I guess if there's one word that I,
that I hate more than any other word
in the English language, it's self.
Self.
One of the sad things is that most
of us live most of our lives for
ourselves.
If there's anything I'd like to preach about
the loudest, other than the gospel, it's selfishness.
If there's anything that I'd like to impress
upon the hearts and minds of my people,
it's to get out of the self-life.
What happens to me?
What's in it for me?
I made mention of my Sunday school class
this morning.
One of the finest girls in our church.
And this is not unusual, and nobody will
know who she is but two of us.
But it's so typical.
Young folks come to my office for counseling.
And I ask them, what do you plan
to do with your life?
Well, I plan to work.
Why?
Well, I want to save enough money to
get married.
You can get married for two dollars.
And I got one ceremony that says, want
them, want them, got them, that's only $1
.98. And so, but that's the way most
of us are built.
I mean, we're just wrapped up in ourselves.
What's in it for me?
What do I get out of it?
What do they think about me?
She criticized me.
I'll get him back.
Well, I didn't get my way.
Well, how about my rights?
Most of us never, ever get out of
ourselves.
It's one of the saddest things.
Honestly, it's the thing that if I hadn't
a hair, I'd pull my hair over.
I, but you got as little as I
got, you don't pull any of it.
When it falls out, you paste it back
in.
And I, but I would.
To me, it's the most frustrating thing about
the ministry.
Is to preach and preach and preach for
13 years to people.
And most of them, I mean the best
of us, are more concerned about ourselves than
anybody else.
Just self.
Planning for my future.
I said to my class this morning, and
I've said it to you before.
Most of us say, we're saving for a
rainy day.
No, you don't mean that.
It could rain on everybody else in the
whole world besides you, and you'd keep it
in the bank.
You're saving it for a day when you
get rained on.
You're not saving it for somebody else's rainy
day.
Everybody else could drown as far as you're
concerned.
You're saving it for yourself.
Self.
I am offended.
Selfishness.
I won't speak to him anymore.
Selfishness.
He did me wrong.
Selfishness.
Most of us, oh my.
I've preached about it so much, I don't
know how to come at it anymore.
But most of us never do get away
from ourselves.
Just ourselves.
Now there's a reason for that.
The devil is after us all the time.
The devil from the time you first hear,
well from the time you're born.
The devil is after you.
Now he's not after you just until you
get saved.
He's after you after you get saved too.
He's always after you.
Satan is bidding for your life.
Brother Colston led us a while ago in
reading something about the story of the Israelites.
Don't you recall how they're in the land
of Egypt in bondage?
And the devil put them in terrible rigor
and bondage and slavery.
Tried to keep them in Egypt.
You see, the devil didn't want the Israelites
to leave the land of Egypt.
He wanted them to stay in Egypt.
But through the miraculous Passover lamb and the
death angel coming over at night and taking
all the firstborn where the blood was not
applied.
Pharaoh relented and let the Israelites go.
No sooner had they gotten to the city
limit sign of town.
Until Pharaoh said, I'm sorry I did it.
Now bear in mind, they're delivered from Egypt.
They're saved.
But Pharaoh said, I wish I hadn't have
done it.
Now what happened?
He gathered himself up in the scripture we
read a while ago.
He gathered himself an army and began to
pursue the Israelites.
He's not through with them yet.
I mean they're out of Egypt, but he's
not through with them yet.
They're delivered, but he's not through with them
yet.
And so the army is pursued down to
the time they get to the Red Sea.
You recall the story.
Moses, the Lord said to Moses, take the
rod that I gave you and smite the
Red Sea.
Moses took the rod and smote the waters
of the Red Sea.
And God parted the Red Sea and made
a four lane freeway across the Red Sea.
Maybe a six lane, I'm not sure.
But across the Red Sea on dry ground.
And then the armies of Pharaoh said, let's
go after them.
And they got in the middle of the
Red Sea and the waters prevailed.
And the armies were killed.
Now then, Pharaoh is behind them.
His armies are dead.
They're delivered.
They're on their way to the promised land.
But the devil's not through with them yet.
They got discouraged.
And they said, we don't have anything to
drink.
We don't have any water.
We don't have anything to eat.
We wish we were back in Egypt.
Why, at least we had some onions and
cucumbers and garlic and leeks and young people.
And we had some watermelon in Egypt.
Now we don't have anything.
The devil can't get your soul, he'll get
your joy.
And so they lost their joy.
And God gave them water from the rock.
He gave them manna from heaven.
But don't you recall what Pharaoh had said?
Pharaoh said, okay, go on, but don't take
your kids with you.
The devil can't get your soul.
He wants the soul of your kids.
Again, he said, okay, go on, but leave
your cattle and leave your riches here.
The devil can't get your soul.
He wants your money.
He wants your possessions.
He wants you young people.
Now everybody listen.
I'm going to tell you tonight.
I don't want you talking or whispering or
writing notes.
I want you everywhere I've got to say.
I mean, fasten your eyes on this preacher.
And so they crossed the wilderness.
They came to Cadiz Barney, but the devil's
not through yet.
And so they faced the promised land, a
land of victory, a land that flows with
milk and honey.
And the devil said, don't go in there.
You see, from the time they were in
Egypt, as long as they lived, the devil
was trying to get them.
He never lets up.
That's why the apostle Paul said, I think
when he died, I think he said, I
fought the good fight.
I kept the faith.
I didn't quit fighting.
I didn't turn back.
I finished the course.
I made it.
Paul said he buffeted his body every day.
You know one reason why?
And I say this very kindly.
You know one reason why a lot of
people, I think, stumble and fall?
It's because they don't realize the devil's after
them.
There's some people who think you get sanctified,
you don't sin anymore.
What do they do?
They let down their barrier, and boy, wham,
from the rear, a big 265-pound tackle,
tackles you from the rear, and you thought
you were free.
No, the devil's always after you.
Always is.
Well, you say, I'm saved.
Now that does it.
No, it doesn't do it.
That just starts it.
Well, you say, I'm baptized now.
That does it.
No, it doesn't do it.
See, that just starts it.
Well, you say, praise the Lord.
I've been filled with the Holy Spirit.
Okay, and if I was the devil and
you were filled with the Holy Spirit, I'd
fight you more than ever.
The devil's after you.
I want to talk to you tonight about
just as practical as I can, about what
the devil's doing to steal you.
In the first place, he's after you to
keep you from getting saved.
Tonight, if you're in this room and your
name is not written in heaven, if you
don't know that if you died tonight, you'd
go to heaven, there's only one reason you're
not saved, only one, and that's because the
devil has sold you a wooden nickel.
You see, it says the devil, in 2
Corinthians 4, 3, it says, If our gospel
be hid, it is hid from those that
are lost.
And that word hid there comes from the
same root word of the apocrypha, the apocrypha
books.
It's the opposite word of apocalypse.
Apocalypse is the word for revelation in the
Bible, to uncover that which was hidden.
Apocrypha is something that is hidden.
And if our gospel be apocrypha, if it
be hidden, it is hidden from those that
are lost.
And if you're here tonight and not saved,
the devil says to you, Don't be saved.
Sin is too attractive.
And so he paints sin as attractively as
he can.
The biggest lie the devil has, the biggest
deception in the world, the biggest deceiver in
the world is the devil's advertising of sin.
He puts it on the back of a
magazine and says, If you'll drink this kind
of drink, Seagram 7, you'll be a distinguished
man.
You'll be an idiot.
That's what you'll be if you drink that
kind of garbage.
The devil never puts it, he never sees
the folks, he never takes a picture, the
folks that come to my study who've drunk
the last drink of the cup of sin
and who've tasted the last bitter taste of
sin and who've come to the end of
sin when the soul of the sinner is
dying, your sin will find you out.
The devil doesn't take the depleted, poor, wretched
bum that stumbles into my office and says,
I've got to have help.
He doesn't take him for his advertisement.
He takes some person that's beautiful and handsome
and has the bright lights and shines the
bright beam on his garbage and says, You
drink Ham's beer and you'll be in the
land of sky blue waters.
I mean, the snow will melt all around
you and your wife that's 5'4 and
weighs 235 will suddenly be 5'6 and
weigh 130.
And your bald-headed husband that looks like
he just swallowed a cantaloupe all of a
sudden will be a combination of Rock Hudson.
And that's the only one I can think
of.
I mean, all of a sudden he'll be
a glamour boy.
If you just drink Ham's beer in the
land of sky blue waters or if you're
having trouble keeping your hair in place, just
one little dab will do you.
That's all.
Don't put two dabs on because you can't
fight all of them off.
I mean, they'll be pursuing you, the girls.
Man, if I do that, I'd bathe in
that stuff.
You see, the devil says, Look at this
cigarette ad.
Look at this beautiful young lady with a
cigar in her mouth.
And nowadays the devil's getting some brazen.
He just goes ahead and puts a cigar
right in the mouth.
And always a pretty girl.
No fat girls ever smoke.
Always a pretty girl.
Everything is off.
And no, don't get saved.
Sin's too much fun.
He's a liar.
He's a cheat.
He's a deceiver.
Sin, when it is finished, bringer forth death.
The devil's trying to keep you from getting
saved.
He puts it on the television set.
He puts it in the magazines.
He puts it in the newspapers.
He puts it on billboards.
He puts it in the movies.
He puts it in all of his commercials.
Don't get saved.
Sin's too attractive.
Or maybe he doesn't succeed that way.
He says, Don't get saved, but now wait.
It is said in legend that one day
in hell, the devil called all the little
angels, all the little devil's angels together, little
imps and demons in hell.
And they had a convention.
And Satan said, I want to figure out
some way so that all people will be
lost.
They'll not be saved.
What can I do?
And one little imp raised his hand, and
he said, I've got a suggestion.
I've got a suggestion.
Get them all drunk.
And make them all drink liquor.
And nobody will get saved.
The devil said, That won't work.
He said, Too many of them, when they
drink liquor, they have broken lives and broken
hearts and broken homes and broken dreams and
broken aspirations and broken air castles.
He said, That won't do.
They'll go to some preacher and some soul
winner and get saved.
One little devil said, I know.
I know.
He said, Cause them all to be atheists.
The devil said, That won't do.
That won't do.
Why, he said, everybody in his heart knows
there's a God.
He doesn't have any peace.
He knows he needs something.
Finally, one little devil in hell said, Hey,
I've got the idea.
I've got it.
And the big old Lucifer looked down and
said, What is it, little imp?
And that little devil said, I'll tell you
what.
Let's tell them all to get saved.
And all the devils in hell were shocked
and began to frown and thought, What?
What?
This little fellow is a traitor.
He says, Tell them all to get saved.
What do you mean?
And he says, But, tell them to do
it tomorrow.
And all the demons in hell said, That's
it!
That's it!
And most people in this house tonight who
are not saved, who will die and go
to hell, intend to get saved someday.
You intend to come to God.
You haven't planned to go to hell.
You don't have a ticket in your billfold
tonight to hell.
You plan to get saved.
But the devil has sold you his biggest
bit of reception in get saved, get saved,
get saved, but not tonight.
Tomorrow, son, men have arised to see a
long-deluded sight.
This is the time.
Oh, then be wise.
Be saved, oh, tonight.
The devil said, I want you to be
saved.
So he points you to some hypocrite in
the church or turns you to a liberal
church instead of a fundamental church or turns
you to humanism or belief in a God,
but not the Bible or universalism or you
have someone in the church gossip or criticize
the preacher or criticize other Christians and you
hide behind the hypocrites or somebody out at
work doesn't live like you'll live and they're
saved and so the devil says, Yeah, he's
a hypocrite.
You don't want to be like that.
The devil's trying to keep you from getting
saved.
Brother, he'll get your soul and damn your
soul in hell if you don't wake yourself
up and realize you're not unsaved because you
want to wait a while.
You're not unsaved because you're just not ready.
You're unsaved because the devil's got you and
has blinded your eyes from the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
And so the day comes when you realize
it and tonight some will.
Let's suppose tonight, and I'm sure some will,
some tonight will say, Okay, Brother Howells, I
see it.
It's the devil.
I'm not going to let the devil have
my life.
I'm not going to let him defeat my
life.
I'm not going to let him wreck and
ruin my future.
I'm not going to let him send me
to hell.
And so you come down the aisle and
you get saved.
And the devil says, Well, I didn't want
to get saved.
I tried everything I could to keep you
from getting saved, but I'm not through with
him.
And so the first thing the devil does
is try to keep you out of that
pool right there.
Why do I make such a play about
baptism?
Why do I baptize the same day folks
get converted?
Because the Bible says it.
That's what they did in the book of
Acts.
That's the main reason, but I make a
big play about baptism because it so happens
that baptism is the first command that God
gives a believer.
And I want Christian people when they get
saved here to start off obeying Christ.
And so I want you to obey Him
on the first step and get in the
habit of obeying Christ.
You've read my little book on baptism.
You've heard this story and you've heard me
tell it, many of you, down in Marshall,
Texas when I was 22 or 23 years
of age pastoring a church, baptizing every Sunday.
I had a little beginner Sunday school class
one day and the faithful beginner worker asked
the boys and girls, said, boys and girls,
I have a question to ask you this
morning.
Who baptized Jesus?
And everybody knew that.
They all said John the Baptist.
That's who baptized Jesus.
She said, okay, who baptized John the Baptist?
And boy, that was a stumper.
Nobody knew who baptized John the Baptist.
And finally, one little fellow back in the
back of the room raised his hand.
Remember how he used to do it in
school?
He said, I know, I know, I know.
She said, Johnny, do you know?
The teacher didn't even know, you see.
And said, Johnny, do you know?
He said, yeah!
Brother Hiles did!
Well, he thought I baptized everybody.
Why?
Because I baptize them on the spot when
they get saved.
But the devil says, okay, you're saved now.
Don't you get baptized?
Listen.
You say, I'm not baptized yet because I'm
not ready.
No, you're not baptized yet because the devil
kept you from it.
You say, well, I'm not baptized yet because
I want to wait a while and be
sure I know what I'm doing.
No, you're not baptized yet because the devil
has kept you from getting baptized.
Well, you say, I'm not baptized yet because
Uncle George and Aunt Sue are my favorite
uncle and aunt and I want them to
come and see me.
And won't you get your godfather and godmother
and do it up round?
And I want to wait until Uncle George
and Aunt Sue come in and I want
to see me get baptized.
No, you don't get baptized now because the
devil doesn't want you to get baptized now.
No, you say, I'm going to get baptized
now because I want to wait until my
daddy comes to church.
He may come someday and I want him
to come and see me get baptized and
maybe he'll come and get saved that night.
Your daddy will come a lot nearer to
getting saved if you don't obey Christ rather
than you trying to figure out some cute
little tricks to get your daddy saved.
So, the fellow walks down the aisle and
he says, Preacher, I'm saved.
I want to get baptized.
He gets baptized.
He walks in the dressing room.
He puts his clothes back on.
He is obedient to Christ.
You say, well, that does it.
That does it.
No, it doesn't do it either because I've
got news for you.
The devil is right outside the door of
the dressing room.
You'll see him.
Bob Leo stays outside the door of the
dressing room.
You'll see him tonight.
If you go up there, you'll see him.
When you walk out of the dressing room,
the first person you'll see is the devil.
He's six foot four and I'm not talking
about you, but the devil is out there
outside that dressing room.
Why?
He's not through with you yet.
The devil couldn't keep you from getting saved.
He couldn't keep you from getting baptized, but
he's not through with you yet.
He's going to walk out the door with
you.
He's going to walk out and get in
the car, sit in the car, and on
the way home he's going to say, Hey,
what did you do tonight?
You're going to say, I got saved and
got baptized.
The devil is going to say, You did?
You got saved?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I got saved.
Well, what did you feel?
Did you shout?
Oh, no, no, no.
I didn't shout.
Did you tingle?
No, no, no.
I didn't tingle.
Well, did you feel electricity coming out your
spine?
Did you go, whee!
No, no.
I didn't do that either.
Well, did you, are you sure you're saved?
Well, well I, well I, I, yeah, yeah.
Are you really sure you're saved?
Well, no.
No, not really.
You see, the devil is trying to get
you to lose your assurance.
A fellow sat in my office last night.
He said, he said, about five days after
I got saved, I began to doubt it.
Huh?
I began to doubt it.
What is it?
What's it caused?
What caused it?
Hey, what caused it?
The devil caused it.
Yes, listen, listen.
If you knew you were a sinner, and
if you knew that sinners are condemned before
God, and if you knew Jesus paid the
penalty on the cross for your sins, bearing
in His body your sins, and paid the
penalty for sin, and if you in faith
trusted Him as your sacrifice from sin, and
accepted Him as your Lord and Savior, you're
saved.
I've got a Bible that says you are.
Now, if you, by the way, if you,
if you, if you said, whoopee, and felt
electricity, and, uh, and tingled, and shouted, but
didn't know what I just said, and didn't
trust Jesus, you're as lost as if you
never had tingled.
Now, how do I know I'm saved?
John 5, 24 says, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, he that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation, but
is passed from death unto life.
I know it because I've got God's promise
that says I'm saved.
He that hath the Son hath life?
I know it!
I recall when I first came here to
this church, I was preaching 20 sermons on
Jesus, and I, um, I got over to
1 John chapter 5, and I think it's,
I've forgotten the verse, verse 7, I think,
and, uh, boy, I never thought I'd forget
that, but anyway, where it says, um, he
that hath the Son hath life, huh, 1
John 5, 12, he that hath the Son
hath life, and, uh, and so I, I
forgot my sermon, and I never forget it.
I, I was scared.
I was just a new preacher here in
the church, and, and young people back in
the back, your girl back there that I've
called down four or five times has the
diamonds on her dress sitting next to the
aisle with the thing over her head and
the long hair sitting beside the blonde-headed
fella, you listen to what I'm preaching.
It's about the fifth time I've called you
down lately.
By the way, the devil uses you to
talk so folks behind you can't hear the
sermon so somebody may die and go to
hell someday.
And so, ahem, the devil, uh, I was
preaching along, and, and I, he that hath
the Son hath life, and I'd forgotten my
sermon, and I said, he that hath the
Son hath life, and I'd still forgotten my
sermon.
So I stepped back, and I said, he
that hath the Son hath life, and I'd
still forgotten my sermon.
And I stepped back, and I said, he
that hath the Son hath life, and I
still drew a dud.
And I stepped back, and I said, he
that hath the Son hath life, and I
still couldn't think of what to say next.
So I stepped back, and I said, he
that hath the Son hath life, and I
still couldn't think of anything else to say.
So I stepped back, and I said, he
that hath the Son hath life.
And, uh, I got home, and Becky was
only about seven at the time.
And she looked up, and she said, Daddy,
the record got stuck this morning, didn't it?
And I said, yes, sweetheart.
But I said, isn't that a wonderful place
to get the record stuck on he that
hath the Son hath life?
He that hath the Son hath life.
Listen, life is not in a church.
Eternal life is not in a dogma.
Eternal life is not in a priest.
Eternal life is not in a doctrine.
Eternal life is not in a religion.
Eternal life is in a person.
And if you have never realized you're a
sinner, and never realized you're lost, and never
realized that Jesus is the Lord, became sin
as your substitute and paid your penalty, and
if you've never trusted Him and what He
did to save you, you're just as lost
as the devil and Judas Iscariot.
But, by the way, if you've done that,
you say to the devil, Get behind me,
Satan.
I've got a whole Bible that says I'm
saved.
Ah, one day, the devil came to Martin
Luther.
He was sitting at his desk.
The devil said, Martin Luther, you're not saved.
Martin Luther said, I am, too.
And the devil said, No, you're not.
And Martin Luther turned him over to 1
John 1, 7.
If we walk in the light as He
is the light, we have fellowship one with
another.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth
us from all sin.
It is said Martin Luther got so mad
at the devil he preached out and noticed
a bottle of ink on the desk.
And he picked up the bottle of ink
and threw it at the devil.
And he kept that ink spot on the
wall of his study the rest of his
life.
It is said, so he could realize how
real the devil was to him.
How are you going to get the devil?
Word of God.
When the devil came to our Lord, when
he was out on the Mount of Temptation,
the devil said, Why don't you, why don't
you jump off the pinnacle of the temple
and prove you're God's Son?
And Jesus said, It is written.
He didn't answer him with some little cute
statement.
He said, It's written.
When the devil said, Make these stones into
bread, Jesus said, It is written.
When the devil said, Bow down and worship
me and I'll give you all the kingdoms
of the world, Jesus said, It is written.
If you don't have the assurance you're saved
tonight, open the Bible and read John 3
.36 and John 3.14-18 and John
5.12 and 1 John 5.12 and
John 5.24 and John 1.11-12
and look where it says, If you will
receive Christ, if you will believe with all
of your heart that Jesus is the Christ,
you'll have eternal life.
And hang on to it and use it
as the hope of your assurance.
So you say, Well, okay, that does that.
I know I'm saying I'm sure I'm saved.
I'm baptized and I'm sure I'm saved.
Now the devil threw it at me.
No, he's not.
No.
The devil comes up and he says, Okay,
you're saved and you're baptized and you have
the assurance that you're saved.
But he said, You having any fun?
Having any fun?
Well, well, I'm sure having fun.
Young people?
Sure, I'm having fun.
Well, How many neon lights do they have
down at the church house?
How many flashing lights do they have?
Well, none.
Are you sure you're having fun?
Well, I think I'm having fun.
How many pictures have you got in that
book you've been reading?
Well, none.
Are you sure you're having fun?
Five.
I thought it was.
Ask your question.
You're very popular now?
Well, come to think of it, they laugh
at me out of the job.
Ask your question.
Are you making more money now or less
money than you were making?
Well, since I quit cheating, I don't make
as much money as I did.
Are you sure you're happy?
No, I'm not sure.
You're not very happy, are you?
No, I'm not very happy.
Before you know it, the devil gets your
joy.
You see, if he can't get you lost,
he'll get you not to get baptized.
If he can't keep you from being obedient,
he'll keep you from knowing you're saved.
If he can't keep you from knowing you're
saved, he'll get your joy.
And so, he works on your joy.
And the Israelites said, I wish we were
back in the land of Egypt, that we
have nothing but this light bread.
Bless their hearts.
They knew corn bread was better than light
bread.
And they knew biscuits was better than wonder
bread.
We have nothing but this light bread.
You know why?
They knew that seven grain bread was best.
They wanted to go back to the health
food store, get some seven grain bread.
That's in the Hebrew.
You won't find that in the English, but
you'll find it in the Hebrew.
And they knew it was right.
And then said, we ought to go back
to onions and cucumbers and leeks and garlic
of Egypt.
And they complained and lost their joy.
Listen, a Christian who's lost his joy will
never sell the product he's trying to sell.
Oh, Mr. Paradise.
Mr. Paradise, are you here?
Let me think.
Charlie Bell.
Where's Charlie?
There's Charlie.
That's your toupee at home, didn't you?
Of course, Charlie Bell walked up tonight and
he said to me, he said, Brother Hiles,
you're losing your hair.
I said, oh, shut up.
He said, say, Brother Hiles, I've discovered something.
I'm sort of a second rate scientist and
I've discovered a little something.
I've come upon discovery.
Ten years ago, I found it.
It's hair grower.
You put it on top of your head
and just rub it in and put a
hot towel up there.
I mean, I tried everything.
One person in our church said, if you'll
get some vodka and mix it with something
and put it all over your head, it'll
make your hair grow.
Man, I used half of it on my
head and drank the other half.
It didn't help a bit.
The last half, they didn't care whether I
had any hair or not, but, and I
don't go out and say I drink vodka.
I don't.
Beer, yes, but not vodka.
But, I was preaching for Charlie Hand when
he was pastoring in Springfield, Missouri.
I've forgotten this.
I was preaching with Charlie Hand.
Noble Hill Baptist Church.
Went down to get a haircut in Springfield.
And the fellow who was cutting my hair
said, your hair's getting thin on top.
I said, just cut, buddy.
I didn't pay you to talk.
I paid you to cut.
And he said, your hair's getting thin on
top.
And I said, I know it.
He said, look.
He said, I can help you.
And Charlie Hand began to laugh.
He was sitting over there.
He began to laugh.
And I wondered what he was laughing about.
He pulled out a big bottle of stuff,
about that tall, about that big around.
He said, now this will help you.
He said, it's grown hair on a lot
of people.
I said, man, I'll take it.
And Charlie Hand was laughing.
He was beating his head, hands on his
knees.
He was laughing.
He was beside himself.
And I couldn't figure out why.
Well, I paid the guy, I guess, five
or six dollars for that big old bottle
of stuff.
And we walked out.
I said, Charlie, what's so funny?
He said, you didn't notice.
That guy didn't have a hair on his
head.
And I paid the guy five or six
dollars for the stuff.
You know, did you know that a Christian
that hasn't got his joy can't make anybody
want to get saved?
The Bible says in the 126th Psalm, it
says, when the Lord turned again the captivity
of Zion, we were like them that dreamed.
We couldn't believe it.
We're free.
We're going home.
We've been in bondage for all these 70
years.
Now we're going home.
We're free.
And then it says, then was our mouth
filled with laughter and our tongue was singing.
Why, we're free.
And the next line says, then said they
among the heathen, the Lord hath done great
things for them.
Then the next line says, they turned to
the heathen and said, yep, the Lord hath
done great things for us and that's why
we're glad.
That's why we're laughing.
That's why we're happy.
People for 13 years have criticized the First
Baptist Church in Hammond, but they can't explain
away the laughter and joy of our people.
They won't forget.
The lady called me from out in Hyatt
and she said, my uncle is dying with
cancer at St. Margaret's Hospital.
And she said, would you go get him
saved?
And I said, what church do you attend?
She said, the Lutheran Church.
I said, have you called your pastor?
She said, what?
No.
I said, I want my uncle saved.
I said, have you ever been to our
church?
She said, no, I don't believe like you
believe.
Well, I said, why don't you call your
pastor and get your uncle saved?
She said, he doesn't specialize in those cases.
You know why she called me?
She's seen our people.
Listen, you can criticize our narrow-mindedness.
You can criticize the fact we're against the
dirty liquor traffic.
You can criticize the fact we're against the
dirty hippie traffic.
You can criticize the fact that we're right
-wing conservatives politically.
You can criticize the fact we're fundamentalists who
believe in a real hell and a real
heaven and a real salvation.
You can criticize the fact we're against the
dirty Hollywood movies.
We're against cigarettes and gambling and wrong.
But you can't explain away the smiles on
the faces of our people.
You can't do it.
Happiest folks in town are First Baptist Church
people.
Oh, we've got a few oldest friends.
Signed out in Kentucky.
It says, Welcome to certain, certain town with
1,200 happy people and three old gripes.
And young people, boys with glasses on back
there.
You see, as long as folks are happy.
So the devil says, Okay, I don't want
you to get saved, but you got saved.
I don't want you to get baptized, but
you got baptized.
I don't want you to have assurance, but
you got assurance.
Okay.
Now he says, I want to take your
joy.
So the devil doesn't get your joy, but
here's the next thing.
He doesn't quit yet.
He says, I'm going to stay happy in
the Lord.
The devil walks up and says, I want
to tell you something.
Okay, so you're saved.
But did you know you can't win people
unless you dress like them and wear your
hair like them?
And you can't win people unless you look
like them, unless you do what they do.
There's not a thing out of hell that's
any more deceptive than that kind of heresy.
Not a thing.
All across this country, churches are having coffee
shops.
And you walk in a coffee shop.
I was in one out in...
I'm doing this too soon.
I'm getting to the illustration in a few
minutes.
But I was in one out in a
certain state out east not long ago.
And I was preaching out in New England.
A fellow walked up to me and says,
You got a coffee shop?
I said, No, we have a carrot juice
shop.
He said, What are you doing to win
the hippies?
I said, Preaching the fire out of them.
Winning the same thing we do to win
everybody else.
What are you doing to win long hairs?
I said, Same thing we do to win
the bald heads.
Preach.
Go in house to house.
And I went into a certain little room.
The church had a coffee shop.
And it had these psychedelic colors.
It looked like some of these...
You don't have much here.
Yes, you do now.
You have them in the basement of some
of these stores around here where they have
little hippie stores, hippie departments in the stores.
And so I went in.
And here was one of the staff members,
one of the pastors on the staff.
And he was going...
wearing his clothes out from the inside.
And he's really getting with it.
He's a pastor.
I said, What's he doing?
The fellow said, He's getting with it.
I said, Why?
He said, He's trying to reach these hippies.
I said, Men, they done reached him.
There's not a thing in this world tonight
that's doing as much detriment to the cause
of Christ as the philosophy going around that
if you wear your hair like the sinful
crowd wears their hair, and if you wear
your miniskirts like they do, and if you
use the same jargon and the same music
beat with some gospel words about good old
God is still on His throne, good old
God, good old God.
Hey, the old man's still upstairs.
Yay!
That's as wicked as the devil.
Nothing in the world but Satan saying, I
couldn't keep them from getting saved.
I couldn't keep them out of the water.
I couldn't take their joy.
But I tell you what I am going
to do.
I'm going to make them look like the
heathen world.
Be like the heathen.
That's why he comes.
By the way, by the way, they're not
winning them.
I went in a pastor study of this
church.
Over here was the church annual, the minutes
of the association, the nomination.
Churches that belong to nominations write reports out
and send reports in once a year.
And there were the minutes.
So I just looked in the first part
where it says baptisms and it said five
for 1971.
Five.
Boy, they sure win a lot of hippies,
aren't they?
Man, they're going to town.
Why, at that rate, in 17,642,675
,142 years, we'll be in a new millennium.
Of the tribulation.
Five.
Forty-two churches in that denomination, association.
Forty-two churches.
All of them baptized.
211 last year.
211.
So I got up preaching.
I said, we had more folks get lost
in the hall and fell in the water
than that.
It's the devil.
Trying to get a bunch of kids to
gather on some campus somewhere or down in
Dallas somewhere.
A bunch of 100,000 kids to come
wearing their shorts and their bikinis and their
long shaggy hair and acting like a worldly
crowd and talking about witnessing.
I'm not against witnessing, but I don't know
what I am for.
I'm for putting on some clothes while you
do it.
When the Israelites were marching toward the Promised
Land, they had to go through Moab to
get there.
Now listen to this.
Had to go through Moab to get there.
And Moses called them together in the book
of Deuteronomy.
And he said, look, you've got to go
through Moab.
Now listen.
I want you to go to the king
of Moab.
I want you to talk with him.
I want you to tell him something.
Your Honor, we be God's people.
And we need to come through.
Now we want to come down the highway
through Moab that goes toward the Promised Land.
And we promise you, we'll behave ourselves.
We'll not cause you any trouble.
If we get some food, we'll pay for
it.
If we get some water, we'll pay for
it.
Now Moses said to the Israelites, don't you
turn to the right nor to the left.
Stay on the highway.
You're going through another country now.
Stay on the highway.
Don't you get off of the highway.
Now don't you act like the Moabites.
And don't you behave like the Moabites.
Now be courteous and be kind and pay
your debts.
And let no man criticize you because you're
not honest.
But he said, stay on the highway.
The illustration there is while we're traveling through
this old sin-cursed world, we're supposed to
be nice.
We're supposed to be courteous.
We're supposed to pay our debts.
We're supposed to be honest.
But brother, we're supposed to stay on the
highway.
We're not to wander off the highway.
We're not to get out and dress like
the Moabites and act like the Moabites and
wear your hair like the Moabites and use
the jargon of the Moabites and use the
music of the Moabites.
Well, of course, the old statement everywhere I
go, they say it, well, God looks on
the inside and the outside doesn't matter.
Let me ask you a question.
Are you an idiot in any other area
than that?
Whoever told you that, whoever told you God
doesn't look on the outside, whoever told you
the outside doesn't matter, our Lord says, let
your light so shine before men that they
may see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in heaven.
I think I've told you this.
I've preached so much I forget what I've
told you in somebody else.
Dr. John Risenauer out in Wichita, Kansas was
preaching.
In a high school auditorium, he was preaching
and I was out at the book table
just about to go in and hear him.
I was talking to a pastor who wanted
to talk to me about a problem he
had.
I looked down the hallway and saw a
couple of hippies.
And I said, I want to go witness
those hippies.
And by the way, I always believe in
being courteous personally to everybody.
No hippie in America can tell you that
I've not been kind to him.
And no Jesus freak in America can tell
you that I've not been kind to him.
In fact, I was out in Southern California
preaching and a bunch of Jesus freaks started
coming to hear me preach.
And they took me out to eat after
service at night.
I had good fellowship with them.
And they got together and said, we'll cut
our hair and press our pants if you'll
come out here and start a church.
They begged me to come to Southern California
and start a church.
They said, we'll change our music.
But anyway, I said, these hippies in this
high school hallway, hey, hey fellas, I want
to talk to you.
They walked up and I said, hey, I
want to talk to you.
Do you know if you die you'll go
to heaven?
And one of them said, amen, hallelujah.
Boy, that threw me for a loop.
I said, oh.
The other one said, glory to God, we're
born again.
Wow.
I said, fellas, I praise the Lord.
I'm glad about that.
And I am.
I'm glad about it.
I rejoiced.
I said, to be frank with you, I
think I owe you an apology.
I thought you were hippies with your long
hair and your blue jeans and your something
drawn up here on a t-shirt.
I thought you were hippies.
And one of them said, that's the trouble
with all you fundamentalists.
Always judging from the outside.
And I said, who told you I was
a fundamentalist?
I haven't said anything about it.
Well, he said, you've got to school for
your Bible.
I said, that's the trouble with all you
Jesus freaks.
Always judging from the outside.
The truth is, everybody judges from the outside.
You're supposed to judge from the outside.
You see a fella, you see a fella,
you see a, if you go out in
the lake, you heard about throw down Louisiana,
a Cajun, he's going to cross a creek,
a river, a creek, and he went up
to this Cajun and said, where can I
cross the creek on my horse?
He said, right down here.
He said, just about that deep.
He went down there, got his horse, rode
across, horse went under, he went under, horse
swam across, he swam across, both of them
soaking wet.
He hollered back over to the Cajun and
said, yeah, I thought you said it was
just about that deep.
Well, he said, a while ago, a little
duck went across and the water just came
up to there on him.
He said, now, if you see a, if
you see a, something comes, paddling up here,
it's got webbed feet and goes quack, quack,
quack, quack, quack, quack, and, and, it's got,
it's got, what does duck have?
Down, down, down like a duck, quacks like
a duck, has a beak like a duck,
has webbed feet like a duck.
You say, man, look at that cow.
Well, man, that's a duck.
No, there you go, judging from the outside.
Well, how do you expect, if you say
that's a cow there, what is it, something
spiritual, it must be a cow around here
somewhere.
No, If you see something coming down the
road, and it's shaped like a cow, and
it's got faucets on it, and you're overlooking,
you're overlooking, there's some God's people, all look
like God's people, sing like God's people, dress
like God's people on the outside.
Well, it's okay, then I'm going to look
like a Christian.
The devil says, I couldn't get his soul,
I couldn't keep him from obeying, I couldn't
get his joy, I couldn't get his assurance,
and I couldn't make him act like my
crowd.
Well, I rid of the devil now, oh
no, no, the devil comes up and says,
okay, but I want your money.
Don't you tithe, I want your money.
Listen, there's nothing in this world, there is
nothing in this world that better pictures selfishness,
than not tithing, nothing, nothing, there's nothing as
ungrateful as a Christian not giving God, by
the way, if I were a heathen, I'd
tithe, if I were unsaved, I'd tithe, why?
Because I'd still want to be honest.
You have no right to enjoy God's, I
start to say God's sunshine, you don't, but
some people do down south, not west, but
you have no right to breathe God's air,
take God's food, and enjoy God's blessings, and
live in God's universe, and not give to
God what He asks you to give Him.
Nothing shows selfishness anymore, than not tithing, and
you say, I can't afford it.
There you go, selfishness to the nth degree.
You say, why does the Lord want my
money?
I say, why, because the Lord knows if
the devil knows he can get your money,
he's got your heart.
Where your treasure is, there will your heart
be also.
Huh?
I'm in the oil business, also I'm in
the real estate business, also I'm in the
steel business.
I own part of the airlines too, airline
business.
You know why?
Well, I've got a piece of the rock.
Huh?
You know why that fellow says that?
Because he's put some of his money in
that company.
Hmm?
Yeah.
Walks into the office and says, clean this
place up.
I own a piece of the rock.
I own all the rock.
On Christ the solid rock I stand.
I own all of it.
And I want my heart to be in
God's work.
And if my heart's in God's work, my
money's got to be in God's work.
For where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also, says the Bible.
Devil says, okay, I don't want you to
get saved, but I got saved anyhow, old
buddy.
Okay, don't want you to get baptized, but
I've already gotten baptized.
Okay, but you don't get happy, I've already
gotten a joy.
Okay, but don't be sure, I've already gotten
assurance.
Okay, but act like the world, I've already
decided to act like God's people ought to
act.
Okay, but don't you tire.
Don't you give God your money.
Decides you're going to go ahead and tire.
But that does it.
Devil's through with me.
No, he's not.
No.
No, he's not through yet.
He says, I want your children.
I'll tell you something now.
Listen carefully.
Last Monday I flew to Seattle, Washington.
I preached Monday night at a jubilee banquet
for Christian education in a big gymnasium to
500 people.
I preached Tuesday morning to the faculty at
745 to the faculty of the school.
I preached at 840 to the student body.
I was rushed across town to a large
school, high school, where I spoke in the
gymnasium to a great crowd of hundreds of
students.
I walked in, sat down, and three of
the students came out, one of them with
a guitar, and they came out fiddling like
that.
And the boys had on blue jeans.
I say they had on blue jeans.
I prayed for the blue jeans, because they
just barely were on.
Long, hippie hair down to the shoulders.
Principal sitting over here on the front row
now, not even up on the platform, not
in front of you, the kids.
One fellow got up and said, well, I
want to read some Scripture.
But he said, I lost the Scripture.
And he said, I just don't know where
to find it, and I don't think I'll
read it.
Everybody clapped.
Glad he didn't read the Scripture.
I got up and began to speak.
Now, I have some little things I do
to try to win the attention of teenagers.
One of the things I try to do
is, now I happen to do it this
way, this place.
I said, I'm delighted to see in this
audience this morning all the husky, strong, broad
-shouldered, masculine, talented, tremendous, athletic, barrel-chested young
men.
Now, but I said, I'm also delighted to
see something else, beautiful, gorgeous, charming, gracious, vivacious,
lovely, precious, trees that you have here in
this Seattle area.
Well, that's supposed to be funny, you know.
Funny!
Yeah!
And so, thanks.
And so I started speaking, and I hadn't
said one thing controversial.
I had not one thing in mind.
I never change a sermon either way.
If I can preach it.
They began to heckle.
They began to laugh.
They began to, like that, stick their tongue
out at me.
I couldn't be heard.
I bowed my head and prayed and asked
God to let the kids be courteous.
I hadn't said a word about their long
hair, their blue jeans, their dirty music or
anything.
I was a gracious guest.
I couldn't be heard.
They heckled.
And finally, I closed the Bible and put
it on the desk over here on the
table.
And I said, now I'm going to tell
you kids, somebody ought to teach you how
to be decent.
And that took about 30 minutes, and I
just told them.
And I said, you're just a bunch of
heathens.
That's all you are.
I said, you mommas and daddies should have
taken you when you were little kids and
spanked you when you started disobeying.
Made somebody, made something out of you instead
of a bunch of anarchist, rebellious heathens.
And I said, by the way, I reported
to the principal.
And I said, by the way, Mr. Principal,
I said, you're going to answer to God
for these kids out here letting them be
like this.
You ought to be up kicking kids out
of school right now.
And I said, all you teachers, you ought
to be ashamed of yourself.
I said, if our principal here, our teacher
here, I said, two-third of these kids
would never walk back into school again.
Oh, I forgot to tell you, it's a
Christian school.
You know, sign in front, it says Christian
school.
Actors all over.
One fellow up in the top, I was
by myself.
I mean, boy, talk about alone.
One big old athlete, big broad-shouldered fellow,
got up and went like this.
And I said, buddy, I'll meet you right
in the center court, right there where they
jump, circle.
After it's over, you've got enough guts to
come.
Guts is a Greek word, it means courage.
And so I went out and stood there
in front of the whole student body at
the center court.
I don't know if I'd get killed, lynched,
or what.
And boy, when it was all over, they
just covered the floor.
I mean, boy, they were all around me.
I didn't have room to move.
And they started screaming and hollering.
And the fellow who brought me was a
very courageous fellow.
He went outside and prayed for me.
Now, all of that to say this.
Who are those kids?
I did some checking.
You know who they are?
Deacons' kids.
Sunday school teachers' kids.
They came from the best Christian homes in
Seattle, Washington.
What happened?
Mom and Dad fell for this philosophy that
says there's a generation gap and the kids
don't have to worship God like Mom and
Dad do.
Brother, we'll close down Baptist City.
We'll burn the buildings down.
We'll chase every kid out before we'll have
a bunch of hoodlums like that.
I've said it before and I'll say it
again.
If Mom's dress is proper to wear, you
can wear one the same length Mom wears.
If Dad can get a haircut, you can
get a haircut.
What happened?
The devil couldn't keep those Moms and Dads
from being saved.
And the devil couldn't keep those Moms and
Dads from getting baptized.
And the devil couldn't keep those Moms and
Dads from tithing and having joy.
So the devil said, Sing Amazing Grace, but
don't take the kids with you.
And wear a decent length skirt, but don't
take the kids with you.
And get haircuts, but don't take the kids
with you.
Let the kids sing their rock music.
Let the kids go half naked and look
like the sinful world.
One of the sad things about it, a
man, some parents came to me.
And by the way, you ought to thank
God you live around here.
A bunch of parents came over where I
spoke that night to a big meeting of
concerned people.
Not about that, but speaking anyway.
And I finished preaching.
I preached on the sermon I preached here
on peace, Satan's greatest weapon for destruction.
And I finished preaching.
A crowd of folks gathered around me and
they were crying like babies.
And Mom's and Dad's said, Dr. House, what
can we do?
What can we do?
Our children go there.
What can we do?
It's the best we can find.
Dr. House, what can we do?
And I wept with them.
And thank God for Hammond Baptist High School
and our great schools.
Now here's what the parents said.
One man took out his billfold.
And he said, Brother House, I'm a poor
man today.
He said, I didn't choose to be poor.
But he said, look at that billfold.
I don't have any money.
And his lips began to quiver.
And he said, Reverend House, he said, when
that school was built, my family sunk every
dime we had in that school.
That's why Dr. Billings will tell you this
is true.
We check every little thing at our school.
Every little thing.
I mean, if one little teenage thing comes
up that might not be exactly what it
ought to be, Brother, just like that.
Just like that.
Why?
Because, Brother, one day they hired one teacher
in that school that wasn't up to their
standards.
And then two.
And then three.
And that man said, my family gave all
we had to the school.
It's gone.
And he got mad and he began to
look fetish.
And he said, they stole it.
They stole it.
And he said, my boy was one of
those boys trying to get to you this
morning.
You see, the devil's got a lot of
ways to get to you.
If he can't get your soul, he'll get
your joy.
If he can't get your joy, he'll get
your testimony.