REMOVE NOT THE OLD LANDMARKS
THE old-time religion is in the world today with the same power and authority, bringing forth the same results as in Bible days. God has not changed His plan of salvation. Heaven’s resources are not exhausted. The power of God is just the same today. God has said, “I am the LORD, I change not.”
Men today are trying to modernize the salvation of Jesus Christ. They have removed the old landmarks that God said should not be removed (Proverbs 23:10). Many are substituting a sham for the old-fashioned way to God. Jesus said: “He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1). They are leaving out repentance, restitution, and saving faith, endeavouring to climb up some other way. They think it is not necessary to bow the knee in reverence to God, repent with a godly sorrow for sin, and seek Him until the witness comes from Heaven.
But God has never changed His plan of salvation. The man or woman who expects to get to Heaven and see God on His throne, and escape the damnation of hell, will have to take the way of the Cross.
The Sacred Altar
The church of today has lost its sacred altar or “mourners’ bench.” You seldom see sinners down on their knees, shedding tears of repentance. But, thank God, at the Apostolic Faith church, the old tear-stained altar still exists, the Word is being fulfilled, souls are being saved, transforming men’s lives. People are getting right with God and their fellow men.
Sinners are receiving the old-time religion. They get it the Bible way, and they know it comes from Heaven. You will know when God saves you. It is not the writing of your name in a church membership book, but it is God’s writing your name in Heaven and His laws on the fleshy tables of your heart that is vital.
The Word of God Is True
If there is anything that the old-time religion impresses on the hearts and minds of people today, it is that the Word of God is true. We preach the truth of God’s Word, and that Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, and today, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).
God’s people never question the miracles of the Bible, the divinity of Jesus Christ, nor any part of God’s eternal Word. “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). God’s Word settles everything. The secret of the blessing and power of God resting upon the work is that the teachings of Jesus Christ are believed and practiced. You will find that the Word of God has proved true down the ages.
Get Back to the Bible
Line your life to the precepts of the Word, and you will never miss the Gates of Pearl. Unshakable, impregnable is the fortress of God’s Word. We have an assurance, a confidence, a groundwork for our faith that is sure and immovable. We can afford to believe the Word of God in the face of the changes that are going on in the world today. The superficial, the pretence, the sham, are to be found everywhere; but thank God for the Word that settles every question in these perilous days, and really satisfies every longing of our hearts.
People have neglected the teachings of the Book. They have said, “Away with the old-time religion of our fathers.” They have taken up something they consider newer, more scholarly, more refined, more cultured, more educational. But we praise God for the old-time religion that has power to transform men’s lives, to rebuke the powers of darkness and drive them out, to break shackles and set souls free, and cause them to live in harmony with the teachings of Christ.
The Simplicity of Faith
God began to restore the simplicity of faith after the Dark Ages, through one who heard the voice of God from Heaven. God spoke into Martin Luther’s heart and said, “The just shall live by faith.” And he arose to preach justification by faith, causing the dawn of the Reformation. Later, another wonderful man began to study the Bible, and the simplicity of John Wesley’s preaching brought the glory of sanctification down into the hearts of the people who hungered for it.
A stand for the old-time faith is going on today. The simplicity of faith in the hearts of a few people, beginning in 1906, brought the glory of the “Latter Rain,” the outpouring of the old-time power; and those today who stand and retain the blessing and glory and power are those who keep the simplicity of childlike faith in Jesus Christ and the Word of God.
Thank God, these last days are being visited by the mighty blessings of God – salvation, sanctification, the outpouring of the Spirit, and the healing of the sick. God is planting in the hearts of His true people the faith that was once delivered to the saints.
It is a Transformation
Salvation is transformation – God changing the heart. He changes the life. He makes you a new creature. Calvary’s Stream is flowing with the same cleansing power as it did in days of yore.
Millions there have washed away their sin;
Millions more can freely enter in.
The Cross brings the same results in the lives of the disciples today as it did in days of old. A penitent sinner who meets the conditions laid down in the Bible becomes a real Christian and knows the saving grace of God.
The Reason
Many have turned away from the churches disappointed, because when they joined the church, shook the preacher’s hand, and tried to live a Christian life, they found they had nothing more than they had before. They committed the same sins as before. For this reason there are many the world over today who have lost faith in God and in the Bible. Who is responsible for it? The ministers who have removed the old landmarks, and failed to point out the true way. God says we are watchmen upon the walls. If we do not warn the people, God will require their blood at our hand.
A New Creature
When God saves a soul, He takes out the old life of sin; He transforms the heart. He makes a “new creature” out of a sinner. He makes him a Christian; and a Christian is a follower of Christ, one who is “born again,” transformed from darkness into the marvellous light of the Gospel. He lives above the world of sin; his nature is changed. A Christian is the very opposite of a sinner. There are no sinning Christians. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin” (I John 3:9).
People Want an Easier Way
Many people want a way that appeals more to the carnality of the heart and the depraved nature. They want something that will allow sin in their lives. Yet they think that finally they will be swept through the Pearly Gates into the New Jerusalem.
Departure from the Faith
God said that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith. There is an awful departure from the faith in these days by those who are supposed to stand by the Word of God. Where once holiness and sound doctrine were preached, now modernism is being substituted.
People do not like to hear that they are lost, and that there is a burning hell awaiting them, so they have hired ministers to preach morality, culture, and refinement; and in supposedly orthodox pulpits they are doing away with the divinity of Jesus Christ. Thousands are being led into a profession of religion without repenting of their sins, and are taken into church membership without being saved.
Serving the god of Pleasure
People are serving the god of pleasure. They are forsaking the God of Heaven and taking up the things that will damn their souls. And in a great convention in the East, in the same church that was founded on the doctrine of justification by faith and sanctification by faith, they considered taking out of the ritual the rules against theatregoing and dancing. They have let down the bars and let their congregations go where they like. Many ministers in orthodox churches are preaching anything from modernism to the doctrine of “no hell.” It is high time for the children of God to arouse themselves and hold fast the doctrine that they have received.
The Real Gospel
The Gospel is the “power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” It was so in the beginning, and it is the same in the closing days. We thank God the world can have the same Gospel today that Jesus preached when He walked the shores of Galilee and gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and salvation to the sin-sick. He loosed the captive, forgave the woman who was in sin, and set free the man who was bound by the devil.
This is the Gospel we preach, the Gospel we love. It is the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ that has power on earth to forgive sins and to send people on their way rejoicing. The old-time religion makes us firm and fearless, puts the fire of God into our soul.
We do not have to look back with envy upon the days of our fathers and mothers, who humbled themselves before God and experienced a change of heart that was so real to them that they arose with shouts of triumph and victory. That experience can be felt in hearts today, provided people meet the conditions specified in the Word of God.
Your attitude toward the old landmarks and the atoning merits of the Blood will determine your eternal destiny.