Now I urge you to follow again
this morning as I read a few verses out of 2 Timothy chapter
3 as the background and framework
for the ministry of the Word of God again this morning. Timothy, Paul's spiritual son,
the young man whom Paul mentored and to whom he gave many serious
responsibilities as an apostolic representative, particularly
in his labors at Ephesus. And as Paul knows that shortly
his head will plop into a basket, his spirit will wing its way
into the immediate presence of Christ, is discharging his burdens
to Timothy, his passions with respect to this younger man who
will carry the torch of gospel light and truth when Paul goes
home. And he writes to this young man
in 2 Timothy 3 and verse 14, but abide in the things which
you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you
have learned them. and that from a babe you have
known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture
is inspired of God. Literally, all scripture is God-breathed
and is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction. for instruction or training which
is in righteousness, in order that the man of God may be complete,
furnished completely unto every good work. Let us again pray
and ask for God's help in the ministry of the Word. Our Father, we thank You for
these God-breathed words. We thank you that what Scripture
says, you say. And we praise you that we come
this morning able to hold in our hands Bibles in our own language,
translations that communicate your words in words that we can
grasp. And yet we know that apart from
the ministry of the Spirit, we will not understand them as we
ought. We will not embrace them in faith
and obedience And so once again we pray that the Holy Spirit
would be poured out upon preacher and listener together, that your
words may have their transforming influence upon all of our lives. Hear us and answer us, we plead,
in Jesus' name. Amen. Our study of portions of these
God-breathed words found in our Bibles, those that we will consider
this morning, constitute the second of two messages on the
theme, crucial words of consolation and admonition at this time in
our life together as a church. For the sake of any who may not
have been with us last Lord's Day, let me take a few minutes
to explain the significance of that title, and then to review
briefly what we considered from God-breathed scripture last Lord's
Day. On January 8th, at a special
congregational meeting, the resignation of one of your elders was read
to you, and then at our annual business meeting on January 25th,
I announced to you my plans in the will of God to phase out
my role as your resident pastor within the next two to three
years and to relocate in Michigan, not to retire, but in order to
concentrate my remaining years, whatever they may be, on other
facets of ministerial, familial, and personal stewardships. Both
of these announcements came as a complete surprise to most of
you except those of us in leadership role as elders and as deacons. And my pattern over the years
as one of your pastors and one who has had a primary place of
responsibility in public ministry has been that whenever we face
an unusual situation, a fundamental change in ministry, the embarking
upon a new ministry, any kind of internal crisis, was to go
to God-breathed scripture and seek from the Word of God to
give perspectives that would help us as the Lord's people
to view those changes or those crises in a biblical way and
to react in a godly way. And that pattern is what has
principally moved me to consider that it would be good at this
time to bring at least these two messages that I am calling
crucial words of consolation and admonition at this time in
our life together. Last week, I sought to bring
before you three words of consolation, all of them beginning with the
verbs in the imperative, remember and believe. First, remember
and believe that God our Father remains on His throne of unrivaled
and undisturbed sovereignty. Whatever transpires in our midst,
God's throne remains unrivaled and undisturbed. Secondly, remember
and believe that Jesus Christ abides with His people in the
unfailing sufficiency of His grace. And thirdly, remember
and believe that the Holy Spirit is still active in equipping
men with the graces and gifts essential for competent pastoral
leadership. And if we, by grace, internalize
these directives, they will indeed be directives leading to consolation
as we grasp the wonderful truth that the whole triune Godhead
is committed to our well-being and to our spiritual prosperity
as a church. And as we grasp that and internalize
it, then we will have a disposition of quiet peace and confidence
in our triune God. The promise of Isaiah 26.3 will
be our experience. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is stayed upon thee because he trusts in thee. Furthermore, we will have a fresh
impetus to praise and to prayer. It's amazing that when any crisis
comes into our lives, if we don't respond biblically, how quickly
the nerve of praise is cut. The nerve of complaining and
crying out to God is not cut, but so often praise is cut. And that ought not to be, for
we are told in everything, Give thanks, for this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus. concerning you. And then thirdly,
if we internalize these things, they will be a call to mutual
exhortation. After Paul gives instruction
to the Thessalonians about what will really happen to their departed
saints at the coming of the Lord, he then concludes by saying,
remembering and believing these things, wherefore, exhort, comfort
one another with these words. And on any given day, Brother
Jones may be living in the delightful reality of these things, and
Brother Smith may not be. And at that point, Brother Smith
needs Brother Jones to remind him afresh with these words by
which consolation will come to the heart of the people of God.
So much then for that brief explanation of the title and that brief review
of what we considered last Lord's Day. Now this morning I want
to speak to you on some crucial words of admonition or warning,
whichever term you prefer, at this time in our life together.
Some crucial words of admonition or of warning. And before considering
three such words of admonition or warning, I want to say something
about the necessity for admonition and warning in the life of the
child of God. There was a time when I would
not have felt this was necessary, but I believe it is, and so I'm
going to do it. Why am I doing this, having considered
the words of consolation? Why am I moving to words of admonition
and warning? Well, for the simple reason that
such words are needed. There are many in our day who
feel that the Christian life can be lived individually and
corporately on the stuff of consolation, comfort, and encouragement alone. And therefore, the only task
of those who minister the word is to draw out consolation, comfort,
and encouragement. This is all that is needed, some
think, and by many, it's all that is desired, and by many
more, it's all that is received. And the moment the word admonition
and warning are sounded, there is a knee-jerk reaction. Uh-oh,
here we go with negative stuff. Well, I trust none of you sitting
here has been infected with that perspective. For the Scriptures
make it abundantly clear that they are given not only to comfort
and to console and to encourage us, but to warn us. In Psalm
19, that wonderful psalm that celebrates God's two books of
self-disclosure, there is the book of nature, natural revelation,
verses 1 to 6, But then there is the book of special revelation
beginning in verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect,
restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the
droppings of the honeycomb." But then the next verse says
this, "...moreover by them is thy servant warned, and in the
keeping of them In their sweetness and in their warnings there is
great reward. You see, the psalmist found no
disjunction of soul contemplating the consolatory, the sweet-tasting
portions of the Word and those portions that are warnings that
he might know the blessedness of the life of righteousness.
Furthermore, In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, after summarizing
large blocks of Old Testament history, the Apostle says in
verse 11, Now these things happened unto them, that is, the wilderness
generation, by way of example, and they were written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. hear a
large block of Scripture that covers the wilderness warnings,
the Holy Ghost says they were written not primarily for our
consolation and our comfort and our encouragement, but our admonition. And if they were written for
admonition and a preacher preaches them with any other end in view,
he is mishandling the Word of the living God. Or take Paul's
word in Colossians chapter 1, where he's describing his ministry. And he says it is a ministry
of proclaiming Christ, verse 28. Whom we proclaim, but how
does he proclaim Him? Admonishing every man. and teaching every man in all
wisdom that we may present every man perfect or mature in Christ. He says we preach Christ admonishing
along with teaching. The apostle did not know a manner
of teaching that was not marked with admonition as well as instruction. And when he says in Colossians
3.16, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs. As the word of Christ dwells
in us richly, it will come out of us as we interact one with
another, not only with instruction, with encouragement, but with
admonition, and with warning. And then, of course, the passage
I read in your hearing at the outset of the message, all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching
for reproof. That's divine scolding. God gave the Bible to be an instrument
of divine scolding, reproof, for correction, for instruction,
in righteousness. And then in his final charge,
a passage I often read and pray through as I did this Lord's
Day morning in the earlier hours, his final word to Timothy. Preach the word, 2 Timothy 4,
to be urgent in season and out of season when you feel like
it and when you don't. Exhort, reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and teaching. Timothy could not be true to
his commission without reproving, without rebuking, as well as
exhorting and comforting with longsuffering as his spirit and
teaching as the method. So then, You ask, Pastor, why
do you feel you've got to follow up the three words of consolation
with three words of admonition and warning? And I answer without
embarrassment, because I'm determined to be a Bible preacher. And I
say to you people, the day you weary of a ministry that has
a due balance of consolation and warning and admonition, you
are betraying your own soul to danger, if not to damnation. Don't forget that. Don't forget
it. I've seen it happen with my own
eyes. Ministries that once had a keen
edge, not only of profuse Spirit-owned consolations that touched the
hearts of men, but penetrating, searching, reproof and admonition
that touched the deep springs of the heart. And men have been
bullied by the zeitgeist, the spirit of our age that says,
Cuddle me. Cuddle me with Bible words, but
don't reprove me. Don't rebuke me. And, dear people,
there are warnings that are needed for us as a congregation. I trust
my spirit in giving the warnings will be one of the spirit of
long-suffering, of pastoral gentleness, of tenderness. But at the end
of the day, a warning is a warning. And it's amazing how in every
other area, if people don't give enough warnings, they take them
to court. There weren't enough warnings
on that medicine bottle of this particular side effect. And my
child got the side effect. I'm going to take you to court
and sue you. People welcome warnings on a bottle of medicine. They
welcome warnings on a road sign that says, dangerous curve ahead,
slow down to 35. You don't see people get out
and form a little society to go to the local authorities or
all the way up to the governor and say, we're tired of these
warnings about dangerous curves. We'd rather go over to the side
of the cliff and bust our noodles. We don't like warnings. You see
how stupid it is? Moreover, by them is thy servant
warned. The warning is there to keep
us from real perils and real dangers. Well, then, as time
permits, I want to set before you three warnings, three admonitions
necessary for us at this time in our life as a congregation.
Number one, beware of a misplaced trust in men. of a misplaced trust in men. And I want us to look at three
texts which clearly call the people of God to avoid a misplaced
trust in men, even in good men, men whom God may have used in
your life to help you on your way to heaven, or possibly even
to put you on the path that leads to heaven. There is a legitimate
trust in men. That's why the first requirement
for someone in spiritual leadership is that he be trustworthy. Worthy
of trust. But there is a misplaced trust. And I want to warn you and admonish
you not to be guilty of that misplaced trust in men. Text number one, Isaiah chapter
two. Isaiah chapter two. Remember, Isaiah was called to
be an instrument of God to warn, particularly Judah and the other
surrounding nations of the judgment of God. And here in Isaiah chapter
2, the chapter concludes, verse 22, with these words, cease from
man whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted
of? Now what is the context of this?
Well, if you look back to verse 12, it is the context of the
prophet announcing a great day of the Lord that will be upon
all the proud and all the haughty. And if you read the language
of this paragraph, you see overtures of what we find in Revelation
chapter 6 when men will cry for the rocks and the mountains to
hide them from the face of Him that sits upon the throne. and
from the wrath of the Lamb. And as God speaks of this day
that will humble the proud and the haughty, verse 19, men shall
go into the caves of the rocks and into the holes of the earth
from before the terror of the Lord. Verse 20, In that day men
shall cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold. Hear the things they've made
to worship, the things they have constructed with their own hands.
They see the utter futility of these material objects ever to
deliver them from this dealing with the living and the true,
almighty, powerful God. And then the conclusion of all
of that is, cease from man. Not only cease from your idols,
but cease from trusting in men in an inordinate and in an illicit
way. Cease from man, and notice what
God says, whose breath is in his nostrils. He lives because
God gives him his next breath. It's in his nostrils and when
it goes out, if God doesn't give him another breath to exhale,
he's done. Acts 17 and verse 25, he gives,
present tense verb, he gives to all life and breath and all
things. And so God says, cease from man,
cease from all trust that your deliverance will come from the
hand of any creature. When I, the living God, come
forth in judgment, what will you do? What can any man do?
Not only will your idols not help you, you cannot help nor
deliver one another. Listen to the comments of E.J.
Young on this text. The command is to cease and desist
from placing confidence in man. Trust in idolatry might in a
sense be regarded as trust in man himself, for the idols were
the products of his ingenuity and creative powers. But not
only when man makes idols must one place no confidence in him,
but at all times man is set forth in opposition to God, and the
point of this verse is to show the folly of trust in man instead
of in God. The life of Judah represented
a confidence reposed in man and in human wisdom. And from such
vain confidence, Judah is now commanded to desist. Isaiah's
language may be rendered, cease for yourselves for your own benefit
and welfare. It is for one's advantage and
benefit that he cease to place his confidence in man. And dear people, I believe that
admonition and that warning is needed by us. When God shakes,
as it were, our comfort zone by disrupting the structure of
human leadership in any sphere, it can be very unsettling to
those who are led. But not only can it be unsettling,
it can be God's means to bring us up short and to cause us to
ask the question, what is that in which I ultimately trust? Remember the principle I articulated
last week, a crisis creates nothing. Apart from being a catalyst to
take us deeper with God, or a catalyst to cause temporary declension
from God, ordinarily a crisis is only God's powerful hand to
pull away the blankets and the coverings and to show us to ourselves
what we really are. Could it be that because God
has used certain men in your life in a very discernible way,
There has been a subtle shift of your ultimate trust from the
Lord Himself to men who have been the instruments of blessing
in your life. If so, God's word to you is this,
cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils. Cease from man
whose breath is in his nostrils. The second text. that points
in the direction of the warning of a misplaced trust in man is
found in the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 17. In the midst of an indictment
concerning Judah's sin, but with no apparent tightly knit connection
with the preceding context, and it's sort of a bridge into that
which follows. God says to the prophet, Jeremiah
17.5, Thus says the Lord, Cursed is the man that trusts in man. We think him to say, Cursed is
the man that trusts in another God. But he says, Cursed is the
man that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart
departs from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath
in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall
inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land,
and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusts
in the Lord, and whose trust the Lord is. For he shall be
like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by
the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, Notice, shall
not fear when heat comes. When a crisis enters that man's
life, he shall not fear. Its leaf shall be green and shall
not be careful in the year of drought. Neither shall cease
from yielding fruit. Again, listen to old Matthew. Henry, bless God for these who
have studied their Bibles and see in it what we see. It is
an excellent doctrine that is preached in these verses and
of general concern and use to us all and does not appear to
have any particular reference to the present state of Judah
and Jerusalem. Concerning the disappointment
and vexation those will certainly meet with who depend upon creatures
for success and relief when they are in trouble. Cursed is the
man that trusts in man. God pronounces him cursed for
the affront he thereby puts upon him. Or cursed, that is, miserable
is the man that does so, for he leans upon a broken reed which
will not only fail him, but which will run into his hand and pierce
it. Observe the sin here condemned. It is trusting in man, putting
confidence in the wisdom and power, the kindness and faithfulness
of men, which should be placed in those attributes of God only. making our applications to men
and raising our expectations from them as principal agents,
whereas they are but instruments in the hand of providence. It
is making flesh the arm we lean upon, the arm we work with and
which we hope to work our point. the arm under which we shelter
ourselves and on which we depend for protection. God is the arm
of his people. Isaiah 33 and verse 2, we must
not think to make any creature to be that to us which God has
undertaken to be. Does God use men? Yes. Is God's way of blessing His
church to give it men to lead, to guide, to feed, to shepherd? Yes, but never to be the object
of misplaced trust. Never. Never. God never gives
men that we should make them idols to us. The result will
be, if we do, is barrenness. Be like a heath in the desert,
a salt land not inhabited. Nothing can grow in it. Why? Because the taproots of all spiritual
growth are faith, drawing upon the faithfulness of God, the
supply of grace out of the fullness of our Savior. And do you want
a curse upon you individually and in your life as a church?
Then trust in man. Have an inordinate, misplaced
trust in man. which God forbids. And then the
third text that points in the same direction is Psalm 146.
Psalm 146. You may have a title at the top,
an insertion of someone who had the Bible printed, the Lord as
an abundant helper or the Lord, the sure helper of his people.
And in a psalm of praise to God as the helper of his people,
notice in verses 7 to 9, he is the helper of his people particularly
in distressful circumstances. Notice, he executes justice for
the oppressed. He gives food to the hungry. He looses the prisoners. He opens the eyes of the blind. He raises up them that are bowed
down. The Lord loves the righteous.
He preserves the sojourner. He upholds the fatherless and
the widow. And in the context of praising
God as the abundant helper of His people, especially His people
in periods and circumstances of peculiar duress and difficulty,
notice what the psalmist says earlier in the psalm. He says
in verse 3, put not your trust in princes. Not only put not
your trust in men. But in the best of men, men who
have risen in rank above their peers and are recognized as princes
among you, put not your trust in princes, nor in the Son of
Man in whom there is no help." In the same theme of Isaiah chapter
2, His breath goes forth. He returns to His earth in that
very day, His thoughts, His purposes, perish. Happy is he that has
the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his
God. No misplaced trust in men, even
the best of men, the most helpful of men. God says, don't put your
trust in princes nor in the Son of Man. Dear people, your individual
spiritual life Your corporate life as a church is not dependent
upon any man save the man Christ Jesus. Trinity Church came into
being not out of the gifts and labors of Albert and Martin but
out of the fullness of grace in Jesus Christ who died to have
a people that would love Him, that would serve Him, that would
seek to magnify His name. And long after my dust in the
grave is just that. If the Lord tarries and the Spirit
of God is not grieved away by disobedience and unbelief, Jesus
Christ will continue to manifest that He is the life of His people
in this place. In Colossians 3, 4, Paul could
say, When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall
we also be manifested with Him in glory. Christ is the life
of His church. Not this man or any other man
who has been or ever shall be in a place of leadership. Therefore, I say to you lovingly,
beware, beware of a misplaced trust. But then secondly, and
more briefly, beware of an unwarranted suspicion of and murmuring against
your leaders. Beware of an unwarranted suspicion
of and murmuring against your leaders. One of the most plain
patterns of fallen human nature in any group setting, not just
in the church, but in the world, is this. When any group of people
come into difficult times and circumstances, the tendency is
to suspect and blame their leaders for those difficulties. The team
is going nowhere. It's 3 and 14. Fire the coach. Hey, wait a minute. He ain't
out there on the court dribbling the ball. passing the ball, putting
the ball through the hole, putting it in the hoop. He's on the sidelines
in his Armani suit just hollering at you, telling you what to do.
Get rid of the coach. Hurricane devastates the whole
area. What's wrong with the White House?
That's inhuman nature. Any group of people where there's
any structure of leadership let something go wrong. And the tendency
is, stick it on the leadership. And the Bible makes it plain
that that tendency is not neutralized among God's people. I want you
to turn back to Exodus. We're only going to look at a
few of the passages quickly. But here God is about to bring
his people out of Egypt. And he's going to use Moses,
the primary leader, and Aaron as his sidekick. And we read
in Exodus 5 and verse 20 these words, Exodus 5 and verse 20. Because after Moses begins to
have interaction with Pharaoh, you remember Pharaoh's hard taskmasters,
they just make things worse and worse and worse at what they
do. This is all happening because God is at work hardening Pharaoh's
heart. giving opportunity for him to
let the people of God go. And what do the people do? Verse
20 of Exodus 5, And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in
the way as they came forth from Pharaoh. And they said unto him,
The Lord look upon you and judge. You have made our savor to be
abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, in the eyes of his servant, to
put a sword in their hand, to kill us. Our woes are because
of you guys. Now, it's irrelevant that you
guys are doing what God told you to do and told you to go
into Pharaoh and say, let my people go. And I told you what
miracles I would accomplish. But at the end of the day, you're
the problem, Moses and Aaron. Blame the leadership. Then we
come to Exodus 14. God gets them out of Egypt. They're
on their way down to the Red Sea, and they got the sea in
front of them. Mountains left and right and the Egyptian army
behind them. So what are they going to do?
God's been at work. He kills the firstborn of Pharaoh
and all of the Egyptians and God mightily works in the hearts
of the Egyptians. They load them up with gold and
silver and trinkets and send them out. Get rid of them. Verse
10 of Exodus 14. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the
children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians
were marching after them, and they were sore afraid. And the
children of Israel cried out to the Lord, and they said to
Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken
us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us this
way to bring us forth out of Egypt? Isn't this the word we
spoke unto you in Egypt, saying, let us alone that we may serve
the Egyptians? And you won't find any A, B,
C, D, E cross-reference of any time when they said that, and
they make this up. to justify their present attitude.
There was no time. They were crying out to get rid
of the burden. Now they say, don't you remember when we said,
leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? It were better
to serve the Egyptians. We should die in the wilderness.
Who do they blame? God's delivering them out of
Egypt. But because the present circumstances are a bit uncomfortable,
go after the leaders. Unwarranted suspicion of. and murmuring against their leaders.
Chapter 15, verses 23 and 24. And Moses led Israel onward from
the sea, and they went out to the wilderness of Shur, and went
three days in the wilderness, found no water. And when they
came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters, for they
were bitter. Therefore the name of the place was Marah. And the
people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
Well, wait a minute. What did Moses have to do with
making the water bitter? Blame the leader. We've got a
crisis. Blame the leaders. Blame the leaders. Exodus 16,
1-3, They took their journey from Elam, and all the congregation
of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which
is between Elam and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second
month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the
whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses
and against Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said
unto them, Would we have died by the hand of the Lord in the
land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, when we did eat
bread to the full? You have brought us forth into
this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. It's
almost unbelievable. If you didn't believe this is
the inspired word of God, you'd say, Wait a minute. No people
could be that perverse. Every situation. Blame the leaders.
Blame the leaders. Put the worst construction on
the leaders' actions and motives. Well, remember, Moses didn't
want anything to do with this whole business. He was constrained
by God's call to lead them, and he didn't want to. The only reason
Aaron is his sidekick is God finally said, all right, Moses,
I'll go ahead and make him your mouthpiece. Every time I tell
you I'm going to do this with you, you keep saying, yes, Lord,
but, yes, Lord, yes, I'm tired of that. So I'll take Aaron,
I'll let him be your mouthpiece. But you see the disposition of
the people, and this is culminated in Numbers 16, verses 3 and following. When some of the leaders in Israel,
they all get together and they come to Moses and Aaron and they
say, Hey, you guys, you've got an oligarchy here. You're taking
on too much to yourself. Aren't we all holy? Don't we
all have the Spirit? And God really got disgusted
with it this time. And God's dealings were very,
very severe dealings. Now, what's all that say to us?
What's it have to do with us, a company of new covenant believers? gathered here in this place this
morning. Well, I want you to turn to 1
Corinthians chapter 10 and see what it has to say to us. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul says,
verse 1, I wouldn't have you ignorant, brethren, that our
fathers were all under the cloud, passed through the sea, baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and the sea, ate the same spiritual food,
drank the same spiritual drink. You see what he's doing? He's
assuming these Corinthians are familiar with the Old Testament
record of the wilderness generation of the Israelites who came out
of Egypt. And he's going to drive home
some very vital lessons to them based upon the history of that
wilderness generation of Israelites. And he says in verse 5, with
most of them God was not pleased. Yeah, that's an understatement.
That's a litetes. With most of them God was not
pleased? All but two of them. He said none of them are going
to go into the land of promise except Joshua and Caleb. All
of them overthrown. Their carcasses rotted in the
wilderness. Verse 6, these were our examples. to the intent we should not lust
after evil things as they lusted. That's the first warning. Neither
be I idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, the people
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. That's the second
warning. Neither let us commit fornication
as some of them committed and fell in one day, three in twenty
thousand. Next lesson, neither let us make
trial of the Lord as some of them made trial and perished
by the serpents. Number five, neither murmur ye
as some of them murmured and perished by the destroyer. And
what was the murmuring? It was this chronic pattern of
unwarranted suspicion of and murmuring against their leaders
when they faced a crisis. And human nature is no different.
I've told the men in the academy, if you're not ready, if you're
not ready to have your motives questioned, your judgments overthrown
by every Tom, Dick, and Terry who only have one-tenth of the
facts, don't go into the pastoral ministry. It goes with the turf. But in love to you as a people,
My shoulders are broad enough and my track record long enough
and consistent enough by the grace of God that I will wear
out unjust accusation, unwarranted suspicion of motives. So this
is not a self-defense statement, but I don't want you as God's
people to have God's judgment upon you. And therefore, I'm
pleading with you to heed the warning in whatever we may call
our present circumstances to be somewhat of a crisis of leadership. Beware of unwarranted suspicion
of and murmuring against your leaders. God takes it seriously. Took
it seriously then, Paul tells the Corinthians, he'll take it
seriously now. He'd take it seriously in the
life of Trinity Church. Then my third admonition and
warning is this. Beware, not only of misplaced
trust in man, beware of an unwarranted suspicion of and murmuring against
your leaders, but thirdly, Beware of a carnal haste in seeking
to supply the need for additional leadership. Beware of a carnal
haste in seeking to supply the need for additional leadership. There is a unanimous conviction
among your elected leaders, that is, your elders and your deacons,
that there is a need for additional leadership, especially in the
eldership level. Not a man to replace me. Nobody's
talking about replacing Pastor Martin. God doesn't replace one
man with a clone of him. The risen Christ gives men whom
he has prepared in his own unique way with their own particular
gifts and graces and vision in order to meet the needs of his
people in their ongoing life. Moses was Moses. Joshua was Joshua. And Moses accomplished things
that Joshua never could have. He wasn't equipped to. But Joshua
accomplished things that Moses never could have. He wasn't equipped
to. And God is somewhere fashioning and molding men who started in
their mother's wombs and all of their life's experiences are
conspiring to fashion and fit them to fill the places that
are needful in the leadership of this church in the days to
come. Not a man to be my replacement,
but a man to be God's gift and men to be God's gifts to you
as his people. However, Consider several texts
which ought to loom large in your eyes and thinking and actions
as a congregation in the coming days. First text is 1 Timothy
chapter 5. You remember why Timothy was
left at Ephesus. There were insufficiencies in
the church there at Ephesus. Paul indicates this in chapter
3, these things I write unto you, hoping to come unto you
shortly, verse 14, but if I tarry long, that you may know how men
ought to behave themselves in the house of God. Error needed
to be reproved and church order needed to be advanced, further
recognition of elders and beacons, proper roles of men and women,
etc. Well, in that context, One of
the major issues is the recognition of additional leaders, both pastors
and deacons. So in chapter 3, verses 1 through
13, that's the subject that Paul addresses. But in the face of
that need, Paul gives a warning to Timothy toward the end of
his letter, chapter 5 and verse 22. Let's back up to verse 21. I
charge you in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus and the elect
angels, observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing
by partiality, lay hands hastily on no man. Timothy would know
immediately what Paul meant when he said, don't lay hands. He
didn't mean lay hands on people to beat them. Get your hands
off me. but laying hands as Timothy had
hands laid upon him. And Paul had reminded him earlier
that he was set apart for his ministry with the laying on of
the hands of the presbytery, of the eldership that were present
in the situation where Timothy was formally recognized as a
gift of Christ to his church. And he said, now Timothy, there
are great needs. I've set out the standards for
those who would be both elders, pastors, and deacons. And when
men begin to emerge in the church and begin to manifest those gifts
and graces, there may be a tendency to say, in the light of the needs,
and these men that seem to fit the divine description of how
Christ will furnish men to meet the needs, well, surely we need
to move ahead. He said, wait a minute, Timothy,
be very, very careful. Don't lay hands hastily on any
man. On no man. No matter how he may
presently impress you, no matter how eloquently he may speak or
no matter how efficiently he may work and manifest gifts that
would just seem to contribute exactly what is needed in the
diaconate, don't lay hands hastily on any man for any office, be
it elder, be it deacon. Don't lay hands hastily. on any man. And the text that
buttresses that is 1 Timothy chapter 3. Paul begins in this chapter with
giving the biblical standard of character and gift essential
for someone to be recognized for an elder. And then he begins
in verse 8 and says, Deacons in like manner. In other words,
with a standard that has many parallels with that of the requirements
for an elder, they must be graved, not double-tongued, etc. Now
look at verse 10. And let these also first be proved,
then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless. In other
words, Timothy, don't respond at a first look When it appears
that a man may have these graces, no, no, no, put him to the test. This word dokimazo, approved
or proved, is the word one would use with regard to testing methods. putting them into fire or applying
certain chemicals to test whether or not they were what they appeared
to be. And only when tested and thus
proven to be what they appear to be would they be sold or traded
for that commodity. Well, in the same way, he said,
let these first be put to the test. Have some concentrated
sphere of examining character and gift. This is why. I did mention to you at our recent
annual meeting when we recognized two deacons that for close to
a year, these men in whom there was perceived these character
traits required of deacons There was an additional proving, having
them sit in with the deacons' meetings to see how they responded
to their brethren. Do they defer in matters of judgment
where deference is the manifestation of Christian grace, or do they
stand their ground? hold their position at the expense
of unity and peace and harmony among the diaconate? Do they
take responsibilities and administer them graciously and cheerfully? Let them be proven. Well, surely
if that is so of the office of a deacon, how much more of the
office of an elder? Though he does not use those
words, surely by Proper analogy, we can say, if that is required
of the office of lesser significance in terms of spiritual rule, not
lesser dignity, but of lesser significance in terms of spiritual
rule, how much more in the office of greater responsibility in
the ministry of the Word, in the shepherding of the flock
of God. And so I give you this pastoral
warning and admonition, beware of a carnal haste in seeking
to supply the need for additional leadership. And once again, the
history of Israel is helpful to us here. We don't have time
to read the chapters. I urge you to read them, 1 Samuel
8 and then 1 Samuel 12. You remember what happened. Israel
got antsy to have a king. Samuel is on his way out. We
want a king. It wasn't that they were waiting
upon God for God's time to give them a king, which He obviously
eventually purposed to do from the book of Deuteronomy. It's
clear where God sets out the standards of how a king in Israel
is to conduct himself personally and administer his rule in the
name of Jehovah. But they were antsy to have a
king, and they wanted a king now. And God gives them their
now king. And the result of it is tragic,
for you remember the history of Saul, and dear people, God
may bring you as a congregation to one of your most severe tests
of faith in all of your life together. I do not have any revelation
from God that by the time I remove myself and relocate to Michigan,
if all of this unfolds as I believe it may unfold, Suppose God has
not yet given the leadership that you know you need and that
you're seeking. What are you going to do? Are
you going to get antsy and lower the standard? Be careless? You'll be cursed with your carelessness.
The Scripture tells us in Isaiah 28 and verse 16, a marvelous
promise. He that believes shall not make
haste. And in the context It has to
do with God laying His choice cornerstone in Zion. And God
says, I will do it. And he that believes shall not
make haste. The true people of God will wait
upon God for God's provision in God's time. And Proverbs 19
and verse 2 says, he that makes haste with his feet, sin. I'm committed to do all within
my power, in my place of leadership among you, to see a continuity
of leadership. With all my heart, I long to
see that. And in great measure, I do see
that as God has been pleased to put in place the leadership
that is in place in the life of this church. But at the end
of the day, we're all dependent upon the risen Christ. It is
His church. He has bought it with His own
precious blood. And he is committed to give to
his church pastors and teachers. One of the promises, precious
promises, pertaining to the new covenant is Jeremiah 3 and verse
15 where God says, I will give them shepherds after my own heart
who shall feed them with knowledge and with understanding. And I
plead with you as God's people, as you have been through the
years, a people committed to waiting upon God, to seeking
the face of God, to trusting God, I plead with you in this
matter, beware, beware of a carnal haste in seeking to supply the
need for additional leadership in the days to come. Well, those
are my three words of admonition. I hope you see the wisdom of
bringing them at this time and in this setting and that you
will receive them into your heart. And if they come at any point
as a rebuke, remember they are the love wounds of a friend,
faithful of the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are
deceitful. And I trust that God will bring
you and bring us all to the place where with these flashing warnings
before us, We may move forward in our life together. And as
several people spontaneously said to me at the door last Lord's
Day, and I said to myself, they've got it right. They said, Pastor,
I believe the best days of Trinity Church are yet before us. And
I said, Bless God. I believe so as well. Let's pray
that God may make that true. Our Father, we thank you for
your holy word. We thank you that it is always
a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. And we pray that
these portions of your word that we have considered this morning,
with their warnings so appropriate to our present circumstances,
may be received into our hearts in faith, in obedience, and that
you will keep them before us in the days to come. that armed
with these words of encouragement and consolation and with these
words of admonition and warning, we as your people may be obedient
and may see your hand of blessing upon us. We look to you to grant
this for the praise of the glory of your grace. In Jesus' name
we plead. Amen.