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“I know thy works, that thou hast a name that
thou livest, and art dead”’--Rev. 3:1.
HE'SE words regarding the church in
Sardis give us a picture of many a
church today. Once she was vigorous
and flourishing, now, to a great extent,
she is powerless and dead. I say this
in no sense of criticism of the church
as she exists in the mind of God, or
as outlined in His word. There she is
without spot or blemish. But it has
T
happened today in many, many instances that she
shares the fate of Sardis.
We see this in the ministry. Perhaps in all the
history of the church she has never had such men
in her pulpits; men of gigantic minds —the cream
of the intellectual world; men of big hearts; men
of great learning; men who have spared no pains
in trying to acquire the profoundest learning; men
who are eloquent in discourse, who sway multitudes
by magic oratory. Yet we don’t see commensurate
results. I have recently read the biographies of
some of the world’s greatest preachers—Luther.
Knox, Whitefield and the Wesleys. I find that of
ten in their preaching they were interrupted by
cries for “Mercy!” “Mercy!” Souls by the hun
dred would be pricked by the arrow of conviction,
and they would quake, and fall, and call for par
don.
Where is this power today? I am waiting to
get it. Great God —the God of Peter and the
apostles, the God of Luther, Knox, Whitefield and
Wesley —reveal unto us this power that we mav
possess it! We need it; we want it. Breathe, Holy
Spirit, upon us unworthy, helpless, powerless
preachers that we may bring Pentecost to pass
among the children of men!
We also see this want of power in the member
ship of our churches. We must believe that most
church member's will get to heaven. They say
they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.
They must, then, be saved. Let us be liberal
enough to hope this. But surely, if saved at all, it
will be “as by fire.” Their works will be burned
up. What a tremendous force in all our churches,
if men would live as they profess, and their pro
fessions earned with them weight and power!
Paul had to exhibit the marks of Christ before his
works had weight. 0, for the marks of Jesus in
our slumbering hosts!
Christian friends, surely something is wrong, or
we would be reaching more souls. Take, for in
stance, a report of an association —in many re
spects one of the very best religious bodies we have
in the South, with an able and consecrated ministry'
and an intelligent membership. This association
reported sixty-one churches, forty-three preachers,
13,000 members, and an approximate ministerial
salary of $38,000, and yet, with all this able force,
there was a net gain in membership of only 112.
What is the matter? Our brethren in China are
able to make a better report than this. Is it not
time we were asking the cause of such a condi
tion ?
WHY ABE WE DEAD?
It comes about, in part, because we have, failed
to insist upon the maintenancei of our covenant
vows of separation from the world.
You remember the case of Samson. He lost his
power when he lost his hair. Yet his strength was
not in his hair; it was in that for which his hair
was the sign. His uncut hair was the outward sign
of his Nazarite vow, by which “he separated him
self unto the Lord.” The shearing of his hair
was a surrender of his separation, and with this
he was shorn of his power.
It is at this point that many a man now is shorn
of his power for service. We are called upon to
separate ourselves more comp’etely than Samson.
Listen to ihe apostle Paul: “Wherefore come ye
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.” Then,
again, he says: “Abstain from all appearance of
evil.” And we are not only called upon to sepa-
T7ZE ©EX© CHURCH
The Golden Age for April 11, 1807.
Tabernacle Sermon by Reb. Len G. Broughton
rate ourselves, but to exhibit equally a clear and
unmistakable proof of this fact to the world.
How is it with us? Have we kept them—-the
vowis we made? Or have w T e placed our heads in
the lap of Delilah, the world, and lost our
power ?
There is no question about making the vows.
This we have all done. When we were struggling
under the load of conviction, we came to the point
when we said:
“Yes, Lord, 1 give it all up.”
The pleasures of the world of a questionable
character were all included in the surrender. How
about it today?
I fancy some one calling on you, young- lady, the
next week after your conversion, and proposing to
take you to a theatre, or a dance, or to play cards.
I hear you say:
“No, I can’t go. I have given up the world;
I am separated now from these things.”
Then you had power. Then the church that in
sists upon this kind of life had power.
How about it today, brother? Are you keeping
your vow? Take your devotion for your church.
Don’t you remember, when you were converted,
how you loved the sendees of the church? I re
member when I first experienced a change of
heart —it wias in an old school-house in the coun
try. My mother was by my side talking to me.
I felt a load roll away from my heart, and I felt
good. They were singing that good old hymn:
“Come, ye sinners, poor and needy.
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you.
Full of pity, love and power.”
I shall never forget my feelings. 1 wanted to
stay there all night and sing. Many years have
passed; mother has gone to heaven; tiie old log
house has been torn down; but 1 love that spot.
You felt that way, too. I fancy, when Sunday
morning came, you were the first in Sunday school.
You w’ere always on hand at prayer meeting. But
how about it today? It was so in your giving.
A.t first you gave your money liberally and freely;
but now it takes a dozen church collectors to dun
it out of you, and you growl and whine over cop
pers when you then rejoiced in dollars. How about
your vows, brother?
PRIDE.
Again, we’ve lost power because of our selfish
pride.
We seem really to have lost the conception of the
mission of the church, in our eagerness to gratify
our pride. The church is no social club lor the
grouping together of a few individuals, for the
perpetuation of certain social dogmas. The church
of Christ has but one mission—the full salvation
of the world. Everything else must bend to this.
Christ said to Peter that if he would follow Him,
He would make him a fisher of men. That is our
business—fishing for men.
But how are we doing it? Why, we are largely
fishing for class fish! Many a church has fished
this way until the fish have gotten so sharp they
can steal the bait without a nibble. Oh, how sel
dom an evangelical church catches a shark! The
Master’s plan is to launch out into the deep of
humanity with great drag-nets of salvation, and
take souls for Christ. If we get a big fish, all well
and good, provided he will quit his worldliness.
A. C. Dixon says, when he first began street
preaching in Baltimore, a member of his church
came to him and said it was not dignified enough
for their preacher. Dixon told that brother that
he did not remember that that word “dignity”
w’as used in the Bible but once, and that it was
somewhere in Proverbs:
“The way of the dignified is the way of a fool.”
Away w’ith ministerial and church dignity that
breeds death! The most dignified thing I ever saw
was an Egyptian mummy, over two thousand, five
hundred years old. If you want dignity, there it
is! Put it down, brother, that the more dignity,
the more death. We want hearts, we want life
and sympathy in our worship; and if our pride
will not admit of such worship, we’ve got no busi
ness in the church, and the church, if it has reli
gion enough left, ought to turn us out and start
afresh. Society—social position and influence—is
not what we want. This w’ould elevate for a time.
We need power to save the lost, whether they be
in the gutter or in the palace.
And, after all, this is the Lord’s plan. Paul, the
greatest preacher the world ever knew’, said: “I
knew no man after the flesh.” Social position had
nothing to do with Paul. He had an eye that pen
etrated a man’s clothes and looked at his heart.
So ought the church to do today. The masses
make the classes. About every three generations
the bottom layer gets on top; frequently in less
time. The church or denomination that reaches the
common people (so called) today, is going to be the
church of power and influence and position two
or three generations to come, if not sooner. I do
not ignore the wealthy and cultured; but let us
not turn aside from them. If they come in on
the poor man’s platform, let them come, by all
means; for there is no other platform in God’s
Word.
GREED FOR GAIN.
We have lost power in our greed for money.
It was this that ruined Judas Iscariot. The love
of money, the love of accumulation, got into his
heart and caused his ruin. “The love of money
is the root of all evil,” and I know’ of no evil so
great in the destruction of power. How many a
good man today, who once knew something of
spiritual power, has lost it all because of a greed
for gain! And I am not speaking of illegitimate
gain. No, no! A man may be getting his wealth
honestly, and yet it may be the cause of loss of
power. It is the constant desire for more, more
and more. God can’t fill such a heart with His
Spirit. He wants us to seek first His kingdom.
Too frequently it happens that the church ex
pends more energy in the money-making business,
or trying to raise it, than in soul saving. The
Bible way of raising money for the Lord is clear
ly that of offering 1 ; going down into our pockets
and giving it when it is needed. Bui we fail to
do this, and resort today to every’ claptrap upon
the face of the earth, from a kissing frolic to a
cake-walk, to get money for the Lord.
It is all wrong. V.'e are losing power because
of it. The money is all God’s. Why should we
thus strive? Let our energy be spent in trying
to do His will, and the money will come —as much
as we can use. If I didn’t believe this, I’d quit
preaching. I’d rather have some folks’ prayers
than some folks’ dollars.
Let us keep our churches pure, and Jiving in the
will of God, and the money will come.
IGNORANCE OF THE BIBLE.
This is one of the greatest hindrances 'today —
ignorance of God’s Word.
It is lalarming to see this ignorance of the
ord. A female college president said to me not
long ago that she bad been amazed to find so much
Bible ignorance among the girls. They know all
about other thing's. They can tell whether
Trilby had her slippers on or off, but are
absolutely ignorant of the Bible. Some time ago
I was in a leading church, conducting a revival.
In a Bible reading, I gave Jude, second verse. A
cultured lady took the verse, .but called for the
chapter in Jude. Well, of course, when I told her
there was but one, she felt badly.
Let us study the Bible. It is the sword of the
Spirit. I don’t mean to study it merely for crit
icism. I confess that I feel sorry for the man
whose ambition is to criticise the Bible. When I
read the Bible, I believe it to be the Word of
God. , Some time ago I heard one of Dr. Tal
mage’s sermons in a phonograph. It was all just
as real as his speaking it. So, when I come to the
Bible and put my spiritual ears to it, I hear the
blessed Jesus speaking to my soul. It is real to