Have moved on to Sermon 5, "He Must Increase".
"Now I might turn aside here long enough to
say that one of the most wicked things in the
world is religious jealousy, because it is sin
going into the holy place.
Sin that sins outside is bad enough, but sin
that enters the holy sanctuary, and is jealous
of what the Holy Ghost is doing is exceedingly
wicked. It is like fighting over the crown that
belongs to our Lord.
The unanswerable questions, questions that
cannot and have never been satisfactorily
answered, are these. If God is doing a work,
why should I be jealous? And if God is not
doing a work, why should I be jealous?
No, there isn't any excuse for religious jealousy
among God's people, but it was certainly evident
among the disciples.
They disputed over baptism. It appeared to be
a sincere question, but it was inspired by other
motives, hidden motives - rivalry and bad feeling.
They were disguised as a doctrinal problem.
But John, wise, old John, lifted their question
to its proper level.
He said, 'Your problem is not baptism. Your
problem is not practice. It is not modes of
baptism, how much water to use, or under what
circumstances it should be used. You're jealous.
Your problem is your personal relationship to
God. That's your problem. ....."
