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.