Sick Church in Sick Nation

In 1 Chronicles, in chapter 10, we have the sad, pitiful record of King Saul's last day on earth. Beginning in verse 3, we read, And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers. Then said Saul to his armor-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come, and abuse me.

But his armor-bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. So Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. The sad ending of Saul is wrapped up in the last two verses of chapter 10, which state, So Saul died for his transgressions, which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it, and he inquired not of the Lord.

Therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom on to David, the son of Jesse. Well, here's a man, hand-picked by God, to be a leader for God, but instead he goes to the devil, and he dies without God. Do you think you are any better than Saul, if you're a baptized church member, who sits on the throne of your life, and rules there? Jesus never preached a sin in religion, even if we do today.

In verse 4 it says, Saul took a sword, and fell on it, meaning he was his own executioner. But in verse 14 the text says that he slew him, meaning God killed him. The God of the Bible kills people.

Will they have to kill you? Listen friend, you are either out and out for God, or you are on the outs with God. Where do you stand? Don't be self-deceived like the Laodiceans in the book of Revelation, who thought all was well with their soul because they were good church members. But Jesus says about them, I will spew thee out of my mouth, because they were making him sick to his stomach over their hypocritical lives.

In our nation, this week, we've had the headlines of the terrible tragedy of the school shooting in that elementary school, where those senseless murders took place of little school children and their teachers. And juxtaposed beside that is the news item of Southern Baptist leaders, releasing a previously secret list of accused sexual abuse offenders within their denomination. And it's a list of several hundred ministers.

More than 50 pastors are on that list, just from the state of Florida alone. It's a sad indictment of the state of the institutional church in these last days that replaced God years ago with entertainment and watered down the gospel to make it more palatable to sinful man. When the church quit preaching against sin, she began to condone it by preaching a sin and religion.

When the church quit preaching man's duty of repentance, it saw no further need of issuing warnings about a burning hell. When the church quit preaching man's necessity of the new birth, she exchanged regeneration for decisions, and in the process, filled her pulpits and pews with the unconverted church member. A sick church in a sick nation is no good to anybody.

When will the church repent and turn back to the God of the Bible? When you are out of step with God, you are out of touch with God, and consequently out of favor of God. Will this sin-loving nation that murders its own still be here next year, or will God have to destroy it and wipe it clean like a dirty plate? To whom much is given, much is required. Maybe it's time to turn back to the God of the Bible and actually humble ourselves to pray and see God's face and turn from our wicked ways before it's too late.