Drifting — Manley Beasley

I'm excited about these days. Just give me a few moments to say a few things about these days and give me an opportunity to get used to these lights. But the Lord really has for a long time had on my heart the fact that revival is the only answer, only answer to our dilemma in our nation and to our own personal lives individually.

And to our world. Everything has become world wide now. It's no longer just United States wide. And I've had this burden on my heart for all these years. And God has raised up a lot of men to share in the vision and the burden of revival.

And I've gotten to know them and we've shared that together and shared it individually. And a couple of years ago the Lord moved me into the Dallas Fort Worth area. And I began to fellowship with T .D. and Dudley in a more specific way.

I've known them real well, but we go to the same church and we see each other a lot. And so the Lord began to open some doors for us to host some conferences like this. And we were in our first one a few months back and God just mightily, mightily met with us.

And just it showed us so fresh and anew that through these conferences God can do some things that he's not able to do in revival meetings. Now there's a difference in revival meetings and revival. And so it's really thrilled me and I to see what God did in that meeting.

And I'm expecting God to do this great work of reviving in this meeting this week. And then Brother Paul Bilheimer being along and just the icing on the cake. And many of you read his book. And this week you're going to be able to see the glory of God working in this man's life.

I was introduced to him several years back when he attended one of my meetings. And it really blessed me for him to sit on the front pew and just hold his hand up while I preached. And big old tears just streaming down his cheeks.

And it just really impressed me. And the Lord just put our hearts together in a friendship that's really lasted. And I'm looking forward this week to the time with him. Now I believe you're going to miss a blessing.

Miss a real blessing. I don't know if I want to put that that way this week or not. You know, I know you're going to miss a blessing. But some of you are not interested in blessings. You're just going to miss it if you aren't in on this thing.

A little boy wrote me a letter last meeting I was in in Manassas, Virginia. And it's a letter with his mother, his sister, and his dad on a drawing like that. And I know his mother didn't know I got this.

And then on the back it has his mother and his dad and his sister up on the housetop. And then him down here. But they're up on the housetop. And you know what it says? I just saw this. I thought I'd share it.

It says, My mother don't like Brother Beasley. My mother don't like Brother Beasley. My daddy don't like Brother Beasley. But he said, I love him. Well, that's a... I didn't know I had that there. I thought, ha ha.

I bet that boy's mama doesn't know he got that. I'd like to remember. I'd like to send that to her. Well, now that I'm about half awake, I'd like to get in the message. And I'd like for you to turn to Hebrews, just the book of Hebrews.

The Seven Warnings in Hebrews

And I want to introduce the message this morning by saying that the book of Hebrews gives us seven warnings. Now, I am not preaching on the seven warnings of the book of Hebrews. But I want to introduce the message by indicating to you that there's a perfect warning to the saints of God.

And these warnings are all preceded by the word lest, L-E-S-T. And if you went through the book of Hebrews, you would find seven warnings. And every warning is preceded by the word lest. Now, all of this is significant, not to the message this morning, but to the fact that the Lord proceeded this way.

And, for instance, the warnings, let me just list them to you, for you, because of your own personal study, and I think it might be a blessing to you. Hebrews 2 -1 says,. "...therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we've heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.".

Now, see, the warning there is lest at any time we should let them slip. The second warning is found in Hebrews 11, I mean 3, 11, 12, 11 and 12. And let me just read the one, it's in 12, really. "...take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.".

And the third warning is found in the 13th verse, where it says,. "...but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.". And then the fourth warning is found in Hebrews 4 -1,.

"...let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.". And then the next warnings are picked up, we picked them up back in Hebrews 12, looking at the 15th verse,.

"...looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God.". And then the verse goes on,. "...lest any root of bitterness spring up and trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.". 16th verse,. "...lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one marshal of Nech sold his birthright.".

Now, these warnings are all preceded by the little word, lest. Now, what I want to do this morning is go to the first warning that we have and speak to you on the tragedy of drifting. The tragedy of drifting.

The Church's Failure to Meet the World's Need

And I feel that the church needs to take a strong look at herself for a number of reasons. And one reason is, we are not getting the job done. One of the reasons I say that is not because of what we are doing, but is because of what we are failing to do.

Now, if you look at churches in relationship to their crowds, churches where the gospel is being preached, there's life. These churches are growing. You look at churches in the light of their finances, and of course inflation has something to do with this, but basically their finances are growing.

But when you look at churches in the light of the need and what they are doing, churches are failing to get the job done. There was a time in the history of this nation, I mean this literal nation, that the churches literally dictated what was going to happen and how it was going to happen in a community.

But friend, that's no longer the case. A church was in charge of what was going on. The pulpit, whether you believe it or not, for many years in this country ran this country, not our politicians. But no longer is that the case.

And I'm not just pulling for pulpits to run the country, because I feel like the fact that they are not running is an indication they did bad when they were. But the church, in the light of its activity today, is not getting the job done.

Now you look at your personal church here, and isolate yourself in the light of what you're doing, and you say, praise God, we're getting the job done. I can say the same thing about my ministry. You know, I can say, man, look what I'm getting done.

Look where I'm going and what I'm seeing happen and all that. Man, I am getting the job done. But in the light of the need out there, I really do not feel that I'm getting the job done. But I have to go and judge myself in the light of what I could be doing.

I'm not doing, in order to see where I really am. Well, I think that the church needs to take a good look at herself. And then I think that because she's failing to get the job done, and yet there's a lot of compliments you could say to some individual churches.

But I think the individual is failing to get the job done. I mean, people that say, boy, I'm really saved. I'm saved by the grace of God. And a lot of people that are saved by the grace of God are happy in this hour.

And they feel that they're really getting the job done. But I want us to take a good, solid look this morning, just one glimpse of what is normal Christianity in the light of our own personal experiences and the light of the experiences of the church.

And it's found, one glimpse I want to give us is found in Hebrews 2 .1. He says, "...therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.".

The Tragedy of Drifting

Now, he's saying here, he said, "...I want to warn you, give heed to the things that you have heard, lest at any time you let those things which you have heard slip by you.". Now, here's what I have found the writer is saying in an illustration.

He says, "...give heed to the things which you have heard, lest you become a leaking, drifting vessel, and you let yourself drift while you're leaking, off course, because it means that if you drift off course, leaking as a leaking vessel, one day when you wake up and realize that you have been leaking and drifting, you cannot get back on course.

You cannot get back on course whatsoever.". So he says, "...give the more earnest heed to the things which you have heard, to the things which you've seen in the light of God's truth. Give heed to these things, lest you become a drifting, leaking vessel.".

Now, I don't know if you're aware of it. I'm sure you are. The moment I mention it, you'll know this. But I went to sea many, four years in my life, and I spent a lot of time around water and a lot of time around boats, big ones and small ones.

But you can get out at sea, and when there's nothing by which you can take a... I'm just trying to think of the sea word, and about 30 years later, it passes a bearing. That's it. Unless you have an object by which you can take a bearing, my dear friends, you can drift and totally not know you're drifting.

And I mean you can just be drifting and drifting and drifting and not even know that you are drifting. And the only way in the world that you can know that you are drifting is to take a bearing. And that means that you find something that's fixed, something that's immovable, something that's perfectly stable, something that is right as far as its identity of being placed there.

I mean, it's stable. And my dear friends, then you can take a bearing, and then you can discover whether or not you are drifting in a boat or as an individual. And what I'm saying to you is this, that drifting is something that can go on, and you not even be conscious of it going on.

Not even being conscious of it going on. So here's what he's saying. He said, I want you to give heed to the things which you have heard. I want you to give earnest heed to the things which you have heard, lest you come up as a drifting, leaking vessel, and then when you discover that you have been drifting and leaking, then you cannot get back on course.

Now, you say, well, what's the application of this matter of drifting and leaking? He said, I want you to give earnest heed to the things which you have heard. Now, what we need to discover, beloved, is this fact, that God has given us something by which we can take a bearing.

And that something is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, a lot of people say that Jesus was perfect. A lot of people say that he was perfectly complete. But here's what I want to say to you this morning.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was perfect. But Jesus Christ took upon him the flesh of a man and came down in this world and lived this life as a Christian, full of the Holy Ghost. So not only did he live a perfect life, but he lived a life that left you and me an example that we are to follow in his steps.

And I mean he is fixed. He is a perfect, fixed individual. And we have someone by which we can turn. And not only is he fixed, not only is he a perfect example whereby you and I can look at him and see where we are, but I want you to know that he is a person that's felt every solid temptation and testing that man will ever, ever, ever feel.

And so Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is not only a pattern for our life, but he is a person that is compassionate, compassionate towards our lives. Yes, sir. And not only is he a person that's a pattern for our lives, and a person that's compassionate towards our lives.

In other words, he's been tempted and tried in every single solitary way, my dear friends, that we can be tempted and tried. Amen? I mean he's been, there's nothing in this world that you can come up with as a problem in your life that your Savior and my Savior has not already been there and tasted of that same thing.

And he knows exactly how you feel and exactly what you're thinking, and he knows exactly what's going on in your life. I mean, it's a wonderful thing to have a priest under the Father in our behalf that knows every single solitary thing about us.

And the amazing thing, when he took up on this identity in the flesh, when he took up this identity in the flesh, I want you to know he was well aware then of who you were and what you were and who I was and what I was.

And I mean, it's wonderful. So he willingly took on this compassionate position. And it's not only that he's a pattern and a compassionate person, but he is an empowering ability. I mean, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, he is our fixed pattern, compassionate person with the power to enable every single solitary one of us in this building this morning to perform to the pattern that God has laid down for us.

In other words, Jesus Christ not only created us, but through the new birth, he inhabits us to empower us to perform the pattern he laid down for us. I mean, that's wonderful, brother, to think that Jesus can just empower us.

In other words, whatever he laid down in the pattern of his life to perform, he comes in and enables us by his grace to do it. Boy, I'll tell you what, Buddha or the other gods of the world never did that.

Amen? They never did that. A lot of things they didn't do, but that's one thing they didn't do, was do that. Well, the Lord left us the pattern, left us himself a compassionate person, and the power to live up to the standards that God laid down.

Christ as the Fixed Pattern and Compassionate High Priest

Now, here's what I want you to see. Another thing I want you to see. The matter of a leaking vessel drifting. You might say, how in the world can I know as an individual that I'm drifting? He says right here, Give the more earnest heed to the things which you have heard, lest you come out as a leaking vessel and let these things slip by.

Drifting vessel. You say, well, I can be drifting then? You've said I can be drifting, our person could be drifting, our ship could be drifting, without even knowing that it's drifting. That's right. So you have to take a bearing.

You have to look to the Lord. That's right. And the Lord's done something else for us. He has given us the Word of God. He's given us himself, and he's given us the Word of God. Brother, I get excited when I see people get excited about the Bible.

But I get more excited when I hear them say my Bible. Boy, I mean the Word of God has become so personal with them that it's become theirs. Then I get a little more excited when they say, Man, I'll tell you, there's nothing in this world you can live by but the truth of God.

So God's given us himself to be the fixed pattern, compassionate person with a power to perform, but he's also given us the Word of God. And this Word of God is another step in giving us the fixedness of God in order to enable us to not drift.

So here's what I'm saying. Here, as a child of God and beloved, you have to discover whether or not you are drifting. And he said, I want to warn you. I want to warn you. Do not come up here drifting as a leaking vessel and you can't get back on course.

And so you say, well, Brother Manley, I do not feel that I'm drifting. Now, you remember that drifting can be a condition going on that you are not even aware of. So let's just look in the Word of God for a couple moments and just see if you are really drifting, okay?

Loving God and Loving One's Neighbor

All right, let's take the first and great commandment. Love thy Lord thy God with all of thy what? And thy what? Thy soul. And then what's the second? No, the second commandment. Oh, that's it. Come on.

Thy neighbor. Love thy neighbor. All right, let me ask you a question this morning. You say, I'm not drifting. Do you love your neighbors yourself? Come on. You say, I'm not drifting. You say, well, I'm not a mature enough Christian to love my neighbors myself.

The only thing it takes to love your neighbors yourself is to be right with Jesus. Just simply right with Jesus. I notice my feelings toward my neighbor depends entirely upon how right I am with Jesus.

If I'm right with Jesus, I become so sensitive towards the needs of other men. And when I'm not right with Jesus, beloved, I become insensitive. You say, I'm not drifting, preacher. Do you love your neighbors yourself?

Here's the truth. Here's the fixedness. Here is Christ. Christ expressed in you. Here's the fixedness of the truth. Love thy neighbor as thyself. You talk about having revival. You'll never have revival in your individual life or incorporately in the church until you take a square look at yourself and see where you are.

Same thing goes for all of us. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Do you do that? It's easy to say that you love the Lord God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, all of your being. You love the Lord. It's easy to say that because, well, you say, well, I know he understands.

But to the degree that you love God, you love your neighbor. That's why God put it this way and this way. You can check out this way by this way. Are you drifting this morning? You know, it's amazing.

In a country where we spend more on dog food than we spend on missions. It's amazing, isn't it? Of course, I know that we got a lot of lost people spending that money on dog food. But I'm just trying to bounce it off and just help us to realize, friend, that we say that we're not drifting.

He said, I want to give he a warning to you. Take heed to the things which you've heard, lest you become a leaking, drifting vessel that cannot get back on course. Boy, he gives a warning here. He says, it may be that you are leaking and drifting and you get off course and you cannot even get back on course.

Boy, that's a frightful, fearful warning, isn't it? Sometimes when you ask God, say, Lord God, just really, really, really shake me and make me and really check me out to see if I'm really drifting. You see, the Bible says, if you will not judge yourself, he'll do what?

He'll judge you. So I'm glad that God goes beyond my humanistic desires and literally disciplines me at times. And one of those disciplined times, Martha and I have gone through just recently. And I'd just like to share just a little of this because just really God used it to show me how I did not love my neighbors myself.

It's just unreal. And in fact, if I could get folks loving their neighbor as themselves, I'll guarantee you, I'd get folks solving their family problem. If you started loving your wife or your husband as you love yourself, your family problem would be solved.

Your neighbor problem would be solved. The soul winning problem would be solved. Boy, I tell you, there's so much to be solved. I believe peace and joy and comfort and so on in our hearts would be solved, don't you?

But I've never felt any more strongly than I feel today that God never lets one thing happen in any of our lives except for the purpose of bringing us to him. That he might be all and in all, that he might pour himself through us, that we might love our neighbors as ourselves.

Self-Judgment, Discipline, and Revival

Boy, I've prayed all the time, God, judge me. That, oh God, if I will not judge myself, judge me. If I'll not judge myself, judge me. Because I do not want to be a drifting, leaking vessel. And so, I mean God does it.

And sometimes back when my wife's doctor called, our Christian friend called and said, Manly said, Marthy has cancer and he says it very likely will have to lose her leg. So he said, I want you to go to M .D. Anderson Hospital in Houston.

And we went there and for several days they said she had cancer. They even went so far as measuring her leg for amputation. And I mean, beloved, it looked dark. And the Lord broke my heart and just showed me how much I did not love Jesus.

And I mean, when he got me to the place that I saw myself as a wicked, wicked, leaking, drifting saint. I got to the place where Jesus could have it all. And I mean, many, many times I've been to this place, but you have to keep coming back.

You can have revival in June, but you need another one in July. You can have one in July, but you need another one in September. Don't let me jump so far up to December. You need another one. Beloved, Martha and I both got to the place where God could just do whatever he wanted to with our lives.

Not only for himself, but for the lost and dying world. I mean, just pour us out on the world, whatever you want to do. And I want you to know, he touched her body right in the middle of that experience.

And changed the tumor that was cancerous to a benign tumor. He said, they just missed the diagnosis at the first. Oh no, Fred. No, the bone was eaten away because of the cancer. So they still went in and took the tumor out and did bone graft on the bone.

We know that it was cancer. The doctors know more than we know that it was cancer. But God touched her life. And she's doing real well. She's in a cast right now, but she's doing super well. And what I'm saying to you is this though.

Beloved, I discovered something. I discovered in the midst of preaching and teaching the truth every day. And I mean wanting to please God more than anything else in the world. I found myself drifting as a leaking vessel.

And praise God it wasn't too late. I had not stayed that way so long that I could not get back on course. And what I'm telling you today is this. I mean in the midst of really serving God. I'd become a drifting, leaking vessel.

You know why? Two things. I did not look to the person of Christ as I should. And second, I did not take the word of God and judge myself. And so God had to judge me. Amen. And God had to do it. Now what I'm saying to you is this.

Repentance, Faith, and Love for the Lost

I want to warn you. Lest you become a drifting, leaking vessel. Give heed to the things that you've heard. And today if there's not a heart of love in your heart for your fellow man. You can't just go love him.

The point is you have to come to Jesus and repent of your sin. And literally let Jesus express his life through you. But his life will be expressed through you. In direct proportion as your life is expressed towards him in repentance and faith.

In other words you can reverse that and you can say how much do I love Jesus? And you can surely put it down as much as I love lost mankind. Oh I'm not talking about words and attitudes. I'm talking about lifestyle.

Lifestyle. Amen. Yes sir. I have a, Martha and I have a grandson. And he's a year old. And boy I'll tell you, you're talking about some character. You know I could tell you grandpa stories for the next hour.

I never thought I'd be this stupid. But I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying it. I'll tell you it's something else. It's an experience to be had. It's nothing like it. I tell these fellas, an old T .D. about a month ago he said, I don't understand.

But since then he's become a grandpa. And I'll tell you, I had a hard time talking this afternoon on the plane. He didn't want to tell me about that grandbaby. He said, boy that baby's the best baby I ever saw.

You know I've heard those tales. But the other night, man I thought this boy really loved me. You know, I could say give Pawpaw a kiss and man he'd just smack me. It started out with his mouth wide open and now he's about to learn how to pucker.

And so I mean, you know, it's really sweet. But the other night we were all sitting around. I forgot exactly the occasion. Oh I know, we were watching James Robertson's documentary. And we had some friends over that didn't have a UHF hookup or something.

So we were all at our house. And this baby was there and so someone gave me a Coke to drink and I had it. And Christopher saw me and he started to cross the room. And I saw together what he was after.

But he didn't come directly to me to get that drink. He went down to the end of the couch. And got up on the couch. And started down that couch, you know. And I realized what he was doing so he'd already had plenty.

And so I just slipped the drink down to the side. And he slipped off the couch. And went around there to pick up that drink. And when he got there and the drink was gone because I'd moved it again. That's three times I'd moved it.

And it was gone. Boy, he looked up at me and just got mad. And you know, I thought, you know, I said that little fella doesn't really have the love of Jesus towards me. You know. Amen. He doesn't have the love of Jesus.

And I got to thinking about it and I said, you know, it's impossible for him to have the love of Jesus. Now what he's got towards me I love. But I want you to know something. It's impossible for that child to have the love of Jesus towards me.

Because he doesn't have the life of Jesus in him. Now we're going to build up a wonderful relationship, friend. Through the years. But before that boy gets saved, he can never love me with Jesus' love.

And I got to thinking about it, my friend. You know, it's impossible for us to love the world without Jesus in our hearts. Boy, without Jesus in our hearts we can't love. We cannot love Jesus or neither can we love the world.

But we get Jesus in our hearts and our lives. And we can love God. And we can also love the world. And our love for the world will be in direct proportion to our love for the Lord. Now I hope you give heed to the things which you've heard this morning.

To the things which you've heard, I hope you'll give heed to them. I hope you'll be sensitive to God. You know why? If we're like the average church, we will not be sensitive to God. We will hear, you know that preacher's right, and not do one earthly thing about it.

But you remember, let me warn you. While you're doing that, if you do not take a bearing and see that you're drifting. And do something about it. Do something about it. Then you can go out as a leaking, drifting vessel.

And I'll tell you, find yourself where you cannot get back on course. Would you bow your heads with me please?