This morning, I'd like to...those figures I gave you before might rather shock you, but other figures would probably shock you, too, if I mention them concerning the gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ in these last days. But last week, I spoke to you about how God sets his own children in the body of Christ as it pleases him. I had spoken to you about Korah in the Old Testament and how Korah sought to take the priesthood away from Aaron. And just because he was part of the congregation, he thought that Moses took too much upon him and Aaron took too much upon him and he sought the priesthood to take it away. But it's God who sets people where he wants them. He set the priesthood the way he wanted it, He made it a family affair. Aaron's family were the only ones who could be priests. Aaron was the high priest. So it is in the New Testament. God has made the priesthood a family affair. Only Jesus Christ is the high priest, and only those who are the brethren of Christ and the sons of God are priests. God has never changed his dispensation on the fact that only priests can enter the presence of God. When I was in the Roman church, pardon me, I used to think that only the priest upon the altar could come into the presence of God. Martin Luther's great treatise in his break with the church was that all believers are priests. The Priesthood of Believers was his great dissertation. And this was to say that as Christ says to us, I am not ashamed to call you my brethren, because you've been born into my family. If you possess my Holy Spirit, then you have been born again. You have received me as your Savior. And when you received me, you received my Holy Spirit. Therefore, you are part of the family of God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are the sons of God. And as sons, we are priests. Since Jesus Christ, it says in Hebrews, is the high priest of our profession, then we as his brethren in the same family are priests. Now, God has set us in the body the way he wants us to be. He has set pastors, teachers, a whole list in the body exactly as he wants them to be. Now, I want to take that unbelievable rebellion that Korah started. It takes only one man to cause a rebellion. If we were to look at communism, I was reading that in 1903, pardon me, Bolshevism, communism was born with 17 supporters. Communism now dominates one billion people. American communists spend 38% of their gross income for this cause. American Christians spend less than 1% of their income for foreign missions or less than $3 per individual for a whole year. These are actual statistics put out by the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association, which is the great association in foreign missions. So beloved, rebellions are start by small numbers. And the rebellion of Korah against the priesthood in the Old Testament, I would like to bring that kind of rebellion down to our present day. And it's great problems that we face today. And the confusion in our own time, for we never seem to learn whether the scripture says so or not. And the tragic part is that everything in the New Testament, in Corinthians it tells us that these things were written and happened to those in olden times, that they might be lessons for us upon whom the ends of the world have come, that we might understand that we wouldn't get into the same kind of problems. Now it said concerning Korah in the book of Jude, and I don't want you at the moment to turn, but it said that talking of this type person in the last days, that they perished in the gainsaying of Korah. The word gainsaying means in the Greek, disputed with. The word in the Greek is anti-logia, which means against the word of God. Great rebellion setting up against the word of God. And so Jude, speaking prophetically of these people who would come, says they perished in the gainsaying or the disputing or the rebellions against the word of God, as did Korah of old and all of his company. They perished and were put outside of the covenant of God. They had nothing to do with God, though they were in Israel. They were not Israel. This is the thing I want you to see. that the mere fact that we're in Franklin Avenue Baptist Church does not make us Christians. The mere fact that Korah was part of Israel and that all of his followers were part of it. And in the judgment in number 16 and 17, it says 14,000 died in one day as God sent the plague into them. that these people were part of a physical relationship with other men, just as you're part of a physical relationship here in Franklin Avenue. But this did not mean they were redeemed. Jude tells us that these perished. They were like raging waves of the sea, twice dead. And he says, this type person coming in a later day, in the last days, and doing the same things, the rebellions of the same character, shall the same way perish. And so Jude uses the past tense. He speaks to us beforehand of the type of people. They'll be like this. They'll rebel against the church. There's great rebellion in the church today. May I say that? Great rebellion. It's in the hierarchy, so-called. It's in the people. It's in young people. And the whole word is that we are not relevant. I want to tell you the gospel as Christ is as relevant today as it ever was. Salvation hasn't changed one iota because God doesn't change. You can't change God in his relationship to man. He tells you in the last book of the New Testament that anyone that adds one word to this word of God, let him be accursed. This is the final revelation of God. And there may be rebellions in the church that are drifting far out from the true church of Jesus Christ. So that those in high places speaking seemingly with authority, but not with the authority of God, with the authority of human thinking, have brought in damnable heresies into the church of the living Christ. And so we ought to be most careful that we're not swept up by rebellion. May I say the evidence is in the born again church, and I dread saying this, right around me within my sphere of knowledge. The evidences in the church of a decline are evident. Church attendance has dropped from over 60% in 1958 to 43% in this nation today. and is going down every year. This is in the church as we know it. The church, if I might say, corporate, but not the church part of the body of Christ. The church is an organization. It has declined. But what disturbs me most is that in the fundamental churches where the gospel is supposed to be preached, the people of God are not living the life that is preached from the pulpit. The pulpit ministry is of one character many times and dreadful to say many preachers have reconciled themselves to the people And whereas there should be a separated life for every Christian living for Jesus Christ, instead of that, we find an inclination in church after church after church to let down this bar and that bar, and maybe you could do it this way, and maybe we could do it that way, and let's become more relevant. I dread that word relevant. Christ has always been relevant to man. It is man who is not relevant to God. to say that the church, true church, is not relevant. The church that says it's not relevant is the church that's dead. A living church with a living message is always relevant. And the people and the pures and the young people know that there is a dynamic in the pulpit that's born of the Holy Spirit. And though they may object and though they may fight and though they may argue against it, and though they may slide into sins they know they should not go into, they have to acknowledge that the Holy Spirit has a ministry. And denying that ministry to their own despair, to their own dejection. And so in these last days, Jude said they will be like Korah, who say, let's change things, let's make a difference. Let's change this whole set up like I read last week, how they pull the pews out of the church and set in chairs, and another church they have hamburgers for the Lord's Supper, and go down the whole gamut. I could go down and this is the bishops in high places or deigning premarital sex in many of the churches, and I'm not going to name them, or deigning these things. Listen, it's all a sign of the last days. You should be rejoicing that you're sitting in a pew where the preacher and the pulpit believes the gospel. and believes that Christ is Savior and Lord. Believes it with all his heart and believes in redemption and understands and tries to make people understand and the congregation understand that life has but one meaning and that is you're on a journey to heaven. You're on a journey, beloved, that is the most important journey you'll ever take. And while you may have vicissitudes in life of success in business and failure in business, and while you may have losses in life of children and loved ones, and while you may have great trials in your family life between the children and the parents and all of the other things, I have to tell you that you had but one job when you came into this world as a mother or a father or a son or a daughter, and that was that you might come to Christ as your Savior because it's the only chance you'll ever get to live for eternity and to live in a place of bliss and happiness where all this world will have passed away and all things become new. Now, let me tell you, when you get that into your mind, your whole life changes. I said to somebody yesterday, I was talking to They got to tell me they were, you know, 55 years of age. You don't know them, but they looked like 75. I said, well, I want to tell you I'm way beyond 55, but I'm just praising the Lord that He's given me a young heart. A heart that he's converted through his own blood. He's cleansed it from sin. And that young heart sees young people in all the rebellions that they're in, in all of the problems they're in, in all of the trials that they're in. And I don't disagree with many of their rebellions. I disagree with any rebellion that says, I have nothing to replace what you have. All I want to do is tear down the present institution, and I have nothing else to put there. I want to talk to those young people who want to do something and want to revolt toward God and toward Christ. And away from a decadent world whose whole emphasis has been on the dollar and the affluency of our nation. We call our nation affluent. Well, I don't know. It's hard to judge affluency, isn't it? The richest nation in the world. I hear this all the time. Yet I hear people complaining all the time. We're so affluent, you know, the dollar is the big thing. I said to someone the other day, no wonder we have rebellions. I said, no wonder our young people rebel. They get married, they can't buy a house. What young couple today can go out and buy a house when the banks are charging nine and 10% interest on mortgages and want $200 bonuses to give you a mortgage? And then at the end, I said, here the old couple, they come down to the end of their life and he retires, and what happens? He says, I gotta move, I can't live here. The young person can't buy, the old person can't live. What I'm saying is, there are reasons for rebellion, but our rebellions must be carefully done. We're not to be rebelling toward some vile system. There is a rebellion that should be in our hearts toward the living Savior. And remembering that men are wicked and vile, and God says, who can know the human heart? It is impossible to know it. People are shocked when they hear the things I read there. Where was that? Just the other day I was reading. You know, I picked this up. Malvern News. No, our village. June 1969. Your police department wants to warn you that summer's a favorite time for the attacks of the sex pervert who preys upon women and children. This is our great refined society. When a wife or daughter's using the family car, keep all the doors locked. Great world we live in, huh? Check the interior of the vehicle before you enter it, after you've left it. Don't park in an unlighted street in Malvern or any lonely parking area behind dimly lit buildings. Don't stop for anyone on the road, no matter how innocent they may look. Never pick up a hitchhiker. Daughters are asking for trouble if they hitchhike. Never walk the streets unaccompanied at night. I'll never forget Don Fonseca saying to me, I'm so happy I'm going back to Africa. Now my wife and I can take a walk at night in the woods, in the forest. So we never lock a door. Can go out and look at the stars. And then I read this, you know, in our civilization. Husbands should go outside while their wives or daughters are parking the car. Women have been attacked in our village on their own property and in a darkened garage. You might say to me, Pastor, what are you talking about? Some area where, you know, this degradation has set in deeply? No, I'm talking about a village whose average income is $9,700. That's the average income in Melbourne. Should I read you all a rest? Oh, unbelievable. This is the world we're living in, beloved. This is the world we're living in. This is the world, beloved, that there should be great rebellions against. Oh, how I pray that our young people will take hold of a rebellion that's real within their hearts, a rebellion that seeks righteousness. They that seek after righteousness shall be fools. a rebellion of heart that turns from the world. I hear the fundamental churches and the great groups establishing now some worldly kind of a setup to attract them. Well, I want to tell you that the gospel says that when Jesus Christ is held up, he will draw all men unto himself. Not anything else. Not some new idea we get, but that where Christ is held up, he will draw all men unto himself. And when I'm speaking of men, I think of women and young folks and young men and young women. And so there's to be this tremendous upsurge in our hearts. God give me a rebellious heart. against any establishment. Oh, I've been preaching this for years. It's not new to me about preaching against the dollar and a dollar value in life, that that's about all there is to it. I've been preaching this for years and then suddenly the young people come along and talk about the affluent society and they object to their mothers and fathers. All they've stressed all their life, and you see this in their papers, is the dollar, the dollar, the dollar. I'm for the kind of rebellion that's rebelling toward the Lord Jesus. With all the fervency of young people's spirits, and all the fervency of a mother and father's spirit, that mothers and fathers will get the dynamic of Christ in their own hearts and really live for the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that that rebellion would would truly spring up in our hearts. Young people, I'm calling you to the proper rebellion. God needs missionaries. God needs servants. God needs preachers. God needs teachers. Every single fundamental seminary in this country says that their place will be empty in 10 to 15 years unless there's a revival in the church of Jesus Christ. Oh, I'm thankful there's been a dozen or so who will be going or are already out in the Lord's service from this church. I praise God for that. But God is calling you that you will come out from among them and be separate and really be rebellious against a society that is decaying fast. This society is going downhill. And yet people are sitting in pews doing nothing, slumbering. God says to us in the last days, slumber not like those who have no hope. We're to be wide awake to the things of the gospel of Christ, to seek the power of God. But oh, how it needs mothers and fathers who are truly dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ, who truly love the Lord Jesus Christ, who have something to give their children. Mother and dad, what do you have to give your children? May I ask you that? What have your children seen in your life that really is vibrant? What is your prayer life? What is your devotional life in the home? How much burdened prayer goes up for your children every single day? Do they know it? Have they seen a compassionate, tender, loving father and mother who are filled with the Holy Spirit, who are not negative Christians, but positive Christians of the joy of the Lord? Sometimes I think homes become so decadent because instead of a great joy of spirit in the Lord and letting them see what the joy of Christ is brought to your heart to overflowing, that there is such a legalism that the children depart from the faith. They want none of it. Instead of seeing a mother and father filled with the joy of the Lord to overflowing, They merely hear the don'ts and the don'ts and the don'ts, instead of giving them all a blessed due of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how important it is that we be what we should be. Let me tell you, in the last days, it's going to be mighty rough. Let me just read a couple of verses to you, just to give you some inkling of what it means. I can't help but think here of Proverbs 30, if you'd turn over with me for just a minute. Paul says in Timothy that know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. I'll read this to you. Men shall be lovers of their own selves. This is fitting into Jude. Covetous like Balaam, like Korah, like Cain. Boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. Boy, how we're seeing this. We're sewn to the wind. We're reaping the whirlwind. You've got your dollars, and you've got your businesses, and you've got everything else, and you've got affluency, and you've got your lovely homes, and your pretty lawns, and your nice clothes, and your jewels, and you've got it all. But with it, you've reaped the whirlwind. You haven't paid the attention you should to the children in compassionate, holy prayer. You haven't been burdened in your soul for their souls. You haven't shed tears for them. You've been burdened and you could shed tears at a movie. You could shed tears at anything. You can shout for the ball games. You can shout for the football. You can be enthusiastic about everything. But when it comes to Jesus, there's lack of enthusiasm and the children have seen it. They've watched you in your home. They've watched every single thing you've done. You've talked about your faith. You've talked about Franklin Avenue. You talk about it being a great church and you cease to be anything great in the children's eyes. They've watched every single thing about you. They haven't seen any power in your prayer life. They haven't seen any consistency in your dedication. They haven't seen any separation in you. They know about you like no one else knows. My heart breaks when they come into my study and say, if you knew my mother and father, you wouldn't talk so highly of them because you'd have to see them in the home. You'd have to know their argumentation. Have them come in and say, did you know my father swears? He curses and he's cursed my mother. Do you know my father drinks? Oh, he hates church every Sunday, Pastor. He sits right there. But I've seen him come home drunk and curse my mother. Do you know, Pastor, my mother's an alcoholic? Nobody knows it. But, Pastor, I find bottles all over, medicine chests, Every place I look, I can find it. It isn't identifiable. But I've learned what the smell of whiskey is because I smelt it on my mother's breath. You can go anywhere and find it. Yeah, she's in church. You see her. Oh, listen, beloved. You can understand the spirit sometimes that can hit children. That 11th verse there says there is a generation that curses their father and does not bless their mother. Beloved, oh how I pray that this is not true of our children. These are the end days. Young men, young women, oh, how I pray for you. Timothy said they're disobedient to parents. Oh, I have a lot more to say in that area, but they curse their father and curse their mother. I don't know how many of you saw a television program called Generation Gap. If you did, it was a shocker. I couldn't help but think of this verse. See this lad? First you see the father. The father says his son is in some university out west. Father says, they ask him what about his son. What does he think about his son? Well, he was a fine boy. He said that brought him up in a good home. He said, we had devotions at our table, and we prayed. And Barney says, you know, the generations have changed. And he says, he's got brand new ideas, you know, goes down the whole thing, brand new ideas. And then they just take you with a flash to the son. Well, you wouldn't believe to look at the son. The first question asked of the son is, we're talking to your father and your father was telling us about your youth. He says, forget that stuff. Number one, they never really loved me. And number two, it was just a bunch of trash because their life didn't match their words. Generation gap. Sure, there's a generation gap where the life doesn't match your church life. Our children today – listen, kids, I have to say this – you're more intelligent than I was at your age. You know more. It amazes me. I want to say that. I want to give you credit for this as far as education is concerned. I wouldn't take one little bit away from that. you know so much more than we ever learned in those days. But I want to say this, if you have a godly mother and father who really love you, who will respond to that love. God says there's going to be a generation, that last generation, who's going to curse their mother and curse their father. You know what Jesus says in Mark? He says, in those last days the children shall turn their fathers and mothers in and have them put to death. That's what Jesus says, Mark 13. Now, kids, I'm pleading with you. Love your moms and dads, if they're godly. Remember that it's warned in the Word of God in those last days there will be a whole generation. Oh, it'll be a great gap. They'll hate their mothers and fathers. They'll curse their mothers and fathers. I want to ask you young folks, do you want to be part of that or do you want to be part of that heavenly family who one day are going to dwell with Jesus Christ? I want to tell you life's worth living if you're living with Jesus. That portion in Romans 8, if we suffer with Christ, remember, we'll be glorified with Him. Oh, kids, young people, young adults, I believe in some of your rebellions, but make sure your rebellions are toward Jesus. He needs you. He lives in you. He walks in you. He speaks through you. And the whole hope, if Jesus tarries, of the church of Christ is you. And for mothers and fathers, if you haven't lived it, why don't you begin it? When was the last time, may I ask a simple question, you, mom or dad, ever wept over your child in pleading prayer? pleading prayer, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous one availeth much. They that sow with tears shall reap with joy. Mother and Dad, Grandfather, Grandmother, what are you sowing? Let us pray. Father, we thank Thee for Thy precious Word. Lord, bless it to our hearts. We thank Thee for Thy precious Word. We thank Thee for this place where we can proclaim it. I thank Thee, Lord, as Thy servant that Thou hast given me a flame of fire. Lord, only death will extinguish that, yet will I see Thee face to face. But, O Father, as the Holy Spirit ministers here to both young and especially to our young and to old, we pray that the fire of God will descend upon our hearts. Lord, all down through the church's history, it has been the great power and rebellion of the church that has transformed nations and lives. Right now we see an acquiescent church in a rebellious society. What we need is a dynamic church in a rebellious society. Father, give us that dynamic. Let no one leave here this morning without that determination in their heart. I want to be a dynamic Christian. Week by week and day by day, I need no sudden surges of spiritual lift to bring me into any position. It's a moment by moment and day by day position. Lord, may those who were blessed in the Billy Graham crusade show the fire now. This is the proof. Give us the fire. If it was in hearts for one week, and then it dies, it's useless. Give us the dynamic now, day by day, week by week, hour by hour, in all of our hearts. In Christ's name we pray, amen.