The following message was delivered
on Monday evening, October 18th, at the 1993 Trinity Pastors Conference. The announced subject for our
meditation in the Word of God tonight has been our vision for
these days. In October of 1988, this was
the subject announced for the Monday evening session of our
pastor's conference on that occasion, and since then there have been
three additional installments on this identical theme. And each time I have begun by
making several basic assertions, and I will make them again tonight. First of all, a word of explanation. When we think of our vision for
these days, I am merely seeking by the use of those words to
express our perception of some of the most critical areas of
need for the people of God in our day and in our circles, and
what we as the servants of God in particular ought to do in
response to that need. And therefore, in speaking of
our vision for these days, we are merely expressing in human
terminology what is said of the sons of Issachar in 1 Chronicles
12, and verse 22, where we read concerning them, verse 32, and
of the children of Issachar, men that had understanding of
the times, to know what Israel ought to do. They were marked
out by the fact that they had perception of the particular
circumstances of the people of God at that period in their history
and were able to give wise direction with reference to a judicious
course of action. And so this title that has been
carried on over these past years has reference to those principles. And then secondly, on each occasion,
I have not only sought to give that simple word of explanation,
but to make a very clear word of disclaimer. When we speak
of our vision for these days, we are not speaking of any claim
to an extraordinary commission from the Lord Jesus Christ. None of us claims to have heard
a voice from heaven, to have had an angelic visitation, to
have had a personal word of prophecy, and furthermore, we make no claim
to an exclusive commission from the Lord with respect to these
concerns. However, if in the context of
this kind of family intimacy, with a shared perspective, committed
to shared doctrinal and experimental convictions, if we cannot in
this forum seek to hammer out what it is that we ought to perceive
as the great needs of God's people, pray tell, in what forum would
it be legitimate to do such a thing? Now, in our previous messages,
I've sought to address the subject of our vision for these days
in terms, first of all, of a recovery of the biblical gospel, secondly,
a renewal of biblical holiness, thirdly, a return to biblical
churchmanship, and last year, a restoration of biblical preaching. Tonight, this fifth installment
in this serial of messages on our vision for these days is
this. Our vision for these days, a
recognition of the watchman identity and function of the pastoral
office. a recognition of the watchman
identity and function of the pastoral office. And I will seek
to open up this material under two major headings, beginning
first of all with an overview of the watchman motif in the
Word of God. Where do we gain the concept
of the servant of God ministering under the new covenant as a watchman
amongst God's people? But when we turn to the Old Testament
and seek to discover the beginnings of the biblical concept of a
watchman, we find that the watchman was the man assigned the responsibility
of standing upon the wall of a city or a military garrison
in order to look out for approaching dangers to that city or to that
garrison and with a solemn responsibility in a context of conscious alertness
and wakefulness when perceiving that danger to alert the proper
authorities whether it was the general or the military leader
within the garrison or whether it was the populace of the city
whoever stood in the place of danger Whoever the watchman was
accountable to, to such a one he was to give a warning. Turn please for a specimen example
of these perspectives to 2 Samuel chapter 18. As we seek this brief
overview of the watchman motif in the Word of God, 2 Samuel
18 verses 24 to 27 give us a very clear example of the basic concepts
of the function of a watchman. 2 Samuel chapter 18 and verse
24 now David was sitting between
the two gates and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate
onto the wall and lifted up his eyes and looked and behold a
man running alone and the watchman cried and told the king and the
king said if he be alone there is tidings in his mouth And he
came apace and drew near, and the watchman saw another man
running. And the watchman called unto
the porter and said, Behold, another man running alone. And
the king said, He also bringeth tidings. And the watchman said,
I think the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz
the son of Zadok. And the king said, he is a good
man and cometh with good tidings. Now surely stand upon the face
of this simple historical narrative are those dominant concepts of
the identity and the function of the watchman. In this case,
his primary responsibility was to David and to the porter or
gatekeeper of the city. And as he looked out and saw
someone coming, he was to cry out and to prize his senior officer
of the approach of that person. And he looked with such keen-eyed
concentration that he was able to tell from the very stride
and running style of the second runner, who that runner might
be. Here then the watchman is upon
the wall. The watchman looks with concentration
and undivided attention right to the horizon. And what the
watchman sees of anything unusual approaching the city or the military
garrison, he is to report to his superior or to those for
whom he has special accountability. Now that idea is scattered in
several places throughout the historical narratives of the
Old Testament, but for the first time the idea of the Watchman
comes into the realm of the ministry of the Word of God in the person
and function of Ezekiel. I shouldn't say for the first
time, I should say it comes to its fullest and most clear and
concentrated expression in conjunction with a minister of the Word of
God in the person and ministry of Ezekiel the prophet. When
we turn to Ezekiel chapter 3, we have the account of Ezekiel's
commission. And towards the end of that account
of the commission of Ezekiel, we read in Ezekiel 3, verses
16 and following, these words. And it came to pass at the end
of seven days that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of
Israel. Now the concept of a watchman
was already clearly embedded in the minds of the ordinary
or in the mind of an ordinary Israelite. And now Jehovah says
to Ezekiel in the midst of commissioning him to the prophetic office that
in the fulfillment of that office I've constituted you a watchman. you will have functions as a
mouthpiece of Jehovah that have great and serious parallels with
the functions of a watchman upon the city walls or upon the wall
of a military garrison. And then he goes on to amplify
the significance of that analogy. Therefore hear the word at my
mouth and give them warning from me. When I say, Unto the wicked
thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest
to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the same
wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require
at thy hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked,
and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall
die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul again. When a righteous man doth turn
from his righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling
block before him, he shall die. Because thou hast not given him
warning, he shall die in his sins, and his righteous deeds
which he has done shall not be remembered, but His blood will
I require at thy hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the
righteous man that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin,
he shall surely live, because he took warning, and thou hast
delivered thy soul Now the unique contribution to the concept of
a watchman that comes with the transferal of that concept to
the ministry of the prophet is this matter of delivering his
soul or blood being required at his hand. There is no explicit
reference in any of the other Old Testament data concerning
the function and ministry of a literal watchman over a garrison
or over a city in which the language of delivering thy soul or requiring
blood at thy hand is used. Now, secular writers on secular
assessments of the function of watchmen may tell us that such
a concept was there, but it is not there, having looked up every
watchman reference in the Old Testament, the concept of a watchman
having blood guiltiness attributed to him or delivering his soul
comes to the fore only when the concept of a watchman is incorporated
into the identity and function of a prophet of God. And that which was so central
to the commission of Ezekiel is again picked up and repeated
in Ezekiel 33. It was read in your hearing by
Pastor Brevard, and therefore I will not repeat it. But then
coming over into the New Testament, as we continue our brief overview
of the watchman motif in the Word of God, where do we find
this watchman motif coming to its clearest expression The answer
to that question is we find it coming to such an expression
in Paul's discourse with the Ephesian elders. Turn please
to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. You will remember that as Paul
gathers the Ephesian elders to himself, he begins by reviewing
the pattern of his own life and ministry among them. And then
he says towards the conclusion of that review, verse 25 of Acts
20, And now behold, I know that you all among whom I went about
preaching the kingdom shall see my face no more. Wherefore, I
testify unto you this day," now of all the terminology he could
have used to say, I testify that I have a good conscience, that
I have fully delivered my soul of my gospel duties and responsibilities,
isn't it interesting that he takes the language of the blood
guiltiness of the watchman motif out of Ezekiel and says, Wherefore
I testify unto you this day that I am pure from the blood of all
men. no blood of an unfaithful watchman
will be found upon my hands, for I shrank not from declaring
unto you the whole counsel of God." All that I saw upon the
horizon of the revelatory data committed to me by my Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, as an apostle of Jesus Christ and a shepherd
to His people, I did not shrink from declaring the whole body
of that revelatory data, the whole counsel of God, Here, I
say, is the watchman motif coming to the fore in the Apostle's
own religious consciousness. And then, when he turns to charge
these elders with their task, notice how the concept of their
function as pastors is interwoven with the watchman motif. Take
heed unto yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit
has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of the Lord which
he purchased with his own blood. I know, I know that after my
departing, grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing
the flock. And from among your own selves
shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples
after them. Wherefore, and now he focuses
upon the watchman motif again, watch ye. Be continually alert. Stand upon the walls of the sheepfold
of Christ, and look out with concentrated attention for the
gathering of the wolf packs that would prey upon the flock. And keenly look closely to the
walls where apparent friendly neighbors may indeed be fifth
columnists who will rise up from your own ranks in order to draw
away disciples after them, watching remembering that by the space
of three years I ceased not to admonish everyone day and night
with tears. And so I say there are indeed
echoes and overtones of the watchman motif as they come to expression
in Paul's own consciousness of moral and ethical responsibility
as an apostle of Christ. And he seeks to load the consciences
of the Ephesian elders with their responsibilities not only under
the imagery of those who are to perform the manifold functions
of shepherds to a flock of sheep, though that is the dominant imagery
and is carried through in the language, but they are to be
intensely watchful. They are to be watchmen upon
the walls of Zion, caring for the well-being of the people
of God. And in a very real sense, as
I reflected upon this and just ran through my mind many of the
epistles of the New Testament, could we not say without straining
reality that this watchman motif becomes the undergirding principle
of many of the epistles of the New Testament? Paul and Peter
and John and James and Jude saw the enemies of the church approaching. And when they saw them approaching,
they sounded an alarm. And that alarm comes in the white-hot
burning language of the book of Galatians. When the apostle
sees the enemy of justification by faith alone, based upon the
imputation of the righteousness of Christ, and he doesn't even
pause to be the gracious Christian gentleman he most often was in
his letters, but burst in upon that situation and sounds an
alarm and says, you who would be justified by works have fallen
from grace? Does he not do the same thing
with the Colossian letter? As he sees, as he stands upon
the wall as a keen-eyed watchman, the influence of Gnosticism Both
in its theories of many intermediaries and with its practical system
of asceticism that would undermine both the freedom and the simplicity
of the gospel, does he not take the posture of a watchman? And
he cries out through his pen in that epistle to the Colossians,
Christ is all! Christ is enough! In Him are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge, and ye are
complete in Him. Was not Jude a watchman upon
Zion's walls? He desires to send an epistle
to the inhabitants of Zion that will cause them to run through
her streets, exulting and rejoicing in further unfoldings of the
glories of their common salvation. But he says, as I set my mind
and heart to write to you concerning our common salvation, I was constrained
to do something else. And what was that? To be a watchman
upon the wall. Crying out, certain men have
crept in privily and have brought with them damnable heresies. And as a faithful watchman, he
stands upon Zion's walls, warning her inhabitants of these who
would rob them of their salvation and would bring them into bondage
to error. John's epistles, we have a similar
emphasis And so, brethren, in summary, I trust you do not regard
it in any way as forced to say, in the light of this brief overview
of the biblical data, that one of the functions of the pastoral
office is that of an alert, keen-sighted, morally courageous watchman upon
Zion's wall. It is not the primary function
of a pastor. It is not to be his continuous
and sole occupation, but surely we are warranted to say that
in the pastoral office is bound up the function, the identity,
the responsibility of a watchman upon Zion's walls. Remember,
in the passage in Ezekiel it says, if the people shall take
one of their number and appoint him to be a watchman over them,
and that's what your people have done when they recognized you
as a gift of Christ. And think of the imagery in the
Old Testament setting. Why would they take one of their
number from his previously acquired trade or occupation? make him
a professional stander upon the wall so the women could be at
their kneading troughs and in their kitchens and nursing their
babies without fear that invaders would come upon them without
warning. that men could go off with their
bag lunches to their shops in the morning and know that if
some invading army were coming on the horizon they had set one
over them to be a watchman to warn them that they might make
due preparations to preserve their persons, their wives, their
families and their possessions and dear people of God in a very
real sense this is what our people have done And recognizing us
as gifts of the ascended Christ to be pastors and teachers, bound
up in that office and in that function, is the task of a watchman. And they have voluntarily set
us over them in the Lord, as well as Christ giving us to them,
that we might by the grace of God Give them in a very real
sense the luxury not of being spiritual imbeciles and spiritual
incompetence with no discernment, having a superstitious dependence
upon professional clerics. I do not mean to suggest that
at all. But where their life is lived
out to the glory of God primarily in the legitimate calling to
which providence has assigned them, we are set apart from that
ordinary means of providing for our families and our persons
that we might be alert, keen-eyed, concentrating watchmen upon Zion's
walls. with the moral discernment to
know an enemy when we see one and the moral courage to cry
out and warn the people of God when their safety is in jeopardy. Machen, speaking to the students
at Princeton Seminary back in 1926, brought a message on the subject,
prophets, false and true. It's a powerful sermon in the
little paperback, God Transcendent. Listen to Machen as I complete
this brief overview of the biblical concept of a watchman. What will
be the kind of message God has given you men to proclaim? In
the first place, it will unquestionably be a message of warning. You will be called upon to tell
men of evil that is to come. That will no doubt make you unpopular.
Men like encouragement. They like to be told with regard
to the rameth gilead of their pet projects. To go up and prosper
for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king. They
do not like to see gloomy visions of all Israel scattered upon
the hills as sheep that have not a shepherd. Is it not Micaiah
the son of Imla but Zedekiah the son of Chananiah that has
often had the favor of the crowd? I'm going to venture, however,
to say a brief word in defense of pessimism. There are times
when pessimism is a very encouraging thing. Last summer I took a voyage
down the New England coast one foggy afternoon and night. It
was one of the thickest nights that I've ever seen in those
fog-bound waters. Now I'm glad to say that the
captain of each of the two boats on which I traveled was a thorough
pessimist. For a time the boat would plow
along at full speed, but then, for no apparent reason, she would
stop and rock quietly upon the gentle swells and then proceed
at a snail's pace. Presently, the mournful sound
of a buoy would be heard, and then the buoy would come into
sight. The buoys were usually exactly where the captain expected
them to be, but unless he saw them, he took a thoroughly pessimistic
view as to their whereabouts. The result of such pessimism
was good. The sound of the foghorn was
indeed lugubrious and hardly conducive to a sound sleep, but
at least we got safely into Boston the next morning. There are ship
captains who are less pessimistic than the captain of that boat.
Such a one, for example, was the captain of the ill-fated
Titanic. He hoped that all was well and
kept the engines going at full speed. I'm certainly not presuming
to blame him. Perhaps every captain not gifted
with superhuman vision would have been as optimistic as he. But whether excusably or not,
optimist, he certainly was. And his optimism was fatal to
many hundreds of human lives. The great ship plowed onward
through the night, and now she lies at the bottom of the sea.
Oh, that no mere weak mortal but some true prophet of God
had been upon the bridge of the ship that fateful night. That disaster is a figure of
what will come of optimism in the churches of today. Superficially,
our ecclesiastical life seems to be progressing as it always
did. The cabins are full of comfortable
passengers, the orchestras playing a lively air, the rows of lighted
windows shine cheerfully out into the darkness of the night,
but all the time death is lurking beneath. In this time of deadly
peril, there are leaders who say that all is well. There are
leaders who decry controversy and urge peace, declaring that
the church is all perfectly loyal and true. God forgive them, brethren. I say it with all my heart. May
God forgive them for the evil they are doing to Christ's little
ones. May the Holy Spirit open their
eyes while yet there is time. Meanwhile, in the case of many
churches, the great ship rushes onward to the risk, at least,
of doom. You see, Machen understood, speaking
to prospective ministers at Princeton in 1926, that an essential function
of the pastoral office is to be understood in terms of the
watchman motif of the Word of God. Now then, having sought
to convince your judgment that this watchman motif is indeed
a vital element of the identity and function of a pastor, let
me in the second place seek to make an application of the watchman's
function in this present hour. an application of the watchman's
function in this present hour. And under this heading I want
to identify some of the major dangers to the people of God,
dangers concerning which warnings must be given, or we shall be
held accountable with the blood of the souls of men. And as I
wrestled with how to organize the identification of these major
dangers, it seemed to me that Paul's twofold perspective of
the wolves from without moved into the imagery of the watchmen
approaching armies from without. The walls who would attack from
without, who would set up their battlements and seek to storm
the city. and then he speaks of perverse
men from among yourselves those who would from where the very
presence of the city itself just outside her walls knocking on
her door as friends or within the city walls apparently a part
of the body politic and yet nonetheless perverse who would do harm to
Zion And so under those two headings I want to give a note of alarm
and warning and urge you, my brethren, to warn your people
of the major enemies that face them from the world and the major
enemies that face them from within the professing Church. And all
I can do is just identify these nail down what I mean by the
terminology, give a specimen epitomizing text or two, and
pass on. What I'm doing, brethren, is
not in any way intended to be exhaustive. It is intended to
be the discharge of the stewardship of seeking as your brother, to
ask you prayerfully to consider whether or not it is not part
of your responsibility to your people, to perform the function
of a watchman in these areas. The first category then, I urge
you, warn your people of the major enemies that are approaching
them from the world. And what are they? Number one,
the evils of a militant secularism. The evils of a militant secularism,
to secularize according to the dictionary, is to deprive of
religious character, influence, and significance. Anything that
is deprived of religious character, influence, or significance has
been secularized. And in God's world there is nothing
that in reality is secularized, for the earth is the Lord's and
the fullness thereof. And from the full sweep of human
history, with the rise and fall of nations, to the rising into
the air and the falling in death of a sparrow, the Scriptures
tell us that of Him, and through Him, and unto Him are all things,
to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. There is no secularism
in reality. This is God's world made of God's
stuff, with God's creature, and even with devil and evil spirits
who are God's devil and God's evil spirits. And yet we are
witnessing in our day and our dear people are being bombarded
with the evil of a militant secularism that would seek to take one category
of reality after another and utterly deprive it of religious
character, influence, and significance. We are witnessing, at least in
my lifetime of nearly 60 years, an unprecedented, aggressive
manifestation of Romans 1 and verse 28. And even as they refused
to have God in their knowledge, whatever man in our day desires
to know, Whatever field of endeavor he sets himself to pursue and
to investigate, he has one fundamental presupposition that goes before
him, surrounds him, presses in upon him. Whatever I see, whatever
factors I seek to analyze and synthesize and make pronouncement
upon, one thing I am determined, God is irrelevant in the equation. I say that is a militant secularism. A militant secularism that is
continually bombarding our people. And as watchmen, we need to see
it for the enemy that it is. We need to sound the alarm and
help them to identify this enemy. We need nothing more than a careful,
practical exposition of someone where the blessed man is described
in his resolute refusal to become a secularist. Blessed is the
man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in
the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but
his delight is in the law of God, and upon his law doth he
meditate day and night. He says there is no facet of
reality that does not have its true significance in the light
of God. For it is in the language of
the psalmist that in thy light that we see light. But then secondly, brethren,
we must stand upon the walls and seek to be faithful watchmen,
not only warning our people of the evils of a militant secularism,
but the evils of an aggressive feminism. The evils of an aggressive
feminism. Now why do I single this out? Because as I've watched the emergence
of the so-called feminist movement and seen its development into
its screeching, howling, almost militant, not almost, militant
and almost paramilitary form, I've asked myself, Lord, why
so aggressive? That question is troubling. I
think I'm beginning to see the answer. And could it not be that
the answer lies right here, when we turn to Genesis chapter 1,
we read, And God said, Let us make man in our image, and after
our likeness, and in the image of God created he him, male and
female created he them. According to Genesis 1, 26 and
27, there is no such thing as innocuous, neutral personhood. Every one of us here is a male
or a female image-bearer of God, and there is no it. I, you, he, she, each of us bears the image of God in distinctive
sexual identity. Now, if the carnal mind is enmity
against God himself, and murder is said to be an affront upon
God in whose image man is made, and therefore warrants capital
punishment, the rationale of Genesis chapter 9 Do you see
what aggressive feminism is? It's an attempt to kill God. It's an attempt to go after the
God who reflects His image in man in the maleness and the femaleness
of mankind. And as surely as capital punishment
is warranted for the wanton taking of the life of another who is
made in the image of God, do we not see, brethren, that behind
aggressive feminism is an attack upon the tangible expression
of God? Those peculiar God-like qualities
in femininity and masculinity are an irritant to a hater of
God. Therefore the hater of God will
go after those dimensions of God's image peculiarly revealed
in sanctified masculinity. And so feminism castrates men
and makes them into wimps. Make them tentative about leadership. Tentative about headship. Tentative about aggressiveness. Why? Because God is a leading,
aggressive God. And our people need to recognize
that this is not a matter of whether or not women get equal
pay for equal jobs. Whether or not it's right for
men to be allowed to pinch the hinds of women in the office.
My friends, this is not the issue. The issue of aggressive feminism
is the destruction of both man and woman in the image of God
and an attack upon any of the new humanity in Christ who are
determined to demonstrate in the dynamics of grace godly masculinity
and godly femininity. I'm so glad our brethren will
be addressing this at the Young People's Conference in Grand
Rapids this December. Let's pray that God will own
the cry of their watchmen to these young people because the
pressure comes from every quarter! We must warn as faithful watchmen
concerning the evils of an aggressive feminism. But then thirdly, we
must stand upon the wall and with keen perception and moral
courage warn our people of the evils of a ubiquitous New Age-ism. Ubiquity is the quality of being
everywhere at the same time or at least appearing to be. And
therefore I've used the word ubiquitous because it's the only
word that fits with reference to New Age-ism. This present
American religion that is a combination of pantheism in which all is
God and God is all and therefore a spotted owl has as much dignity
and even more than a baby in a womb. In which a certain life
form that one can only see under a microscope has more worth and
is worthy of more protection than a human being in a mother's
womb. its self-deification, its worship
of the earth, combined with its Eastern mysticism, finding the
God within, and joined to astrology in which guidance and destiny
are determined by the positions and movement of heavenly bodies,
all the way to so-called holistic medicine, which is nothing in
many places but glorified shamanism, Surely Romans 1.18 and following
are being lived out before our eyes, as they have kept down
the knowledge of God, did not want to worship and serve the
Creator, but the creature God gives them over. And dear people,
I'm amazed at how undiscerning some of our people are with respect
to this ubiquitous New Ageism. Because, as the scripture tells
us, no wonder Satan himself, Paul says, comes as a messenger
of righteousness and as an angel of light. And into corporate
America have come seminars by the dozens. apparently calculated
to make men more efficient in the corporate structure, when
in reality it is New Age religion being floated in the name of
greater efficiency. The whole concept of positive
imaging, finding the little child within you, all of this, dear
people, We need to be faithful watchmen standing upon Zion's
walls. It will threaten and undermine
the very vitals of true biblical supernaturalism, the creator-creature
distinction which lies at the heart of our very existence and
every tenet of theism and of the Christian faith. Then, I
say, if we are to be faithful watchmen upon Zion's walls, We
must not only warn our people of the evils of a militant secularism,
an aggressive feminism, a ubiquitous New Ageism, but the evils of
a materialistic determinism. The evils of a materialistic
determinism. And what do I mean by those words?
Simply this. Determinism of any kind is the
teaching and the belief that things do not just fall out by
chance. that there is what some might
call fate, what the child of God calls a wise, loving, intelligent,
sovereign God, ordering all things in all realms for His glory and
the accomplishment of His purposes, and a generation that mashes
its teeth at the thought that God is upon His throne, if there
is a God. Why Hurricane Andrew? If there
is a God, Why the monsoon rains that swept away tens of thousands
in India? They hate the thought that there's
a sovereign God when things don't go as they would order them were
they in control. But these very same people have
concocted a materialistic determinism that says ultimately no one is
accountable for what he is or for what he does. What I am and
what I do is all the result of my genetic programming. And hardly a week passes but
that some so-called responsible medical spokesman comes out with
another area in which human behavior is being tentatively viewed as
absolutely predetermined by body chemistry, by genetic structuring
and programming. What a horrible determinism. But it won't wash in a man's
conscience, and it won't wash in the day of judgment. For my
Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5.10, So then each one of us shall
be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that each of
us may give an account of the deeds done in the body. And can you imagine a materialistic
determinist standing before God? and being charged with his sin
of drunkenness and saying, but oh God, you didn't understand.
I had such and such a predisposition to drunkenness because of my
genetic structure and being charged with the sins of sodomy and the
sins of adultery and sexual perversion and he says, ah, but God did
you not know I was genetically predisposed to abnormal sexual
obsessions and I was only being true to my internal monitor? As the tape of my genetic programming
unfolded, I became what I was predetermined to be. My friend,
it will not wash in the day of judgment. It will not wash in
a conscience that is accusing the sinner. And we must cry out
against this vicious evil, or the edge will be taken off the
consciences of our people. And they will be altogether too
willing to go into the blame-shifting mode of Eden. But instead of
saying, the woman thou gavest me, it will be the genes thou
gavest me. The genetic predisposition thou
gavest me. It urged me, oh yes, and I complied. Eden's blame shifting. Now with fancy terminology, aided
and abetted by computer technology. It's as old as Eden, and it is
the lie of Eden. And we need to sound an alarm
to our people. And then, fifthly, we need as
faithful watchmen upon the walls of Zion seeking under God to
see our people preserved from the dominant anti-Christian thought
patterns of our day. We need to warn them of the evils
of total moral relativism. The evils of total moral relativism. The idea that there is no fixed
standard of right or wrong in any realm. Different strokes
for different folks. If I enjoy it and harm no one
by it, then it is all right for me. Ah, but you see, here's the
catch. Who determines whether someone
is harmed by it? my own subjective judgment, that's
all. Total moral relativism, so that
without any sense of shame, it is one thing for a community
of self-confessed perverts who know by nature that their so-called
sexual preference is against the very dictates of what they
see and observe in their physical constitution. It's one thing
for them to say they want protection from being browbeaten and being
ostracized and not given due basic protection of the law. I'm not debating that issue,
I'm not saying I approve of it, I'm not discussing it. But that's
not what they want. What they want is for you and
for me to place our imprimatur upon the screamings to their
own consciences that their lifestyle is perfectly acceptable. That's what they want. Not merely
one that we shall tolerate graciously in a so-called free society.
but one that we will approve unqualifiedly, total moral relativism. If ever the language of the prophet
found a contemporary fulfillment, surely it is in this area. When
the prophet cried out in Isaiah chapter 5 and verse 20, Woe unto
them that call evil good. and good evil, that put darkness
for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and
sweet for bitter. Woe unto them that are wise in
their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. Having given
up the law of God with its moral absolutes, having sought to scrub
it from their very consciences until I believe God has given
millions over to an utterly seared conscience. Woe to them that
are now wise in their own eyes to make moral judgments. Dear
people of God, my fellow ministers, our sheep are subjected in greater
or lesser degrees to these vicious enemies of our God, and of His
truth, and of His Christ, and of a life of holiness, and of
a mindset that is consistent with disciplined discipleship
to Jesus Christ? According to Romans 12.2, the
world system at any given point in time, whatever its peculiar
aggressive manifestations may be, it is always attempting to
pressure the believer into its mold. Be not conformed to this
world. And dear people, how are our
people going to, dear brethren, how are our people going to obey
that injunction? unless as faithful watchmen standing
upon the walls we see with keen perception these enemies to their
souls and with moral courage armed with the word of truth
and with a life that embodies the power of that truth lift
up our voices and warn them lest failing to warn them they make
shipwreck their blood be required in our hands. But then I hasten
on, and I will seek to be more brief, to that second category
of concern. I urge you, my brethren, not
only to fulfill the function of a watchman in your pastoral
office by warning your people concerning the major enemies
that they face from the world, but warn your people concerning
the major enemies they face from within the professing church,
from within the professing church. Number one, warn them of the
evils of the self-esteem gospel. It's everywhere. It was interesting
after my wife and I read through together J. Adams' little book
in the past year, Self-Esteem, Self-Love, I forgot the third
couplet of words in the title It was amazing how our consciousness
was raised and we saw the self-esteem gospel, not just in the secular
press, but oozing out of Christian literature, Christian radio broadcasts,
Christian sermons. It's assumed as a given that
whatever the gospel of Christ does, it elevates, enhances,
and enshrines your self-esteem. And it's been thumped and thundered
and whispered so long and so frequently that people imbibe
it and never even question whether it's taught in the Word of God.
Whereas if I read my Bible aright, The first call in discipleship
is to radical self-denial. If any man would come after me,
let him repudiate himself and take up his cross, and in loving
attachment to me for what I've done upon my cross, let him follow
me in evangelical obedience out of evangelical motives. Or as
Paul put it in Pauline language, 2 Corinthians 5, 15, in that
he died for all, that they who live should no longer henceforth
live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died
and rose again. And that same apostle could say,
for to me to live is Christ. and the great passion of His
heart in Philippians 3, that I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made
conformable unto His death. There is no word to suggest He
even thought of Himself, let alone His self-esteem, His self-worth,
His self-actualization. And we need, dear brethren, to
look upon this evil that so often is propounded very close to Zion's
walls and even within her walls. We have a problem that watchmen
in the first century didn't have. The false teacher had to get
into people's houses. Remember Paul spoke about those
who creep into houses and lead captive silly women? All our
people need to do is flip a dial. on the television, on the radio,
and the false teachers right there in their ear before their
eyeballs. They don't even need to come near the door of the
house. They can expose themselves to the horrible, diluting, if
not damning influence of false teaching at the flick of a dial.
God help us to be faithful watchmen? Are you warning your people about
the TV evangelists and the radio teachers and preachers and authors
that they pick up at their Christian bookshops? And that, alas, I've
been surprised I found in certain bookshops of Reformed Baptist
churches with self-esteem gospel We need to warn our people as
faithful watchmen of the evils of the self-esteem gospel. Secondly,
we need to warn them of the evils of the church marketing movement.
We need to identify this great enemy to all that is distinctively
supernatural and otherworldly and counter-culture in the biblical
gospel and in the community of the new humanity, the evils of
the church marketing movement, The idea that we must be and
we must have and we must promote a user-friendly product. There
must be nothing about us, individually or corporately, that makes any
sinner in any condition, from whatever background, under any
circumstances, feel the slightest twinge of discomfort. So, some
are told, don't bring your Bibles to Sunday services, because if
a visitor comes in who doesn't have a Bible, he doesn't feel
socially acceptable and he'll feel awkward. So don't bring
your Bibles to church. Oh yes, yes, don't bring your
Bibles to church. And of course, since a man standing
up here with a Bible and quoting texts and identifying sins and
crying out against them and talking about hell and judgment and error
and moral absolutes, why, that will just blow someone clean
out the back door five times faster than he came in. That
product stinks from a distance before you'll even look at it
and handle it and see if it feels good. He's going to chuck it.
Excuse me, Chuck. He's going to discard it. He's
going to discard it. And so we're told we must package
the gospel in a way that makes it smell good to the foul olfactory
nerves of the Adamic man. and must make it look good to
this distorted view of a blind sinner who sees no beauty in
Christ. And I'm not caricaturing. I've
done my homework. Can any of you question the legitimacy
of what I say? I'll take you to the sources.
God have mercy on us. If we do not warn our people,
because our people long to see growth and increase, and people
interested and excited about the gospel, as we were reminded
yesterday by Pastor Lamar, there is no true Christian who doesn't
want to be more greatly used in the salvation of sinners and
the edification of saints. But the question is this, how
are we to market the divinely given product? Is it in the language
of 2 Corinthians 1.12? Is it to be done with fleshly
wisdom? Paul says no. We did not minister
in fleshly wisdom. The weapons of our warfare are
not of the flesh. A fleshly adaptation of the gospel
and of Christian worship and of the Christian community adapted
to the sensibilities of a given market, whether it's yuppie-dum
or any other kind of dum. The evils of the church marketing
movement, my brethren, we must cry out and warn our people and
seek to preserve them from its influence. If we don't, serious
worship will be the first thing that will begin to erode in our
congregations. Serious God-centered worship
will begin to give way to a little more relaxed user-friendly climate
until you'll end up with the plastic, phony grin of a shiller. Oh, you lovely people. It's so
nice to have you here. How in God's name can rational
people do anything other than puke? But we'll end up there if we
bind One iota! And the pressure will be on your
people. They'll get bullied from other evangelicals. Say, hey,
we've grown 30% last year. How about you reform back as
well? Thank God we've seen three conversions. Three conversions. Your people begin to feel the
pressure and the reproach. If you guys would just loosen
up a bit. It's just a bit too high bound. Serious worship will
be the first to go. structured, intellectually demanding,
passionate, morally searching preaching will be the next thing
to go. And then you'll have nice laid-back Bible talkers who can
tie together a few verses, make you laugh, and just at the point
where you might get serious, relax you again with something
that brings a titter and a smile. In God's name, my brethren, be
watchmen on the Warn your people of the evils of the church marketing
movement. Thirdly, warn them of the evils
of psychologizing the Bible. Warn them of the evils of psychologizing
the Bible. What the Bible describes as sin
And my parents taught me were sins. And I was brought up believing
were sins are now syndromes. Lovely term. When He, the Spirit,
is come, He will reprove the world of syndromes. Not so reads
my Bible. He will reprove the world of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Sins are now syndromes
and functional disorders. What the Bible calls slavery
to sin are now addictive sicknesses. Drunkenness is a sickness. A man committed to chronic addiction
to pornography is not a slave to the sin of uncleanness. He has an addictive sexual disorder. Isn't that a lovely name for
a rotten, stinking, vile, filthy slavery to uncleanness? No wonder
there's no conviction. He can read his Bible, be not
deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with men, nor railers, and read all
of that and say, heh, doesn't speak to me. and talked about
an addictive disorder. Doesn't say anything to me. Brethren,
words carry concepts. This is why the scripture tells
us, hold fast, 2 Timothy 1.13, the form of sound words which
thou hast heard of me. Hold fast the form of sound words. 1 Corinthians 2, 12 and 13, Paul
says that things that were previously hidden and are now revealed,
he says, which things we speak not in words, which man's wisdom
teacheth but in words, which the Holy Spirit teacheth. Don't
you play light with God's words. Beware of the evil of psychologizing
the Bible. Disobedience to biblical norms
where husbands do not love their wives as Christ loved the church,
and wives will not submit in all things to their husbands.
These are now not homes where the word and law of God are defied. They are dysfunctional families. What's a dysfunctional family?
Well, anything you want to make it. When's the last time you
came under pungent, tear-wrenching, conviction for a dysfunction. I thought a dysfunction was when
I was throwing a ball and my shoulder went out or something
and it was out of joint and I had to go to the doctor and he put
it back in. I never got a conviction of sin. When a limb was not functioning
as it ought to, a mechanical breakdown, it hurt. I went to
a doctor and if I did it because I did something stupid, I might
confess to God my stupidity, but I didn't confess to God that
my arm wasn't functioning right. So if there's something in the
soul and in interpersonal relation that function, how can you feel
convicted about that? It's just a breakdown in the
system. Brethren, this is not playing
about words. This is not an oligarchy, a war
about words. This is preserving the vitals
of true and biblical Christianity. Warn your people of the evils
of psychologizing the Bible. warn them of the evils of politicization. I got it out. Better than ethnicity
yesterday. The evils of politicization of
the church's mission. And again I use the word, not
to use a big word, but because I want to condense the concept.
And by it I mean simply this. The church being urged to form
a power block for moral and ethical issues as church. And I'm amazed
at how many evangelical and reformed people have fallen prey to this
politicization of the church's mission. Find one directive from
one apostle for one rally to attack one evil in the massive
mountain of evils in the Roman Empire. I challenge you to find
one. Find one. And the evils were
great, from slavery by conquest, to abortion, infanticide, polygamy. Read Romans 1. No apostle in
the age when the Spirit of God most powerfully worked in bringing
some estimate, say what, one twentieth of the Roman Empire
to faith. If ever there was a time to organize
church into political power blocks, it was then when she was in her
pristine glory and power and had living apostles to tell us
how to do it. But what they said is, pray for
your rulers. And they knew who the scoundrels
were. The very one who wrote that would lose his head at the
edge of the sword of one of them. He said, pray for them. Peter,
who had known what it was to be abused by the semi-religious
civil authorities in Jerusalem, said, honor the king, obey governors,
honor to whom honor is due. You see, dear people, it looks
so impressive. You can stir up a bunch of people to go and picket
an abortion clinic. Try to get that same group of
people to get together for an hour of intense, fervent, gut-wrenching
prayer with the understanding they couldn't lay hold of God
until every issue that could be dealt with and should be dealt
with in the way of unconfessed sin was dealt with before they
could have dealings with God. For if I regard iniquity in my
heart, the Lord will not hear me. And that means, you see,
that if I'm to have a conscience void of offense to God and man,
I've got to get it in the only way God's provided it, and that's
in the path of repentance and faith, faith in the Jesus of
the Bible, who died once for all for sinners, the just and
the unjust. So I can't then pray with the
Roman Catholic who fumbles through her rosary and prays to Mary
and to Joseph. and who trust the sacrifice of
the Mass. I remember in this very building
some years ago discussing with an elder of a Reformed Baptist
Church why he should not be involved in a movement and in activities
that come under this category of seeking to form a power block
as church in carrying out a given mission. And I said, how would
you feel at your next gathering in front of that abortion clinic
If I came up to the 200 were there, Roman Catholics and Mormons
and all the rest, and I began to preach the gospel and lovingly
yet passionately showed from the Bible that the Roman Catholic
is an idolater if he's a true Roman Catholic. And that the
Mormon is an idolater! And no idolater shall enter the
kingdom! How would you like it if I busted
up your rally with some basic gospel street preaching? His
mouth was shut. Another cause had overshadowed
the gospel, but my Bible says, God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to come
to Rome, Paul says, not because there was a large and thriving
multi-ethnic church at the nerve centers of the Roman Empire in
order to politicize. No, no. He said, I want to preach
the gospel. Because the gospel is the dunamis
of God unto salvation. And the politicization of the
church is really a wretchedly eloquent testimony of unbelief
in the power of the gospel. And finally, my brethren, I urge
you as watchmen upon the walls, not only by the grace of God
to warn your people of the evils within in terms of what I have
called the self-esteem gospel, the church marketing movement,
the psychologizing of the Bible, the politicization of the church's
mission. And here I speak tenderly, but
I speak with constraint. The evils of a Laodicean spirit. We need to warn our people as
we warn ourselves of the evils of the Laodicean spirit. And
what do I mean by that? Just what Jesus said in Revelation
3, 14 and following, speaking to the church at Laodicea, he
says, this is your disposition and this is my response to it. Unto the angel of the church
in Laodicea write, These things saith the Amen, the faithful
and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know
thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert
cold or hot, so then because thou art lukewarm and neither
cold nor hot, literally I am about to puke you. When's the
last time you said, I got sick to my stomach and I spewed? You
said I vomited. I puked. It's the word used. The Lord
says, you make me nauseous. If only you were burning hot. I would find in you an answer
to my own zeal, which consumed me in the days of my flesh and
continues to burn upon the altars of my heart at the right hand
of my father. Zeal for his house eats me up. If you were cold, I'd be able
somehow to get you to see and to face the reality of how desperate
your state is, that because you're tepid, There's been a raising
of the temperature enough that there is no chilling blast coming
out of your life. But neither is there that fire
that is a dangerous, uncontrollable, and contagious element of religious
passion. And how was it manifested? He
describes it, verse 17, because thou sayest. He takes them to
task for their language, for remember the mouth is the echo
of the heart. I'm rich, and gotten riches, have need of nothing. I've become formed. My theology
is straight. I've become set in my ecclesiology. I've got our eldership in place,
and our deacons are functioning, and we have benevolence. Brethren,
in the light of this afternoon's discussion, I demean none of
those things. We better be able to say those things. But oh,
if we say them in this spirit, in the light of all of this,
there's nowhere to go. We've arrived. And those no longer
the plaintive cry about our leanness, no longer the earnest, passionate
pleading with God, the holy wrestlings that marked some of us in the
days when we didn't know our left hand from our right, theologically,
We knew what it was to lie on our faces half a night in hunger
for God, crying, Oh God, fill me with your spirit. Use me to
do something for the glory of the Christ who's captured my
heart. And we weren't satisfied. with
any present level of attainment in grace. We weren't satisfied
with any level of knowledge and understanding. We were an irritant
to every smug Christian that got around us. Some of you can
remember when that was true of you. Remember? When you were
an irritant to every smug Christian that got close to you? How long
has it been since you've been an irritant to anybody? Lukewarm
things, neither shocked with their coldness nor with their
heat. they create no reaction. Brethren, brethren, I beg of
you, I beg of you, ask God for an eye to perceive this horrible
enemy within the walls of Zion, this Laodicean spirit that manifests
itself in a smug self-contentedness and an ignorance of one's true
state, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked." Someone says, could that be said
of a true believer? I counsel thee to buy of me gold
refined by the fire. Verse 19, as many as I love I
reprove and chasten. This is Jesus speaking to his
own people. And I plead with you, my brethren,
that with passion and earnestness and at whatever cost to your
own personal reviving and quickening be a true watchman crying out
to your people with respect to the evils of a Laodicean. Now in conclusion, let me say
I am not pontificating in saying you must, if you're going to
be a faithful pastor functioning in due proportion as a watchman,
bring a series of messages on all ten things that I've addressed.
I'm not saying that. I have no right to say it. I
have no desire to say it. I haven't said it. Whatever your
method may be, In whatever way you and your fellow overseers
judge to be in the best interest of the well-being of your flock
and all of its peculiar needs, surely, brethren, over the course
of the coming months and several years, Unless God is pleased
to do something unusual in mercy or in judgment, these evils will
continue to threaten Zion's well-being as they come from the world,
and threaten her health and usefulness as they come from within her
own ranks. And may it not be said of us,
and this is my final text, Isaiah chapter 56, May it not be said
of us, O my fellow watchmen, Isaiah 56 and verse 10, His watchmen
are blind. Think of it. A man up on the
wall, placed there by his fellow citizens for their safety and
security, and he peers out to the horizon with sightless eyes. What imagery? His watchmen are
blind. They are all without knowledge. They have no discernment. They
can't tell an enemy from a friend. And God descends to insulting
imagery. They are all dumb dogs that cannot
bark. You plunked out $500 for a purebred
German shepherd whose roar ought to make the rafters shake when
a burglar comes near the house. And all he does is sit there
and lick the back of his hand. Doesn't even bark! And he says
this of the watchmen! His watchmen are blind! They're
without knowledge! Dumb dogs that cannot bark! Dreaming, lying down, loving
to suffer. May God grant that not one of
those characteristics will be true of us. But may we be his
watchmen who see with spirit-wrought 2015 vision, who have discernment
and knowledge hammered out upon the anvil of the Word of God
and close dealings with God in the theater of our own hearts.
But whatever else is true of us in all the rough edges and
all of the things about our preaching and pastoral work that cause
us shame, may we at least be able to say, I'm a dog that can
bark in the presence of a burglar. And whatever else we can say,
We say, oh God, at least I don't daydream sitting on the wall,
taking siestas every other hour on the hour, loving to slumber. Oh God, I'm seeking to keep my
spiritual eyes free of the grit and the dust of this world. And I'm seeking, O God, to keep
my mind honed by my Bible, daily feeding on the book, that my
moral discernment might be kept keen in an age of abounding wickedness. And, O Lord, I wait upon you
for moral courage, that when I see an enemy, I'll bark. My bark may be unrefined and
rough. But the person delivered by my
bark will never fault me for the quality of the bark. They'll
bless me for the deliverance that it wrought. My dear brethren,
in the name of our blessed Lord Jesus, may we be faithful watchmen
to the house of Israel, to the glory of God, and to the good
of our people.