ing the scriptural stand, yet falling short of what God requires in us. The human heart must be completely regenerated by the power of God and brought under His control. We are seeing the fulfillment of II Timothy 3:1-7 and 4:3-4. The “ now generation” talks about being turned on to Christ, but this is not possible. You can only be made anew and possessed by Him. Christ is not just some kind of wild trip to gratify the wanton search of the rebellious heart. He is, and must be, the new and completed life within, the motivating force and purpose for our living. Phillips translates II Corinthians 5:13-15, “ If we have been ‘mad’ it is for God’s glory; if we are perfectly sane it is for your benefit. At any rate there has been no selfish motive. The very spring of our actions is the love of Christ. We look at it like this; if one man died for all, then in a sense, they all died, and His purpose for dying for them is that their lives should no longer be lived for themselves but for Him who died and rose again for them.” If we are truly bought by His blood, He must completely own us; body, soul, and spirit.He will not enter an unclean, rebellious, drug-motivated heart and life unless it is to drive out all these things as He did with the demons who inhabited the demoniac at Gennesaret. The only work Christ can perform in us takes the act of surrendering our will to Him, and that brings a predictable result. (Philippians 2:5-8, and Romans 12:1-2.) If there is not a beginning of a life of humility and submission to Christ and an ending of one's own selfish and rebellious nature, then it is doubtful that person has ever met Christ. There is a de-emphasizing of the doctrine of re pentance among many of the churches today to en tice the “ now generation.” These stress the love of God, avoiding the issue of sin and depravity in the heart of man. But if man does not first recognize his total condition and lost state because of sin, he can not comprehend his need for the love of God. Com plete repentance is essential to eternal life (Luke 13:3). The first danger facing the church today is our effort to change the methods of presenting the Gos pel to conform to the standards of the “ now genera tion.” The second danger is the air of permissive ness and the participation in the drug and pill-prone society. Tense? Pop a tranquilizer. Depressed? Take a pep pill. Sleepless? Run for a sedative. How about you, my Christian friend? The Bible has a cure for these. There is nothing better for anxiety than Philip pians 4:4-7. For sleeplessness and that tired feeling, read Isaiah 40:29-31. If that hasn’t worked, perhaps the reason also lies in the Word. The devil is indeed “ a roqring lion seeking whom he may devour,” and he is out primarily to defeat the professing believer. James 4:7 says, “ Resist the devil and he will flee from you,” but that is not all. It also says, “ Submit yourselves therefore to God." Our position before God must always be one of submission. It is evident from the Word and from the world 17
abundance of thine enchantments.” The historic city of Babylon fell as prophesied and never rose again according to the words of Isaiah 13:9-22. And just as surely shall ecclesiastical Babylon fall; and the pattern is identical. Revelation 18:23, “ And the light of a lamp shall shine in thee no more at all (forsak ing the Gospel of Christ for a profane message); and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee (the departure of Christ and the true church from the organized church); for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” Where does this “ now generation” appear in the Word? We have seen their part in the effect on the church in the foregoing texts; now let us apply the Word to today’s events. A startling picture of the “ now generation” is seen in Revelation 9:21, “ Nei ther repented they of their murders, nor of their sor ceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their thefts." There is no remorse or sense of guilt for their wanton acts and they are willfully bent on their own way. The word repented comes from the Greek word meta- noeo, which means a change of mind. Because of the context in verses 20 and 21 , it'takes on a deeper meaning. There is clearly indicated here a change from a former way of living to a divergent way. In the early part of this message, we referred to an abandonment of purpose. This is the picture here— a casting off of moral restraint and conscience, be cause it has been destroyed by the artificially pro duced state of mind that can no longer delineate right from wrong. There was no lack of availability of the knowledge of truth of those referred to by the writers of Isaiah and Revelation. Romans 1:18, 21-22, 24. “ For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.” We are faced with a genera tion that is totally dedicated to its cause of rejecting God. This is a most startling fulfillment of prophecy indicating Christ's imminent return, and yet we ignore it. We have always had the adolescent age of resist ance on an individual basis, but now, for the first time in recorded post-diluvian history, we have rebellion and drug addiction as an openly defiant way of life among a great majority of our youth; and we are letting it pervade our churches. “ But as the days of Noah were so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.” Satan knows his time is short and he is out to destroy the two things he hates most: the submission of the saints to the authority of God, and the church of Jesus Christ. I am afraid there are too many voices raised to day which mouth the right cliches, almost express- OCTOBER, 1970
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