Regeneration and God's Glory

Here's a little strange man with a leathered girdle around his loins and old camel skin around his neck, and people are swarming from everywhere. What does he say? Read the Four Laws? He uses that word nobody likes, repent. You know, we are preaching an acceptable gospel today.

Make it as painless as we can. And all we do is give people a shock to put them to sleep so they'll get to hell quicker. We need some hellfire preaching on repentance.

One old definition said, repentance is to leave the sin I've done before and show that I in earnest grieve by doing it no more. If a man is genuinely born again, all things pass away, all old things pass away, and all things become new. If any man, anywhere, at any time, being Christ, he may be the most twisted, perverted, carnal, cruel, stinking man in the whole world, but if the miracle of regeneration comes in him, he gets a new heart, a new mind, a new spirit, a new inlook, a new outlook, new everything.

We've forgotten about the majesty of the new birth. People just nod their head and say the sinner's prayer and go straight to hell down the aisle after they've leaned their head on the shoulder of the person. You know, I doubt if 5% of professing Christians in America are born again.

I'm astounded, bewildered, confused, baffled when people tell me in America we've 75 million people still with the Holy Ghost and with the rottenest nation on earth. Come on! But the glory has departed. I'm convinced that when Jesus stood in the temple that day, he was singing of the day when the glory of God filled the temple.

Do you remember the time when Solomon stood there and the glory came down and the priest could not minister to the glory of God? In God's name, when are we going to see that? Do you know why we don't cry and weep and seal our bowels and tongue and our livers? Because we've never seen the glory of God, that's why. We're content to shred the theological doctrinal treadmill until we're weary and we drop into bed tired out. We haven't departed one iota.

There isn't an angel, Gabriel or Michael. Nobody could say we've deviated from the truth of Baptist teaching or Pentecostal teaching or somebody else's teaching. We have no passion.

We have no brokenness. Why should I preach to you? God knows I'm adding condemnation to you tonight. You can't handle the truth you've already got.

You've had it for five or ten years, you can't handle it. Why should I bring you more truth?