Matthew 14:3-8 KJV
baptism
For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.
Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist’s head in a charger. (Matthew 14:3-8)
I want to tell you: a God-sent, Holy Ghost borned preacher won’t compromise with any congregation. That’s right. Could you imagine John the Baptist, when they brought out Herodias that night, and Herod. Why, John walked right to his face, and said, “It’s not lawful for you to have her.” That man had the Holy Ghost.
He didn’t compromise; he told the truth. And what about it now? It’s all over. What will it be at the day of judgment, when the head of John the Baptist rolls up before Herodias? What will it be then?
Brother, if you’re ever going to make a stand for God, make it now. This is the time. Now’s the time when we need of it. Now’s the time when the church is weighed in the balance and found wanting. After all these great miracles, and signs, and wonders that God has sent men across the country doing, and yet the church is in the poorest, backslidden state I ever run up in years. That’s right. I’m preaching to Pentecostals. Amen.
When I first come among your groups ten years ago, it looked like a church; but today it looks like the world. It’s the truth. Something happened somewhere. You got to wearing better clothes, got to making a little more money, and it just made a sap out of you; that’s all. Now, that’s the truth. That’s right. You’re trying to act like the rest of the world. Today is a compromising time. That’s true.
You paint your steps red and watch and see if your neighbor don’t paint his steps red. Sure. You wear a little round hat to church with a little feather up in it and watch all the women come to church with a little round hat and a feather up in it. All of them want to look like one another. It’s a matching time. You know that’s true. It’s a matching time. Amen. Now, I’m going to tell you, my brother: I don’t care whether my shoes match my trousers, or my trousers matches my coat. I want my experience to match God’s Bible. That’s the matching time.
If you want to match something, match your experience against Paul’s. Amen. That’s what we need today, is a matching time with Paul’s faith in the Bible. That’s our example.
Right. Real matching time. Don’t try to match your neighbor; match some of the saints of the Bible. If you’re a saint, act like a saint, walk like a saint, dress like a saint, talk like a saint, pray like a saint, believe like a saint, dress like a saint, be like a saint, live a saint, die like a saint and go to heaven like a saint. Amen.
