<TITLE>03. Par 5-8</TITLE>L-5 And as I said, Samson and Delilah is a great deal like the church. I want to liken them that way tonight. Samson was a great man as long as he followed the Lord. And as long as he kept God's commandments and walked with God, God used him. And He's did the church the same. As long as the church walks with God and keeps God's commandments, God can use the church. But when the church gets off on the sideline, as Samson did, then God can't use the church no more. He has to find something else to work with, because He can only use a church, or organization, or an individual as they walk faithfully in His commandments.
And Samson did real well. He got a good start. And he did all right until he began to flirt. And when he begin to flirt he got in trouble. That was his first step of backsliding. And I believe tonight, that is the first step of backsliding to the church, when it begins to flirt with the unbeliever. This Philistine woman was an unbeliever. And Samson was attracted to her beauty. And I think the church has did a great deal of that, being attracted, as it has begin to flirt with the world and to try to pattern itself after the world.

L-6 Samson got into bad company. And you always can remember that when you are in bad company, you are out of the will of the Lord. My own southern mammy used to tell me, "If you lay down with a dog that's got fleas, you'll get up with the fleas." That's rather a rude expression, but it's got a lot of common, everyday sense to it. You just can't associate yourself with the things of the world and except--and expect to stay spiritual and humble before the Lord. You're known by your company. There's an old saying, "Show me your company, I'll tell you who you are."
And when the church begins to keep company with the world, then it's no more than the world. It gets out of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, gets out of the company of God, and of angels, and of God's heritage, when it begins to flirt as Samson did.

L-7 And where the church started its flirting, was when it begin to try to pattern after the things of the world, to see the successes that the world can offer. And we have never been ordained of God to try to keep in step with the world. Never have we been as brilliant and as bright as the world. I believe it's written in the Scriptures that the kingdom of the children of this world's kingdom is--is more brighter than the children of the kingdom. They're smarter: been that way since Cain and Abel.

L-8 Now, we begin to get away from the old trend of the fellowship with the Holy Spirit. We begin to flirt. One thing we started to do, was when God begin to use the church in the early age, then they--first thing they did was to organize a church, called the Catholic church. It was the first organization. And I have nothing against organization if it draws it's lines out to meet the next organization. But if it keeps it within its own boundaries and no fellowship, then that's wrong.
But the church begin to try to pattern after the world. And the devil might've thought they'd had the church bound when it organized the Catholic church, but when the challenge come, "The Philistines is upon thee, Samson," there rose up a Martin Luther that broke every cord and come forth preaching justification. Hmm. And the devil saw that that wasn't the hidden power of the church.


<A HREF="P4">Next Page</A>