The Last Try — Ralph Sexton

The Calling of Believers and the Need for Spiritual Maturity

1 Corinthians chapter number 1, the Word of God says, 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 1, Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and here we know that he's being called, set aside.

Verse 2, he's called unto the church at Corinth. The latter part of that verse, we not only have Paul called and the church called, but then we have called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours, and then verse 3, grace unto you and peace from God our Father.

Envy, Strife, and Divisions in the Church

Now go to chapter 3, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 1, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hereto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

For ye are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you, what, envying, and strife, and divisions. Are ye not carnal, and walk as men? Now church, we're talking about having extended nights here, we're talking about having revival, we're having God's people gather together.

Your family, your church, and your community will never, ever experience revival until God's people lead the way in spiritual maturity. We can't expect the world to lead the way in spiritual maturity.

God's people have to lead the way in spiritual maturity. And what holds us back, he listed it here for us. He said, there's envy among God's people. You'll be surprised, the people in a local church, that God will bless a family, and they'll just do something simple like trade cars.

And people will get aggravated at them. Pow! I wonder who they robbed to get that. I know where he works. You know? And it's just green-eyed jealousy. We've got churches in the same town, and one church will get jealous of another church.

Now you think about how little that really is when you think about it. God's blessing another guy. Well, bless God, he must be compromising, he had two hundred more than we did Sunday. They wouldn't be going over there if he was really preaching like I preach.

And then divisions. Divisions. We use little things to divide the body of Christ. Have you ever noticed that you never find a prostitute turning in a drug dealer? You know why? Devil's crowd works together.

They take up for each other. And here you are, the body of Christ, and if we're not careful, we'll have divisions in our own physical blood families. Then we'll have divisions in the family, the church, the house of God.

Then we'll have divisions in the community. And then we'll wonder why God's not sending revival to our neighborhood, to our church, and to our family. And all it is, is the devil has just outsmarted. He's got us looking right here instead of looking out there at a lost and a dying world.

So he deals with this divisions in the strife. And he says, when you do that, you're carnal. For while one saith, I'm of Paul and another, I am of Apollos. Are you not carnal? Now, preachers, we don't do that.

We just say, we're from Bob Jones University. Or we're from Tennessee Temple. Or we're from Pensacola. Or we're from Crown College. Or if we don't pick on a school, then we'll pick on a group of preachers.

We'll get on this fellowship, or that fellowship, or that fellowship. Well, I'm not of Paul, I'm of this fellowship. Now, what God's trying to help us with is that it's little things. We've lost our power.

We've lost our authority. And, listen, when we're right with God, and when the church is right with God, when we're doing what we're supposed to do, they're taking us out and stoning us and tying us to the stake and burning us.

And right now, they're just ignoring us. We're just the fodder for the comic on Saturday Night Live. They're just making fun of Christians and making fun of church. Because we've lost that power and that authority.

A Last Opportunity for Revival

Now, I believe God's given us one last try. I believe that we've got a last opportunity, one last attempt before the Lord comes. You think about it, if we don't have revival for this generation, we're going to be the first generation in 2 ,000 years that's not experienced the life-changing, quickening power of revival.

The greatest revivals that we've seen down through the decades. And in my part of western North Carolina, the last time you can document a move of God that was bigger than the church, bigger than a preacher, bigger than Baptists, bigger than Methodists or Christians, that it was God moving, the last time was 1937.

Had another little breath of God in the 50s, right after the war, but nothing like in 37, 36, through there. At that particular time up in Asheville, North Carolina, who had a population of that time of the city of Probler of about 12 ,000 to 15 ,000 people, we had a tent meeting going on with the Irish evangelist, William McBurney in Asheville, and he had a tent up in downtown Asheville, and they were averaging over 5 ,000 people a night.

Going for weeks. J. Harold Smith was down at the tobacco warehouse on the river at the same time, and they were averaging over 5 ,000 people a night. Now, you've got a town, city proper, not counting the county, city proper, 12, 15 ,000, and you're averaging 10 ,000 people a night going to church.

Huh? What if you had 10 ,000 going to church tonight in Archdale, Trinity, and High Point? Huh? This community wouldn't be the same tomorrow. And what God's doing, He's showing us, He's trying to deal with us, that if we're not careful, we'll be so proud that we're spiritual and we're saved and we're going to heaven, that we're walking around, Well, I'm a blessed God, I went to the tent meeting them heathens over there at that church, they didn't go, no heathens.

The problem is not them. The problem is under the tent. It's not my brother or my sister, it's me, O Lord. I'm the one that needs the breath of God. I'm the one that needs the power of God. And God said, you know what?

Archdale, Trinity, I'm going to give you one opportunity, I'm going to give you another try. Could be the last try for you to come together as a community and pray and seek my face, just like He said in this precious Word, if we would humble ourselves and call upon Him.

Running the Race for an Incorruptible Crown

Now, go with me to one more verse. I won't take time to go through all these verse studies, but go with me to chapter 9, still in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians, chapter 9, and look at verse 24. Here's what got a hold of me.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize. He said, everybody that's in that race is going to run the race. Everybody's going to run, but only one's going to get the prize.

But that doesn't keep everybody else from running the race. Now, what Paul was doing to try to stir the church up and motivate the church was he was speaking to what they would understand, the Olympic games of the day and hour that they were there on planet Earth.

He took a very common event that they would all understand, and on that isthmus of land where Corinth is, he knew that everybody would understand that. And the Ishmenean games that were almost as famous as the Olympic games.

The Olympics were held every four years. Many of the Ishmenean games were just as famous as the Olympics, but just not as many contests in it. And so Paul knew that every person at Corinth would understand this.

So here's what he said in verse 25. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. But, he says, we're not trying to obtain a corruptible crown.

We're running for an incorruptible crown. Verse 26, I therefore so run, not as uncertainty, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air. He said, I'm not shadow boxing, I'm not just working out, I'm not just going and fighting the air.

I've got a purpose here. I'm trying because I want to please God. But I keep, look at verse 27. Now, here comes the scolding or the challenge or the encouragement, depending on how you interpret verse 27, for all of us.

But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be what? A castaway. Now, I want you to think about the last race, the last trial, the last attempt, the last time I enter the race and I say, by the grace of God, I'm going to try.

Faithfulness, Joy, and Christian Witness

There's a lot of people under this tent. You once walked with God. You once fellowshiped with God. You once read your Bible. You once witnessed. And now, something's happened to you spiritually. You're sort of in a foxhole mentality.

You got on your body armor. You got on your helmet. You've dug your hole. You got your sandbags up. And now, instead of going out and doing something for God with a smile and joy, we're just sort of delegating ourselves to get up, go to work, come back to our foxhole, hunker down and say, I got to hang on for the rapture.

And then I get up in the morning, I go to work and I'm just as grumpy as everybody else at work. They don't see any joy on me. They don't see any victory on me. You got unsaved, unchurched people looking at you saying, my God, if that's a Christian, I hope I don't catch it.

If that person's born again, boy, I pray I don't get any of that. Because look at them. They never smile. They never laugh. They never have any joy. They say they're going to live forever with God. And to look at them, they act like God was born on the dark side of the moon.

That we're going to His funeral, He's dead and it's all over, and we've been raised on dill pickles and lemon juice. And there's no joy, no victory, no authority. And we're just foxhole in the nap. And we're caught up going through the motions, and we've lost our excitement, we've lost our joy.

Who would want to go to the tent meeting with us? Who'd want to go with us? A bunch of old grumpy guts. Who'd want to go down there and hang out with us? You know why the world's attracted to God's people?

Because they believe you've got something they don't have. That God's alive and well, and Jesus is coming back for a bride that's been washed in the blood of the Lamb, and your sins are forgiven, and never be remembered against you again, and you begin to know and understand that your name's been recorded in the Lamb's book of life, and that if He were to come at that moment, you would enjoy living with Him for all eternity.

It's not what we say on Sunday morning is going to win somebody the Lord. It's not how we act in Sunday school that's taking the toll out there in the world. Listen, it's what we take to work with us on Monday, and to school on Tuesday, and to university on Wednesday.

It's how we're acting in the grocery store. It's how we go buy our groceries and what we do when they pump our gasoline up. And God said, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to give you a little breath of revival, and I'm going to give you one more opportunity.

Finishing Stronger Than We Began

I'm going to give you your last try to do it right. I was coming out of Kentucky a few weeks ago preaching, and spent a lot of time on the road at night by yourself. And I was going through those radio stations trying to stay awake.

And usually I try to find some of those old liberals. I'd get so mad listening to that boy. They'd keep me awake, boy. I'd just fuss at them and preach all the way. You know? And I was looking, and they was interviewing this coach.

And he had been at a ball game, and his team had a great big lead at the half. And they went in for the half and came back out. And a team that was rated way below them came back and won the game. And they asked the coach, said, how could you lose that ball game?

They're not rated as high as you are in the rankings. Your team outplayed them the first half. Said, what happened to you guys? What's wrong with you? And he said, I'll tell you what happened. He said, we came out and we relaxed.

We had that big lead. He said, the offense quit hustling. He said, the defense quit playing. And we were resting on what we had done in the past. And we didn't do anything in this half. And he said, what happened is it cost us the ball game.

And buddy, when he said that, I reached over and I just cut that radio off. And I started praying. And I said, God, you help me. Because that's human nature. I could be serving God 20 years and 30 years and think, I've been faithful.

I've gone to church. I've taught Sunday school. I went on visitation. I've helped. And now I'm going to take these next years, I'm going to sort of rest. Bless God, it's somebody else's turn to teach a class.

I've taught all the classes I'm going to teach. Somebody else's turn to go on visitation. Somebody else singing in the choir. I know what Book Bear and the choir director does. We've had 19 choir directors, and I ain't singing in the choir no more.

I'm wore out. Let somebody else finish the last half of my game. When we need to be in there with the best we've ever been, if there's ever a time we need mature Christians in the Sunday school classes, in the visitation, in there going behind the preacher, in there singing in the choir, it's this day and hour that we need people that have walked with God with 10 years, 20 years, and 30 years experience.

This is the day. And God said, I'm going to give you a last try. And I prayed coming over that mountain. I said, God, with your help, I want to finish the last half stronger than I finished the first half.

I don't want to quit right before Jesus comes. I don't want to rest on what used to happen. I don't want to talk about how revivals used to be. I can think about what Dad's told me about the revival there in 37 when he got saved, how God called him to preach.

And then I got to thinking about my grandchildren and my children. And I thought, why should they not have the privilege of seeing the power of God and the demonstration of God? I remember being in services where the power of God was surreal, that men and women were weeping because they were afraid they would injure the Holy Spirit of God.

I can remember people standing up in their service and begin to moan and cry and say, My God, I'm lost. I'm going to hell. And start to get to go out the door and not ever get out the door. And God's almighty power would hit them and they'd fall down in the aisle and begin to say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

They never made it to the altar. That wasn't the preacher. That wasn't the church building. That was the power of God. But most of our churches now are reduced to mechanics. We've got programs. We've got personalities.

We've got publicity advertisements. And what we have tried to do at the house of God is we've tried to replace the Holy Ghost. What God's power used to do with the mechanics of man's hand. Now you listen to me right here.

The Danger of Half-Hearted Christianity and Worldliness

I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I've got to tell you the truth. The reason we're having such an epidemic across America of changing the house of God, getting rid of the cross in the church, getting rid of the communion table, getting rid of the altar, getting rid of the hymn book, getting rid of the old songs that have to do with the blood and the virgin birth.

The reason that's happening is because we're now reduced to demographics and marketing at the house of God instead of the power of God. And we're paying the horrible price. Listen church, we need to know there's a danger of living half-hearted.

There's a danger of not trying. How close to wrong can I go and still be right? And if we're not careful, we'll have people in our churches on Sunday morning, and here's the way they'll spend their whole week.

Here is the danger of sin, ungodliness, wickedness, vileness, old rap music with filthy four-letter words, television with nudity, profanity, movies, magazine, and here's the church of the living God.

I want to go to heaven, but I also want to see how close to that I can get, because I like that. Oh boy, that was close, almost messed up there. And we've got the church, the Lamb of God, instead of seeing how close to Jesus we can get, the church is now trying to see how close to the world we can get, and we're living in that danger zone.

We've got people walking like the world, talking like the world, dressing like the world. We've got Christian mamas and daddies taking their little girls to the mall and letting Britney Spears pick their wardrobe, exposing their little bodies.

Hey, you say, you shouldn't preach on things. I'm not, I'm talking about holy living. I'm talking about keeping your kids out of trouble. I'm talking about walking with God. Why do we want to be pulled to the world?

Why are we not pulled to the Lamb of God? Where's the love of the local church? Where's the love of the mama and the daddy that wants their child not to look like the world, or act like the world, or be like the world?

But I want my child to be like Jesus. You see how quickly we've gotten away from the things of God? We're living half-hearted. And our attitude is, everyone else is doing it. It's okay for me to do it.

I think what we're doing is okay. We're not really out there in sin. We're just right up here on the edge, seeing how close to sin we can live. And you think about what's happening to the church. And that's why the Apostle Paul wrote these Scriptures down and said, Church, think about the sporting event.

Think about the Olympics. Think about the Ishmael Games. You think about what happened. Now, those events, the Olympics, they all focused on individual effort. That's what they focused on. And they competed on individual effort.

And when they got in those games, they took a laurel limb, like this, and they took and made a crown out of that laurel. Okay? Now, that is not much. That's just an old plant. But they would take that and put it on the victor of the race.

And that's not gold. That's not diamonds. That's not jewelry. It's just a crown, a laurel crown. And Paul said, they are running for a corruptible crown. He said, that's what they're running for. He said, but you need to remember, you're running for an incorruptible crown.

The Crown as Access to the King

Now, listen to me close, right here. Don't let the devil distract you from understanding. Right here, this is important. The object of the race is to win. And when you won the race, you would receive a laurel crown, made a plant.

If you won, they would present to you this winner's crown. But ladies and gentlemen, the purpose of winning the crown was not to have those few plants around your head. That wasn't the purpose of winning.

Here was the purpose. Brother Greg, bring a folding chair out here if you would. I want you to bring a folding chair and I want you to sit right here if you would. Just sit in that chair. Now, the purpose of the crown, I win the race, I get this crown.

I'm cheered. Danny, the whole crowd's cheering for me. I won the race. And now I'm taken over and I'm given this crown. But the purpose in winning this race was not this crown, Brother Jimmy. That wasn't it.

It was that when I got the crown, then I had a privilege that no one else in the country had. I had a privilege. No one else. I won this crown. Now, I get to go before the king, before the ruler of the land, the highest authority.

The one that's got the power of life and the power of death. The one that can forgive my debts. The one, Lord God, that can take my land that's been taken by a buccalector. And he can restore my family.

He can give me what the locust has consumed in the past. And he can give it back to me. He's got the power. He's got the authority. He's the potentate. He's the ruling one. And because I got the crown, then I have the power and the privilege to approach the throne.

The multitude can't come in. The crowd can't come in. The masses can't come to. The guards will hold him out. The rulers will hold him out. The troops will hold him out. The horsemen will hold him out.

The royal guards will hold him out. But I won the race. I won the race. So I get to go in. And they seize my crown. And the guards step aside. And the limitations step aside. And all of that. And I'm permitted to go into his presence.

And I can kneel down. And I can take my crown. And I can lay it at his feet. And I can say, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for what you've done for me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for providing for me.

Because I am permitted to put my crown at your feet. The object of the race was to have access. Now you hold that crown for just a moment. Stay right there, King. The designation of this awesome privilege.

That's why men died competing to run. Because that's the only way you could ever get to the king. You're just a poor kid. The wrong side of the tracks. You've never had anything. Nobody knows your name.

They made fun of you at school. Who are you? You're a nobody. You don't have any friends. You're an outcast all along. But buddy, if you win the race, and you get the crown, then you are permitted to come and put your crown at the feet of the potentate.

The Castaway and the Necessity of Integrity

This was such an awesome privilege. This was such a sober responsibility. That they had to have a designation to keep anyone from cheating. You study these games, the Ishmael games and the Olympic games, and you'll find out that big land barons would try to rig the games.

They would try to take their favorite son. They'd try to bribe judges. They'd try to take shortcuts on the marathon. They'd try to limit the other competitors. Because it meant so much to get that crown.

You got so many privileges. And when you went back home, many of the villages would build you the best house in the whole village. Many of the times you got a mansion. Because you were the hero from your community.

And they would honor you with giving you a house. And your family would be honored. And so for that reason, many of the wealthy families, many of the politically dialed in people, they had tried to rig the race.

So guess what they had to do? They had to put in a system to prevent cheating and inconsistency and people not trying. And the designation they gave to those people was that a judge would come up to that person and he would mark them a castaway.

That was a fate worse than death. Because if that person was a castaway, then they could never compete again. They were out of the game. And they were in shame and embarrassment. And they never would go to the feet of the king and put their crown.

Now, well, what did they do to ensure that? See, you read this scripture, a lot of times we don't understand it, what it means. So the Olympic Games and the Ishmin Games, they had an official. And the official was called a herald.

And the herald was actually from a group of people in Greece that had a reputation of unbelievable honesty and integrity. A whole group of people had a reputation. And so for decades, that village and those families, their greatest honor in all of Greece and all of the Grecian Empire was the fact that they were known all over the land as honest people.

You couldn't bribe them. They wouldn't cheat. They didn't care about the political favor. They were going to referee those games. And it didn't matter who you were. If you were a cheater or if you didn't compete properly, you broke the rules, they would designate you a castaway.

They didn't care who you were. And those people were called the heralds. Two rules could get you the designation of a castaway. Two things. Here are the two things. You'll always remember these. Number one, if you were caught cheating, breaking the rules of the Olympics, then you could be designated a castaway.

But here's the one that got a hold of me. I can understand the cheat. I can understand that one not trying. But here's the one that got a hold of me. If the herald thought you weren't trying, you were half-hearted in your effort.

You thought, I don't have to really try. I've got a big family name. My family's got money. My dad's going to rig this race. If you just got tired or you just got lazy and it appeared that you weren't trying, he could designate you a castaway because you didn't try hard.

You were half-hearted in your effort. Two things could keep me from kneeling in front of the king. Cheating and not trying. Being half-hearted. And when I got that designation of a castaway, then I couldn't approach the king.

The Holy Spirit as Herald and the Call to Run

Now, here's what I want you to take home with you. What does the Holy Spirit of God do for us in this world today? This is God's Word. This wasn't a lesson on the Olympics that Paul put in the Bible. He said, you need to know that today it's not a herald, it's the Holy Ghost of God.

And that God's people, Christian people, saved people, if we're caught cheating, if we're caught trying to live in both worlds, God said, the Holy Ghost will mark you and make you a castaway. And if God catches you loafing, not trying, not giving it at all, being half-hearted, then the Holy Spirit will mark you a castaway.

You say, well, what would that castaway be? The presence of God draws off you. Can you think of anything any worse than the power of God pulls off of you? Because when that happens, you're losing your crown of faithfulness.

You're losing your crown of a soul winner. You're losing the crown of joy. All of those crowns, you're losing them when you break fellowship with God and you start trying to fellowship with the world.

If you broke the world, the rules, you were marked a castaway. If you did not give the event 100%, then you were marked a castaway. You know why? Because that herald was the observer of the race. And he would declare you a castaway and you would be a disgrace in front of the monarch.

No crown, no access to the king. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, God commands you, commands me, to run and run to win. You say, but look at all the people here. You're missing the point. You're not running against another preacher.

You're not running against another Christian. You're not running against your husband. You're not running against your wife. You're running to please the Lord God Almighty. You're running for Him. You're running for the king.

You're not running for the Baptist. You're not running for the Methodist. You're running for King Jesus. And what He's trying to get you to see is that we're not running against each other. We're running for access to the king.

That's what we're after. And He commands us to run and win. You race for God. That's the most important thing that you can do. The Bible teaches we're more than conquerors through Jesus Christ. That heavenly herald is the Holy Spirit.

And He watches my race and your race every single day. Now there's two or three things that have to happen. And I don't have time to go through them tonight. But let me just give them to you for your notes.

A Decision to Serve God and Run the Race

Number one, it takes a decision to run. Nobody can decide that for you. We're talking about saved people. You've got to decide, I'm going to serve God. I'm going to try. This is my last try. I'm going to try.

Why? God's given me light and understanding. Dad, Mom, you've got to try. Now you listen to me right here. If you don't hear anything else I say, here's a statistic to me that is very frightening. Seventy-five percent of all children that grow up in a fundamental Bible-believing church, seventy-five percent of those boys and girls, seventy-five percent of those teenagers and those young adults that have grown up in an independent, fundamental, premillennial, missionary, Baptist church, any name you want to give it, for a fundamental Bible-believing church, seventy-five percent of those teenagers, those young adults, those boys and girls today as adults are not in church.

Seventy-five percent. Why are they not in church? Why are they not serving God? You know why? Because Mom and Dad, they need to see in us that we've made a decision. I'm going to run the race. Whether I feel like it.

Whether it's popular. Whether anyone understands. Because what we do is we almost hunt an excuse to get out of church. We hunt an excuse to get mad. We hunt an excuse to say, this guy didn't treat me right over there.

And your little boy and girl, they hear that. That teenager hears you sitting around there having fried chicken and barbecued preacher. And they believe Mom and they believe Daddy. So that when they get adults, they say, Mom and Daddy, I never had a use for preachers.

I never had a use for the house of God. Seventy-five percent. We've got one last try here. And we ought to get in this altar tonight and say, you know God, I've made some mistakes. But by your help, I'm going to finish my race.

There's not a perfect church. There's not a perfect pastor. There's not a perfect deacon. There's not a perfect Sunday school class. There's not a perfect choir. If that was the case, none of us would go to church.

Every Sunday when I drive up at Trinity and the parking lot's full and people are going in, I get down in the parking lot and say, I can't believe this. They came back. They're back. I know the pastor here.

I know that guy. And they're back. You know why? Because they're not there for me. They're there for the Lord God Almighty. They're going to go to church whether I go to church or not. They're going to go to church whether I preach or not.

Well, what if you make a mistake? If I do it backwards, two or three of them will take me over to the side saying, Pastor, bless God, we love you. But, buddy, you did that absolutely backwards. And I said, I did?

Yeah. Now, bless God, let's turn that thing around. And let's go on for God. But that's not going to make us quit. That's not going to make us run up the white flag. That's not going to make us go to show-me's and talk about each other.

Hey! We've got to try. We're in the race for the Lamb of God. And we want to go put our crown in front of the King. Number two, not only does it take a decision, but it takes motivation. The Bible says that all of us can get discouraged.

All of us can get down. And many times we get to fussing at people because someone didn't encourage us. My worst time of my life, and nobody came to me. Nobody encouraged me. That's what they think. I'm just not going back over there.

God said, you're not running for them. You're running for me. He said, I'll tell you what I told David. Stir yourself up. Courage yourself. But God, you don't understand. I'm really down. Stir yourself up.

Encourage yourself. Get out of your playpen. The world's dying and going to hell. Get the praise of God upon your mouth. Let the glory of the Lord God Almighty wraith around you. Walk around saying, yea, though He slay me, yet will I serve Him.

I'm in love with the King. I want to spend time with the King. I want to have access to the King. And I'm not going to let anything keep me from my race. I want to put a crown in His feet. You think about an old earthly corruptible crown, a piece of tree.

And Paul said, your crown's incorruptible. Our race is for eternity in the souls of men. What counts is when you can get to the King and give Him a crown. You say, but I'm tired. You don't know what I mean.

I don't. And all of us have got unbelievable burdens that we have to carry. But I promise you, if you'll put your eyes back on Jesus and get them off of men. And say, God be your help. I'm going to love you.

I'm going to love my local church. I'm going to pray for my pastor. And I'm going to run my race. I promise you, God will change your life. He'll change your church. And He'll preach your preacher like you've never heard Him preach before.

Because His people are running the race. Where's your crown tonight? What are we running for?