You know this world is full of preachers, but just a few were chosen. Stay tuned for Treasured Heritage, a preaching program spotlighting those servants who have gone on to glory. Isaiah 5417 says, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And now, Treasured Heritage. One of the things that we've said through these years, stay in the right crowd. Stay in the right crowd. Stay in the right crowd. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted in the river of water, that bringeth forth its fruit in the season. His leaf also shall not wither. and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Notice two of those, two of those, two of those five conditions for prosperity and success have to do with the right crowd. Blessed is neither what walketh not in the counsel of God, that there is the wrong crowd, nor standeth in the way of sinners. There it is again, the wrong crowd. Two of the five deal with running with the wrong crowd, or with the right crowd, or not running with the wrong crowd. I don't care who you are. I don't care who you are. Wrong crowd will ruin you. Wrong crowd ruined the best Christian in the New Testament. As far as I know, the best Christian in the New Testament was the Apostle Peter. He was the first listed. Every time they listed apostles, it was always Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Peter was the first, one of the inner circles. And when they were mentioned, it was Peter, James, and John. Always was. For as I know, Peter was the greatest Christian of his day and the best preacher in the world of his day. But Peter cursed and swore and then denied the Lord. Why? Denied the faith. Why? I'll tell you why. Because he warmed the devil's fire. He was in the wrong crowd. When Peter got in the wrong crowd, he cursed. Now listen, if Peter cursed when he got in the wrong crowd, you can curse when you get in the wrong crowd, too. If Peter denied the Lord in the wrong crowd, you can deny the Lord in the wrong crowd. If Peter denied his faith in the wrong crowd, you can deny your faith in the wrong crowd. Now, you listen to me. There are people in this church right now who have drifted away from God, and you're backslidden, and you're away from God, and I'll bind you somewhere along the trail. You got in with somebody who wasn't good for you in the wrong crowd. I was talking to a mother the other day, and she said, Pastor, my daughter's gone astray. I said, What happened? She got in the wrong crowd. I was talking to a father about a son in Hammond Baptist High School that had gone astray, and he said he got in the wrong crowd at Hammond Baptist High School. And let me make it clear and plain, there is a wrong crowd at Hammond Baptist High School. I say there is a crowd that you should shun at Hammond Baptist High School. Now, if you're in that crowd, you ought to have enough decency to get right or get out, one or the other. But the honest truth is, there is a wrong crowd, and if you get in the wrong crowd, you're in for trouble. Practically all the trouble we face as God's people has somewhere in its foundation getting in the wrong crowd. Look at Eve in the Garden of Eden. Eve, she got with the devil and the devil led her astray. She was in the wrong crowd and a whole race fell because she got in the wrong crowd. Look at Abraham. Abraham went down into Egypt. and never should have gone into Egypt. And down in Egypt, he got Egypt in his blood. Later, he took himself Hagar, because Sarah was childish, and her womb was barren. And Hagar came, and Ishmael was born. And the trouble that is happening right now, taking place in the Middle East tonight between the Arabs and the Jews, is the fact that Abraham had two boys. He had one by Sarah, who was his child of promise. He had one by Hagar, who was the oldest child. And because Isaac was a child of promise, Isaac had a right to the land, and because Ishmael was the oldest child, he said he had a right to the land. And till this day, the sons of Ishmael, that's the Arabs, and the sons of Isaac, that's the Jews, are fighting in Palestine, and this whole world is rocking and reeling in uncertainty tonight. Why? Because Abraham got in the wrong crowd, that's why. Now, you're not a better Christian than Abraham. And you know I've been a Christian in Peter, and you know stronger than Eve. Eve who lived in the Garden of Eden, Eve who had never sinned, Eve who fellowshiped with God every day, got the wrong crown, and her life and yours and mine was affected. Lot got the wrong crown. Lot was a Christian. Lot had a righteous heart, and he was a just man. He was just before God and had God's imputed righteousness covering his sin. What happened to Lot? Lot got in the wrong crowd. Why? Abraham took him down into Egypt, and there in Egypt he came out of Egypt, but Egypt never came out of him. And Sodom was a lot like Egypt. So when Lot and Abraham parted company, Abraham said, you take what you think you ought to have. And Lot chose the well-watered plains towards Sodom, went down to Sodom, he was saved, got in the wrong crowd, ruined his life. ruined his family's life, his wife turned to a pillar of salt, he fled the city as the city was being destroyed, went out to a little town called Zoar, and there he had incest with one daughter and she brought forth a son. born by her own father, whose name was Moab, and this other daughter. She had been an incest with this other daughter, and she brought forth a son, born of her own father, whose name was Ammon. And the Moabites and the Ammonites are causing trouble till this day, and the nations of this world are being pestered and haunted tonight. Why? Because Lot got in the wrong crowd. I mean, if Abraham got in the wrong crowd, it affected us thousands of years later, and if Lot got in the wrong crowd, it still affects this whole world, and will, until the end time. If that be the case, then you getting in the wrong crowd is going to affect your kids, too, and your grandkids, and their kids, and theirs, and theirs, and theirs, and theirs. I'm saying if there is one thing in this world you ought to underline in your Christian life, that is, don't run in the wrong crowd. Look at Balaam. Balaam, that wonderful preacher. Don't you sell Balaam shark. He was the Billy Graham of his day. I mean, at one time, Balaam was the famous preacher, and he was the fellow who was known all over Israel as the most famous of all. And he stood, and yet he, like many others, decided he had run the wrong crowd. Oh, said Balaam, I can go down to Moab. I can be as good a preacher down there. Nobody can be as good a Christian in the wrong crowd as he can in the right crowd. Oh, but you say, I trust my daughter. Well, you couldn't trust Peter, and you couldn't trust Abraham, and you couldn't trust Balaam, and you better not trust your daughter. Oh, you say, my son, he can go to the University of Indiana. He can take it okay. And you've got a hole in your head. He can't take it okay. There's no way in this world that you can get in the wrong crowd to still turn out right. The wrong crowd ruined Lot, the wrong crowd ruined Abraham, the wrong crowd ruined Eve, the wrong crowd caused the race to fall, the wrong crowd caused the Middle Eastern trouble, and the wrong crowd will ruin you. I don't care who you are, wrong crowd will ruin you. Oh, you say, I'll go to a liberal church. Grandma went there, and Grandpa went there, and Uncle George went there, and Aunt Sue went there. And what are these liberal churches going to do if all the good folks get out? They're going to go to hell like they're going to go if all the good folks stay in. The liberal churches have already gone to the devil. You stay in them and you're going to end up bad. Now get out! Get out! Oh, but you said with a hound, you won't hurt me. My Bible says, touch not the unclean thing. Come ye out from among them, be ye separate, saith the Lord. Wrong crowd will ruin you. Wrong crowd will ruin your kid. Wrong crowd will ruin your family. Wrong crowd, some of you folks here in this area. You come out every once in a while to slum it to your house. I mean, of course, you go to the first liberal church in podunk Chicago, or you've got some cold, dead liberal church you go to. Every once in a while, you come out to slum it a little bit, and your whole house is hollering and screaming and bellowing and snorting and hit the pulpit and make a lot of noise. But you go back to your old, dead, cold church. That's where your money goes, you hypocrite. That's where your influence is, your backslider. And you're in the wrong crowd. And don't be surprised. When your children grow up and go to the devil and break your heart, why? Because you reared your family in the wrong crowd, that's why. You better get you some red-hot, fundamental, Bible-preaching, hell-fire-and-brimstone, soul-winning, Christ-honoring, Bible-preaching, fundamentalist church, and get your family there. Oh, you say, well, a little uncouth, but come on, you'll feel welcome then, you'll feel at home. Just come on in. But you say, I don't like all the noise. No, it's not the noise you don't like, it's what we holler you don't like. You don't mind J. Reuben's hollering, and Stokely Carmichael's hollering, and the Communists' hollering, and you don't mind that. No, the trouble is you've got a black heart, and you're not right with God, and you're trying to play both sides of the fence. You've got one foot on one side and one on the other. You're half in and half out and half on and half off, half hot and half cold, sort of a milk and cider kind of a halfway Christian. What you ought to do is realize the wrong crowd will ruin you, wrong crowd will ruin your family, wrong crowd will ruin your children. Get out of it and touch not the unclean thing and come out from among them, saith the Lord. That's what ruined Balaam. That's what ruined Naomi. Naomi and her husband, Elimelech, had two children. They were Bethlehem of Judah. A famine came. They wanted to feed their family. They left the will of God in Bethlehem, went down to Moab, and there outside the will of God. They went to sojourn. They stayed for ten long, wretched years. Her husband Elimelech died. Her son Malan died after he had married a heathen. Their son Chilian died after he had married a heathen. And because of being in the wrong crowd, They were wrecked, and Naomi came back, and her face was scarred by sin, and her life was wrecked by sin. She left three graves back there. She left the grave of her dear husband, Emelech. She left the grave of her oldest son and her youngest son, Malan and Chilian. There she left those three graves. She went down with four. She comes back by herself. When she got back, they said, is this Naomi? She said, don't call me Naomi anymore. She said, Naomi means pleasant. Call me Mara. That means bitter. She said, I went out full, but I came back empty. And she comes back with her face marked by sin and bitterness in her life and her boys in the grave and her husband in the grave. Why? Because she got in the wrong crowd, that's why. Look at Ahab. Ahab married the daughter of the king of Sidon. Ahab, who wasn't really a bad man, just sort of a henpecked kind of a fella, who let his wicked wife run him. Ahab could have been a good king, but he wasn't. Why? He got in the wrong crowd, that's why. Look at Solomon. Solomon was a good man. Solomon had all kinds of potential. Solomon's father was David. Solomon was the wisest man in the entire world. Except one thing. What happened? He ran with the wrong women. He dated the wrong girls. Young people, you listen to me. You young men listen to me. Don't you dare, don't you dare, don't you dare date wicked women. And don't you young ladies date bad boys. If you can't find a Christian husband, be just an unclaimed blessing the rest of your life and don't ever get married. If you can't find a godly wife, then don't you get married. Don't you sell yourself short. It'll wreck you and ruin you, as it did Ahab for life, if you married the wrong person or get in the wrong crowd, or as it did Solomon, who married heathen wives and they turned his heart from God and wrecked his life and the kingdom was divided. Look at Jehoshaphat, a good man. A born-again man, I think one of the finest kings potentially, but he made an alliance with Ahab and went to get Ramoth and get rid of Ahab. Then he went in business with another heathen king, and finally his son married Athaliah, the wicked daughter of Ahab, and Jehoshaphat's life was ruined, and his son Jehoram's life was ruined, and the whole kingdom was ruined. Why? Because Jehoshaphat got in the wrong crowd. Over here in Chicago, there's a place called Moody Bible Institute. Moody Bible and Moody Church, founded by that great, wonderful Dwight L. Moody, that great evangelist. Dwight L. Moody had two headquarters. One was in Northfield, Massachusetts, and one was in Chicago. He had a school, schools in Northfield. He had schools in Chicago. But Dwight L. Moody figured he had to center his attention on one. He had a son. His son was a gifted young man. And Dwight Elwood, he came to make his headquarters in Chicago and left his son to operate the schools in Northfield, Massachusetts. But his son wanted to run with the wrong crowd. His son had the famous Henry Drummond to speak up in Northfield, Massachusetts. Henry Drummond was, oh, I don't know, you'd call him a liberal. He did believe in evolution. And I think perhaps he had liberal tendencies, though his name was not linked with liberalism in his day. But Dwight Moody's son had Henry Drummond up there, and then later on he had William Rainey Harper, who was the president of the University of Chicago, and the fellow that took that fundamental blood-bought school over here, built on the sacrificial dollars of God's blood-washed people, University of Chicago, which now is a center of paganism and atheism and communism. And the man that changed it was named William Rainey. And William Rainey was invited by Moody's son to go to Northfield, Massachusetts. Why? Well, Moody's son, he wanted to have the acceptance of the scholarly world. He didn't want to be considered a nut and a nitwit. Brother, you better just be thankful you run the nuts and the nitwits and the screwballs. Anytime this old pagan world that nailed Christ to the cross loves you, there's something wrong with you. You don't need the applause of Harvard. I don't want Yale. Somebody said, Purdue Extension won't accept our credits. Well, bless God, we won't accept theirs either. Why? I don't want a heathen, pagan, bunch of God-rejecting, Bible-hating, anti-Christ crowd. I don't want that crowd to accept us as being scholarly. We've got more scholarship than our big toe at Hiles Anderson. These heathen schools with these long-haired blue-jean-wearing, hip-hugging, co-educational dormitory school have on their whole campus. I want you to know, brother, we need some old-fashioned scholarship and decency and integrity and propriety. We need to teach our kids in our colleges how to dress and how to wear their hair and how to say yes, sir, and no, sir, and yes, ma'am, and no, ma'am. and how to eat with manners at the table, and how to respect authority, and how to respect their moms and their dads and their teachers and their pastors, and how to be good, obedient, law-abiding members of society once again. And I'm simply saying, if Dwight Moody's son wanted to be accepted by the University of Chicago crowd, and the Henry Drummond crowd, and the evolution crowd, now whoever here is of Northfield, Massachusetts, whoever here is of those Northfield schools, Moody Bible Institute still tonight believes the Bible is the Word of God. And yet up yonder where they tried to kowtow, Moody's son got in the wrong crowd, and the wrong crowd ruined him, and the wrong crowd ruined Peter, and the wrong crowd ruined Balaam, and the wrong crowd ruined Abraham, and the wrong crowd ruined Lot, and the wrong crowd ruined Naomi, and the wrong crowd will ruin you. Come ye out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. There was a young preacher, all kinds of potential. Pastored a great, soul-winning church in Canada. He was one of the great, great evangelists in Canada. His name was Chuck Templeton. Chuck Templeton decided that he was going to get the endorsement of the National Council of Churches. Brother, I just as soon had the endorsement of the Communist Party. and the National Council of Churches. But, he said, I'll preach the gospel within the National Council. I'll become the evangelist representing the National Council. Look out, Chuck! Look out, Chuck! You're headed down. You're in the wrong crowd. You're not going to be better than Peter was. You're not going to be better than Abraham was. You won't succeed where Lot failed. You won't succeed where Naomi failed. I was in Canada recently watching television news. There came a talk show on after the news, and they said we have as our guest Chuck Templeton. And there was that man who's now middle-aged, was a young evangelist, used to be on fire for God, built a great church up in Canada, and they interviewed him. And they said, what are you doing now? Oh, he said, I'm writing a script for Hollywood. They said, well, didn't you used to be an evangelist? He said, yes. They said, do you still believe that? No, he said, I don't believe the Bible anymore. He used to preach revivals. He used to preach the new birth. What happened to him? Wrong crowd. That's what happened to him. Got in the wrong crowd. Wrecked his testimony. Wrecked his ministry. Now he's out in the world. Doesn't even believe the Bible or the plan of salvation he used to preach. I saw one girl. I saw one girl in Hammond Baptist High School ruin a dozen girls because they ran with her and they shouldn't have run with her. I have seen perfectly loyal, hardworking church members spend some time with critical people. And I've seen them resign their classes, resign deacon boards, lay out of church on Wednesday night, and quit the jobs they're doing for God. Why? Because some critical people got their hands on. Listen to me. A person that spreads anything to you about somebody else is not your friend. He's not your friend. He's the wrong crowd, or she's the wrong crowd. And I've seen it happen again and again and again and again and again. Good people get affected by the wrong crowd. You sing mighty well, and I love you, and I'd love to cut up with you, and I'm glad you're in my choir. But not a one of you can run the wrong crowd and stay right. Deacons, 107 of the finest men. I love them. They're my buddies, and I love them. And they're great guys, and they work with me, and help me carry my load, and put up with my temperamental fits, and so forth. 107, the finest men in the world. But deacons, I don't care how long you've been a deacon. I don't care who you are. You get in the wrong crowd and you're in for trouble. Sunday school teacher, you get in the wrong crowd, you're in for trouble. You professor at Hiles Anderson College, you decide you want to study under the Karl Barth type or the Emil Brunner or Reinhold Niebuhr for a while so you can get some scholarship so we'll be recognized by that kind of institution. You're headed for the wrong crowd. You're in the wrong crowd. You can't stand it. You can't take it. You better run with God's blood-bought, fundamental, born-again, lame-brained, screwball, narrow-minded, bigoted, hated, persecuted, lied-about, fundamental people. That's the crowd that you ought to run with, and that's the crowd that will keep you right, and the wrong crowd will take you into sin and wreck your life and ruin you, as sure as I'm standing behind this book. Well, now a few observations. One, don't run with the wrong crowd, even to help them out. Oh, you say, there's a certain fella or a certain young lady, and I'm going to get with her. She's not a good Christian. She's not what you ought to be, but I'm going to help her out. No, she's going to ruin you. He's going to ruin you. Did you know that right and wrong put together to the equal amount always comes out wrong? Did you ever have a dog, a little house dog, maybe a poodle that's real neat and clean? Or maybe some kind of real nice dog. You bathe the dog every day and put Chanel No. 5. Look, spray some of that on yourself while you're at it, would you please? But Chanel No. 5, and the dog is spoiled, rotten. And the kids eat hamburger, but the dog eats good, specially prepared diet, and so forth. And the kids eat pizza, but you wouldn't get the dog into that. It's not good for the dog. That kind of dog. But one day, one day the dog's outside to take care of some business. So, now there you go, you're judging me again. Anyway, dog's outside, now he's fertilizing the neighbor's yard. And so, here comes an old stray hound dog. He's an addy dog. He's as dirty as all get out. What happens? Your cute little perfume-scented poodle runs out, runs off with that addy dog. And so, they're gone for four hours. They come back in. And your little poodle has got that Adidog all bathed, doesn't he? Huh? Huh? And the poodle, the dog comes back in, that old Adidog, he is all clean and in good shape, and his fur is all combed, because boy, that poodle sure did a lot of good to that Adidog. You know that's not the truth. There never has been a clean dog and a dirty dog run off together, but a clean dog didn't come back dirty. Why? Because bad conquers good when it's equal. Dirt and cleanliness, when they meet, come out dirty. Clouds and sunshine, when they mingle, come out cloudy. Sin and righteousness, mingled on equal amount, always comes out bad. That means that you should never be one-on-one with a sinner. Never be one-on-one with a sinner. You go with the wrong guy, and you'll be the wrong girl for long. You go with the wrong girl, you'll be a bad guy before long. You make your best friend, so that's what she ought to be, what he ought to be, and you won't be what you ought to be very long. Why? Because they'll influence you. And that leads me to say this, repeat this, don't be one-on-one with anybody. Now somebody says, Brother Hiles, I have a son. My son got in trouble at Hammond Baptist High School. And my son, he's smoked, he took a drink, he's been cursing some, he was expelled from school last year, now he's going to go back to school this year. How do you expect my boy to make it? Nobody will be a friend to him. May I say this? No one single person ought to be a friend to him. And if you had a child that was living right, You would not want your child to take a friendship one-on-one with a child who's been that deep in sin. That's a problem. Okay, now what's the answer for it? Here's the answer. A crowd of good kids may accept that one in your crowd, but don't you accept him personally as one of your good friends. Did you hear me? I said a crowd of good kids. can take that young person and give that young person another chance. But one-on-one, you're going to lose nine times out of ten. When I came up north, I had a ten-gallon hat. I expect it may have been 12, 14 gallons. I never did fill it up to see how much it would hold, but it was a big thing. Any of you folks remember that hat I used to wear? When I first got here. Great big ten-gallon hat. And the North wasn't going to change me. I'll bind you one thing. After the time I've been here six months, everybody up here in this area is going to wear ten-gallon Texas hats. I'll guarantee you. Why? That's what I wore in Texas. These little miniature things you wear up here. It's a disgrace and a shame. When I go back to Texas, I blush and say hail Mary full of grace seven times. And I go back, ashamed of wearing those little old tans that you wear up here and call them hats. And I wore it. And I said, I'll keep on wearing it. Nobody's going to stop me wearing my Texas hat. Oh, but after about a month, I'd go out to O'Hare Field and everybody goes. I'd walk down the street and everybody goes. I go to St. Margaret's Hospital. You know who that is? Who's that? That's Reverend Hia. He's a cowboy pastor now, first after his church. You know what that hat is? I gave it to take to the orphan one time, not an old-fashioned day, and I haven't worn it since. Why? I got in the wrong crowd. Perfectly good, honest, law-abiding rebel started running with Yankees. Johnny Murphy's dad over here is a preacher. I preached for him when Johnny was how old? A year old, John? Twenty years ago, I guess. I preached for him down in a little town called Freer, Texas. It's a place that God hadn't even discovered yet. And down in Freer, Texas, they taped that sermon. I played a part of that tape the other day. They gave me a copy. I played a part of that tape. You would not believe my accent. You wouldn't believe it. Why did you folks call me? You never heard a more ignorant fella in your life than a bad accent. What's happened to me? I got in the wrong crowd. Wrong crowd. You've heard me tell about that time when I was going with a girl years ago. I was in high school. I went to W.H. Adamson High School. And the girl went to Woodrow Wilson High School. And we went to a football game. W.H. Adamson High School played Woodrow Wilson High School at a neutral site, the P.C. Cobb Memorial Stadium. And I took that girl. We agreed to sit on the Adamson side. In those days, one team's fans sat on one side, all the other team's fans on the other side. So she went with me, and we sat on the Adamson side the first time. The last half of the game, we went over and sat on the Woodrow Wilson side. Well, boy, in the first half, I was yelling up a storm, hey, whoo, hey! On O'Cliff High, on O'Cliff High, we call ourselves O'Cliff High and Adamson High. I'll say, fight on for your fame, throw the ball around the end, a touchdown sure this time, rah, rah, rah! On O'Cliff High, on O'Cliff High, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, okay. And so isn't that something? But anyway, try to control yourself. Try to control yourselves. We ought to give the invitation now. No doubt about it. We'll never rise to this height again in this service. So, at that time, we went over on her side. I was the only Adamson fan on the other side. We had a ball carrier named Nick Lanza. Boy, he was a big fullback, a bruising fullback. Nick Lanza broke through the line for ten yards, and I forgot what side I was on. I went, ahhh! So, next time Nick Lanza went through the line, I said, Yay! And the next time I said, Whoopee! And the next time, I felt it on the inside. I was wrong. Wrong crowd. Wrong crowd. Wrong crowd changed my... And that's why you don't say prayer in the restaurant. when you're in the wrong crowd. That's why you don't take your Bible to work. That's why you won't say grace at work. That's why you won't witness at work. Why? You're hopping over the devil's crowd too much. Get off the Woodrow Wilson side and get on the W. H. Adamson side where you can cheer for the Lord Jesus Christ and take a stand for him. Now I'm saying wrong crowd, wrong crowd. Something else. Satan deceives you while you're in the wrong crowd to make you think you're all right. You know why? When you're in the wrong crowd, you look pretty good in comparison. And so you take pride in it. Young man goes to a worldly university. And so his mother says, my boy will make it. My boy will make it. Yes, he will. I trust my boy. He goes down there. So she comes back to me and she says, my boy's doing a good job. I got a letter from the dean of men down there that said he's the finest boy in the dorm. I hate to say this, but that ain't much compliment. I mean, Al Capone could be the finest boy in some of these dorms around here. But they don't have any decent kids much down there. Here's a kid that's high for what he ought to be, compromised. He can just drink beer instead of whiskey and smoke cigarettes instead of marijuana. He's a pretty good kid. And so because he looks pretty good in comparison, he's tranquilized. to think he's all right. But he's on his way down. And after a while, he'll trade that cigarette for marijuana and that beer for a bottle of whiskey. Before you know it, the wrong crowd will ruin him. Another observation. It is the crowd that influences. The crowd. You can bring someone who's weak in the faith into the right crowd. That's why it says in Romans 14.1, him that is weak in the faith receive you. See, talking about the congregation. Didn't say make your best friend with him, but receive him in the congregation. He's weak in the faith. That's the reason for Christian education. That's why we have Hammond Baptist grade school. There may be somebody in Hammond Baptist grade school, several somebodies, that not what they ought to be, but the rules are righteous rules. And the crowd is for righteousness. And the teachers are for righteousness. There may be some kids, and there are some kids, shouldn't be in Hammond Baptist High School. But the teachers offer righteousness, and they're for what we preach, and most of the kids are. And that's why we have Howells Anderson College, for the same reason. Listen, folks, one reason you shouldn't run with the wrong crowd, we can't compete with the wrong crowd. Did you know a liberal preacher will come near winning, making you like him, than a fundamentalist preacher? You know why? Because he's not against anything except the fundamentalists. He's not against anything. His fellow stands up and says on Sunday morning, it doesn't matter. This Bible is a good book, but we believe in having love in our hearts toward all men. And if you believe or don't believe the Bible, well, we'll receive you in love, charity towards all. Well, sure, everybody's going to like him. The guy gets up and says, if you don't believe this book, you're lost. If you haven't been born again, you're going to hell. You've got to come to Christ. There's no other way. I can't compare with him. You go to a liberal preacher on Sunday morning, come to hear me on Sunday night in six months, you'll like him better than me. Probably in six minutes. By the way, don't come to hear me on Sunday morning and him on Sunday night. He's watching TV. God's not against anything. We can't compete with the liberals. No way in the world we can. We can't act this way. Why? We hate some things, that's why. We hate sin. We hate the devil. We hate hell. We hate the liquor traffic. We hate the marijuana traffic. We hate the communist communism. We hate the filth that's ruining America. And there's no way in the world that you can run with the wrong crowd without thinking they're nicer than we are. People oftentimes say, You know, who would ask if somebody in heaven could have the conviction of Brother Hyle and the love of that pastor down the street? All the way. You can't have love without having conviction. You can't love God unless you hate sin. You can't love heaven unless you hate hell. As his son used to say, you can't love flowers unless you hate weeds. You don't love your kid unless you're chasing him? You don't love your church unless you're chasing him? What I'm trying to say is simply this. If we run with that crowd, we'll learn to like that crowd. I was at a certain barbershop here in town a long ago, a couple of years ago, I guess. You folks need to know the definition of that term, haircut. See me after the service, I'll show you in the dictionary a term you've never heard before. Better still, I've got some scissors in my office, I can demonstrate for you. Or I can put it out, either way will be fine. But I was in a certain barbershop, and there's a fellow sitting up there getting a haircut, and there's another fellow sitting beside me, and we got to talking. Well, the nicest fellows you ever saw in your life. I know the barber was nervous. He kept almost cutting the ear off of the guy, his hair was cutting him. We started talking about the Cubs. I said, you reckon the Cubs will ever win? And this fellow said, I don't know. I don't know, but I'm not going to give up. And I said, me either. We sat there for 15, 20 minutes, and we had the nicest conversation. He's one of the friendliest guys I ever met. Boy, what a nice guy. He didn't know who I was, and I didn't know who he was. We talked and talked and had a nice conversation. Poor old Barbara was about to have a seizure. The poor fellow getting his hair cut ought to have insurance. And so it came time to leave, and the barber said, I'd like you fellows to meet each other. He said to me, he said, this is the fellow that runs the tavern over here on the corner of State and Soul. That's a big one. And he said to the tavern owner, this is Jack Hiles, pastor of First Baptist Church. I don't know whether it was the fainting that caused us to fall on the ground or the butting heads as we fell toward each other. I'm not sure what it was. That's one of the nicest guys I've ever met in my life. If you really want to meet a nice guy, go over there. Nice guy! Now, the honest truth is, sin has an allurement with which we can't compete. We can't compete with it. You know why? Because our joy comes as a result. Our joy is in the end. Every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. But the best day you will ever spend in the world is the first day. The first and worst, worst, you get the bottom. With Jesus, it gets better and better and better, you get the top. That means the entrance, our entrance cannot compare with theirs. Our introduction cannot compare with theirs. Our vestibule cannot compare with theirs. Our hors d'oeuvres cannot compare with theirs. nowhere in the world. And that's why I say don't run with the devil's crowd. You know, you can oftentimes tell who I've been with, where I've been out preaching, can't you? I come in here on a Wednesday night after being gone, and I say we're glad to have our visitors. Or I sing, windows of heaven are open, open. The blessings are falling tonight. There's joy, joy, joy in my heart since Jesus made everything." And that's really mimicking. I shouldn't do that because that would not do justice to anybody. But I look like that. You know who I've been with. Or I come back and I say, neighbor, neighbor, by the way, neighbor. And you know who I've been with. Our crowd affects us. It affects us. And your crowd affects you. And that's why, young people, you ought not to run with the wrong crowd. And that's why adults, when somebody comes to you and starts to run down something and says, well, it's just here at First Baptist, not like it used to be, say, get on! They're your enemies, not your friends. He said, well, are you talking about me? I probably am, if it applies. I'm trying to help you. I'm not mad at you. I'm trying to help you. I don't want you to backslide. I don't want you to quit serving God. I don't want you to be in force for the wrong crowd. I want you to stay busy for God, stay active for God, and stay out of the wrong crowd. And I'm going to tell you in a few minutes what the wrong crowd really is. See, I see it so often. I see it. I see a young lady, one of our fine young ladies. I see her come in the balcony up here, or come over here, or come back in the back, and I see her walk in. And some guy with a leather jacket on, he hadn't got a tie on, and he's got long shaggy hair. And you can tell he's not the right kind of person. And I watch her. And that young lady, soon I begin to worry about her. And soon she drifts back toward the back of the building. And after a while, she doesn't come to Teenage Soulwinning. And after a while, she drops out of the youth activity. And after a while, she goes to another church on Sunday night. And before you know it, she's lost to the cause of Christ. Why? Because she got in the wrong crowd, that's why. I stand up here and I see our young people drift away and drift away and drift away and drift away. Why? Wrong crowd. That's why you parents, if you've got to sell your house to keep your kid in Hammond Baptist School, you sell the house. If you've got to sell your car and get a bicycle, you sell it and get a bicycle. Don't you ever come to my office and say, I can't afford to send my child this year. Take in washing, mow yard, shovel snow, but you keep your kids in the right crowd. Now the question comes, what is the wrong crowd? One of the wrong crowds, any idler crowd. Any idler crowd. Any crowd just hanging around. That's the wrong crowd. Brother, if you haven't got something to do, then find something to do. Any idle crowd. My mother used to say to me, God bless her son, when they sit down to chat, you come home. When the activities are over, you come home. Any idle crowd. What is the wrong crowd? The critical crowd. The critical crowd. Anytime you're with a bunch of folks, start criticizing, they're the wrong crowd, and get out of it. And have enough courage to tell them, I'm not going to listen to criticism. I'm not going to do it. But you should know how it's true. Well, don't you think there are enough things true that are good without you? One fellow said, do you eat with your mouth or do you shovel coal with it? Don't you think there are enough good things true if you talk about those? Very idea. sitting around spreading, trying to run down somebody and criticize somebody, that Billy Goat religion. She's a good lady, but, he's a good man, but, I love our pastor, but. Oh, cut it out! Talk right for a change, and if somebody starts telling you, running down this person or that person, they're not your friend! They're the wrong crowd! And just as sure as a young person will go down and be ruined in the wrong crowd, you'll be ruined in the wrong crowd. And before you know it, you'll lose your joy, you'll lose your excitement in church, you'll lose your thrill about the songs, you'll lose your thrill about the invitation, you'll set back the other critical spirit yourself. Why? Because you ran with the wrong crowd, that's why. What is the wrong crowd? The sinful crowd. It's the crowd that smokes cigarettes. It's the crowd that drinks beer. It's the crowd that tells dirty jokes. It's the crowd that runs down Jesus. It's the crowd that hangs around the tavern. It's the crowd that hangs, the drugstore cowboy crowd that hangs around the drive-ins. It's the crowd that smokes marijuana. It's the crowd where the girls wear their slacks and shorts and look like the heathen world. It's the long-haired hippie crowd. It's the sinful crowd. Get out of it! The bad crowd will ruin you. What is the wrong crowd? It's an any-idler crowd. It's a critical crowd. It's the sinful crowd. It's the secret crowd. It's those that are hiding something. The crowd's hiding something from mom and dad, it's the wrong crowd. The crowd's hiding something from the school administration, it's the wrong crowd. The crowd's hiding something from the preacher, it's the wrong crowd. Who is the wrong crowd? A crowd that slips out during prayer, goes out and hangs out down here at the parking building like a bunch of heathens, that's the wrong crowd. Who is the wrong crowd? The crowd that goes up while we're having service sometime and set up here on these steps, teenagers, set up here on these steps and hide and are not in church, that's the wrong crowd. Who is the wrong crowd? The crowd that gets back behind the bar and smokes cigarettes, that's the wrong crowd. Who is the wrong crowd? The kind that shows you dirty magazines and says, look at this, that's the wrong crowd. Don't you mess with it. It'll ruin you. It'll wreck you. Get out of it. Don't touch the crowd. Come out from among them and be a separate, saith the Lord. What is the wrong crowd? The wrong crowd's a rule-breaking crowd. It's the crowd that promises they won't play rock music as long as they go to Hammond Baptist High School and then go out and break the rule and play the rock music. They're the wrong crowd. It's the rule-breaking crowd. The crowd thinks it's smart to break the rule. The crowd thinks it's cute to get around the law. That's the wrong crowd. Now, there are some folks especially vulnerable to the wrong crowd. I'm going to give you a few of them. Less attractive young people are more vulnerable to the wrong crowd than most anybody. I mean, young people, maybe a young lady, dates don't come very quickly to her. She don't get many invitations before she knows that the wrong crowd wants to entertain her. She's very vulnerable. Watch it, young lady. God has somebody for you if you'll wait for Him. And God will honor you if you'll just wait. Don't you sell yourself short. One lady came to my office and she said, go to the house, I'm going to get married. And I said, are you sure it's the right one? She said, he meets every qualification I've written down for my husband. I said, what are they? She said, just one, he's a male. No, no. Second vulnerable people. New couples in an area. New couples in a church. We have parasites sitting in this room tonight that'd love to get to you and tell you all the things wrong they can tell. And everybody that's new, these polecats and serpentine people, they'd love to get anybody that's new and say, let me tell you about Brother Vineyard. Let me tell you about Brother Dave. Let me tell you about Brother John, the one that sleeps all the time on the platform. Let me tell you about Brother Bordway. Let me tell you about Brother Fisk. Why don't you just tell them to shut up and say, let me tell you about Jesus. They're the wrong crowd. The wrong crowd. And new couples in a church. First time somebody says, hey, go out and eat with us after the service tonight. And so you go out. You want to meet somebody new. You're new in the church. You go out and eat. And you have a wonderful time. And then they say, we're so glad to have you with us. My, we're delighted to have you. And we just love our church and love our pastor. But would you pray with us about one thing? I would suggest a right cross to the jaw or an upper cut to the chin. Maybe a real juicy spit in the face might be OK. In love, of course. Somebody else that's vulnerable to the wrong crowd is people that like to socialize in abundance. There's some people just love to have couples over. Look, when you have couples over, you have your activities planned. This sitting around and just whatever comes up, wrong things will come up. And before you know it, that's one reason why sometimes WMS circles in a church. Not here, thank God, but in some churches, WMS circles. Before you know it, become gossip sessions. Why? Because the program's not planned. That's why sometimes couples get together, a group of couples, and have a little couple club or supper club. We've had them here. And I don't know if any trouble's been caused by it, but a little supper club. And before you know it, the thing's not planned, and they get in huddles, and they luff the fellowship, and they luff to talk. And before you know it, they say things about folks they shouldn't say. And before you know it, That becomes the wrong crowd. Who else is vulnerable? I'll tell you. Young people too old for their age. Young people too old for their age are vulnerable. A 13-year-old girl who's prematurely developed into a lady is vulnerable. A young man, 13 or 14 years of age, who has the physique and the build of a 17 or 18-year-old young man, he's exceptionally vulnerable. It's the wrong crowd. They should especially watch it. Who else? I hate to say this, but retired people are very vulnerable. They don't have much to do. And the fish aren't biting. And there's not enough folks around to play shuffleboard. And there's nobody playing ball down at the park. And you can't find anybody to play checkers with. And before you know it, you gather around in the little group. And that's one reason why older ladies ought to watch it. Who else is vulnerable? Ladies whose husbands have enough money where you don't have to work and they can sort of spoil you and you don't have a lot of extra time on your hands. You're vulnerable for the wrong crowd. Men are vulnerable who have businesses that are successful and operate independently of the businessman. And you can play golf all the time if you want to. You don't have to be at the office. Your work's only going to go on anyway. You better watch it. The wrong crowd is lurking in the shadows for you. I'm thinking now of a man, one of the finest deacons I ever had in Garland, Texas. Wonderful young man. Wonderful. I can see him now in the choir laughing. He didn't say amen when he got happy, he just laughed. He wouldn't say glory to God, he'd just go, When somebody gets saved in a real hard case, he'd go, big good looking guy. He got in a certain business that was red hot. He made a million dollars. He didn't have to go to work on time in the morning. He didn't have to work late in the evening. He could go around and invest his money and made a lot of money lending money to people. I saw him one day in church. I saw his face. He didn't laugh like he'd been laughing. I could tell he was in the wrong crowd. Somebody had been criticizing the church. Somebody had been criticizing the preacher. He never hurt me except my heart broke. But he hurt himself. He was in the wrong crowd. I could tell him. Before long, he got catty-whumpless. He didn't like anything going on. He didn't trust his preacher. He didn't trust the church. And before I knew it, he was gone. Now then, what's happened? That sweet little family with, I think, six children. Not a one of them worth shooting. They're grown now. Not a one of them worth shooting. Not a one of them. Children gone. None of them serving God. None of them going to church much. Families all in sin. What happened? Wrong crowd. Wrong crowd. Wrong crowd. Wrong crowd. You better watch it. The wrong crowd's after you. The wrong crowd's looking for you. Wrong girlfriend, wrong boyfriend, wrong business associate, wrong business partner, wrong church, wrong denomination, wrong people within the church, little cliques and groups within the church that like to tell you some juicy gossip that they know. Oh, there's something better than that, thank God. You stay in the right crowd. You keep your kids in the right crowd. My mother is in the hospital. Had cataract surgery this week. 88 years old. She had a fuss. First day she was there with her roommate. Guess what? It was over. Me. Guess why? Roommate didn't like me. Can you feature that? I never have understood why anybody so non-controversial and so bland as I am would have anyone. But to me, I'm the most lovable person I know. And so anyway, I miss Lyle when he's sick. He's sick and I sure miss him. He's the only friend I've got here. And I don't like him when he's here and I don't like him when he's gone. But anyway, I walked in and I said, Mother, how do you feel? She said, my blood pressure went up. I said, why? She said, you should have heard what she said. She came to church here one Sunday morning, and somebody wanted her to Christ, and she didn't want to get baptized. But she happened to get in the cycle. It's like a washing machine. When you turn the thing on, it don't stop until you get dry after you get baptized. And somebody told her to go out that door. She didn't know what was out that door, and she went out that door. Somebody told her to go up those stairs. She didn't know what was up those stairs. She went up those stairs. Somebody told her to put this on. She didn't know how to put it on. She just put it on. Somebody opened the door, and there was the water. And so she got offended. She's not a bad lady. She just happened to get in the wrong line. You get in the wrong line around here, there ain't no way to get out. And so she got offended. So I went up there. I walked over and I said, I understand you're mad at me. She said, you're mad at me when you hear this story. She told me this story. But one thing I'd learned, I'd learned she didn't have any relatives. And I'd learned that she had the cataract removed and I'd learned that she had nobody at home to take care of her when she got home. Up in years, her husband's dead, no children. And I walked over and I said, I understand you're going to go home tomorrow. She said, yes. I said, would you let me hire somebody to come and take care of you? She said, you mean you'd do that for me? I said, of course I would. I said, you're a fine lady. And I said, why don't you do it? She and my mother had had it out the first day. I mean, they had it out. I wouldn't say that mother threw things, but I know mother. And I would say that she is somewhat biased toward me. I would not say that she's violent. I just was sure there were no guns around her bed. And the lady got sweet. And you know, we became good friends. And when she left to leave, I was there, and she said, I'll be calling Mrs. Hiles to see how you're doing. You know what happened to that lady? Somewhere along the trail, she got in the wrong car. And somebody said some things about Mrs. Hiles. And she got in the wrong crowd. It'll wreck you. It'll wreck me. When I became pastor of this church, Jim Lyons and I went down to Anderson, Indiana, to the state American Baptist Convention meeting. Can you imagine me going down there to the American Baptist Convention meeting, belonging to the National Council of Churches? You know why I went down there? Because I had met the state secretary. He was the nicest guy. He was the sweetest fellow as he rejected the Bible you ever heard in your life. He was the kindest fellow who didn't believe in hell. And did you know before, I went down there and they even introduced me as being a new pastor and I stood up on the platform in that American Baptist Convention and they even asked me to lead the prayer of dedication for the new pastors in the state. And I didn't even have enough sense to know what I was in till they had the message. And they said, now the annual convention message will be brought by Reverend Mrs. Miller. I said, Jim, what are we in? And it shook us up. And we took off. And we ain't been to none of their meetings no more. Because we just didn't really appreciate the fervor of Reverend Mrs. Miller, who preached on the subject of why white folks and black folks ought to marry each other. I'm Dr. Jack Hyams. I've written 24 books, 5 million sales. I preach all over this country. I conduct a big pastor school. I'm president of a college. If you ain't impressed, hurry up and get impressed. I'm about finished here. I read my Bible every day. I wear Bibles out to the dozens. I walk with God as best I can, and God knows I do. And I almost got sucked in myself. You're the wrong crowd. If Reverend Mr. somebody had preached that morning, I wonder what I'd have done. Huh? You've been in the wrong crowd? Been letting your kids go with the wrong crowd? Huh? I'm talking about little league baseball. I'm talking about brownies. I'm talking about girl scouts and boy scouts. Why are you saying when I was a kid I was a boy scout and I'll die for them? When I was a kid I was a boy scout too, Troop 107, fire station in Oak Cliff in Dallas. But back in those days, brother, you'd just as soon come near having a Christian boy scout master as you would an unchristian. And I went to Boy Scout one night, and a lay preacher was our scout, and I said, Mr. Davis, you don't find it that way anymore. I'm saying, brother, the world is blacker than it used to be. And you are not going to rear your children in the wrong crowd without having heartbreak one of these days. Come out from the wrong group, and be assembled. Touch not the unclean thing. 65 years of age I'll be sitting up here and you'll be out there and some of these little children sitting here on the front will be grown and they'll have their own children and one will be an evangelist wife and one will be a teacher at Hammond Baptist High School and we'll look at them like we looked at these three young ladies that stood here tonight and say it's worth it It's worth it all. I know some fall to the wayside. I know some don't become what we hope and dream they'll become. But there's a way they can. And there's a way they will. And one ingredient that is necessary is the flea. Who's gonna preach the Bible and never compromise at all? Who's gonna give their heart and soul to spread the gospel? We appreciate you listening to Treasured Heritage. Tune in at the same time every weekday to hear God's Word.