.

It was about 40 years ago. I was having lunch in a park with a girl who I was dating and a bee got into my shirt and I had to quickly yank my shirt off and I was bare chested and this girl blushed. Nowadays, women go around bare chested and no one blushes.

There was a time in our society years ago where there was such a thing as shame in the land. Now the land itself is shameful. Perverts glory in their shame parade down Main Street.

It's as if all society's gone crazy from the White House to the courthouse, to the schoolhouse, and even to the church house. We are more wicked than Sodom and Gomorrah. We're more violent than the people in Noah's day.

Why on earth doesn't God just destroy the whole lot of us? I'll tell you why, friends. Because the Son of God came down here so we can go up there and he is active going about seeking and saving the lost in this generation. Jesus Christ is saving sinners while the world is going to hell.

And the title of my message today is A Lawless Church in a Violent Land. I'll never forget the story I heard Manly Beasley relate one time. He said he was in a big city preaching for a local Baptist church and one of the rich deacons in that church put him up at a fancy hotel because the deacon owned the hotel.

This hotel was the place where movie stars stayed when they came to that town. That's how fancy that hotel was. Anyway, Manly Beasley said that in his hotel room was a refrigerator with enough booze in it to fill up his bathtub and that deacon owned it all.

He said there was a time in America years ago when that deacon couldn't even join the church, but now he's accepted, patted on the back, because we live in a day of the most lawless bunch of church people in memory. And he was right, friends. He made that statement over 40 years ago.

If Manly Beasley could see how bad things now are in our churches, he just wouldn't believe it. God declares in Hebrews, holiness without, no one will see the Lord. And that means even if you are the chairman of the deacons, it's as if the church today is living by her own set of standards rather than God's set of standards.

We sit in front of our televisions and watch nudity and listen to profanity and watch perverseness and laugh along as Hollywood mocks God. The standards in the church have fallen to such low levels, sin is no big deal anymore. Our young people in our churches see nothing wrong with sex before marriage.

They see nothing wrong with homosexuality. They see nothing wrong with lying and stealing and gossiping. And the main reason for all of this is the lack of sound preaching in our pulpits.

The church in America dropped the ball when it quit preaching on controversial subjects like sin, hell, repentance, and holy living. It's as if everyone in the church does what's right in its own eyes these days because the standard is man rather than God. We're all centered around man rather than being a God-centered people.

We measure ourselves against one another and say, I'm not as bad as that guy. My sin's no big deal compared to that. But sadly, in our churches today, it is compromise and conformity rather than holiness and consecration.

So we have a lawless church and a violent land. And the main reason why the land is so violent is because the church quit preaching on sin and holy living. When the church has no standards to live by, then society falls apart all around her.

There used to be a time in this country when society looked to the church for direction and the church looked to God for guidance. But a self-reliant church looks only to herself and her needs while society spins out of control all around her. I remember a story about the Chinese evangelist, John Song.

John Song was preaching in a province in China for an American missionary, and during John Song's sermon, he made the following statement. He said, I sin every day. Afterwards, the American missionary approached John Song and said, Dr. Song, you aired today your message when you said, I sin every day.

My dear brother, always remember that Jesus never preached the sin in religion. And that's true, friends. Jesus never preached the sin in religion, but we think he did.

We have compromise in our lives and have no shame about it. We indulge ourselves through our self-gratifications and have no guilt about it. Self is on the throne of the average church member in this country today, and the average church member cries out, we will not have this man reign over us.

The church in America killed off the doctrine of the Lordship of Jesus Christ years ago. You don't need Jesus as Lord to get to heaven, friend. No, only believe a sin-tolerating Savior, and you can still hug your sins and still go to heaven.

Why God is a sin-tolerating God today. He's a politically correct God. That's what our churches tell us.

Well, I'm here to be honest with you today, friends. Listen to me very closely. If Jesus is not your Lord, I can promise you, he is not your Savior.

You have fashioned a God of your own making, and you serve that idol rather than the living Lord of the Bible. You see, friend, when a person gets truly saved, something happens. Self is dethroned, and another is enthroned there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ sits on a heavenly throne at the right hand of the Father, and he earned that right by way of a bloody cross. Jesus didn't suffer and shed his blood and die so you could hang on to your sins. He died to save you from your sins, not save you in them.

But we have such a lawless church today that teaches you can go to heaven and sin all you want to. A person is one of two people. He is either dead in sin or he is dead to sin.

There's no in-between ground. You must be made a new creature in Christ or go to hell. You must be made willing to bow to his rule and reign in your life, friend.

But many church members still have a wicked hostility in their heart towards holiness and a holy God. But listen, dear friend, Jesus must be central in your life and sit as a sovereign on your heart. I wonder how many today who name the name of Christ have truly become a willing captive of the bloodstained Jesus who must rule as a living Lord.

God's law is strict and severe, and he will not tolerate a lawless church or a lawless follower. But this generation of sinful living church members who claim to be the children of God will one day stand at the judgment, and then it'll be too late as they realize that they imbibe the spirit of this age, which was a false spirit, which deceives you into believing you can sin all you want to and still go to heaven. And this generation of lawless church members has sat under the teaching of many false prophets who preach a watered-down gospel that says you can keep your sins and live as you please and still make it to heaven.

But it isn't so. It just isn't so. My Lord said, strive to enter in at the straight gate.

For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. Listen, friends, you can't have this world and Christ, too. One of them has got to go.

If the Lord be God, then serve him. If Baal be God, then serve him. You cannot walk with God and still play footsie with the world and live in sin.

But our lawless church of today has widened the way to heaven and made it a whole lot broader than Jesus makes it. It's a narrow way, friend, and there is no room on it for church members living in rebellion against a holy God. But this generation of hellbound church members cries out against holy living, and I'm afraid many have missed Christ altogether.

A crucified Savior must have crucified followers, and a true child of God will want to do the will of God and be in subjection to him. But I'm afraid for many that the will of God is only allowed as long as it does not conflict with our will. For we sit and rule on the throne of our lives in our churches today.

Listen, dear friend, repentance is not something you did once and then put away in a jar and leave it on a shelf. Repentance goes on for as long as you live. It's a continual turning away from sin and this world and a turning to God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

We must be like our Bibles and be continually bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Please, dear friend, don't ever listen to a preacher who offers salvation on cheaper terms than God does. God has not lowered the terms of his gospel, nor has he cheapened the need for repentance, but rather, for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

If you claim to be a Christian, then there must be absolute obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, If you love me, you will keep my commands. And in Titus we read, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. But let me ask you this, friend, how many sermons have you heard on the topic of holiness in the last year? That should be a sermon series in every church in this land.

And maybe, just maybe, if the church in America began to preach what the Bible really declares and live how the Bible really says to live, by obeying a holy God and being in submission to him, then perhaps some of it might rub off on this violent society of ours and things may begin to change. Because right now, when society looks at the church, it sees a double standard. They see a people who say, Do as I say, but not do as I do, a lawless church in a violent society.

Things look pretty grim, friends, unless a holy God sends revival back to us. A revival would clean us all up. A revival would confront us with a holy God who won't tolerate sin.

He'll show us a holy God who must punish sin. A revival would make us all be seekers of holiness and godliness as we look for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Let us pray that the God of the Bible will come back to the church in America and clean us all up before the return of his Son, for the bride must be dressed in white to be presented to the Son for the marriage supper of the Lamb.