A Rope of Sand

I'm sure you've seen those pictures, friends, of before and after of people trying to lose weight, and there's a drastic change in them. I have two photographs of me keeping my Bible. One picture was taken of me years ago.

I'm sitting in a restaurant on vacation, and I'm eating alligator. I'm wearing a golf shirt with my country club emblem on it, and I'm smiling in the picture, and I look pretty content with the world. The other photo I keep is one of me standing beside Ian Murray at his house in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I look like a completely different man in that picture. I believe you can be alive and enjoy living life, but still not have a life at all, at least not a life that counts for eternity. I believe you can be saved and useless for God.

That first photo of me is proof of that. A very similar thing happened with Moses. Do you know that the first 40 years of Moses's life in Egypt is covered by 15 verses of scripture? The next 40 years of Moses's life in the Midian Desert is covered by only 10 verses of scripture, but the last 40 years of Moses's life after he had had an encounter with God is covered by approximately 4,252 verses of scripture.

That's some before and after picture, isn't it, friends? Vance Havner once said, if we serve such a dynamite God, then how come so many of us are living firecracker lives? I believe in a dynamite God. Some folks don't. I believe that the God that's at work, shown in the Book of Acts, is the same God at work today.

I believe that. Some folks don't. I believe that one of the hallmarks of revival is the disturbing presence of Christ.

I've been in some meetings where it's hard to not notice the disturbing presence of Christ. Why? If he'd make his presence known in this community, he'd disturb everything in this town. Listen to me, friend.

When Christ walked this earth, demons were disturbed to where they'd cry out. When Christ was here, the earth was disturbed. He left nothing undisturbed.

When Christ's presence is around, all hell is disturbed. Even his very name proclaimed can have a disturbing effect. Years ago, I was eating in a restaurant with a pastor, and he bowed his head in prayer to bless the food.

And as he finished praying, he said, in Jesus' name. And he said it loud enough that a man seated at a table behind us fell out of his chair like he'd been shot. And he went to a fit, kicking his legs and hollering, so that everyone in that restaurant was disturbed.

I believe that George Whitefield and John Wesley had so much of the disturbing presence of Christ in them that when they preached, all hell broke loose. Rocks and rotten eggs were thrown. One time, Wesley was dragged through a town by his hair.

One time, Whitefield was stoned by an angry mob. You get the disturbing presence of Christ manifesting itself in your preaching brother, and men will curse you, or they'll get saved. You just go peel open the book of Acts, and you will find a record of a group of preachers so full of the Holy Ghost that every time they opened their mouth, there was a riot or revival.

Yes, sir, if we serve such a dynamite God, why are so many just living firecracker lives? Now, that's a question that needs to be dealt with. Do you like to just give lectures at your church, or are you so full of the Holy Ghost that your church is situated a half an inch from the gaping jaws of hell? Or are you pulling men and women and boys and girls out of the fire right and left when Jesus Christ is around? And people are confronted with him. They'll try to throw him off a hill or get rid of him the best they can.

Some will have their lives totally transformed to such a degree they will live and breathe for eternity. All hell will pop when Christ is around. If you really get saved and so on fire for God that everywhere you turn, people either hated you or got so under conviction of sin, they cry out, what must I do to be saved? John's song was a phenomenon for God.

Over 200,000 souls were saved during his earth-shaking ministry in China. But when he was getting an education in America, he was enrolled at a liberal godless seminary in New York City. And one night, Jesus came into his dorm room and saved him.

And John's song was so transformed by that encounter with Christ that he made every lost seminary professor in that seminary fighting mad because they didn't know what to do with a student so on fire for God. They thought he was insane. And the president of that seminary had John's song committed to a mental institution where he was locked up for over six months with crazy people.

But during those 193 days when John's song was in that mental institution, he read through his Bible 44 times getting a key word from God out of every chapter. Then he went back to China and all hell went to popping due to disturbing Christ who attended his preaching. But these lost seminary professors fought him tooth and nail.

You know, there's nothing more dangerous than a lost religious person. The Pharisees and the scribes of Jesus' day believed they were serving God by dotting all their I's and crossing all their T's. But when God showed up in their midst, they said, away with him and nailed him to a cross.

You know, friends, this stuff we call salvation today won't cut the mustard on judgment day. Some of you are resting on a good opinion of yourself and a long track record of service and you've busied yourself working and striving and doing all you can to serve God as you climb up to heaven on your own merits. But you're merely climbing a rope of sand.

Yes, sir. You're clanging to a rope of sand that will dissolve as soon as a big wind blows your way. I believe in a big dynamite God who can send an earthquake and shake the foundations of a jail house and release Paul and Silas.

And by God's disturbing presence, shake the rotten foundation of an old sinner's jailer's heart to where it cries out for relief. What must I do to be saved? But nobody is crying like that for salvation now. With our modern evangelism, we've figured out a way to grow our churches with baptized pagans who were never born again.

Oh, they're religious, but they're not regenerate. I believe in a big God. I believe in a dynamite God who sent a messenger to Jacob.

Yes, Jacob. Jake was so crooked he could hide behind a corkscrew. But God sent a messenger to Jacob and that messenger wrestled with Jacob all night long.

And old Jacob fought as hard as he could. Listen, friend, and I'm addressing church people here. Not one of you people are ever going to get saved.

If you can help it, you'll never get saved. If you can help it. Listen to me now.

If God Almighty doesn't break your old stubborn will and your old black heart and invade your life and conquer you, if he left you to you, you'd never get saved. Old Jacob said, I'm not going to surrender. Not me.

And finally, the messenger smote him and crippled him. And then old Jacob came to his senses and almighty God hasn't saved a sinner yet that he didn't cripple him for God doesn't for a sinner. Listen to me.

A sinner doesn't want to be saved. He doesn't want to go to hell, but he doesn't want to be united to a holy Christ either. There isn't a sinner in this town tonight that wants to die and go to hell, but they sure don't want to live a holy life either.

The dynamite God I serve can send a messenger and cripple Jacob. And when Jacob is crippled, he'll have some sense. And when he was crippled and the messenger started to leave him, Jacob grabbed hold of his coat tail and said, you can't leave me till you bless me.

Yes, sir. I believe in that kind of God. I believe in a dynamite God who interfered with Saul of Tarsus as he was going down the road to Damascus to kill more Christians.

And Jesus Christ met him right there, square dab in the middle of the road, knocked him off his horse and revealed himself to him and saved him by his grace. God is still doing business, friend. He's still intervening in sinners lies because he's still a God who hears and answers prayer.

I believe if you're going to get saved, God's going to have to knock you off your horse, get your attention and invade your life. But this man be pamby stuff we call Christianity today is too anemic to cause a riot and too worldly to disturb a flea. Folks gather at church today, have a little fellowship time, sing a few songs, listen to some funny story or some lecture on doctrine.

And we call that church while the entire neighborhood around that church is sinning like the devil and crawling over each other's backs in a mad rush to hell. If we serve such dynamite God, then how come so many are living firecracker lives? Some are just saved and useless and don't care a hill of beans for the lost and the parish and some are too busy climbing up to heaven some other way other than by a crucified Christ. They're climbing and climbing and stepping and over everyone that gets in their way and climbing on a rope of sand with a faith that's nothing more than a hole in the wall.

Let me tell you that your dirty rotten sins what they did to Jesus. Listen to my friend after he was arrested and humiliated and spat on and slapped in the face and his back flayed open and strips of flesh by cruel Roman's whip and scourge. He was taken to a cross by Roman soldiers who raised their heavy hammers and grabbed their rusting nails and fastened him to that cross and every stroke of the hammer was an explanation point screaming God must punish sin.

God must punish sin. God must punish sin. Look at that son of God friend.

Look at that blessed man on the cross. Look at him hanging there on that hill called Calvary. Look at that blessed man fastened there with his arms outstretched beckoning you to come to him and believe on him.

Look at that bloodstained savior for sin. His blood oozing down that cruel instrument of death. He's squirming writhing under the weight of sin.

My wretched sins your filthy rotten sins are the nails in those quivering hands. Listen to the son of God look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else. Oh dear friend don't live a firecracker life one more minute.

Start believing in that dynamite God who can invade your life, conquer your old stubborn will, but you have to become a seeker of him. Aren't you hungry for God? Aren't you sick and tired of your sins? Aren't you thirsty for Christ? Listen this may be God giving you one last call and the spirit and the bride say come and let him that hears say come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.