The Church - Part 2 of 3

And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came intoAsia, after what manner Ihave been with you at all seasons, Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews: And howl kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house. Acts 20:17-20

For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Acts 20:27-28

The word purchased means the right priceapplied to theright place.

If I wrote a check to pay for a debt, but failed to send that check in to the whom I owed, would my debt be paid? No, I still owe the debt. A debt must not only be the proper price, it must also be paid to the proper place. The price for the church is God's blood, but the blood must be paid to the proper place. Let me show you what the proper place is.

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Hebrews 9:12

In the Old Testament, the High Priest killed two goats on the Day of Atonement. The blood of one goat was taken by the High Priest into the Holy Place to the Ark of the Covenant. On the top of the Ark of the Covenant was the Mercy Seat. Over that Mercy Seat were two cherubims beaten out of pure gold. Between the wings of those cherubims was the Glory of God. The blood from the goat that was sacrificed was applied to the proper place which was the Mercy Seat. If the blood did not get to the Mercy Seat, then it was the proper price, but not paid to the proper place. It would have been no more valid than that check written but not paid to the creditor.

If the blood of Jesus was left on the ground at the cross, that means it did not get to the Holy Place and is not valid. "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus." It is not just the blood shed, but also the blood applied.

God told Moses to instruct the people to apply the blood of the lamb at the Passover. When He passed over and saw the blood of that lamb, He would withhold His judgment. God did not judge them based on His omniscience. He made a point of letting them know that He would not judge them only when He saw the blood. It was not enough that the blood was shed. The blood had to be properly applied.

How could God see the blood in the tabernacle? His glory was in the Holy Place, and the blood had to be taken inside the Holy Place and sprinkled on that Mercy Seat. That was the right place to take the right price. If the right price was paid on the altar in the courtyard, but left there, it would have been the right price, but the wrong place. If the blood Jesus shed on Calvary was not applied in Heaven, it was the right price in the wrong place and it cannot save anybody.

Jesus did more than just shed His blood for the church. He purchased the church with his own blood. To purchase it, He had to take the right price to the right place.

And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Hebrews 12:24

It does not say that it is the shedding of blood that saves. It is the shed blood sprinkled that saves. When Cain had killed Abel God said:

What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Genesis 4:10

God can hear blood speak. The voice of Abel's blood cried to God from the ground. Blood can speak a language God can hear.

Thirty years after the blood had been shed, it still speaketh. Two thousand years after Calvary it still speaketh. From where does it speak? It has to speak to God, so there is a heavenly Mercy Seat just as there was an earthly Mercy Seat; Jesus, the High Priest, took His own blood to that heavenly Mercy Seat, otherwise it would not have been acceptable. It would have been the right price, but the wrong place. The blood had to get from the altar to the Mercy Seat.

The blood of Jesus had to be shed; otherwise He could have died without the inflicting of the wounds. Jesus went up to Heaven and sprinkled His own blood on the Mercy Seat. Right now that blood is talking. It is saying not to charge our sins to us because we have been purchased by that blood.

Cain's blood indicted him for killing his brother Abel. God's blood speaketh better things than that ofAbel. God looks down, sees my sins, and starts to charge them against my record, but the blood starts talking. The blood says, "I have already paid for that sin." The Bible says that God will not impute or write down my sin against me because the blood is speaking. The blood is my canceled check, and that check speaks that the debt has been paid. There is nothing God the Father can do about my sins because Jesus has the canceled check there on the Mercy Seat. That is the price He paid for the church.

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.... I Peter 1:2

This does not refer to the elect according to the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ, but to the sprinkling of that blood applied to the proper place. Jesus did die and pay the price, but paying the price and getting the price to the right place are two entirely different things. If on the Passover, the blood of that innocent lamb was left in the back yard where the lamb was killed and not properly applied, the firstborn of the family would have been killed. It was not the blood shed back in the back yard that spared the life of that firstborn; it was that blood applied at the front door. It was not the blood shed on the altar that satisfied God; it was the blood applied in the Holy of Holies. It was not the blood shed on the cross that saves; it was that blood applied in Heaven.

When Jesus was resurrected, and Mary Magdalene saw him, Jesus said, Touch me Not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. He was the High Priest. He was taking the blood He had shed as the Lamb of God to the Mercy Seat in Heaven, to sprinkle it there. Between the time the High Priest took the blood in the basin and sprinkled it on the Mercy Seat, nobody could touch Him. That is why He told Mary Magdalene not to touch Him.

Later He told Thomas to put his hands into His side. Why could Thomas touch Him when Mary Magdalene could not? Because when Thomas saw Him, He had already been to Heaven, sprinkled the blood, and the blood was already talking to the Father.

Jesus died for the church and purchased it with His own blood. The local church is composed of born-again people, who have been scripturally baptized, and have joined a certain assembly.

The Jews were going to the promised land. When they got there, they were going to build a permanent temple. On the way, all they had was a tabernacle, a tent. It was a portable place of worship. Jesus has bought us a home in Heaven, but we are not there yet. So He has also bought us a portable Heaven, which is called the church. He bought me a home in Heaven with his blood, and He bought me a home on earth while I am going to Heaven. He purchased it with the most precious and expensive thing, God's own blood. He not only bought my soul, my spirit, my body, a home in Heaven, but He also purchased the church with His own blood.

When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) He left Judaea ,and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink

The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself and his children, and his cattle? John 4:1-7, 11, 12

It is amazing that even after seventeen hundred years Jacob's well was still giving water. Occasionally, somewhere out in the woods, somebody will discover an old well which is over a hundred years old, but it is no longer giving any water. This lady in Sychar came to Jacob's well, and it was still giving water to drink after seventeen hundred years.

In verse twelve she says, .. Art thou greater than our father, Jacob, which gave us the well...? That statement leads me to believe that when Jacob dug that well he had in mind more than just the people who were alive at that time. Seventeen hundred years later there was still water being drawn from that well. For fifty-one generations that well kept on giving water.

When I was a young man there was a famous fundamental preacher in America who had the largest Sunday school in the United States. He was probably the most famous fundamental independent preacher of his day, and maybe in the history of our nation. When he passed away, his church made the mistake of not calling the right person to pastor. The church went from over 3,000 in Sunday school to about 200. Finally, the church sold its buildings and the few remaining people scattered to other churches. That church is now only history. It was at one time the outstanding soul-winning church of this generation.

There was another church that at one time had the largest Sunday school in America. The pastor died suddenly of a heart attack. The church was not prepared. They did not know the correct way to find a pastor. They once had about 6,000 in Sunday school, but now they have only about 1200 who still attend.

Not too many years ago, the pastor of what was at that time the largest in America resigned. Seven wealthy men took charge of the church and decided that they did not want the same type of pastor as before. They wanted more of a Bible student and less of a hell-fire and brimstone preacher. Those seven wealthy men controlled that church until it was only a shadow of what it once had been.

I have a desire for the First Baptist Church of Hammond to be the same one hundred years from now as it is today. If God will give me grace, I am going to see to it that it is prepared, not only for my death, but for the death of the good people who are there now.

For many years the First Baptist Church has been a well flowing to an entire nation. With all my heart I have tried to do more than just to have a wonderful ministry while I am alive. I have tried to see to it that the well would continue to run long after I am gone. I realize that if First Baptist Church were to die its work would never stop. Hundreds and thousands of preacher boys, missionaries, and converts all over the world are spreading the Gospel of Christ and building great churches, but, I want it to still be doing the same thing a hundred years from now as it is doing now.

Most of the great churches of the last generation are no longer useful to God. Most of them are liberal in their theology and are not busy reaching the lost world as they once did. I am convinced that the reason for this is that the pastor who built it to its greatest days failed to prepare the people for the next generation.

Abraham was a well-digger. There are three main wells that Abraham dug.

1. The well of Rehoboth, meaning fruitfulness orenlarging.

2.. The well of Beer-lahairoi, meaning the power and vision of God.

3. The well of Beer-sheba, meaning the Word of God.

The Philistines came and stopped up those wells. The Philistines of our day will do everything they can to see to it that the church does not continue to be useful.

Isaac came along and redug those three wells that had been stopped up by the Philistines. It would certainly be a wonderful thing if the Paul Rader Tabernacle in Chicago could once again be what it used to be for God. It would be a wonderful thing if Moody Church in Chicago started running buses all over Chicago and bringing poor people to church. It would be a wonderful thing if Spurgeon's Tabernacle could once again flow with living water. But rather than unstopping the wells that have been stopped up, would it not be even better if we kept the Philistines from stopping up the wells we have flowing now?

There are five different types of churches that a church can become.

1. The New Testament church. This is our aim. Tragically, many great New Testament churches do not remain as such and eventually deteriorate to being like one of these remaining four.

2. The state church.

So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. Revelation 17:3

And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her. Revelation 17:7

And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Revelation 17:18

In these three verses we find something in common. Each tells us that in the end time, there is going to be a state church and a church state. The harlot, (the National and World Council of Churches) is going to yoke up with the United Nations. That union of nations and union of churches will unite and become a state church.

There is more to it than just the separation of church and state. There are two kingdoms involved. There is the kingdom of Heaven and the kingdoms of this world. The kingdoms of this world have no business operating the kingdom of God. It is more than the church not interfering with the state. It is also the state not interfering with the church.

All across America, the voices that once warned us of state accreditation for our schools are passing off the scene. There are very few men with a national voice today who have the courage to say anything about it anymore. We must not allow our schools to succumb to accreditation. God does not need the devil's approval to run His business. Superiority does not need the approval of inferiority.

Several years ago, the state of Indiana wrote to inform us that the laws of our state require that every college be accredited by either an accrediting association or the State Board of Education. We threw it away, so they sent us a second letter. We threw it away as well. Every drop of blood in my body will spill out before I will allow the state to tell Hyles-Anderson College how to operate.

There was a day we had many voices around the country telling us not to be accredited. There was a day when fundamental colleges told the state that they will not tell us how to operate. It is not the state's business what we teach in our college. It is not the state's business who teaches in our college. There is not one place in the Bible that gives the government the right to run the church. There are two different kingdoms, and neither has the right to run the other.

The next thing they try to get us to do is to appoint our own accrediting board. They will allow that board instead to be the policing force for our schools, so we begin to police each other. It is nobody's business what goes on in the church. There are two things wrong which must be said about that.

(1) The local church is the final authority about what goes on in the local church.

(2) It takes away our freedom. I do not want to lose my freedom to a liberal or a fundamentalist.

We form a system and as it deteriorates, we choose other men to replace the men now on the board of the accrediting association. Some of the greatest colleges of a generation ago have gone liberal because they allowed someone else to have control. Many parents want their child's education to be accredited. Why would any Christian parent want the school that teaches their child to be accredited by unsaved people, who are for abortion, for the gay rights ordinances, and for handing out birth control to kids in the schools? The state wants to be your god. We must warn the people in our churches of the danger, so that the next generation will know to stand against allowing it to happen to them. We must protect the well from being shut down when we are gone.

3. The denominational church. We need independent churches to be able to fellowship and to cooperate with each other without becoming denominations, which will eventually seek to have control over each other. There is a new movement in America of independent, soul-winning, sin hating and Christ-honoring churches. It would be destructive if we decided to go out and start a new denomination. A church should stand with everybody who stands for right, and against everybody who stands for wrong, but it should not take the church into anything. Keep it independent.

I have many dear preacher friends across the country who are like-minded in their beliefs. I want us to be able to enjoy our fellowship without the constraints of becoming denominational. We do not try to meddle with their affairs. We do not try to tell them what to do. We do not send them their Sunday school literature, and if they do not take our literature, we do not black-list them. There is a pure, sweet, cooperative fellowship without any union, or without any organization.

That is the way the church should be and it is the way to keep it alive for many more years. We have the idea there is strength in a movement. There is not strength in a movement, and there is not strength in union. There is strength in unity, volunteer unity.

4. The invisible, universal church. In an earlier chapter I mentioned the three groups in fundamentalism. I love group number one. I have preached in their churches throughout the years, but do not call one of them to be the pastor of a church in group number three.

I love group number two, but we should not call a group number two preacher to pastor a group three church.

One of the greatest preachers who ever lived in this nation resigned his church a few years ago. His church called a good man, but one who was a member of group number one. They called a formal pastor to pastor an informal church. They called a non-aggressive pastor to pastor an aggressive church. They called a so-called deeper-life pastor to pastor a hell-fire and brimstone church. His philosophy did not fit in group number three. That is what damages many of the once great churches and destroys their greatness.

When I went to First Baptist Church of Hammond, the pastor of a large, famous Chicago church called and asked me to meet him for lunch. We had lunch together one day, and he said, "Dr. Hyles, I want to have in Chicago what you have in Hammond. Tell me how I can do it."

I said, "Change your Sunday morning music. Fire your committees. Have a representative church government. Take the people who are on the committees and send them out on bus routes."

He did not want to hear those things. What he was really asking me was how to do what we were doing without doing what we were doing. You cannot do it. When D.L. Moody was in Chicago, that is not what he did. He had wagons and horses all over the Chicago area that were used in reaching people for Christ.

Do not allow the universal, invisible church people to take over the church. One of our young men attended a group number one college. He was a fine young man from one of our finest church families. I was talking to him one day about school, and I asked him where he was going to church.

He said, "I go to the college church."

I said "Do you have people saved there?"

He said, "I don't know."

I said, "Why do you not know?"

He said, "Whenever somebody comes forward, they always take them into another room to deal with them. We never hear if they were saved."

They are not the same as we are. When a sinner is saved, I want to rejoice for a while. They are good men, but they will not mix well in a church like First Baptist.

I do not believe a new convert should go before a church committee to allow them to decide whether or not he can be baptized. That is what they did when I first went to Hammond. Once a month they

had a meeting with the new converts. One Sunday night we had a meeting ninety-one converts were there! They could not all get in the room. They were lined up down the hallway. The chairman of the 'judgment" committee walked over and said, "What are we going to do?"

I said, "Let's get some bigger nets, and we will get more fish." If we allow group number one and two to take over the churches, they will take away the soul-winning emphasis. They will become dominated by committees that snuff the life out of the church.

5. The synagogue church.

I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Revelation 2:9

Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Revelation 3:9

A church is not just an assembly. It is a called-out assembly. Called out of what? Called out of the world. If a church is a worldly church, it is a synagogue rather than an ekklesia. A worldly church is not a church. It may be called a church, but it is not a church. They say they are, but they are not. A called-out assembly dresses differently, lives differently, and sings differently. We do not walk the same beat the world walks.

The most dangerous thing churches face is taking a stand only against those sins which are specifically listed in the Bible. I am against sin if the Bible says it is wrong, but the Bible not only lists sins; it also lists principals by which we are to judge what else is wrong. That is not legalism. It is applying Biblical principles to the way we live, and thus avoiding becoming like the world. A church must be careful not to fall for a fancy Bible study that teaches the Bible without emphasizing the importance of specific applications in the way we are to live.

These are the types of churches that cause great, independent, fundamental, soul-winning churches to lose their greatness and fall from having the influence they once had for the Lord. A church will continue to be like Jacob's well, with living water flowing through it generation after generation, only as long as it avoids becoming like these churches.

We must stay clear of the state.

We must stay clear of denominationalism.

We must stay clear of the invisible, universal church crowd.

We must stay clear of just becoming a synagogue, by losing our convictions and standards.

I love the children in my church. For many of them I am the only pastor they have ever had. Someday, I will be gone, and they will be forced, for the first time in their lives, to find a new pastor. I want them to know what to look for and what to avoid. I want there to be the same kind of church for their children as there was for them. The next generation needs for those of us who believe in the New Testament church to prepare for those who will come after us. We must train others to keep the life in the church, so that the water will still be flowing long after we are gone.

Many great churches have lost their greatness after the first or second generation. It does not have to be that way. A hundred years from now, I hope that the well at First Baptist Church is still flowing.

Jacob did not dig that well just for his own family. When Jacob was digging that well, he probably said, "I am going to make it good. I am going to be sure that my children and my grandchildren can drink from this well." No wonder the woman at Sychar could say, "Jacob dug this well for us."

I hope two hundred years from now some young person can come to First Baptist Church and find an old-fashioned fundamental church. I hope he will be able to say, "Many years ago a man named Jack Hyles dug this well for us."

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the work which thou gayest me to do. And now, 0 Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gayest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gayest them me; and they have kept thy word.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou has given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee.

And now come Ito thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as lam not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. John 17:1-6, 9-11a 13-17,21

In this passage, over half of the verses deal with the world. The word world is the word kosmos in the Greek and it means the world arrangement. No chapter in all the Bible mentions the church as often as it is mentioned here, yet the word church is not actually used at all.

The subject of the church, however, is brought up over and over again. Let me begin by explaining the purpose of the church. Jesus said

to the Father, that the world may believe. There we find the purpose of the church. The church exists that the world may believe. It is not talking about the whole earth. There are several words for worldin the Greek. There is the word world which means dirt or soil. There is the word world which means nations. Here in John the word kosmos is used meaning the world arrangement. or the world system.

It is not referring to the anti-Christ and the end-time world government. It is not just referring to Hollywood, Broadway, night clubs, and other worldly things. It is referring to the entire world arrangement, most of which is not bad in and of itself. Jesus described it well when he said, eating and drinking, buying and selling, and marrying and giving in marriage. There is nothing wrong with these things. They are simply a part of the world system.

When Jesus said not to love the world, nor the things in the world, He was referring to these types of things in the world's system. He was saying, "love not eating and drinking, love not buying and selling, and love not marrying and giving in marriage." Because of our misunderstanding on this, we totally misunderstand what worldliness is all about. We also misunderstand the role of the church in the world and in our own lives.

There are two kingdoms in this world: the kosmos and God's Kingdom. Everything in this world is a part of the kosmos except the church. Your house is in the kosmos. The activities of your daily life are in the kosmos. When God calls us out of this world there is no other place to go except the church. The church is the only place where we are strictly absorbed in the things of God and not the things of the kosmos. Either you are in the church or you are in the kosmos.

In this chapter we are going to learn that God calls us out of the world and then turns around and commands us to go back into the world. Let's look further into this.

He says, "I want you to come out of the world, to go back into the world. I want you not to love the world, not to be of the world, and then to go back into the world." God is saying that there are two places we can be. One of those is the kosmos, or the world arrangement. That includes buying gasoline, driving a car, shoveling snow, cleaning house, cooking meals, washing clothes, or going to work.

All of that is kosmos, because it is a part of the world arrangement. None of it is bad.

The only place not in the kosmos is in the New Testament church. When God calls us out of the world, he is calling us into the church. Most Christians do not even begin to understand the importance of the church. You are not going to grow in grace outside the church. You are not going to be a better Christian outside the church, because you cannot be a better Christian than the kosmos.

Let me make something very clear. All of the inter-denominational teaching is kosmos. The church is God's kingdom in this world, not in the sense of the Kingdom of God, but as God's empire. When you come out of the kosmos you go into the church.

Occasionally somebody will say to me, "I have been staying at home and growing in grace just studying the Bible there."

The home is a wonderful place, but it will not take the place of the church anymore than the church can take the place of the home. God would not have established the church if the home could have done the same job. God would not have established the home if the church could have done the same job. The home and the church both have a place in the training of children, but the church is the place you go to when you come out of the kosmos.

Jesus then says that the we should go back into the kosmos. Why?

That the world may believe, and That the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. The purpose of the church is that the world may know and believe.

We must come out of the world to get strength; to go back into the world, that the world may believe; to come back out of the world to get strength; to go back into the world, that the world may believe; to come back out of the world to get strength; to go back into the world, that the world may believe. God is not calling us out of this world permanently, and God is not calling us to go into this world permanently. He is calling us alternately to go into the world to help the world believe, and then to come back out of the world to get strength to go back into the world again.

It is to be to church, to world, to church, to world, to church, to world, to church, to world. There is no intermediate zone. There is no space in between. The only place that is not kosmos is the New Testament church. The world is everything but the church. If you are not in church, you are in the world, because there are only two kingdoms. If we do not go to church, we are worldly, because the only place that is not worldly is the church.

And now, 0 Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gayest me out of the world. John 17:5, 6a

He is not just referring to the glory he had before there was an earth. The word world again is the word kosmos. Jesus was referring to a time before man fell in the Garden of Eden, or before the world was arranged like it is now. Man did not work by the sweat of his brow. Woman did not give birth by travail. The earth had no howling winds, no fiery serpents and no wild animals, and the arrangement was not like it is now.

Jesus said, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gayest me out of the world. The moment you come to Christ you are commanded to get out of the world. The only way to get out of the world is to get into the church. Christians are to be in church every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, and every Wednesday night. We can remove all of the sinful activities out of our lives, but still be worldly, because we are not coming out of the world by coming into the church. The church is God's institution. It is either the world or the church. Many Christians do not love sin, but they do love the world because they do not faithfully come out of the world

That is why people should go to church. That is why people should join the church. That is why people should get baptized. You come out of the world long enough to get strength to go back into the world. We get strength to go to the steel mills and live right while we are there. We get strength not go to the Christmas parties where they serve the liquor. We get strength to go back out in the world and not listen to the rock music. We get strength to go out into the world to tell people about the Saviour. A Christian will stop being a soul winner if he stops coming to church. It is at church that we get into the habit of talking about Jesus, so that we can go back into the world and talk about Him to the lost people around us. We sing about Jesus, preach about Jesus, teach about Jesus, and fellowship around Jesus until it is not so hard to go out in the world and talk about Him. Stay out of church for a while, and you will not talk about Jesus in the world. You will begin to get more and more ashamed. That is what church is all about.

The church is not a place where a bunch of people tiptoe in on Sunday morning, with a dignified looking wardrobe, look at three candles burning on the communion table, listen to a choir sing the "Sevenfold Amens," and have a worship experience. That is not the purpose of the church. The church is a place where you can come to hear His name praised, after hearing His name cursed all week, so that you can go back out there and praise His name in the world. The church is the place you come to fellowship with God's people, so that you can have strength enough to go back out and talk about Jesus to the devil's crowd in the kosmos.

Every time you stand up and sing, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, oh what a foretaste of glory divine," you are building up a little more strength so you can go back into the kosmos.

Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gayest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. John 17:7, 8

I wonder where Jesus gave them these words. They had to have assembled in church. Hebrews says that Jesus prayed and sang praises in the church. Where did Jesus talk about this and teach the Word of God? In church. All the cottage prayer meetings in the world will never take the place of church.

A pastor friend of mine went to an inter-denominational seminary to take a course. There he met some theologians who taught him the idea of having little cell groups. He had built his church with Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night services, but he decided to try dividing his church into these cell groups. As a result, the church body no longer came together, and the church began to go down. No home Bible study will ever take the place of the church. No cottage prayer meeting will take the place of the church, because the church is supposed to assemble.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. John 17:9-11

Jesus was praying for the church, because He knows that if the church will pray, the kosmos will get the message. The average Christian thinks that coming out of the world is when we stop doing sinful things. Coming out of the world is coming to church. It is coming out of the kosmos. A Christian college is not a substitute for the church. We take the church so lightly. That is why you should not travel during church time. That is why Christian school teachers ought to be faithful to all of the church services just like everybody else.

And now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as lam not of the world. John 17:13, 14

They are in the world, but not of the world. They are in the kosmos, but not of the kosmos. On an airplane flight one day they offered me a glass of wine. I did not drink the wine, so I was in the airplane, but not of the airplane. I was in the kosmos but I was not of the kosmos.

When you go to work, you are to be in the kosmos but not of the kosmos. When you go shopping, you are supposed to be in the kosmos, but not of the kosmos. That is what Jesus meant when He said, And be not conformed to this world: but ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. While you are there in the world, you are not supposed to be of it. You are to be transfigured from it.

We are to witness to the world while we are in the world, but we do not need to be like the world in order to witness to the world. In fact, we are commanded not to be like them. The greatest testimony to the world is the testimony of a Christian who has the strength and the courage to be different for the sake of his Saviour. That strength comes from the church. Far too many Christians use the excuse for being like the world as being their method of reaching the world. That is contrary to what we are commanded.

Jesus also said that we would be hated by the world. The most hated church in Hammond, Indiana, is the First Baptist Church. Isn't that strange? The church that the public schools curse the most has the most public school students going there. There are more public school students in First Baptist Church of Hammond than in any liberal church in this city. Why? The kosmos knows they do not have the answer. They will not listen to someone who is of them, but they will listen to somebody that is not of them. That is how we reach of many of the young people in the public schools. They are looking for answers.

I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. John 17:15

That is a strange statement. He just finished praying that we would be taken out of the world, yet then He prays that we will not be taken out of the world. We are to come out of the world, but not stay out of the world. Why? To keep us from the evil that is in the world. He was praying that while we are in the world we would be kept from the evil that is in the world. The church is the place we go that is not in the world to get the strength to keep us from that evil which is in the world. God's people will not be kept from the evil of this world, if they do not frequently come out of the world to get that strength.

They are not of the world, even as lam not of the world. John 17:16

Jesus does not want us to be of the world any more than He would be of the world. That is why we should not watch soap operas on television. Would Jesus watch the soap operas? Then we are not to to watch them either. We are to be in this world exactly like Jesus was. Jesus went to church to get strength, so we are to got to church to get strength. He walked among men, but He was not of men.

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. John 17:17

The word sanctify means to set them apart. When we leave the church and go into the kosmos, we are to be set apart from the kosmos. How can we be set apart from the kosmos? Through God's Word. We are sanctified through the Word.

I was on an airplane one day flying to Los Angeles. I had a Bible out and was reading it. A former famous football player came walking down the aisle in the airplane. At that time, he was a wicked football player and Hollywood movie star. He walked back to the washroom and he saw my Bible open. He stopped and stared at it. He turned around and backed up. He had a group of friends with him, so he motioned for them to come back there. He pointed to my Bible. About a dozen of those guys stared at me and my Bible. I looked up at them and said, "JESUS!" He went to the wash room, and the others went back to their seats.

If we read the Word of God, quote the Word of God, carry the Word of God, study the Word of God, and memorize the Word of God, we will be sanctified, or set apart from the world. The world will also help you set yourself aside. We leave the kosmos to go to church, go back to the kosmos and stay in the Word of God, and the Word of God sanctifies us. We are not of the world because we are of the Word of God while we are in the kosmos.

As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have 1 also sent them into the world. John 17:18

Why did Jesus come to the world? For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Christ Jesus came into the world (kosmos) to save sinners. Then why are we in the kosmos? To save sinners. Jesus told the Father that we were sent to do the same thing that He was sent to do.

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and! in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. John 17:21

In the final analysis, we go to church that the world may believe.

Unfortunately, so many Christians have been saturated by the inter-denominational teaching that they have no comprehension of the truth concerning the church. Jesus never even considered a Christian not being in church. He purchased the local church with His own blood. The church was built for Christians to come to as soon as they got saved.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

If Jesus is calling us to something, then He also is calling us from something. He is calling us from the world, to the church. I believe that He is telling us we ought to go to church because it will make everything work out fine. But, everything will not work out for the good, if we do not go to church. That may seem strange to many fundamental Christians because we have been so indoctrinated by the Scofield Bible and the inter-denominational Bible schools and institutes who have little understanding regarding the local church. Jesus never intended for any Christian to be outside the local church.

The only thing not in the world is the church. Anything outside that church is kosmos. You can go anywhere from good kosmos to bad kosmos. Jesus is calling us from the world to the church.

It is difficult for a Christian who is oriented in any other doctrine than this to get into his subconscious the importance of the church. We have sent our preacher boys to inter-denominational Bible colleges and seminaries that did not teach the autonomy and independence of the local church and they have been brainwashed with the universal invisible church concept, so the local church is not really important to them anymore. It is tragic how many Christians have been affected by this doctrine.

If you do not faithfully attend church, you will go back into the world and eventually you will be of the world. Many Christians go on vacation and think it is fine to miss church on a Wednesday night, or maybe even on Sunday. Or, they stop at something that calls itself church, but it is not a church. Many born-again people have played the slot machines in Las Vegas, Nevada, on a vacation, who would never have done so if they had not missed church. That is why people go on a vacation, and end up going mixed swimming. If you stay in the kosmos too long without coming out of the kosmos, which is the church, before you know it, you are in the world and you are of the world.

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall riot prevail against it. Matthew 16:13-18

It is amazing how we accept things as true just because we have always heard them taught a certain way. For example, most people have always heard that the church is the body of Christ. We have been taught that Christ is the head of all Christians and that all Christians form His body. The Bible does not mean it in that way. Much of this has come from the Scofield Bible. It is not true, and I am going to show you that in this chapter. If you believe the Bible, you will understand exactly what the church is all about.

1. Jesus is the founder of the church. The church was not founded on Pentecost. The Bible says in Acts 2 that they added to the church those that were saved. You cannot add to something that is not there. I do not know how long the church was there, but it was there before Matthew 18, where it speaks of taking something to the church. Mr. Scofield says that is the future church, but God does not say that. You cannot take something to a future church. You can take something only to a present church.

And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Matthew 10:1

Whenever the church was started, it was started with a called-out assembly. The first place in the Bible where I find such a statement is in Matthew 10:1. I feel the church was started here or before here. I know it was started some time in the personal ministry of Jesus Christ.

2. Jesus is the foundation of the church.

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18

The rock he was speaking about was not the pope. The church was not built on the Pope. The church was built on the foundation of Jesus. Jesus was the rock being referred to, not Peter. The word Peter means little pebble. The word rock means a strong. big rock. They are not the same word. Peter was a little pebble, but the rock is Jesus.

3. Jesus is its builder.

He said, upon this rock I will build my church. Our job is not church growth. Our job is soul winning. Jesus said that He would build the church. Jesus is in the church-building business. He never told us to build a church. He told us to go soul winning, and He would do the building of His church. We are witnesses. He never told us to go into all the world and build churches. Our job is to obey the Great Commission and His job is to build the church.

4. Jesus attended it, and sang and preached in it.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will! sing praise unto thee. Hebrews 2:9-12

We see here that Jesus went to church. He was quoting from an Old Testament prophesy by saying that He would declare God's name in the church. Luke 4 says that it was Jesus custom to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath Day. He was in a habit of going. When He went to the cross all the things attached to the synagogue were nailed to the cross with Him. In the place of the synagogue He gave us the local church.

Jesus preached in the church. I am not talking necessarily about a church building. They may have met under a tree, in a barn, or in a house, as they often did in the Bible. But, the fact remains that Jesus went to church and preached in the church. Jesus also said that He was going to sing God's praises in the church.

Did Jesus need to go to church? Absolutely. The Bible says He emptied himself of deity and became a man. He did what He did, not as God, but as man. Otherwise, He could not have been our pattern. Jesus needed to go to church because He was a man. It was not to keep Him from sinning, but for encouragement and fellowship, the same reasons we need to go to church.

5. Jesus is to be preeminent in the church.

And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first born from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. Colossians 1:18

Jesus must have the preeminence in every organization of the church. He is to have the preeminence in the preaching. He is to have the preeminence in the singing. I believe that songs about Jesus should be sung in the church, rather than the high-brow anthems that are used in so many circles today. Jesus is to have the preeminence in the Christian school. Jesus is to have the preeminence in the Women's Missionary Society. Jesus is to have the preeminence in the bus ministry. Jesus is to preeminent in all of the ministries of the church.

6. Jesus is the head of the church.

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Ephesians 1:22, 23

And he is the head of the body, the church ... Colossians 1:18a

Jesus is the head of the body. The church is the body of Christ. The word head is similar to the President of a business. It means that it is his body in the sense of ownership or control, not in the sense of being a physical body. The word head means authority. He is the authority of the church. He is the head of the church like the owner of a store is the head of that store. The church is a body of people that belongs to him.

If the body of Christ is all believers, then the church is all believers, but the church cannot be all believers, because the word church means a called-out assembly. All believers are never called out, so the church could not be His body in that sense. There will be a day when all Christians will be a member of the church, but that will not be until all Christians are called out. Hebrews 12:23 refers to a host assembled in Heaven. All believers will not be the church until all believers are raptured.

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns... Revelation 13:la

That word head is the same word found in Colossians 1:18 and Ephesians 1:22 where Jesus is called the head of the church. These heads are kings. A king has authority. A king is the head of his nation and the people which they control form the body. These kings are called the head just like Jesus is called the head of the church.

And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: Colossians 2:10

Jesus is the head of all principality and power. That is referring to governments and rulers. Jesus puts up kings and sets down kings. Jesus is the head of all of the governments and all government leaders in this world. They cannot do anything that God does not allow them to do.

He is called the head of principalities and powers just like He is the head of the church. He is listing something over which He has control. The world's governments no more make up His body, then Christians do. It merely signifies authority. He is the authority of the church, and He is the authority over the world's leaders.

Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands as under the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife. Ephesians 5:22, 23

A man is the head of his wife, but that does not mean she is his body. It means that he is the authority of the home. This is not talking about a male head on a female body. As the husband is the head of the wife, so is Christ the head of the church. What does it mean? As the wife obeys her husband, so the church is to obey Christ. He is the head or the authority. In that sense Jesus is the head of the church and the church is His body. Consequently, the church cannot be an invisible church of all believers because the body is the church and the church is a called-out assembly.

This doctrine of all believers being members of the body of Christ is an attempt by Satan to unite us with people with whom we are commanded not to unite. It is an effort to say that we are all members of this body when, in reality, we are not.

7. Jesus is building a church.

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Hebrews 12:22-24

All believers will be called out and assembled in the sky. They will be called unto Jesus, and then all believers will become a church. God is now in the process of building an army of people which someday will become a church.

Let me give you three extreme positions regarding this issue.

1. That the church is the bride of Christ. Some men teach what we call the doctrine of the Baptist Bride. They believe that the only people who will be a part of the bride at the marriage of the Lamb will be Baptists, and all other saved people will merely be wedding guests. Of course, that is not true. These people get the body mixed up with the bride. The bride will not be a bride until we get there, so it will include all believers. The future church will be the bride. The present church is not the bride; it is the body.

They are also wrong because many Baptist churches are liberal. How can all Baptists form the bride when there are hundreds of American Baptist churches that do not even believe that the Bible is the Word of God. There are some churches that do not call themselves Baptist which are New Testament churches. If Baptists form the bride, these New Testament churches will not be in the bride. So, according to them, a liberal American Baptist church would be in the bride, but a fundamental church that is not Baptist will not be in the bride. That is totally untrue.

2. The term the rapture of the church is unscriptural.

We will not become a church until we assemble in the sky. At the rapture we will form a church because then we will assemble, but right now all believers are not yet a church.

3. All believers do not belong to the church. Somebody needs to set Baptists straight and stop them from being influenced by the inter-denominational crowd. I am not opposed to inter-denominational Christians, but I am opposed to their doctrine about the church. In the average inter-denominational school, many of those who are preparing for full-time Christian work are studying to start orphanages, or to be missionary pilots, or to do Christian drama or Christian movies.

At Hyles-Anderson College we are training men to start churches. We are training young women to go out and teach in the Christian schools started by those churches. We are training young men to go out and lead the singing and be bus directors in those churches. That is the hope for America.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must need be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom;fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Romans 13:1-7

The United States Government believes in the separation of church and state with the Catholics, but not the Baptists. Let me give you an example. If Mr. Noriega came to the First Baptist Church of Hammond seeking asylum, the government would break down the doors of the building to get to him. But, he went to the Catholic embassy in Panama, and our government did nothing to get to him. Why? Because our government respects separation of church and state with the Catholics, but not with other people.

Let me make eleven observations regarding this matter of the separation of the church and the state.

1. There are two kingdoms.

Again, the Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; Matthew 4:8

The words kingdomsofthe worldshows us that there is a kingdom of the world.

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. John 18:36

Jesus said that His kingdom is not of this world, so that means there have to be two kingdoms on this earth. There is the kingdom of this world and there is the kingdom of our God. God set it up this way. These two kingdoms have two different kings, the kings of the world and Jesus, our King.

2. We live in both and are to be subject to both.

They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. Matthew 22:21

The Roman Empire was the kingdom of this world under which they lived at that time. Jesus commanded them to give to God's kingdom what was His and to give to Caesar's kingdom what was his.

3. Each is to allow the other to exist and operate. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world are just as separate as the government of Canada and the government of the United States. These two kingdoms have no more right to try to control each other than we have to control Canada, or Canada has to control us.

It is more than just the church not influencing the state, and it is more than the state not running the church. They are two separate kingdoms. Neither is answerable to the other, and neither is supposed to operate or run the other. The kingdom of God is not to do anything to hinder the operation of the government, nor is the government to do anything to hinder the operation of God's kingdom. It is not the church's business what the government does, and it is not the government's business what the church does. They are two kingdoms operating with two different kings, two different philosophies, two different constitutions, and two different theories.

4. There are naturally two great threats. One threat is the state controlling the church, and the other is the church controlling the state. There are countries in this world where the church controls the state, and there are countries in this world where the state controls the church.

5. There are two great ideologies that embody these threats.

(1) Communism. Communism is complete control of the church by the state.

(2) Catholicism. Catholicism is complete control of the state by the church.

These two ideologies are equally deadly and dangerous. Communism is as deadly and dangerous as Catholicism, and Catholicism is as deadly and dangerous as Communism. Both are trying to bring these kingdoms together. The Bible says these are two separate kingdoms and are not to come together.

To whatever degree a country is communistic, by that same degree the state controls the church. The state is trying to control the church in America today, because America is going communistic. The philosophy of Communism is as prevalent in America today as it was in Russia 35-40 years ago.

To whatever degree a nation is Catholic, by that same degree the church controls the state. If a nation is completely Catholic, the church completely controls the state. If a nation is completely communistic, the state completely controls the church. Show me any country in this world where the Catholics are a great majority, and I will show you a country where the church keeps a thumb on the state.

When the Reformation came, the Protestants continued controlling the state. Martin Luther for the most part controlled the government of much of Germany. John Calvin did the same in Geneva. Why? Because they came out of the Catholic church over doctrine, but not over the issue of the separation of church and state. The Reformation was not actually an evangelistic endeavor. These reformers took over the churches in parts of these countries and they controlled the politics and ran the cities. Why? Because they got it from their mother, Catholicism.

America used to believe this, which is why we did not have a Catholic president until the mid 1960's. We did not want the Pope running the country. Even the unsaved people were aware of that in those days. We knew how it was in other places in the world, and we did not want it to be that way here in America.

6. Each has its own area of authority. What is a government supposed to do for its people?

(1) Protect our person.

(2) Protect our property.

(3) Protect our freedom.

Those are the only three things the government is to do. The government was not started to educate our children. It is not the church's job to protect our property, that is the government's responsibility. Government education is of the Devil. It was never intended by God for the government to train our children. It is the job of the home and the church. For decades the churches trained the children. The government took over the education later on, but it was not a part of our founding.

The church's job is to do God's work. It is not the government's job to interfere with God's work. It is not the church's job to interfere with the police department. It is not the government's job to interfere with the Christian school. The kingdom of God is to spread the Gospel and do the work of God through the local churches without interference from the kingdom of this world.

7. We are to honor both. When the Mayor of Hammond comes to the First Baptist Church, he should be more intimidated than I am, because I head a more important kingdom than he does. I do not think I am important, but I think my office is important. I happen to fill the most important job in the world as a pastor of a church in the kingdom that is not of this world.

My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change. Proverbs 24:21

The king's kingdom and the Lord's kingdom are not to be interwoven, or mixed up, but we are to honor both.

8. There is a priority to our allegiance. Sometimes Christian people say, "Well the Bible says we are always supposed to obey the government." That is not in the Bible. The Lord never says to always obey the government.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to the good works, but to the evil. Will thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Romans 13:1-4

This passage refers to powers in the plural. The higher powers are God. God sets up the powers. The higher the power, the more the subjection. God is the one who ordained the whole thing. He is the architect of it all. He is the highest power, so our main allegiance is to be to Him. God ordains others to deter us from the evil. There is nothing wrong with having a police department, a Governor, a President, or a Mayor, but they are lower powers than God.

As a preacher, I am His minister. There are areas where people are to obey me as their pastor, but, if there is a conflict between the pastor and God, God is the highest power. The same is true with the secular rulers, such as mayors, governors, or city councilmen. Our major allegiance is to the Highest Power and as long as other powers do not conflict with the Highest Power, than we are supposed to be obedient to the other powers as well.

For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Romans 13:6, 7

God says we are to obey the higher powers, but our first allegiance

is to the highest power. If there is a conflict between the lower powers, the higher the power, the more the allegiance. Let me illustrate.

If the city of Hammond passed a law stating that we could not soul winning, we would still go soul winning. We are going to keep the law of God. He commands us to go soul winning, so we would go soul winning. If they put is in jail, we would witness to the jailer. That is what Paul did.

Consider a few examples.

* Daniel prayed at a certain time each day in a certain way. They passed a law declaring he could not do it. Daniel decided not to change his prayer life because of a law of man. Daniel broke the law and was put into the lion's den. He was subject to the highest power first and the lesser powers next.

If that law had said not to burn leaves when the wind was blowing from the north, Daniel could have obeyed that law, but when the king exerted authority over the other kingdom, God's man refused to obey it.

* Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego broke the law.

The law said they had to bow down and worship a golden image. The kingdom of God said, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.... Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them... Suddenly, there was a conflict between the kingdom of this world that says bow down and worship the image, and the kingdom of God which says not to bow down and worship the image. God says we are to obey His law over this kingdom's law.

The world's kingdom has no right to make a law that is against God's kingdom. The world's kingdom has no right to say who can and who cannot pray. This world's kingdom has no right to say whom you may or may not worship. This world's kingdom has no right to say whether or not you may go soul winning. Only God's kingdom has the right to tell us how to do the work of God.

And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. Acts 4:18-20

A law was passed that they could not speak in the name of Jesus. They got over in the other kingdom. Washington has no authority over the program of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, or the schools we operate. It is none of their business. It is none of our business to pass a speed limit law or the fire code. That is the kingdom of this world's business, but the kingdom of the world should pass no laws that have to do with the program of the kingdom of God.

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Acts 5:42

The kingdom of this world said to cease. The kingdom of God said we will not cease. They had passed a law that infringed on the wrong kingdom. The kingdoms of this world had passed a law that had to do with the kingdom that is not of this world, but there was already a law passed by the king of the kingdom of God. He said, Go ye therefore and teach all nations.

The law of the one kingdom said not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. The other kingdom commanded us to speak and teach in the name of Jesus. In cases where you have a direct law in the kingdom of God, and a direct opposite law in the kingdom of this world, we are to obey the kingdom of God over the kingdom of this world.

It is amazing how many Christians criticized Lester Roloff when he was fighting his battles in Corpus Christi. The state of Texas said they would close his homes if he refused to operate them the way the state told him to. Lester Roloff refused to obey their laws because they would have forced him to disobey the laws of God regarding the way his ministry operated. Why have a Christian home if you are forced to operate it like a heathen home? The very purpose was to have a home which was controlled by the kingdom of God. I do not care what the Congress or the Supreme Court says, they have no right to get over into the other kingdom. They are totally separate kingdoms.

The government does not want you to have anybody above them. They want to run your life. I am going to stand up and hold the banner high to save the freedom of the kingdom of God, so that the kingdom of this world will not boss us and destroy our homes and families. Communism is dedicated to the destruction of the American family.

9. The accreditation of church schools is one kingdom ruling the other. The kingdom of this world has no more right to accredit the kingdom that is not of this world than the kingdom that is not of this world has a right to accredit state universities.

Brother Roloff used to go up and down this country warning preachers not to get a license from the government, because it is the kingdom of this world running God's kingdom. The kingdom of this world has no business to run the kingdom of God. None at all. Accreditation of church schools is one kingdom telling the other how to operate.

The fire inspector has the right to come out and inspect our buildings to be sure they are safe because that is part of his responsibility of protecting us. I am for that because I love the young people in those schools. I am more concerned about their safety than he is. He is of the kingdom of this world, and the king of this world is supposed to provide for the safety of our persons.

Whom we choose to teach in our schools is the kingdom of God. What is taught in our schools is the kingdom of God. Nobody in the kingdom of this world has a right to interfere in those matters. Most people do not understand accreditation. The philosophy of accreditation is one kingdom trying to run the other. If you go to an accredited school, you are going to a school that is controlled by the kingdom of this world, which means that they are controlling the kingdom of God.

They want to have a part in training our teachers. Our country is going to the Devil because of the teachers the world has trained. Why would we start Christian schools so they could train our people to be just like theirs? We started Christian schools because we were sick and tired of the government ruining our kids. It is not their business to train our kids. It is their business to keep us safe, protect our property, and keep our freedom. It is not their business to run our schools. Accreditation is a transgression between the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God.

10. Neither is to tax the other. They are not supposed to tax us, and we are not supposed to tax them. I have as much right to call the City Council and Mayor of Hammond and demand their tithes, as they have to tax the church. We went to court when some of the city fathers wanted to tax our parking garage. The parking garage is as much as part of First Baptist Church as our parking lot across the street. We are not as a church to be forced to pay taxes to the kingdom of this world.

11. Neither should support the other's schools. It is not the job of one kingdom to pay for the schools of the other kingdom; yet, part of our taxes are used to pay the salaries of the heathen, godless people who teach in the public schools. They have no more right to tax me to pay for their kingdom schools than I have a right to tax them to pay for our kingdom schools.

I am unalterably opposed to tuition credit. The kingdom of this world is sneaky. They will offer to give us a $500 allowance, if our child goes to a private school. It sounds good, but who is going to decide which schools qualify and which ones do not? The world's kingdom is going to decide. They will then want to check our schools. We are not putting our school up for governmental approval.

How is the government going to decide what schools are approved? They will have to check out the school, at which point they have entered into the kingdom over which they do not belong. We have invited them, and we have chosen to lose our freedom.

That is the philosophy behind the separation of church and state. It is two different kingdoms, neither of which is supposed to govern the affairs of the other. I believe that there will be people in America who will have to die or go to jail over these issues within the next twenty-five years. This is an important part of the teaching we need to perpetuate among our people, to better help them understand all they need to know about the church.

I have seen great churches all across this nation totally change after the pastor who built the church to its greatest days went off the scene, or passed away. That may happen at First Baptist Church, but I have done my best to prepare my people for the pitfalls ahead. I have preached in the great churches of the last generation. I have seen many of those churches decay. I have seen the change that has come in those churches. I have watched carefully what has caused that change, especially in the case of the pastor passing away or retiring.

The first time that I met Dr. Lee Roberson, he was forty-three years of age. Dr. Roberson stayed for many years at the Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, but the day came when Dr. Roberson felt he could no longer do the job because of his age. He was around seventy-five years of age, and he felt that he should turn it over to somebody else. One Sunday night he and Mrs. Roberson walked out the center aisle together, and his ministry there, after over forty years, was over. I had the privilege to preach over 125 times at the Highland Park Baptist church at Chattanooga.

When I met Dr. G. B. Vick for the first time, he was about forty years old, but the years came and went. He pastored the largest church in the world at the time, the Temple Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. I was preaching in Rock Springs, Wyoming. I called my secretary, Mrs. McKinney, and she told that she had just received a phone call from the Baptist Bible College at Springfield, Missouri, where Dr. Vick was speaking. Dr. Vick was at his desk and suddenly fell over dead. He had pastored there for over thirty years.

For forty-two years I have watched a generation of churches rise and fall. I doubt there is a man in this generation who has preached in more churches in America than I have. I doubt there is a man who has counseled more pastors than I have. I have watched a generation of churches decay. I am going to do everything I can to see to it that fifty years from now the First Baptist Church of Hammond will still have the altar full every Sunday and still be the same as it is today.

Change is a state.

Change is constant.

Dissatisfaction is a state. If you are not satisfied with what you have, you will not be satisfied with what you get. If you are not satisfied with the job you have, you will not be satisfied with the job you get. If you are not satisfied with the house you have, you will not be satisfied with the house you get. If you are not satisfied with the car you drive, you will not be satisfied with the car you get. Change is a state.

When you change, you never get where you are going, because when you get where you thought you were going, you do not want to stop, so you keep on changing. What starts the change? What causes a church to change?

* What causes a church to change? *

1. A pastor change.

(1) The people want a change. Something in people causes them to want a different kind of man. It is like politics. When the Republicans are in, they get blamed for everything. When the Democrats get in, they get blamed for everything. The same thing happens in a church. It is easy for the people to get enamored with a man who is totally different than the preacher they had before. Suddenly you have change almost just for the sake of change.

(2) The people will not follow the new pastor even if he is what he ought to be. The former pastor did things a certain way, and the people will not follow the new pastor because he does them differently. They are accustomed to the way things were done rather than to following the man of God.

(3) The people call a good speaker or a good personality. Preaching is the most important thing in the church, but the best preacher in America could not operate a church like First Baptist Church, unless he knew something about business. A church should not call a pastor just because he has a personality with charisma, or because he is a good preacher. Too often churches make the calling of a pastor more of a personality or popularity contest.

I have known some great soul-winning churches which have gone down because the church called another kind of preacher. Some have changed because they called a good man the people would not accept. Others have changed because they called a pulpiteer only, and a not a man who could operate the business and administration of the church.

(4) Some churches change because the church falls in the hands of a few people who are either wealthy or influential.

I knew of a church that lost its soul winning because it allowed seven wealthy men to choose the pastor. They changed its entire direction and practically destroyed everything that the great pastor before had built. Most of the people wanted an old fashioned fundamental preacher, but the control was in the hands of those seven men.

2. The pastor changes. Churches change because of what is behind the pulpit. I am not the best Christian in the church, but I am the Pastor-Bishop-Builder of the church. I keep my hands on everything that goes on in the church. I go out to the college to keep the direction right there. I meet every week with the administrators of all our schools to see to it that they keep on the right track. Every ministry of the church must be watched, or something will creep in that could change the church.

You cannot imagine the pressure of an independent, hell-raising, barn-storming, window-rattling, shingle-pulling, temperamental, fundamental Baptist preacher. There is more pressure on a man who preaches the truth of God's Word than there is on any other single profession in the world. The greatest leaders in this world are not in White Houses and in palatial mansions; they are in the parsonages of America.

There are several ways that a preacher can change.

(1) He loses his motivation. Dr. Elmer Towns said that hardly any pastor continues to see his church grow after his fortieth birthday. Why? Because the pastor loses his motivation. It is easy for a young preacher who is pastoring his first church to be excited with the newness of the challenge. Just the idea of being a pastor and the opportunity to preach are enough to keep him motivated for a while. That is some of the best preaching he will ever do. His entire motivation is to preach what he believes is right and what the people need.

After awhile, the difficulties of the ministry begin to wear on him. The honeymoon with the people begins to wear off. The newness is gone, and people start to get upset with him for not doing things the way they think things should be done. Soon, he starts to get discouraged or disillusioned. It is not much fun to him any more. That is what happens to pastors.

I work incredibly hard to stay motivated because I want to go out with the same zeal I had when I started. I want to go out hating the Devil just as much as I did when I started. I want to go out hollering as loud as I did when I started. It is not an easy thing for a preacher to keep himself motivated.

(2) He loses his vision. Proverbs 29:18 says, Where there is no vision, the people perish. That means when a leader has lost his vision for the members, the members perish. It does not mean that if I have no vision for myself, I will perish, but if I have no vision for my people, they will perish.

I have visions for my church. I have visions for the young people. My heart is broken when the young people do not fulfill the visions I have for them. I have visions for the kind of young ladies that our young men will marry. I have visions for the kind of young men our young ladies will marry. I have visions for Hyles-Anderson College. I have visions for Hammond Baptist Schools. I have visions for the First Baptist Church of Hammond. I have visions for the kind of Christians I want my people to be.

It is so sad to see preachers who have lost their vision. The motto for my ministry has always been: I will not use my people to build my work; I will use my work to build my people.

When I stood outside and watched our building burn to the ground back in 19641 did not shed one single tear, but I have sat in my office and wept for hours because of a person in the church who went astray. My vision is not for buildings; it is for my people.

What happens is the work becomes more important to the preacher than his people. His prestige, or his standing in the ecclesiastical neighborhood, becomes more important than his people. Money becomes more important than the people. I never dreamed my church would become as big as it did, but I had a vision that the young people would turn out right. The older a preacher gets, the more difficult it is to maintain the vision.

(3) The pastor loses his bite. A preacher needs to be able to keep on preaching hard even as he grows older and begins to mellow. The older I become, the more difficult it is. The more I love my people, the more difficult it is. I do not want to scold my people because I love them.

A preacher has to keep his bite. A preacher without a bold streak will not amount to anything. Too many preachers start getting soft, and, before they know it, they have changed.

(4) The older people settle down. I preached at most of the greatest churches in this nation over the past forty years. I have also gone back and preached in many of those same churches after they changed. Here is what happened to them. They started out with a group of young people who were excited about building the church and winning the lost. They had the bus routes, went soul winning, and built the Sunday school classes. Over the years, they retired to the pew. They are fundamental people, but they are not busy for the Lord like they used to be.

The best way for a church to change is for the older people to quit the choir, quit their soul winning, quit their bus routes, quit their Sunday School classes, quit bringing folks to church, and quit getting excited about big days. I have seen it happen. I have seen those older people settle down. I have seen the people that used to go soul winning not go soul winning anymore. If you want your grandchildren to have a great church, you have got to keep it great until they get there. How important it is not to allow the people to retire from the work of God!

(5) No new families come to replace the older ones that settle down. The secret of the First Baptist church of Hammond, Indiana, rests in the new, young couples and families that come to the church. Many years ago I started a young couples class with forty-seven people. That young couples class is now the class that meets in our auditorium. A few years later we started another couples class. Brother Colsten now teaches that couples class that used to be a young couples class. Most of the people are in their fifties or over. A few years later we started another one, and now Brother Moffitt is teaching that class of middle-age people. Then we started another one, and another one, and we kept on starting them as the years went by.

That is the secret. We always have several hundred new people in the church who came in with the new wave, and I am always on a honeymoon with that new wave.

I am concerned about having a crowd that is red-hot for God, the Bible, the Gospel, and soul winning. Fifty years from now I want there to be a man in the pulpit of the First Baptist Church who is still preaching against mixed swimming; against women wearing shorts and pants in public, and that if you are not a soul winner, you are not right with God. As long as I live, I am going to do all I can to keep it that way.

I love our children. I want them to have First Baptist Church like my generation has had. If that is going to happen here, or anywhere, it will not be on accident, but on purpose.

The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. I Peter 5:1-3

The New Testament churches grew to be extremely large. They started off with 120 and added 3,000. Then they added 5,000 which brought the total to 8,120. The Bible says that they multiplied. The smallest number you can multiply by is two, so they had to have a minimum of 16,240 church members in the one church in Jerusalem.

When Paul was writing to the church at Ephesus, he was writing to an extremely large church. The church at Jerusalem is estimated to have had somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 church members. The same is true with the churches at Ephesus, Antioch, Corinth, and other churches.

These churches had many pastors just as we have many pastors at First Baptist Church. The larger churches began to assume authority over and interfere with the smaller churches, because there were so many things the larger churches could do. For example, today a larger church can provide literature for smaller churches.

Several things came into the church that brought opposition.

1. Salvation was attacked. They became very ceremonial, and the preaching of salvation by grace through faith was attacked.

2. Baptismal regeneration became very popular.

3. Infant baptism became popular. In those days infant baptism was by immersion. That is really where sprinkling originated. They thought it was too dangerous to immerse these infants, so they began to pour water on them and then, to sprinkle them.

4. Baptism was done by sprinkling rather than by immersion. After they began sprinkling babies, they extended it to adults, and began sprinkling them as well.

Opposition grew as the churches grew. That is always what happens. The Devil is not concerned if we are not reaching anybody. He is concerned only if we are reaching the lost. Persecution came to these churches because they were reaching the lost.

* John the Baptist was beheaded.
* Steven was stoned.
* Matthew was killed in Ethiopia.
* Mark was dragged through the streets until dead.
* Luke was hanged.
* Peter was crucified upside down.
* Andrew was tied to a cross.
* James was beheaded.
* Philip was crucified and stoned.
* Thomas was pierced with lances.
* James the Less was thrown from the temple and beaten to death.
* Jude was shot with arrows.
* Matthias was stoned.
* Paul was beheaded.

This was happening to the churches because they were growing so rapidly.

At that point these churches were independent churches. They had some influence on each other, but they had no organization whatsoever. As these churches grew, they not only grew in number, but they spread to other parts of the world. In fact, they covered the entire Roman Empire. As they grew, they wanted to get together. A desire to unite is always caused by a lack of faith. People organize because they do not think God can take care of them.

In the year 313 a new emperor came to the Roman Empire, whose name was Constantine. He had a vision of a fiery cross in the sky and

the words, By this thou shall conquer. Constantine saw that as a sign that he was supposed to conquer for the cause of Christianity, so Constantine was supposedly converted. Maybe he had a genuine conversion experience, but Constantine got the idea that he was supposed to conquer Christianity by that vision of the cross.

He foresaw a marriage of the Roman Empire and the church. He desired to cover the entire Roman Empire with Christianity, so he brought the church and the state together. This was an attempt by Constantine to have a world religion and a world political system. This concept was started by Nimrod back in Genesis, but it never had been organized in the New Testament church until Constantine did it in 313. Constantine basically got all these churches together and started a Christian state religion.

There were some churches that would not get involved. These were Baptist churches. They refused to get involved in this new world council, or Roman council of churches.

It has always been the desire of the Devil to get all of us under one canopy. Union is not God's idea. It is the devil's idea. The union and organization of churches or nations is never of God. The United Nations is not of God. It is of the Devil. The World Council of Churches is not of God. It is of the Devil. The first world council of churches since the New Testament church was Catholicism. Constantine wanted universal government and a universal church. From that came the doctrine of the invisible or the universal church.

Most Baptists were a part of this union movement, but there were a few who refused and remained independent. That is normally the way things happen. Let me quote from a newspaper article. Southern Baptists and Roman Catholics, the nation's two largest denominations generally have been regarded as doctrinally far apart, but their scholars find they basically agree. Despite their terminology and some real differences we do share a basic understanding of what it means to be followers of Jesus Christ by the grace of God, says their joint report.

After ten years of periodic discussions, the Baptist-Catholic Dialogue group quoting Ephesians 4:5 concludes we not only confess, but experience one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

Those Southern Baptist churches are not New Testament churches. Baptist perpetuity has always been in the independent Baptist churches.

In 869 Constantine's hierarchy divided. The Greek Catholic church separated from the Roman Catholic church. The Greek Catholic church left for many reasons. One of the major reasons was that they did not want to be governed by Rome. They wanted their freedom; yet, they turned around and would not give people freedom under them. Most people do not want freedom; they want their freedom. People who fight for freedom will often turn around and enslave others if they can get away with it.

In the sixteenth century we had what is called the Reformation. In the Reformation, Protestants came out. For example, in 1541 the Presbyterians came out, in 1530 the Lutherans came out, and in 1531 the church of England came out.

When the Lutherans came out, they fought for their own freedom and then enslaved others. The Presbyterians did the same thing. In every case, there were still Baptists who refused to be thwarted. While others were building cathedrals, they were in store front buildings. While others were building coliseums, they were being killed in those coliseums, but they kept on going. They were the only ones who were preaching the Gospel and getting people saved, so they kept on growing.

The more they were persecuted, the more they grew. The Presbyterians tried to put them down, but they could not do it. The church of England tried to suppress them and could not. The Lutherans tried to suppress them and failed. What kept these Baptist alive? A promise that Jesus made in Matthew 16:18, upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The gates of hell were the Roman Catholic church and the churches that came out of the Roman Catholic church. Constantine did the world a great disservice when he decided to unite the church and the state.

Most people believe that our founding fathers came for religious freedom. No, they did not. They came for their religious freedom. For example, in the northern colonies two religions basically started there:

Congregationalists and Presbyterians. In the southern colonies you basically had Episcopalians, or the church of England. Our founding fathers came to America trying to find freedom, but when they got here they established freedom only for themselves. They fought and died for their freedom of religion.

In the northern colonies, the Congregationalists and Presbyterians made it against the law for Baptists to exist. In the southern colonies, the Episcopalians made it against the law for the Baptists to exist. But, just as Constantine had trouble with the Baptists, so did those founding fathers. In fact, throughout history, every group that tried to promote the idea of a state-church has had no success in snuffing out the light of the independent Baptists. TheseBaptist people were always causing trouble, splitting off of somebody, preaching the Gospel, getting people saved, and baptizing them after they got saved.

Nothing has changed. Throughout history, we have been the unpopular group because we have refused to unite with the other acceptable religions of the day. The Ministerial Association of Hammond, Indiana, does not know what to do with me. When I first came to Hammond, it was amazing how many resolutions they passed against us. I would get a letter every month informing me that the local Ministerial Association had passed another resolution telling us something we could not do. We went ahead and did it anyway.

Our crowd has always caused trouble because our crowd is for freedom for everybody. The Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Episcopalians in the colonies declared that it was against the law for anybody to refuse infant baptism, or to preach the Gospel. The penalty was imprisonment, being fined, being whipped, having your property taken, or being banished. Banishment meant that you were turned over to the Indians. That happened in America.

Two men who were banished were Roger Williams and John Clark. Both of these men made friends with the Indians and saved their colony, because the Indians were going to destroy them. Instead, the Indians did what they said.

Roger Williams and John Clark had no place to have freedom of worship. They found a little piece of land and started their own colony, but they could not get permission from England to be recognized as a colony. John Clark went and stayed in England for many years, lobbying to try to get their little colony recognized as a colony. That little colony is now the state of Rhode Island. The state of Rhode Island was finally recognized as a colony. It was started by a couple of Baptist preachers.

They were finally recognized and drew up their Constitution. The Constitution of the State of Rhode Island included religious freedom for everybody. It was the world's first governmental declaration of religious liberty. A little group of born-again, blood-washed Baptists who were preaching the Gospel, baptizing their converts, and refusing to baptize their babies were the ones preaching and teaching separation of church and state, and religious freedom for everybody.

Today the only religious group in the world that is actively fighting for freedom for everybody is independent Baptists. Yet, today we have Baptist fellowship groups that are just as ruthless to those who refuse to join them as the Catholics ever were. They do not kill those who refuse to be a part of their group.

From the days of Constantine, to this very day, there have been independent Baptist churches all over this country, who are fighting in the courts for their right to exist, for the freedom of their schools, and for the freedom not to be licensed with State Educational Departments.

1. Every generation must fight for its own freedom and for the freedom of others. Every generation must declare its own independence. Every generation of local churches must decide to be free.

2. We often fight for our freedom and at the same time enslave others.

3. We start the new structure with the same seeds of death that caused the last generation to die. You can go to the so-called independent Baptist annual meetings, and it is just like it used to be in the Southern Baptist meetings. We pull out of that which enslaved us and then start building the exact same machinery that caused them to die. It is not just being enslaved to bad people that is bad. It is being enslaved that is bad. It is not losing your freedom to tyrants that is bad. It is losing your freedom that is bad.

Here is what happens. Here is an old preacher who has been enslaved. He has been called a nut and a screwball all of his life. He decides that he is not going to put up with the slavery anymore. He is going to be free. A group of those little guys get together and become independent. Suddenly they see stars in their eyes. They have a chance to be somebody after all. They get to be the president of the Independent Baptist Fellowship of their county. It has started all over again.

Totally independent churches are the answer. It is the philosophy of interference outside the local church that is wrong. It is not whether it is good or bad interference. Our churches are dying because we are letting somebody off in some office somewhere write the literature that our people teach on Sunday. The answer is cooperation only, but not to be enslaved, and not to enslave. That is the difference between independent Baptist churches and every other religious movement the world has ever seen since the New Testament church was started. The difference is, we will not be enslaved and we will not enslave!

Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:21-27

Baptists have been educated by inter-denominationalists, so we have garnered much of the doctrine that was taught by the Protestants and not by our Baptists forefathers. One of those doctrines is concerning the bride ofChrist. Our inter-denominational friends have influenced us to believe that all believers are the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, and the church.

Recently, I was reading a book by a well known interdenominationalist. All through the book he presumed that all believers formed the church, and if you are saved, you are a member of the church. No, if you are saved, you are saved, but you are not automatically a member of the church. I have no axes to grind with him about salvation. I strongly disagree with him about the church. Likewise, most Christians have automatically assumed that everybody who is saved is a member of the bride of Christ.

All believers do not form the bride of Christ.

1. The word bride is mentioned only five times in the entire New Testament. John the Baptist used it once when talking about being the friend of the bride. They thought he must be the Saviour. He told them that he was just a wedding guest and that the Bridegroom was coming later. He was not referring to all Christian people. He was merely talking about himself.

The word bride is not mentioned in any of the Epistles. In fact, it is not mentioned again until Revelation 18:23. It is also mentioned in Revelation 21:2, Revelation 21:9 and Revelation 22:17.

And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: Revelation 18:23a

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:2

And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talk with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. Revelation 21:9

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. Revelation 22:17a

Apart from John talking about the bridegroom in a brief illustration about himself, there is not a single mention of the word bride, in any connection, until Revelation 18:23. The rapture takes place in Revelation 4:1, so the word bride is not mentioned until after the rapture.

Revelation 21:2 refers to the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven after the millennium.

Revelation 21:9 and Revelation 22:17 refer to the same thing, all of which transpires after the rapture.

All saved people do not become a bride until after the rapture. There is no bride ofChrist today. There is no place in the Bible where it mentions anything about us now being the bride ofChrist. That is only in some inter-denominational theologian's commentary. It is not in the Bible.

I make an issue out of this because I am bothered by the fact that fundamental Baptist churches are swallowing the fallacy that all believers form the church, the body of Christ, and the bride of Christ; none of which is true.

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19:7, 9a

The marriage supper of the Lamb takes place after the marriage. It is the reception. Revelation 19:7 talks about the marriage of the Lamb. The marriage of the Lamb takes place during the seven years after the rapture. We are caught up in the air and during that seven year period, there is the marriage of the Lamb.

A woman becomes a bride at marriage and not before. The marriage of the Lamb is in the air after the rapture. Only then will we become a bride. You become a bride after the marriage, so we will not form the bride of Christ until after the rapture. The word bride is not mentioned in the entire Bible concerning God's people until after the rapture, because we are not His bride until the wedding has been performed.

All believers are members of his family, but all believers are not members of the church. You must join a church to be a member of a local body. The church is His body, so all believers are not in His body. All believers are not in the church, and all believers are not in His body. When Jesus comes again, at the rapture all believers will be called out and will assemble in Heaven. All believers will then become members of the church, because then we will all be a called out assembly. That called-out assembly, or church, will become his bride, but this does not happen until the rapture.

2. There is no mention of the church now being His bride. In all of the letters to the churches there is no mention of them being His bride. In fact, the word "bride" is not mentioned in any of them.

3. The bride and the body are never the same in this age. There are people who believe that they are the same. Consequently, they believe that only the people who belong to the New Testament church are members of the bride and that everybody else will be wedding guests in Heaven. That is not right. All people who belong to a New Testament church are simply church members now. At the rapture when all of us form a church in the sky, all believers will be the bride and the church, but this is after we have been called out and have assembled.

4. The future church will be the bride.

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Ephesians 5:23

The local church is His body by possession. When it says that He is the saviour of the body, it means that the only way to continue being called a local church is to continue being purified by Jesus.

Speaking to the church at Ephesus, Revelation 2 says, .. . repent, and do thy first works; or I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick.... The candlestick is the church. He is saying that He would not recognize them as a church unless they got back to soul winning.

Jesus is the saviour of the body. The body is the church, or the called-out assembly. The only way a church can continue being a New Testament church is to yield to Him and He will preserve it.

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you the overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. Acts 20:28

And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. Acts 20:17

Paul called for the preachers of the church, not churches, in Ephesus. It is referring to the local church in Ephesus. These preachers at Ephesus could not possibly feed all believers. They could feed only that local assembly; yet, he commands them to feed the whole assembly of God which He hath purchased with His own blood. Jesus purchased, not only our salvation, but He also purchased the local church when He died on the cross. He not only died to save us from our sins, but also so that we could have an organization to feed and mature us in the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25

The word sanctify means to set apart. The local church is not the bride of Christ, but it is set apart to become the bride of Christ. In Bible days, an engagement was stricter than it is now. It was a legal and binding contract, and could not be broken.

I will be His bride, but nothing can allow the contract to be broken. Neither party can break the contract.

We sing, "A glorious church without a spot or wrinkle, washed in the blood of the Lamb" I am not against singing this, but it is not yet true. The church has spots, and it has wrinkles, otherwise Jesus would not need to keep on washing it. At the rapture we will be a glorious church. The word glorious means perfect. We will be a glorified church when all the believers are caught up in the air. Our bodies will be changed, we will be like Him, and we will be without spot or wrinkle. Then we also will be His bride. We are not yet fit to be His bride. He wants a glorious bride without a spot or wrinkle.

When the rapture takes place and all of us are caught up in the air, the church, the body, and the bride will all be the same. We will not be the bride until we get to the wedding, but we are already sanctified or set apart.

The church is the only institution in this world that was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. It is His unit of battle. It is His dining hall where we are fed. It is His arsenal where we get our weapons.

The Bible gives no evidence that all Christians are a church. The word church is the ekklesia, meaning called-out assembly. When did all believers ever assemble? They did not. In Acts 7, the Israelites were called a church, but they were not called a church in Egypt because they were not assembled in Egypt. It talks about the church in the wilderness. They became a church when they were called out of Egypt and assembled in the wilderness.

On the Passover night, they were delivered from the bondage of Egypt and were called out into the wilderness where they assembled around the tabernacle. A pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night guided them. There they assembled and were called a church because they were a called-outassembly. There was no church in the Old Testament, except when God's people assembled in the wilderness.

Likewise, God's people will not be a church until we are out of this heathen land and are caught up to assemble in the sky. Then we become the church, and then we will be married to Christ at the marriage of the Lamb. We are already members of the family of God. We are going to Heaven when we die, and we are going to form a group at the rapture that will be His bride. Until then, the church and the body are the same because the church is the called-out assembly and that called-out assembly is the body of Christ.

Maybe this worries you a. little. All of your life you have been taught that we are the bride of Christ. What I have explained in this chapter is exactly what Baptists were taught historically. Too much of our theology has come from those who came from Protestant backgrounds, like the inter-denominational colleges. We must go back to the truth of the Bible and teach our people the truth concerning the church and its importance to the work of Christ.

And there came one of the seven angels which has the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. Revelation 17:1-7

Catholics have had an unbelievable influence on our Baptist churches. I am going to take you step by step to reveal exactly how that influence took place.

In the Bible, a bad woman is a symbol of false religion, and a good woman symbolizes the true faith in Jesus Christ. Here we have an introduction to a false religion, the great whore. Notice that this whoresitteth upon many waters. The many waters represent many Gentile nations of the earth. That means she is a universal whore. Whatever her religion is, it is a universal religion, which has joined together the kings of the earth. It is referring to a union of church and state.

The word fornication goes with the word whore. It means an unholy relationshipwithoutlove. This religion does not love the state, but for her own gain, attaches herself to the state. The state, for her own gain, interacts with this religion.

There are two beasts in Revelation 13. One is a political beast and the other an ecclesiastical beast. The political beast is the head of something like the United Nations. The ecclesiastical beast is head of something like the World Council of Churches. This false religion is sitting upon this beast, which means there is a union of church and state.

Daniel 2 gives us a picture of a big image or beast. That beast's head is gold, dressed in arms of silver, with belly and legs of brass and feet and toes of iron and clay. Those four metals represent four empires that have conquered the world. The first empire was the Babylonian Empire. The second was the Empire of the Medes and Persians, conquered by the Grecian Empire. Then there is the Roman Empire. There is one world empire that has not yet come, and that is the ten toes of iron and clay.

The Bible says there will be another world empire that will have ten kings. It will be a revival of the Roman Empire. The ten kings in that empire will be something like the United Nations. It will actually be a Western Confederacy, over which the anti-Christ will have control. That empire will be very wealthy.

This woman represents the Roman Catholic hierarchy. She is the mother of harlots. When all the little children have come back to her and reunited into one great false religion, the Roman Catholic church will sit on the ten-kingdom empire. The Catholic church, the National Council of Churches, and the United Nations, or revived Roman Empire, or European Common Market will all be together. All of the major religions in this world will be together, and all the major western nations of this world will be together. They will all line up against Russia.

I want you to notice several things about her.

1. She says she is a universal church. The word Catholic means universal. Today, most Baptist preachers believe in what they call the universal or invisible church. That was unheard of until this century. There is, of course, no such thing as the universal, invisible church. Baptists, all the way back to the Anabaptist days, believed in the local New Testament church.

2. She possesses formalism in her worship. Roman Catholicism has always been for robed clergy and a robed choir. Up until this century you could not find a Baptist church that had a robed choir. For 1900 years Baptist churches did not have them, because the Roman Catholic churches did. That is why I would never wear a robe when I preach. Until this century robes were unheard of in a Baptist church.

It is shocking how many Baptist churches have three candles on their communion table. Until this century, no Baptist church would consider having a worship center.

Until this century Baptist churches never called a church building a House of God. Spurgeon used the word meeting place to describe his building. He did not call his church building the House of God.

Baptists did not use the term sanctuary until this century.

Baptists did not use anthems in church until this century. Until this century you would never have heard classical music in a Baptist church. Baptist people, historically, have not been people of great wealth, nor were they people of what the world calls culture and refinement.

Ornate buildings are unique to this century for Baptist churches. I dare you to find the cathedrals that Baptists have built. You will find great cathedrals built by the Catholics and her babies, but not by the Baptists. It is unique to this century.

Baptist preachers, until this century, have never used clergy titles, such as Reverend.

Baptist churches allowing themselves or their schools to be licensed or accredited is totally unique to this age.

The Catholics and others have catechism classes a person must take before they can join the church. Now the same thing is going on in Baptist churches. When I went to First Baptist Church, you had to meet before a committee, and be examined and approved before you could be baptized. The book of Acts says that the New Testament church added daily such as were being saved. In Baptist churches all over this country you have waiting periods, which are nothing more than a form of catechism.

Think about it. Baptists had none of these things until this century:

* Universal church
* Formal services
* Robes
* Worship centers
* Buildings called the House of God
* The term sanctuary
* Anthems
* Classical music
* Ornate buildings
* Clergy titles
* Union of church and state
* Catechism
* Waiting periods for baptism

What happened? The Reformation brought forth Protestants from the Catholic church. They left the Catholic church basically over the issue of justification by faith, so basically it was a doctrinal withdrawal. These people are the children of the mother of harlots. The Baptist churches already existed before the Reformation. Since Jesus started the church, there always have been New Testament Baptist churches. Originally, you had the Baptist churches and the Catholic church. The Reformation brought about the creation of the Protestant groups.

I admire the Reformationists. I admire the men who are now fighting for the Bible in the Southern Baptist Convention. I am not a Southern Baptist, and could not be a Southern Baptist, but there is nothing wrong with admiring their courage. We can admire the Protestants, but the fact still remains that they look very much like their mother, the Catholic church. They reorganized into a denomination that was just as powerful over the people as the Catholic church used to be. They pulled out doctrinally, but not organizationally.

I admire Luther and Calvin, but they never belonged to a New Testament church. The New Testament churches never sprinkled babies. The New Testament churches never had denominational bosses.

Something else happened. Over the centuries, these denominations became more and more liberal. From these denominations we had the twentieth century Reformation, or the American Reformation. This brought about the inter-denominational movement. They came toward us, but they did not come to us. We should not fight them, or criticize them, but we should not unite with them either.

Here is what happened to the Baptists. They decided they wanted to be educated. The independent Baptists had no schools, so we sent our young people to be trained in the schools which were started by those who came out of the Protestant movement and who started the

inter-denominationalist movement. They trained our preachers in the doctrines and methods that they brought with them when they split. When our preacher boys came out of their schools, they had learned all about the universal church, formal services, robes, worship centers, sanctuaries, anthems and classical music, ornate buildings, clergy titles, union of church and state, and catechism.

All of these things came from the phenomenon of the interdenominationalists. The Independent Baptists had few colleges until J. Frank Norris started a school in Texas. Later, the Baptist Bible Fellowship started a school in Springfield, Missouri, but Independent Baptists still had no place to train their preachers.

I am not opposed to inter-denominational schools. I am not opposed to a barber college, but it is not a good place for a Baptist preacher to train. I am not opposed to medical school, but that is not a good place for a Baptist preacher to train. I am not opposed to these Bible colleges, but along with the truth they brought out of the Protestant movement, they also brought much error. They brought the universal church. They brought their formal worship services.

Two things happened when we sent them our preacher boys there to get trained.

1. They received good Christian training.

2. They did not receive good church training.

You cannot divide the two. If the church was not important, Jesus would not have started it. They received good training that the blood of Jesus washes away our sin; they received good training in walking with God; they received good training in prayer; they received basically good training in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, but they received no training concerning the New Testament church; they received no training concerning the ordinances of the New Testament church. They still preached the Gospel, but did not believe in our Baptist heritage.

Tragically, in many cases, they "looked down their noses" at the crude old-fashioned ways the Baptists did things. There are hundreds of pastors in Baptist churches today who are not Baptists. Our Baptist heritage has been diluted. Perhaps even more tragic is the fact that all over the world there are preachers who were won to Christ by an old fashioned Baptist missionary and then came to a inter-denominational

college in the United States to get their training. They have gone back to their home countries and taken with them the inter-denominational teaching they received here. They have taken back the formal worship services, the doctrine of the universal church, the robes, the worship centers, the anthems, etc.

A phenomenon has happened in our generation. We have started our own Christian schools in Baptist churches. Thirty years ago you barely could find a Baptist church that had a Christian day school. Now it is difficult to find one that does not. There are thousands of Baptist churches operating Christian day schools across America.

We have started our own Christian colleges in Baptist churches.

Baptist colleges are being started all over America. We no longer have to send our boys to be taught that there is such thing as the invisible universal church, and to dress our choirs and preachers like Catholics do. I am not angry at anybody with a robed choir, but they did not get it from our Baptist history. They got it from the Catholics. Love them. Pray for them. Thank God for them, but do not allow them to train our young people. We are still Baptists. I thank God for the Gospel they preach, but I am still a Baptist. America needs a soul-winning fundamental Baptist church in every neighborhood.

There is still one danger. We must be careful that we do not staff our faculties with teachers who have been trained by the very institutions we are trying to avoid. In many of our churches we have already allowed the inter-denominationalist to invade us through our schools.

It is also important that we continue to train our preachers in colleges started and controlled by independent fundamental Baptist churches. Divine perpetuity has been promised to the church, not to the school. A school without the canopy of a church must die.

Now we have our own schools with our own teachers. In the next few years something incredible is going to happen in America. There is going to be a resurgence of real Baptists. We do not have to send our students to the inter-denominationalists for training anymore.

We did not realize it, but for many years we have been influenced by the Catholic church. From her came some harlots, and from those harlots came people of conviction. Thank God for them, but although they came toward us, they did not come to us. There is something better, and that is the doctrine of local New Testament, independent Baptist churches, who start their own schools, run their own business, are bossed by nobody, but God Himself!

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. Beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 1-4

The word fundamental is a relative word. It becomes an adjective instead of a noun when it is used to describe a Baptist church. It is a shame that we have to say fundamental Baptist church, because all Baptist churches ought to be fundamental.

The word fundamental means, one who holds to the original faith and practice of a movement. A Masonic Lodge can have fundamentalists. If you go back to the fundamentals of the Masonic Lodge, you are a fundamental Mason. The word fundamentalist does not apply Just to a group of Baptists. It can apply to any group. There are many kinds of religious fundamentalists, and there are even many kinds of Christian fundamentalists.

The first Baptist church was started in about 31 A.D.

It was not started on the day of Pentecost. It was started during the earthly ministry of our Lord.

The Catholic church was started in 313 by

Constantine, the Emperor. Constantine united the church and the state in the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

In 1530 the Reformation came and the Lutherans started. About the fourteenth century a man named John Wycliff became very disenchanted with the Catholic church. Then came another man named John Huss, who likewise was disenchanted with the Catholic church. Following Huss came a man whose name was Savonarola. All three of these men were martyred by the Catholic church. Then came a man named Zwingli, who was also disenchanted. He became a part of the Reformation. Zwingli was followed by Martin Luther, who was followed by John Calvin.

In 1531 the Episcopalian church started.

In 1541 the Presbyterian church started.

In 1602 the Congregational church started.

In 1785 the Methodist church was started by John Wesley.

In 1812 the Disciples of Christ were started. We now call them the Church of Christ, Christian churches, or Disciples of Christ.

Around 1900 the inter-denominational movement began to flourish in America.

Remember that a fundamentalist is someone who goes back to the original faith and practice of a movement. How far back does someone have to go in order to be considered a fundamentalist? They must go back to the origin of their movement.

To be a fundamentalist Methodist a person would have to go back to 1785. A fundamental Methodist is not a fundamentalist as we Baptists count a fundamentalist. They still sprinkle because John Wesley sprinkled. They still believe in denominational lordship of the churches. They still believe that salvation can be lost because John Wesley believed it. They still believe in holiness. John Wesley was wrong on holiness. John Wesley was a great man and certainly deserves our attention as a man of character, discipline, and prayer, but not as a man of doctrine.

I believe we ought to pray for, love and admire people of other denominations, who believe the Bible, but not doctrinally like we do, but I do not think we ought to work with them. I think it is unwise to work with people that are fundamental in their own doctrine.

When I was a young preacher, I pastored the Grange Hall Baptist Church in the country, outside of Marshall, Texas. The Grange Hall Methodist Church was a good Methodist church. They had a fundamental Methodist preacher named Edmond Robb. He and I became good friends. Both of us were in the same little country neighborhood. I respected Ed Robb and the Grange Hall Methodist Church. We never had any trouble, because did not try to unite in our efforts.

America was much better off when Baptists worked with Baptists, Nazarenes worked with Nazarenes, and fundamental Presbyterians worked with fundamental Presbyterians, etc. We do not reveal our differences as much if we stay in our own camps and do our own work. We got the job done better back in those days as well.

I admire the fundamental inter-denominational people. I respect them, but I do not work with them. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was about a mile and half from our church. They had revivals just like we did. They got people saved just like we did, but they sprinkled babies and converts. Their denomination assigned the preacher to the churches. I respected them, and I prayed for their revivals, but did not unite with them.

Let's allow the fundamental Disciples of Christ, the fundamental Methodists, the fundamental Congregationalists, and the fundamental Presbyterians to live, but let us be fundamental Baptists. The Baptist distinctives that have made us different through the years are no longer precious because we have worked with good people whose doctrines were wrong in some important areas.

There are those in the Lutheran church who have returned to the fundamentals of the Lutheran church, but they are still different from a fundamental Baptist in some important areas. They still sprinkle babies. They still have the Bishopry over the churches. They are totally wrong on the doctrines of the church, baptism, and the Lord's Supper.

I respect and admire a fundamental Lutheran preacher. I rejoice with him for his morals. I rejoice because he stands for righteousness. I rejoice that he fights unrighteousness. I rejoice that he has revivalsand gets people saved, but I cannot rejoice that he is wrong on the local church. I cannot rejoice that he is wrong on baptism. I cannot rejoice that he is wrong on sprinkling babies. I cannot rejoice that he is wrong on the Lord's Supper. I can thank God for him, but I will not join up with him.

To be a fundamental Baptist you must go back to Jesus. Nobody is a true Bible fundamentalist unless he is a fundamental Baptist. Nobody who sprinkles babies is a true fundamentalist because no babies were sprinkled in the Bible. To be a true fundamentalist you cannot believe in falling from grace, because the Bible teaches that you cannot fall from grace. To be a true fundamentalist you must be separated from the world. To be a true fundamentalist you must be a soul winner. You can be a fundamental inter-denominationalist and not believe in soul winning, but you cannot be a fundamental Baptist and not believe in soul winning.

A fundamental Baptist church is a church whose faith and practice goes back to 31 A.D. to Jesus. You can be a fundamental Methodist and go back to Wesley. You can be a fundamental Presbyterian and go back to Calvin or Zwingli. You can be a fundamental Lutheran and go back to Luther. You can be a fundamental Catholic and go back to Constantine, but you cannot be a real Bible fundamentalist unless you go back to Jesus.

Two things cause these movements to move away from the fundamentals.

1. Unwillingness to accept the stigma of either extreme. Either position has a stigma. If a man is a strict fundamentalist, the great host of society calls him a radical. Most people do not want to be considered fanatical.

The evangelicals came along and taught fundamentalists how not to be radical. The evangelical movement was not founded because of conviction. It was founded because the evangelical people were not willing to be branded for Jesus' sake. They did not want to bear the stigma.

The farther from fundamentalism the Devil can brand as radical, the better he likes it. He likes it when more liberal Christians are called fundamentalist because it moves the line of what a radical is considered to be. If you are not a fighting fundamentalist, you are an evangelical.

The neoorthodox movement is the same thing to liberalism as the Evangelical movement is to fundamentalism. It is a way to avoid being in the extreme of a movement.

In Washington, D.C. you will not find many old fashioned conservative Republicans. Nor will you find many staunch liberals. The same concept applies. Everyone wants to be moderate, so they will not be considered radical.

The evangelical movement is nothing more than fundamentalists who use liberal terms. The neoorthodox movement is nothing more than liberals who use fundamentalist terms. New evangelicals are those who meet somewhere in the middle.

2. A desire to gather a larger following. Many people make the mistake of believing that they will grow more by appealing to a wider scope of people. In reality, people are drawn to that which is distinct. Most people hold to extreme beliefs and are thrilled to find an institution that has not compromised those beliefs. That has been the secret of the success of the First Baptist Church of Hammond. We have done nothing to try to appeal to crowds other than proclaiming the uncompromised truth of the Word of God.

Many men who had great and growing ministries saw the opportunity to enlarge their outreach and changed their position more towards the middle. In most cases the ministries diminished.

Let me make a few observations.

1. The Devil wants to bring the term radical toward the center.

2. Let us thank God for every group that broke with their original group when it got liberal and went back to what it used to be.

3. Let us hold to our Baptist distinctives. They do matter. Baptism does matter. It is in the Great Commission. Soul winning does matter. It is in the Great Commission. The Lord's Supper does matter. It is one of the church ordinances. It does matter. The doctrine of the church does matter. Let us hold dear and treasure our Baptist distinctives while at the same time admiring those who are willing to take a stand in their denomination.

4. Let us not be ashamed of being considered radicals.

5. We had a stronger nation when each did its own work alone and the rest of us admired each other from a distance. I am a Baptist. I thank God that I am a Baptist. I thank God for my Baptist heritage. 1 thank God for Baptist distinctives. I thank God for the men who died for them. If they can be martyred for these Baptist distinctives, the least I can do is believe them.

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. II Peter 2:1-3

False prophets or false teachers are people who are unsaved and are not teaching salvation by grace through faith. There are three things about which we need to be right. According to the Old Testament, the people were commanded not to mix one type of seed with another seed, not to mix different cloth in the same garment, and not to plow using an ox and an ass together. That was God's law of separation.

The ox and the ass represent the true preacher and the false preacher.

The true seed represents the Word of God. We are supposed to keep the Word of God pure.

Not using different material in one garment is symbolic of salvation.

We need to be right on the man of God, the word of God, and the plan of salvation. The false teachers mentioned in II Peter are unsaved people who were trying to bring something other than the true Gospel from the true Word of God.

The word privily means, to sneak in somebody or something. It means that something is hiding behind something else in order for it to also get in. In this passage we see that damnable heresy had snuck in by hiding behind something that was not a damnable heresy. These false prophets have a false doctrine they want to spread. They know we will not accept it, so they hide that false doctrine behind one with which we do agree.

For there are certain men who crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 4

The phrase crept in unawares is used for two things in the Bible.

1. It is used for masquerading. It is false teaching being masqueraded.

2. It is used as entering in the side door.

This passage is talking about unsaved, false teachers or prophets telling us that Jesus is not the Son of God, but not putting it up front, or that the Bible is not the Word of God, but not putting it up front.

And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. Galatians 2:4

Our attention is turned in Galatians 2:4 from the unsaved, false teacher to brethren. It says there are certain brethren who have crept in. These are Christian people who have heresy they are hiding behind some truth. They hook us to them with something with which we agree and then we believe whatever they say. Radio and television preachers are often guilty of this. They get us on a subject with which we agree and we let down our guard. Then they teach their false teachings. I am not referring to the basic doctrines, but all doctrine is important. The doctrine of church is important. The doctrine of baptism is important.

If a person is wrong on baptism, that does not make him a false prophet, but if he is wrong on baptism, we ought to beware of his false doctrine. We ought not allow him to sneak in his false doctrine behind those things upon which we do agree. This is the way churches change and the way much of our Baptist heritage has been lost. I will give you a perfect example.

Many false groups publish literature which often start with something with which you can agree. It will talk about the premillennial coming of Christ or the tribulation period. You will think that it must be a good book because it sounds like they believe just like we do. They get in on a doctrine with which you can agree, then you let your guard down, and the false doctrine gets in.

This is what happens to churches. The new evangelicals have many movements which are non-local church. Most of them would never join an independent fundamental Baptist church. Most of them do not believe in our convictions and standards. Most of them belong to denominations which are opposite of all the things for which we stand. Most of them are not interested in our informalism, our altar calls, our preaching, and our old-time religion. They only build their works on other men's members.

They get on the radio and our members become their listeners. They are parasites. They do not get people saved or build churches. They do not believe that the local church is the only true church. They call the true church the invisible or universal church. Most of them do not belong to a red-hot, soul-winning, New Testament church, but they parasite off of the soul-winning church to get prospects for their unique ministry. They use issues with which our people agree to get to our people to help them support their ministries. Let me give you an example of these issues.

A preacher will get on the radio or television and fight Communism. He does not believe like we believe, nor would he be a part of our type of church, but he pulls us in on the one thing about which we agree. We then become his followers. Once we have become his followers, we become more loyal to him than to the local church pastor. This happens because we do not see his faults. He does not live with us day after day. We do not hear him preach several times a week.

I am sick and tired of the institution Jesus started being considered a second-class institution. I am tired of men who do not even go to a fundamental church becoming famous because of one issue. It is the local church that is the hope of this country!

There is a preacher in America who is a member of a denomination that has gone completely liberal. This preacher has gotten into the hearts of independent fundamental Baptist people through his teaching on the home. We all agree that American homes need to be improved. There is nothing wrong with most of what he says, but the problem is that we become his followers and put him above the local church pastor. He is a neo-evangelical who belongs to a neoevangelical church and who is parasiting off the local church.

That is what is happening to our churches. We are falling for people because of one issue.

Many people spread false teaching by getting in the side door of the Bible. For example, Bibles to Russia. I am not against sending Bibles to Russia, but I am not for people sending Bibles to Russia who would not cross the street and tell somebody about Jesus.

Many years ago I got hooked on a radio preacher. He wrote and asked me to be on his board. Foolishly I wrote back and agreed to do so. Somebody saw my name in his paper and wrote a letter to inform me that he is charismatic. I did not know it because he never mentioned it, so I called to ask him if it were true. He hedged a bit, but would not deny it, so I resigned from his board.

Some of our heroes do not believe in our kind of standards, our kind of convictions, our kind of old-fashioned, hell-fire and damnation preaching, our kind of soul winning, our kind of altar calls, or our kind of churches. We ought to send our money where they believe like we believe and are doing what we are doing. Jesus started the New Testament church, and we ought not support those ministries that ignore that church.

The King James issue is often used as something with which we can agree in order to get you into a false doctrine. Not every man who believes the King James Bible has been preserved word for word is a true prophet. There is something just as important as agreeing with you on the Bible.

Practicing the Bible is important too.

What should our attitude be about these people?

We should appreciate them for the good they do. We should be kind to them, but we should commit our efforts to a soul-winning, separatist, independent, Baptist church. The greatest youth programs in America are being built by local churches. The greatest child evangelism programs in America are being built by local churches. The greatest Jewish evangelism programs in America are being built by local churches.

The Church Part 1 - The Church Part 3

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