Sound of Faith

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Greetings friends and new listeners and welcome to the Sound of Faith. I'm Sharon Hardy Knotts, thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today's message is by my father, Brother Hardy. If you've ever wondered why you can't seem to maintain a level of liberty in your spiritual walk, or sometimes have difficulty overcoming your fleshly desires, and if you want more than just a breakthrough, but you want to stay through, this message is for you: One More Time.

R. G. Hardy: You know the old devil? He tries to make you discouraged. One of the things he's been trying to discourage me on is people letting up and not coming to church. I'm really concerned. Even tonight's congregation. People are backslid, can't stay and can't stand to be blessed. Come on, man. It ain't no time to let up now. It ain't no time to backslide now. Now, when I'm talking about backslide, there are degrees of backsliding to where you can go all the way into the world.

Say, "What do you mean, Brother Hardy?" Backslide means you failed to do the things you used to do because you won't backslide overnight into the world. You do it a little bit gradual. You break that pattern. You let up. See some people? They start letting up Wednesday night. Then pretty soon, it's Friday night. Pretty soon, the only time they come is Sunday. Then it's not very hard for the devil to knock them out Sunday morning. Then a couple weeks, they're gone.

Now, you got to fight. This is a fight. You don't let nobody take your crown. What did Jesus say, one of the last things to the church? He said, "Hold thou fast what thou hast. Let no one take your crown." Now, that's a warning. There's a warning out there that someone is trying to take your crown of victory, take your overcoming crown, and take your crown of life. If you let him, the devil will walk all over you.

And once you start retreating, once you start yielding to him, then you just set it in motion like a snowball or an avalanche. Brother, you got to fight this thing. You're not going to make it to heaven unless you fight. Somebody said, "You mean to tell me I got to fight to get saved?" No, you got to fight to stay saved. Getting saved is the easiest part. You know how many evangelists take ministry and getting people saved? That's the easiest thing. You get a crowd out there, God sets the conviction, you preach a convicting message, God gets them saved. Brother, that's the easy thing.

But keeping them saved and making them a productive Christian, that's the hard part. How many say amen? How many hear me? Brother, I'm going to make it. Amen. If you could bet, then you need to lay odds on that Hardy's going to make it because my mind is made up. David said, "My mind is made up. My heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. I'm going to make it." If it's a rosy way or a flowery way, amen, but I know it's not going to be. But whatever it takes, if I have to fight the devil every centimeter, every inch of the way, I'm going to make it.

And I'm not going to let the devil take my crown. And I'm not going to fight the same fight for the same ground. I'm going to go on a deeper depth and a higher height. How many say amen? Oh, hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus! Ain't no time to let up now. Brother, everywhere you look, it's saying Jesus is coming. I said you can look at the weather; it's Jesus coming. You can look at the world; it's saying Jesus is coming. You look at the church; it's saying Jesus is coming.

Brother, I'm not going to let up. I'm going to press my way in. He said, "Press. Press toward the mark." That word "mark" in the Greek is the goal line. It don't make any difference if you enter every race in the world. If you don't finish the line, if you don't get across the goal line, it don't matter. In football, you can run 99 yards, but if you don't go that other one yard, it don't matter. How many say amen? You can hit the ball and run around all the bases, but if he tags you out at the plate, it don't matter.

I'm going to run. Paul said, "I'm going to run. I'm going to fight." How many say amen? "I'm going to fight the good fight of faith. I'm going to lay hold on eternal life. I'm not going to let the devil take it. I'm not going to move back. I'm going up higher." Now, you don't stand still in the Lord. You're either progressing or regressing. You're either going into higher heights and deeper depths or you're going back. You're backsliding. You're not doing the things that you used to do.

Then you stay in that little place a while, and then you backslide a little bit more. How many say amen? And gradually, you get all the way over here. You're nothing like you were when you were on fire. Jesus indicted one church in Revelation and said, "I tell you to repent and do your first works over." Amen. You know how you felt when you first got saved? You wanted to get in the church. You wanted to hear the Word of God. You couldn't wait till it was prayer time. How many say amen?

You couldn't wait to get in the word. You couldn't wait to tell somebody about Jesus. Oh, what's the matter, brother? He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. You should love him more, want to know more, want to know more, want to know more. I don't want to get in the world. I don't want to be around that motley crowd. I don't want to be around those carnal people, full of all their unrighteousness, ungodliness, filthy talk. How many say amen? I want to walk in the spirit. I want to walk with Jesus.

I want to be like Enoch. And the day that we're living in is like the day of Enoch right before God sent the flood. How many say amen? I want to walk with God. And one of these days, they're going to look for me, but I'm going to be gone because I'm going to walk right into God's house. Hey, shake yourself! Sometimes you got to shake yourself. Don't let the devil put you over. He's not going to rob my prayer time. He's not going to rob my Bible study. He's not going to keep me out of church.

Oh, you're so tired before church, but then fifteen minutes after church and after the church bus goes, then you're full of life, huh? Then the devil's got carnal things for you. You ain't liking me tonight, but I got a feeling I'm going to preach, brother. You know you're miserable, carnal and miserable. And like I said, it's the truth. Some people got just enough salvation to be miserable. They know that they should do more and they're not doing it. They're scared to death to go all the way into the world, and they won't go all the way for God.

And they're in between. And they got the Holy Ghost pulling this way, and they got the devil pulling this way, and they're torn apart. You got to let go one of them. To get momentary peace, you got to let go. You can let go of God and for a while get momentary peace till the devil's got that trap, till he gets you empty. And the classic example in the Bible is Samson. You'd have thought Samson would have appreciated the anointing on him. He was the only one in Israel, the only one on the face of the earth, that the Spirit of God would follow him mightily.

He was invincible by the power of God. Satan couldn't do anything with him. They surrounded the city, said, "We got him at the daybreak. We're going to get him." And God woke him up. The city was surrounded. They were kind of napping. The gigantic gates were closed. "We got our enemy, supposed to be the servant of Jehovah, mighty and strong." And old Samson went and grabbed them two gates. Now, I'm talking about gates maybe 40 feet high. I'm talking about gates that are tons and tons of weight.

He grabbed one in one hand and grabbed the other in the other hand and said, "Oh God!" How many say amen? And God heard his prayer and the power of God came on him and he picked them gates up. Oh, hallelujah! And not only did he walk, he walked up a hill. He walked up the mountain in front of that city and planted those gates as a mighty memorial to the mighty delivering power of God. By God's spirit, he was invincible.

For it's not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. It's only the Spirit of God that makes you strong and invincible. When the enemy comes in like the flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard. But if you have leaked out, there is no one to lift a standard up. No one to lift the standard up. Samson called, and God heard him. But he was backsliding. He was backsliding a little by little.

You see, you don't leak out of the spirit all at once, little by little. And that's the danger. You don't know you're emptying out. Baptize in the Holy Ghost. What does it mean to be baptized in the Holy Ghost? It means to be full inside and completely enveloped and covered outside. You know, like now, if you get born again, then you get one measure of the spirit. There are measures of the spirit. Under the Old Testament, they couldn't have what we had.

They could get full and like David, the cup would run over, but they couldn't be baptized. See, the difference between a baptizing and a filling is when you're filled, you're filled up. Then you're like David; it keeps coming and you run over. You fill up that glass of water, put a stopper in the sink, put it in the sink, keep the tap on. It's not only full—one measure, two measure, three measure, four running over. One measure covering a full vessel. Half full, three quarters covered, fully covered till it's absolutely covered with water and all you see is water.

That's baptized. That all they see is the Holy Ghost. You're under the complete control of the Holy Ghost. Remember when you got the Holy Ghost? I remember when I got it. I remember when I came out of it. I found myself in the middle of the church hollering. I didn't know how I got there. I was under the anointing of God. I was completely controlled by the Holy Ghost, and there I was. How many say amen? When I came to cognizance, here I was in the middle of the church hollering at the top of my lungs, "Glory to God! Hallelujah!"

I was full. And that's the dangerous time, is when you're full. The spirit's on you. Here you're full. I like to illustrate it this way by a seesaw. How many knows what a kid's seesaw is? And we're going to call this the line of demarcation. And on this side is in the spirit, and on this side is in the flesh. When we talk about in the flesh, in control of the flesh. And when we talk about flesh, Paul usually means the old nature.

For they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But if the Spirit of God dwell in you, you're not in the flesh, you're in the spirit. That means you're in the new nature. You're controlled by the Holy Spirit in the new nature. When you're in the flesh, you're controlled by the old nature and Satan. And how can you tell after being all the way full you're getting close to being totally leaked out? You know how you can tell? You're in the middle of the seesaw and the flesh is calling and the spirit's calling, and you're in a battle and you just can't do what you want.

Remember when you were full of the spirit? Oh, you could pray anytime. My God, you couldn't stop praying. You went to bed praying and your body had to pass out because your spirit was still praying and singing. And when your body finally woke up in the morning, your spirit's still singing and praying, and you got a song in the night season and all the day long. How many say amen? And it wasn't nothing to read the Bible and revelation was coming, joy came. And when the battle came, well you rolled with the punches, you didn't even realize you're in the test because the spirit anesthesizes you.

Is that what it is? Okay, I didn't know if I had that right. In other words, it numbs you to the flesh. The flesh was killed. Reckon yourself to be dead indeed unto the flesh, unto sin. But alive unto God, you're alive unto God. How many say amen? Nobody had to tell you he lives; he was alive in you. You could feel the vibratings and the moving and the reverberating of the Holy Ghost power. You were alive. You breathed the spirit. You walked in the spirit. You slept in the spirit. You were in the spirit. Your flesh was totally dead.

Now here's being baptized in the Holy Ghost. You're all the way on the other end of that seesaw. Broke through to you're out in heavenly places. Broke through to you're singing and speaking in tongues. It was like before the service. Brother Murph got to praying, but then he broke through and he got all the way out into the spirit. He began to speak in tongues; he was all the way out. There wasn't no flesh around, there wasn't no flesh in it. There wasn't no worldly thoughts in it. There wasn't no body thoughts in it. You were out in the spirit. You're under the complete control of the Holy Ghost.

And see, I know what it takes to get full of the spirit and stay full of the spirit. You got to kill that man. You got to die daily. You got to crucify the flesh. You know what crucify means? The most agonizing death known to man. Sometimes it took them a couple days to die. Each breath you died a little bit, and you fought against it. You know when you finally died of? Your bodily was totally exhausted and it could not fight anymore, and it fell forward and you asphyxiated yourself. You smothered to death.

Because on that cross, they had that little pad, you know where his foot was? It was there so that you could breathe, you pressed on that and pushed yourself up and breathe. And all the pain was racking your body, and then you'd go down again and the nails would tear at your body. How many say amen? And you kept doing it because you didn't want to die, especially when you're not saved. You're fighting death. Jesus didn't fight death. He made sure every scripture was fulfilled. He quoted chapter after chapter to make sure that he was giving a witness to Israel.

How many say amen? But they were fighting it until you were dying inch by inch, ounce of strength by ounce of strength, until finally—see that's why Pilate was so amazed that he was dead so early. All of a sudden, all your natural strength is gone. You're totally, totally void of any energy. All your muscles collapse. Or like Jesus, he said, "I am out of joint. All my bones are out of joint." Did you ever get a thumb out of a joint, a finger out of a joint? And the pain, oh, think of every bone out of joint!

And the pain. The flesh is fighting, it don't want to die, but you're killing it. And finally you got it killed and the anointing's on you. And here you come with all of the spirit that God could put on you. How many say amen? And you're flying. You're flying. The devil's fighting you, but you ain't even paying any attention. You're living above all that stuff, all that carnality, all that flesh, all that worldliness. You're seated in heavenly places and in his presence is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are eternal are pleasures evermore.

The devil can't test you with flesh; you're too far in the spirit. You can get to the place you can't be tempted with the flesh. You're too far in the spirit. But the danger comes—Samson had all the anointing somebody could have. And you see, God only anoints you to do the thing he called you to do. And you stop doing the thing, you don't have to sin; you just stop doing the thing God calls you to do.

I can leak out this quick. All I got to do is stop praying, stop reading the Bible, stop studying and stop preaching. And I could stay in the church and never go out and backslide to the bottom. How many say amen? You got to fight to keep this anointing. You can't let yourself leak out. You can't let yourself get empty. That's what the devil's waiting on; he's betting on it, to sidetrack you, get you in self-will, get you to let up. You're too tired to pray. Brother, I'm too tired not to pray. I'm going to pray if I don't do nothing else. If I don't do anything else, I am going to pray.

Samson let up. And the devil told him, "Go ahead in that city." He was with a harlot in that city. How many say amen? And somebody said, "But Brother Hardy, how could he be that way and have the anointing?" Because you see, under the law, there was no law in the Old Testament there against it. And where there is no law, there is no sin imputed. How many you knew that? Even though it's wrong, there was nothing to forbid it.

Only it's sin imputed when it's a law and you break it. Where there is no transgression, there's no sin, Paul says. It's sin, but it's not imputed to you because there's nothing that says thou shalt not. How many say amen? But he wasn't on the job of delivering Israel. And then the devil had him set up because he knew women was his weakness. So he's got, first of all, the first Philistine woman.

And it's against the Word of God because the Word of God said that Israel, God's people, was not to mixed with the Gentiles. Tell me if a lot of people didn't come to the service Sunday morning because they didn't want to hear the truth. Well, ignorance of the Word don't excuse you. It's going to get you. You know what they say? Ignorance of the law is no excuse; the judge gives you 20 years. You better know, because you're never dying soul. They don't like me, Jesus. They don't like me, Lord.

But I love them. I'm trying to save them for the trap. I'm trying to save them from the pitfall. I'm trying to save them from heartaches and grief and sorrow and misery and woe. I'm trying, Lord, help me! Open up their eyes, open up their hearts! I am concerned, surely! I can't see the church that God may have me be a pastor over, I can't see the people leaking out and falling in the devil's track and getting places where he can destroy them. For he is a thief and he come up not to steal and to kill and to destroy, but Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have him more abundantly." We cannot fall in the trap of the devil!

The Bible said, "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers." No Christian is supposed to marry a sinner. As soon as you married, you backslid. You hear me? I'm going to say it again. As soon as you marry a sinner, you backslid. What? Know you not that your body is a temple of God? Shall I take the temple of God and join it to an idol or Christ with Belial? Know you not that he that joins himself with a whore is a whore? And when you join yourself to an unbeliever, you are an unbeliever. Amen. And you never win them; they win you.

I've watched it 45 years in my church with young people that I told them, I warned them. "Oh, I'll get them saved." Brother, if you can't get them saved before you marry them, then you're not going to get them saved after you marry. You're the one that compromised! They don't like me, Jesus. But I hear something say preach! I even heard it in the congregation. And I'm going to preach it because the preacher's on me, the anointing's on me, because God cares about you! God cares about you and I care about you! Hey, I'm not here to play church, how to win friends and influence people and have an easy good living! I'm here to make heaven my home and help you to make heaven your home! And I want to tell you, the finishing line is just ahead. Press towards the mark for the prize of the calling up on high, the calling up. God wants to call us up.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Attention, friends of Sound of Faith. September is radio month and we want to send you a free gift. It could be a CD or a book and it's coming to you free if you write in with the call letters of this radio station written on the bottom left corner of your envelope. This will help us determine where our program is blessing people like you. Write to Sound of Faith, PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Don't forget those call letters on the front of the envelope.