A Know So Religion in a So What Generation

I believe that society today can get along fine with some kind of religion, so long as that religion gives them some kind of comfort. But I also believe, friends, that this world today, right now, still hates Jesus. I believe if Jesus returned as a man of sorrows, meek and mild, the world would grab him, arrest him, bind him, beat him, spit on him, and crucify him all over again.

But he's not coming back meek and mild, but as a dread sovereign, with a sword of justice in his hand. In 2 Thessalonians we read, The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. I believe most folks have some kind of God, and some kind of religion they serve.

You can try to talk to them about the gospel, and they may give you a hearing or not. I was talking to a man as he was resting on his bicycle, and he informed me he was three things. He said he was part Catholic, part Scientologist, and part Christian.

He identified with all three of those. I told him it didn't matter what brand of religion we identified with, but the only thing that mattered was if your sins were washed in the blood of Christ. When I said that, he got back on his bike and rode off as quick as his feet would pedal.

He didn't mind talking about some kind of religion, and he was proud to inform me he was loaded with them. But when the claims of the gospel were pressed upon him, that's when the rubber met the road, and off he rode. We live in a day, friends, where mankind is content to have as much of some religion as they want, and whatever you have to say to them about the real gospel, you will get a response that will be, so what? That doesn't apply to me.

So what? I've got mine, and you've got yours. So what? We live in a day of a no-so religion in a so-what society. And that's the title of my message today, friends.

A no-so religion in a so-what society. Most folks have some kind of religion that satisfies them, whether they are Muslim, or a Buddhist, or Catholic, or Protestant, or out-and-out atheist. They each identify with one brand or another, and the brand of religion they choose is the one they can best live with.

They can crawl under their covers in bed tonight and close the rise in peace. They have a no-so religion that gets them by. I don't care if you're a Presbyterian, or a Lutheran, or a Methodist, or a Baptist.

You have identified with some religious outfit, and you may even regularly attend that church, and you have a no-so religion that gets you by. And if anybody comes along with another brand, your response is, so what? You got yours. I got mine.

So what? I don't think anybody today is being stabbed in the heart with conviction of sin from hearing the gospel message, because the brand of the gospel we have settled for is good enough for us without disturbing us. We want a comparable religion that allows us to sleep at night, and I believe that's the majority in our churches today. You try to reach a lost church membership with the gospel, and they say, so what? I did that a long time ago.

I came out for Jesus when I was eight years old, and made it public by walking the church aisle. I hear what you're saying. So what? Repentant stuff you're talking about may apply to you, but it sure doesn't apply to me.

My pastor told me I was saved by believing a fact. What you're saying doesn't apply to me. So what? A no-so religion in a so what generation? You'd have better luck trying to preach to a tribe of Amazon natives than this self-satisfied bunch of church folks today.

They got it all figured out. They have gotten out their pocket knives and have carved out for themselves a God they can live with. They will talk to you all day long about religion and the Christian founding of this country, and they will decry evil.

But if you try to talk to them about spiritual things like blood redemption, the work of the Holy Spirit, then they get a deer look in their eyes like they're facing car lights, and they change the subject. We have churches full of people today who love themselves. The Apostle Paul warned of this crowd that would appear in the last times.

In 2nd Timothy chapter 3, beginning in verse 2, we read, For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud. Why, that sounds just like a Baptist deacon board. And then the Apostle Paul sums up the sad situation in verse 5, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.

From such turn away a no-so religion in a so what generation, crawling all over each other's backs on a mad dash to hell.