Minus God

We all know the story of Samson and Delilah, and how the strongest man became the weakest man through a fault and a fall. The fault was his choice of a companion in the crafty Delilah, and his fall was from his foolish lust as he broke his covenant with God because his consecration to God was his strength. In Judges 16.20 we read, And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.

And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. Two striking observations stand out in our text, friends.

The saddest is found in the last six words. The Lord was departed from him. And the second observation is, he was completely unaware of the departure.

I like what Vance Havner said of this tragic event and the life of Samson. Samson might have looked better with a haircut, but he lost his power. And that's what I want to talk about today, friends, because the missing ingredient in our churches today is the lack of power in the pulpit and lack of power in our lives.

My message today is entitled, Minus God. And I fear we try to do a lot today in the name of religion, minus God, because we have lost his presence and power because of the same reason Samson did, through compromise and sin. A church, minus God, is operated on programs, activity, and the latest novelty.

But there is no power. For where there is no presence of God, there is no power. When was the last time, friends, you saw the power of God in a meeting? Our young people today are undernourished spiritually because they have not experienced the power of God in a meeting.

All they know are the church programs we feed them and the fun activities we give them like pizza night and movie night. But they know nothing of being in the sanctuary at church at night, in a night of desperation and prayer, where the Holy Spirit has saturated the building. Oh, why? Because the adults are engaged in their favorite pastimes of sports and entertainment, and the kids see a vacuum in the church of the missing reality of God, and we wonder why they leave the church when they get older.

A church, minus God, is like a compromised Samson with a haircut. A pulpit, minus God, will be busy by busying its hearers with the fill-in-the-blank teaching, or he'll give them lectures to be considered. There will be much information dished out, but little transformation in the lives of the members.

A pulpit, minus God, lacks authority from on high, and has little lasting influence within the community in which it exists. There may be food drives and block parties and trunk retreat at Halloween, but there's the missing presence of Christ in such a pulpit. The pastor is prominent, where Christ should be preeminent.

A ministry run along the lines of sensation may transport the people to fits of laughter, and it may be entertaining, but no one is saved. Graham Scroggie hit the nail on the head when he said, Make a show. The people love a show, and you will gain the end of your ambition at once.

The crowd is always ready for a sensation, and alas, there are always those who are disposed to stimulate religion, to fill the churches by the method of sensationalism. That's true, friends. A pulpit, minus God, must rely on personality and techniques.

A denomination, minus God, is like a great ship at sea, slowly sinking as she takes on more water, without navigation or direction, and many are drowned as she sinks into oblivion. A nation, minus God, is a hell on earth, for it is a prelude to damnation, where suffering is endless and God is vacant for eternity. When a people live unto themselves and forget the God of the Bible, then that nation will soon cease to exist.

How about you, friend? How is it with you? Are you living, minus God? Wouldn't you rather have his presence and power? What counts costs, and what cost counts? Are we willing to pay the price so the church can once again have authority from on high and influence upon a sin-loving society that needs the blood-stained Christ of the gospel for forgiveness of sin? Let us pray.