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Fifty Short Sermons

Fifty Short Sermons

by FRED E. DENNIS

Evangelist and Writer For Twenty Years a Writer for the Christian Leader, Cincinnati, Ohio

Staff Writer, Gospel Advocate, Nashville, Tenn.

Volume Two

THIRD EDITION WM. B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY

Grand Rapids, Michigan 1944

FIFTY SHORT SERMONS by FRED E. DENNIS Copyright, 1944 All Rights Reserved. Fred E. Dennis

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Preface

In the fall of 1942 Volume One of "Fifty Short Sermons" came from the press. The first edition of one thousand copies was gone within three months after it came out. The second edition is now practically gone. The warm reception recorded it went far beyond my fondest expectations. God knows I am humbly thankful. Hundreds of these were placed in the hands of outsiders. They were sent to our boys in service throughout the world. This will explain in some measure the appearance of this second volume of short sermons. I pray God that it may receive the same hearty welcome. These sermons have appeared from time to time in the columns of the Gospel Advocate, Nashville, Tenn., of which the author is one of the staff writers. This volume is affectionately dedicated to my faithful wife, Bessie E. Dennis, and to our dear children.

FRED E. DENNIS, 209 Spring St., Marietta, Ohio November 11, 1943.

Introduction

THE author of this volume of sermons scarcely needs an introduction to thousands who have known him for more than a quarter century as an eminently able, faithful and fearless preacher of the gospel. The life and labors of Fred E. Dennis among the churches of Christ have caused his name to be synonymous with doctrinal soundness, spiritual intrepidity and moral purity. The author's keen discernment of the will of God, his unwavering loyalty to the doctrine of Christ, his natural piety, unfeigned humility, tireless zeal and Pauline courage, plus a childlike faith in the promises of God, present a rare combination of qualities resulting in his immensely successful career as a gospel preacher.

Fred E. Dennis was born in Monroe County, Ohio, June 20, 1894, and while yet in his teens he removed with his parents to Marietta, Ohio, where he has lived ever since. In 1915 he was married to Miss Bessie E. Caskin, and they are the parents of six living children. The author preached his first sermon on July 2, 1917, while a teacher in the public schools of Washington County. Six years later he gave up teaching to devote all of his time to preaching the gospel, and he has been in constant demand as an evangelist ever since. For many years he has been a staff writer of the Gospel Advocate, Nashville, Tennessee; he is the author of Musings, published in 1936, and Volume One of Fifty Short Sermons, published in 1942. The phenomenal reception accorded the latter, a collection of sermons first appearing in the Gospel Advocate, evidenced the merit of the work as well as the interest of the brotherhood. The present work, Fifty Short Sermons, Volume Two, will certainly be accorded the same eager reception as its predecessor. The spiritual benefit to be derived from a careful, prayerful perusal of this book of sermons is of incalculable proportions, being profitable both in the 'life which now is, and that which is to come'.

Kenneth B. Adams,

November 4, 1943.

East Liverpool, Ohio

CONTENTS Click on lesson title for text 1. Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2. Some Men Who Did Not Write the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3. The Gospel of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 4. Lost and Found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 5. The Great Bible Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 6. Five Reasons Why You Should Be a Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 7. The Making of a Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 8. The Judgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 9. Payday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 10. The Value of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 11. The Great Salvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 12. The Family of the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 13. Some Things No Man Knows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 14. Different States of Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 15. Remembering Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 16. The Resurrection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 17. Now! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 18. Lot's Wife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 19. A Quotation from Adam Clarke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 20. Three Things the Devil Wants to Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 21. "Son, Remember" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 22. The Two Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 23. Four Fundamental Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

24. Practicing What We Preach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 25. Spiritual Arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 26. Four Dangerous Precedents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 27. Backsliding Preventives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 28. Some Plain Lessons from Rom. 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 29. The Devil's U-Boats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 30. ''On Jordan's Stormy Banks" (No. 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 31. "On Jordan's Story Banks" (No. 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 32. He Left Us an Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 33. We Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 34. Seven Things We Should Keep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 35. Calling Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 36. The Kingdom First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 37. To Our Boys in the Armed Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 38. Following Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 39. The Gospel Mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 40. "The Lord's Prayer" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 41. A Few Things New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 42. The Friend of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 43. Some Marks of a Real Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 44. To What Is the Church Comparable? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 45. Worldliness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 46. Laborers in the Vineyard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 47. Foolish Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 48. The End of a Great Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 49. "The Days of Our Years" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 50. Benediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

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Study

MANY sermons have been preached and many articles have been written using 2 Tim. 2:15 for the text. That old familiar verse reads: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Why should we be diligent, careful students of the word?

To Know God Those who do not know the Bible do not know God. God has told us all he wants us to know about himself in the Bible. It is possible to be highly educated, refined, and polished in the modern sense without knowing God. In fact, some of the most highly educated and gifted people of our generation do not know God. The reason they do not know God is that they have not been students of the book in which God reveals himself to the human family. Paul went to Athens to preach. Those Athenian philosophers spent their time in learning some new thing, and then imparting this knowledge to others. But they did not know God! It was not that they were ignoramuses, but they were not Bible students. Because of their lack of knowledge of the true God they were idolaters. Paul said to them: "Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription. To THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." (Acts 17:22, 23.) These fellows knew much, but they did not know God. There are many of our day who know much, but of the important

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