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We now present Dr. Bob Jones,
Sr., internationally known evangelist and founder of Bob Jones University,
who during his earthly ministry was one of God's great warriors
for the faith. You who have been listening to
our message recently will remember we've been talking from the 8th
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. This is a very striking and dramatic
incident. And I'd like to have you remember
that these things that we read to you are factual. They actually
took place. You know, somebody talked to
me some time ago about Job, whether Job was an imaginary character,
why he wasn't. It's a true story of Job, a man
of God. Now, there isn't any question
about it. For instance, there are a good many things in the
Bible sometimes that we may think are just illustrations that are
real. Now, of course, when he said
a farmer went forth to sow, some seed fell by the wayside, some
in good soil, some on stony ground, Now that could mean just any
farmer especially, there was no special one farmer, but some
farmer did do it. But you know it's been argued
that a parable of the rich man and Lazarus, that parable is
an actual fact in history. It's not called a parable anyway.
It's not called a parable anyway. And when the Bible doesn't call
something a parable, it's probably not a parable. There's a certain
rich man that was clothed in purple and fine linen, had something
to eat every day. and a beggar named Larus laid his gate full
of sowers, and some of the best Bible scholars believe that that's
an actual factual story of a rich man and a poor man, and the thing
actually happened just as he said, not just an illustration,
not just a parable. Now this story is factual. Our
Christianity is built on facts. It's a fact that Jesus Christ
was born of a virgin. Nobody can change it. It's a
true fact in history. In the town of Bethlehem, he
was born of a virgin. It's a fact that when he was
a boy, he was a remarkable boy, at the age of 12, in a temple
talking to doctors of the law. It's a fact that he was baptized
in Jordan. It's a fact that he was tempted
to the devil in the wilderness on the mountaintop on the pinnacle
of the temple. It's a fact that he performed his miracles. They
are factual things. Let's remember that now. These
are factual things. It's a fact that he died on the
cross. He literally died on the cross, laid his life down, shed
his blood for sinners. It's true, see? It's not just
a figurative something. It's the fact that He literally,
bodily rose from the dead. Now remember that when Easter
comes around. Remember it all the time, because every day is
an Easter day for a Christian. Jesus Christ literally, bodily
walked out of the grave. It's a fact that people that
knew Him before He died knew Him after He was raised from
the dead. It's a fact, as I told you one time, a great lawyer
told me, there was no fact in history more established, it
could stand in the court of justice than the story of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. He said it's not the kind of
thing that could have been framed, it's a fact. Now these things
we read about are true stories, they are true. Now here's a man,
an angel of the Lord spoke to a man named Philip who was in
the will of God. He is obedient to God, he is directed of God.
And if you are surrendered to God, God will direct you just
like He directed Philip. Now, he won't send an angel to
talk to you like he sent an angel to Drake Philly, because you
have the Bible now. We walk by faith and not by sight.
We ought to look for signs now. Don't you bother about signs.
You go right on down the road. Now, for instance, if you look
for signs, you might see a prosperous man think he's a good man. You
might see a poor man and think he's a bad man. And sometimes
the best men are poor people, and sometimes the worst people
are rich people. That's dangerous when you look for signs in this
day and age. There were certain signs that followed the apostles
in the writing of the New Testament. But those signs came to an end
when the Word was sent. Now, that doesn't mean that God
doesn't hear prayers sometimes for sick. He doesn't always do
it. And it doesn't mean that God doesn't sometimes hear some
mother when she prays for a baby, don't let my baby die, God, and
God hears her prayer. He doesn't always do it. He didn't
hear Paul's prayer when he went to the Lord three times and asked
Him to take the thorn out of his flesh. The Lord says, well,
if you'd have that thorn, I'll give you more grace and go ahead
and bear it. All things work together for
good to them that love God. Then we walk not by sight but
by faith. So keep these things in your
mind now. Now let's remember. Now we have a Bible. The Word
of God. Wonderful Word of God. Now God
tells us certain things. He told us to pray the prayer,
Thy will be done, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. All right. Now you haven't any right to
pray Thy will to be done and work against the will of God.
That's wrong. Now remember that now. You haven't
any right to ask God to bless you as a preacher or a layman
or anybody else unless you are working on the divine direction.
Now, when God reveals his will in the Bible, wherever he's perfectly
clear, no misunderstanding, I don't care what signs you see, if you're
going contrary to what God told you to do, you're doing harm.
You can't disobey God and please God and accomplish the eternal
purposes of God. Now, just keep that in mind.
Now, if I don't follow the Word of God, when it's clear and simple
and direct. Now, the trouble of this day
and time is we are so superficial, now, Christianity, we don't always
understand. We don't always see. And so many
people are blinded. They just go ahead, you know.
But you better know what God says about things. And you better
march under His will and direction. Now, the directed will of God
for your life, you can have. Now, what God wants you to do,
you can do. Where He wants you to go, you can go. Where He wants
you to be, you can be. But don't step out now and then
say, just look what we're doing. Look what's all this is happening.
Now, don't you do that. Because the thing you think's
happening may not be happening at all. You may be fooled and
you'll find out someday you were. When you go against a clear,
definite direction of the will of God, you'll always do harm
whether you think you will or not. Now remember that in all
things. We preachers need to remember
that. We tell them that out here at Bob Jones University. Our
first obligation is when we know what God says, is to do what
God says regardless of what anybody thinks or may say. Now here's
a man. The Bible hadn't been written.
The angel of the Lord said, you go down that road. And he went
down that road. Now God had a job for him to
do and he has a job for you to do. Now what did he say to you?
Commit your way unto the Lord. Trust also in him. He'll bring
it to pass. He'll direct your path. You take
the reins of your life and put them in the hands of God, He'll
guide you. That's all you need to do. That's what Christians
don't do. Now, when you came to Jesus Christ as a sinner,
you came to Jesus Christ not to give Him something, but to
get something. Now, for instance, we say, give God your heart.
Well, that's addressed to Christian people. My son, give me thine
heart. Now, that's addressed to people who are right with
God, someone God calls His child. Now, when you came to Jesus Christ
to be saved, You didn't come to Christ to give Him your heart.
You came to Christ to get a new heart from Him, see? What you
wanted was a new heart. A heart from sin set free. Now,
the Bible says that natural heart, the kind of heart you had up
until you were converted, the natural heart is desperately
wicked. Now, literally, it's an incurably
sick heart. Now, God didn't want your desperately
wicked heart. He wanted to take that heart
out of you and give you a new heart, you see. So when you came
to Jesus Christ, you came to get something, and you didn't
come to give Him something. All right? The gift of God's
eternal life. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever believeth in Him shall
not perish, but have everlasting life. So you become a Christian now,
and you became a Christian now. You accepted Christ. He gave
you something, as many as received Him, to then gave you the power
to become children of God. He made you a child of God. Now
you're a child of God. Now as a child of God, God wants
you to give Him something. We read in, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice wholly except on the God which is your reasonable
service. Now God's asking you for your hands, and your feet,
and your eyes, your ears, and your tongue. And now He wants
your heart. That heart He gave you, He wants
you to give it fully to Him. That new heart, all that new
life, you know, that new life, that resurrection life, the life
He gave you, the sort of life He had. The gift of God's eternal
life. He'd have the Son have that life.
Now, he said, I want your heart. He told you Christian people.
Now, what we need today is revival among God's born-again people.
That's what this needs. I wish I could make this clear.
You know, we have so many eyes, we all get it mixed up. Now,
notice this. When Jesus Christ, sin don't
hide, led captivity, captivity gave gifts unto man. He gave
some prophets, some apostles, some evangelists, some pastors
and teachers. What for? For the protecting
of the saints under the work of the ministry. An evangelist
is not given to sinners, he's given to saints. A pastor is
not given to sinners, he's given to saints. Now, a teacher, a
Bible teacher is not given to sinners, he's given to saints.
You can't judge a pastor by the people he wins to Jesus Christ.
You can't even judge an evangelist on that basis. You don't judge
them that way. You judge a pastor by what does
he do for his people. You judge an evangelist by what
does he do for the body of Christ, the saints of God. Now, a pastor
or a Bible teacher, any of these, that do not perfect the saints
for the work of the ministry, they are failing. Now, let's
remember that. The great meetings of Benny's son in the old days,
and the other great campaigns of America, men sprang up with
a hundred saints of God that had been no good and got on fire
and went to work for God. Now, that's where we understand.
Now, every Christian is given to sinners. Your business is
to try to win people to Christ, that's everybody's business.
And the measure of your responsibility is the measure of your opportunity.
Now let's remember that, keep that in your mind. But on evangelists,
a pastor, a teacher, they are given to the saints. So this
morning I'm fulfilling my office of an evangelist. I've been fulfilling
for 60 years. Since I was just a little country
boy, I'm fulfilling. When I'm telling you Christian
people that the need of this day and time is a need of consecration
of life to God. You can be a good church worker
and never be surrendered to God. You can go to church on Sunday
and take a big party and they proudly church it out in America.
And America is in the worst spiritual conditions ever been in its history.
We are in the worst state in this nation today spiritually.
Because it's a superficiality we have. There's no depth, there
isn't the old time sacrificing consecrated spirit. It's a hippo-raw
bandwagon. Everybody's going on. It's great. It's big. That's not Christianity.
Jesus talked about a grain of mustard seed, a grain of wheat
falling in the ground. Jesus talked about little things,
little things, little things. Jesus spoke of his little flock.
Those early days when the foundations of empires trembled, God had
a little handful of people. But what did it mean, their will
to die for him? They will go out and have their heads cut
off, they will be thrown to the lions, little children, women,
men, everywhere marched out, figuring this may mean death.
But brother, they were somebody. And when they got them, they
got somebody. And now today it's hoorah for this and hoorah for
that, and hip hoorah and come along. Now what you Christian
people want to do? You mothers and fathers and young
folks, listen to me. You want to surrender your life
to God. And you want to reach a point in your life where you
can say, now, Lord, what you want for me, I want for myself.
I'm not looking to be something big. If you want me to be little,
that suits me all right. If you want me to be unnoticed,
unknown, all right, Lord. I want to be what you want me
to be. We sing it and don't mean it, most of us. We go along through
the years. Ms. Joan and I talked last night
about, she said, you know, it's strange. When you founded the
school, you didn't expect to have a big school. Just going
to found a little school, you know. He didn't have any idea
of bigness. I never had any idea of bigness.
They were in my mind. I said, that's right. Went out
to have a little school and God took it over. If God makes it
big, all right. But don't you try to make it
big. You try to make it what ought to be. You try to make
a thing like ought to be. You make your life under God
what ought to be. Never mind what's going to happen
to you. So he went down that road and met this soul. Led him to Jesus Christ. Had
a revival on a dusty highway. And then took him down there
and baptized him. And what a wonderful, marvelous thing God did. Many
women listen. You can be what God wants you
to be. You can do what God wants you to do. And God's calling
you Christians today throughout this country to stand true to
God and surrender your life to God and quit this child play
stuff that we have so much of in this country. Going along
with the age, it's drifting from God every moment. Our Father,
help us to be faithful. We pray the Spirit of God may
speak to all of our hearts. And we help us to be true in
all things and lead us by thy spirit, we pray in the precious
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. You have just heard Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., internationally
known evangelist and founder of Bob Jones University, who
during his earthly ministry was one of God's great warriors for
the faith. This program is sponsored by
Bob Jones University.
Philip, an Obedient Servant of the Lord
| Sermon ID | 11702121134 |
| Duration | 13:42 |
| Date | |
| Category | Radio Broadcast |
| Bible Text | Acts 8:26-39 |
| Language | English |
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