One More Time, Part 1

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. Ain't no time to let up now. Ain't no time to backslide now. When I'm talking about backslide, there's degrees of backslide till you can go all the way in the world. What do you mean, Brother Hardy? Backslide means you fail to do the things you used to do. 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. You've 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 thy 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. 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've got to fight this thing. You're not going to make the 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. How many evangelists take ministry and get 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 easy thing. But keeping them saved and making them a productive Christian, that's the hard part. How many say amen? How many hears 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 I got my mind 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 crown. I'm going to go on to deeper depth and higher heights. Amen. 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. 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." 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'll get all the way over here. You're nothing like you were when you were on fire. Jesus indicted one church in seven in Revelation, said, "I tell you to repent and do your first works over." 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. 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 and today and forever. You should love him more. Want to know more? I want to know more. I 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. Amen. I want to walk in the spirit. I want to walk with Jesus. I want to be like Enoch in the day that we're living in, was like the day of Enoch right before God sent the flood. 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 on into God's house. Hey, shake yourself! Sometime you've got to shake yourself, not 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 15 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 what they should do 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 tore apart. You got to let go one of them. To get momentarily peace, you got to let go. You can let go of God and throw in the towel, get momentarily 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 fall on 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. City was surrounded, they were kind of napping. The gigantic gates were closed. "We got our enemy, supposedly 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, 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. 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 a 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. Samson called and God heard him, but he was backsliding. He was backsliding 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. Baptized 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, kind of 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. Amen. When I came to cognizance, here I was in the middle of the church, hollering with all of my might, 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 kids' 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. 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, how you couldn't stop praying. You went to bed praying, and your body had to pass out because your spirit was still praying and saying. 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 day long. 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 were 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 numbed you to the flesh. The flesh was killed. Reckon yourself to be dead indeed unto the flesh, unto sin, but alive unto God. You were alive unto God. 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 till you're out in heavenly places. Broke through till 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 was no flesh around, there was no flesh in it. There was no worldly thoughts in it. There was no body thoughts in it. You were out in the spirit. You're under 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. Sometime it took him a couple days to die. Each breath you died a little bit, and you fought against it. You know when you finally died? Your body 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 out and breathed, and all the pain was racking your body. And then you'd go down again and the nails would tear at your body. 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. Amen. But they were fighting it. Until you were dying inch by inch, ounce of strength by ounce of strength until finally, you 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. 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. 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 or pleasures evermore. The devil can't test you with flesh, you're too far in the spirit. Yes. Amen. 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 someone could have. And you see, God only anoints you to do the thing he called you to do. When you stop doing the thing, you don't have to sin, just stop doing the thing God called 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. 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. 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 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 mix 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 or 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 your never-dying soul. They don't like me tonight, Lord. They don't like me, Lord! But I love them. I'm trying to save them from the trap. I'm trying to save them from the pitfall. I'm trying to save them from heartaches and grief and sorrows 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 made me 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 but 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 marry it, 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. 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 compromise. They don't like me, Jesus! But I hear something saying, "Preach." I even heard it in the congregation. And I'm going to preach it because the preach is 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.
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