Gimme That Ol' Time Religion!

Gimme That Ol' Time Religion!

Text: , "Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."

, "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."

"On a certain Friday a group of people saw the leader to whom they had committed their lives crucified on a cross. Bewildered, heartbroken, they had watched him die, and late that afternoon saw his dead body placed in a tomb. When the heavy stone thudded across the door of the tomb and was secured by the seal of the Roman Empire, it also crashed through the corridors of their minds, demolishing their hopes and dreams." ("The Easter People", by Allan Walker, in The Miracle of Easter, p. 107)

"If you had gone to the Upper Room at Jerusalem on Good Friday evening you would have found, the door shut and barred "for fear of the Jews." Inside were eleven despairing, humiliated, trembling men. Life was over for them. Their world had crashed in upon them. They had hoped Jesus would have been the Messiah to redeem Israel. He had promised so much. His words had been so fair, his deeds so gracious. They had believed him. And now he was dead and they were stuck there, deluded, frightened fools, and in real danger from those who had put their Master to death.

But suppose you had gone back to the same house a week later. The windows would have been open, the doors unbarred. Through them you might well have heard laughter and the singing of joyous psalms, and, had you listened closely, you might have heard the plans of those who, within a few weeks of the death of Christ, were preaching His gospel and declaring His risen glory. You might have said to a friend, 'We must have come to the wrong house!?' But no, something had happened. Almost everything in the world was different. It was AFTER EASTER!

The greatest news of all time had made the difference! Jesus was alive! Death could not destroy Him. The grave could not hold Him. This news became forged in history as the greatest event of all time. This Good News is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is the foundation of everything we believe. The Apostle Paul even says that our standing or falling is anchored in whether or not we believe this Good News. He says that our salvation or our doom is based on our acceptance or rejection of this news as fact.

That glorious Gospel based on historic fact has been having its impact on people's lives for two thousand years and it is still just as powerful today as when Jesus came forth from the tomb!

It's facts have not changed...It's meaning has not changed...its power has not changed. But the real question is...has it changed us? Jude was burdened with an urgency to contend for the faith once for all delivered...Paul indicated that he had faithfully delivered the substance of our faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If the faithful men of God considered it urgent to contend for and stand firmly on the Gospel of Jesus Christ then how much more do we need to sound the alarm and rally the church of Jesus Christ around the Gospel?! These are days in which the forces of evil are assembling against the Lord and His Anointed. These are days that demand Christians who are serious in their commitment to Jesus Christ. These are days that we need to be energetically serving our Lord who promised to "build His church." In some sense we either need to Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way...so that God's work can go forward!

There are many things in our world that change. There is very little that is constant. But the church is. Oh, I know there are some changes in the churches down through the years...none of us would deny that. But the basics...they are constant and abiding. Methods may change but the Message is to stay the same! The core...that belief in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ...the sinless life that He lived...the Inspired, God breathed Word...the truth that there is salvation in no other name than that of Jesus Christ...the exhortation of Scripture to walk worthy of our calling...the promise of Heaven and the warning of Hell...these things haven't changed and they won't! They make up what we used to call that OL' Time Religion. It was good for everybody. I pray that it still is!

Not long ago a novel came out by Anne Tyler in which she tells of Ezra, who ran a restaurant. All life long, feeding people was his way of caring for them. He made friends with Mrs. Scarlotti who owned Scarlotti's Restaurant; He worked for her, and one day she turned the business over to him. Ezra tried various menus and formats. One day an idea came to him:

He'd cook what people felt homesick for--tacos like those from vendors' carts in California, which the Mexican was always pining after; and that wonderful vinegary North Carolina barbeque that Todd Duckett had to have brought by his mother several times a year in cardboard cups. He would call it the Homesick Restaurant.

What kind of food do you get homesick for? I get homesick for the "bread of heaven"...feed me till I want no more. Jesus told us to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Peter called us to yearn for the pure, milk of the Word...I'm homesick for the marriage supper of the Lamb that written about in the book of Revelation. What do you get homesick for?

I remember a time when our kids were still at home and we insisted that we have suppers together. I think we had all the schools in Union County covered: the High School, the Middle School and the Elementary School. I remember on this particular Sunday we had a plate of slice ham that was being passed around the table. Somehow our youngest daughter asserted, “I gotta get some!” From that time on we’ve had a laugh as someone would say, “Gotta get some!” Well, let me tell you what we’ve all “gotta get some of!” That Old Time Religion!

Gimmie that ol time religion! It's what made our nation strong. But there are those who would rid our nation of that Old Time Gospel. Let's have a genuine revival of the message of , "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord."

Gimmie that ol time religion! Makes me love everybody...and without a doubt we could all use a good solid dose of love for one another. Bring back that old custom of working together and making our world a better place to live. Let's not be like that old saying I heard some time ago:

To Dwell up there with saints we love

That will be glory for me...

But to live down here with saints we know,

Well that's another story!

Gimmie that ol time religion! It was good for Paul and Silas...and it's good enough for me. Oh, that we could sing those words with absolute conviction. The kind of conviction that Paul and Silas had when they were heard singing at midnight in a Philippian Dungeon.

Gimmie that ol time religion! It will take us all to heaven. That's because the core of that religion is Jesus Christ...Lamb of God...King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Gimmie that ol time religion! Because in the fast paced world of high tech, computer chips, and Smart Phones, we need an anchor that we know will hold fast and weather any storm. We need a religion that'll work even if our computers and our stock markets crash; even if the storm of the century turns out to be just one of the storms of the century; even if the cold wars turns hot again.

Gimmie that ol time religion! You know the one that calls sin for what it is and pleads with men to repent and turn from their evil ways. That old time religion that teaches us to hate the sin but still love the sinner.

Charles Colson says, "Christianity is not just a high-sounding ritual which we perform on Sundays. Christianity is abiding by Biblical standards of personal holiness and in turn seeking to bring holiness into the society in which we live." It needs to be said again and again and again. Christianity is not just a Sunday experience...it's for everyday. Christianity is not simply talking the talk but it must be also walking the walk.

There is only one redemptive institution in this crumbling world of ours...that's the church, the society of the redemeed. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!"

In the third century, Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage, wrote to his friend Donatus: "It is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and good people who have learned the great secret of life. They have found a joy and wisdom which is a thousand times better that any of the pleasures of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are Christians...and I am one of them."

That's what we need to rekindle in our world...a fanning of the flame of commitment to Jesus Christ...that ol time religion that teaches us to walk by faith and not by sight!

"The world is not waiting for a new definition of the Gospel, but for a new demonstration of the power of the old time Gospel!

Gimmie that ol time religion! You know the one that teaches that the marriage bed should be undefiled...that the family is God's First Great Institution and it must be preserved and protected and honored.

Gimmie that ol time religion! You know the one that teaches that adultery is sin, not an affair...that homosexuality is perversion...not an alternative lifestyle.

Gimmie that ol time religion!...that takes prayer seriously. Where there is the conviction that God does hear and most certainly does answer our prayers. That attitude of prayer that is concerned for the salvation of others...not like the selfish prayer that goes...

Dear Lord, Bless me and my wife

my son, John and his wife,

Us four and no more.

Praise the Lord...

Shut the door.

Gimmie that ol time religion!...that takes prayer seiously. Where there are more agonizers than organizers...more pray-ers than players...more singers than clingers...more wrestlers than watchers...more tears than fears...more passion than fashion...more intercessors than interferers. I think it is true that when we fail in prayer...we fail!

Gimmie that ol time religion! Where the emphasis is on the fact that God is Almighty, Jesus died for us, sin is black, judgment is certain, eternity long, and we have souls to save!

Gimmie that ol time religion!...because we may not have another hundred years...not even ten...not even one! and the only thing that matters when time is up is our relationship to God...that's what that ol time religion is all about.

Gimmie that ol time religion!...because we desperately need something that is time tested and solid as a rock because our world is very, very shaky right now.

Gimmie that ol time religion!...because it brings families together and makes them strong...and families in our world need to be strengthened now as never before.

Gimmie that ol time religion! The New Age just won't do...it robs us of God and replaces him with humanistic ideologies that will not save!

Gimmie that ol time religion! I don't want anything else. It'll do just fine! Because Jesus is the same...yesterday...today and forever!

Gimmie that ol time religion! It will do when I'm dying. Money won't. Technology won't. Possessions won't. Grudges won't. Excuses won't. But isn't it wonderful that if He is my Lord and my Savior then not only am I ready to live...but I'm ready to die.

Gimmie that ol time religion! You know...the one that comes from the Book! The God-breathed Book...the Holy Bible...that is more relevant than this morning's newpaper headlines.

"One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God, read it, and believe it! Then the rest of us will be embarrassed. We have adopted the convenient theory that the Bible is a Book to be explained, whereas first and foremost it is a Book to be believed and after that obeyed.

Gimmie that ol time religion! That assures me of God's Grace, His Love, His Mercy and His care.

Gimmie that ol time religion! The one that used to be the guide for Presidents of our great country and may it be so again.

Gimme that ol time religion...that teaches the importance of "seeking first God's kingdom and His righteousness."

Gimmie that ol time religion! Talk to me of the faith of Abraham...the meekness of Moses...the strength of Samson...the courage of Daniel...the faithfulness of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego...the zeal of Paul...the beauty of Queen Ester...the committment of Stephen...the humility of Mary...the boldness of Peter and John...obedience of Noah...the glory of David...the vision of Ezekiel...the stamina of Nehemiah...the love of Ruth...power of Elijah...the hope of Isaiah...the tears of Jeremiah...the glorious music of the Psalmist...the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the majestic vision of the Revelation...and most of all talk to me of Jesus Christ...His humble birth...His sinless life...His marvellous, miraculous ministry...His sacrificial death and His glorious, victorious Ressurection from the Dead. And then remind That He promised to return!

Give me that ol time religion that answers the question, "What must I do to be saved?" And Peter said, “REPENT AND BE IMMERSED EVERYONE OF YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE REMISSION OF YOUR SINS; AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!”

Gimmie that ol time religion! Gimmie that ol time religion!

Gimmie that ol time religion

Gimmie that ol time religion