What Is Wrong With The Church?

I have taken a text from the 139th Psalm. There are just two verses that I want to read. Psalm 139:23–24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

If you do not get much out of my sermon you will have your soul fed and you will be wonderfully helped if you will read the 139th Psalm over some time today. It has a personal application.

I am not going to attempt anything like an exposition of the Psalm. I am not feeling one bit theological; I am not feeling one bit philosophical this morning. For several days there has been a great burden on the heart, a burden for The Moody Church and a great burden for her pastor. Every time that I have gone to God in prayer (and it has been a great many times both at home and when I am in the cars and sometimes while I am walking on the streets) I find myself telling God about this great burden. Every time that I have gone to Him in prayer these words have come to me: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

There Is Something Wrong

O brethren, I am sure we are all beginning to feel that there is something seriously wrong with that body that is called the church of the living God. I am talking to you frankly and honestly. We gain nothing by covering up things and trying to hide that which is fact. There is something very seriously wrong with the church that Jesus has purchased with His own blood, the church that He loves, the church that He wants to present to Himself [one] of these days “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.” I know what I am saying applies to the whole professing body of Christ, but what I am saying this morning from this pulpit applies to The Moody Church in particular. This is the vineyard God has given us. You are the people that God has made us responsible for. And so whatever message I give this day must be for the people who worship here and who are supporting this cause.

Modernism And Worldliness

There are some things I might mention that are wrong and I think these are obvious.

There is the blight of modernism. I shall not dwell upon that any more than to say that modernism is nothing more nor less than ancient infidelity. The modernism of today is the infidelity of Tom Paine and Robert Ingersoll and those men back yonder. About the only difference is that infidels of that day were outside the church and unfortunately now great numbers of them are in the church professing to be her members and some her preachers. This blight is having its effect especially upon the youth of our day. It is destroying report for God’s Word. It is destroying reverence for God. And, oh, it is a sad day for any nation when her youth loses respect for the Bible and reverence for the God of the Bible, for the youth of today are to be the men and women of tomorrow. It will be a bad day for America when she turns from the faith of her fathers. She will go down, like every other nation has gone down, under the weight of her own corruption. God save her from such a fate.

Then there is the blight of worldliness. The world has never been a friend of grace. It has never been a friend of Christ of His church. “The world hath hated me,” said Jesus. “Marvel not if it hate you.” Therefore, he that would be “a friend of the world is the enemy of God,” for “friendship with the world is adultery with God.” These are the statements of the Scripture. The world today is not only calling to Christians to follow her fashions and to participate in her pleasure and amusements, but she is seeking an entrance into the church. She would dominate the church; she would dissipate her fellowship; she would substitute for the devotional and for the spiritual that which is fleshly and carnal. In some places, the world is absolutely dominating the church of Jesus Christ.

The church in the world is God’s way of saving men, for He says, “I pray not that they should be taken out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil.” “Ye are the light of the world,” said Jesus. We are here for a purpose. The church in the world is for the saving of men; but the world in the church is the Devil’s strategy.

Christians At Fault

Then there is the lack of unity among true believers. We are living in a day when the very air seems to be pregnant with suspicion and division and when Christians who profess to believe the same truths and who stand for the same things are prone to criticize and censure. They judge, they condemn and they divide. Division everywhere  is the order now; split up and fight and “bite and devour one another.” Jesus is being crucified, wounded in the house of His friends.

The tragedy of all this is that the world never needed the true testimony of Christ like it needs it today. And I will tell you something else. I believe as men who are altogether outside of the church are believing—leading statesmen of our country and other lands—that the solution of the problem is beyond the power of statesmanship. It is with the church of the living God! One of the great editors of this country said to a friend of mine, “The only hope of America is in a revival of spiritual religion, and the only persons capable of bringing it about are those who believe in the Word of God.” Think of that. The editor of one of the largest papers in the world said that. Lloyd George said that he only hope of England is in a revival of spiritual religion. The world is waiting for the church to go forth clear as the moon, shining as the sun, glorious as an army with banners. But she is torn with division and differences that amount to very little, especially in the face of the great need and the cause of our precious Master.

The World Is Ready To Listen

There is another feature. I believe men are willing to listen in a way they have not been for a long while. But there is no positive testimony. Yesterday, when I was riding on a train, it occurred to me that when Jesus came in the flesh, when He began his public ministry, conditions were very similar to what they are now. The rabbis and the religious leaders of that day were splitting hairs about doctrines and emphasizing traditions and all sorts of things, and Jesus came in the midst and preached the Word of God. He began at Moses and the prophets and the Psalms and explained unto them all things concerning Himself and “the common people heard him gladly.” They were sick of the other thing. They were tired of religion that was always fighting and hair splitting. But, ready to hear one speak for God, “the common people heard him gladly.” Why? Because “He spake as one having authority and not as the scribes and Pharisees.” God give us a revival of that kind of ministry! The world is waiting for a positive message and if the message of the Word is anything it is a positive message.

The Trouble Is Deep Seated

Now, beloved, are these not symptoms rather than the cause? Have I really put my finger on the source of the trouble? Are not these indications of something else underneath it all? I believe the trouble arises because we do not recognize the real ministry of the Holy Spirit. We are not giving Him His place in the administration of the affairs of the church, and I am not speaking of the church as a whole; I am speaking of The Moody Church in particular. Let us make it an individual question? Do I say to myself this morning, “My body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and God dwells in me”? I trust it is so. If you are a true believer that is your glorious privilege.

If Paul were here this morning and stood behind this pulpit and I should get up and say, “Paul, these are some of the conditions of the church. Can you give me a solution to the problem?” I believe he would give it to us in just one sentence and it would be the solution he gave to the church at Ephesus, the church that had “lost her first love.” What was it? “Be filled with the Spirit.” Remove the hindrances and let Him flood your very life. You say, “Is that the solution?”

Yes, sir. If you are filled with the Spirit you cannot patronize anything that will dishonor the name of Jesus Christ. If you are filled with the Spirit you will not participate in any amusement or pleasure that is degrading and damning thousands of our young people today. I have never preached a sermon against theaters, cards, dancing, or any such thing, but when I hear of a person who professes to believe his Bible taking part in a dance, I get sick at my stomach. Is there anything wrong with the dance? What a question for one to ask who reads his Bible and trusts Jesus Christ! Go to the Army rescue homes, go to the folks who are working in social and slum work. They will tell you that 90% of those who go into harlotry take their first step in a dance hall. Great God! And Christians find pleasure in that evil thing! Stop and think for a moment. I hear there is to be a dance hall opened in this city with the floor made of mirrors. We are mighty near Sodom and Gomorrah, are we not?

Why am I talking like this? To rail on the world? No, to save my young people. I have a right as a pastor to talk plainly to you. You are my charge. But listen, if you are filled with the Spirit, you won’t do that sort of thing.

An Individual Matter

We need to pray the prayer of the psalmist, “Search me, O God.” You will notice in the psalm that David was grieved over the sins of his people. He says, “They speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee, and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them mine enemies.” Why have I read that? To show you that David suddenly comes to a stop there and he says, “O God, there may be some hindrances in me. I hate them that hate thee, but—search me, O God, and see if there be any wicked way in me.”

If we will make that our prayer, as members of The Moody Church, and be prepared to obey God, He will uncover some places in our lives that we never saw before and we will feel that hell itself is not deep enough to bury our sin; nothing but the blood of Christ will do it. Do not pray that prayer if you are not prepared to obey. As your pastor, I am praying that prayer this morning: Search me through and through and see if there is anything in my life that grieves Thee. From this day on let my whole life be under the domination of the Holy Ghost and lead me in the way everlasting.”