My brethren, the saints at Spring
Lake said to tell you all hello. We had good services there Tuesday
night and last night. And they said tell you all hello. Let's turn to Isaiah chapter
56. Now, you recall in Isaiah 56,
the Lord was declaring how that He gathers His people. He declared how He's going to
gather His people who come out of the Gentile nations, all the
nations in the earth, calling them the strangers. He declared
how He's going to call out His elect from among the Jews, and
that He's the one that's going to do the gathering. And then
he said, And yet I will gather those to those that are already
gathered, those that are to be gathered. I'm going to gather
all my people. There are not any going to be
left. And then in verse 9, he begins to speak about what shall
become of those who are not gathered, who are not gathered. And he
says in verse 9, Now this is the Lord Jesus, the head of the
church, And He commands, and He calls, and He says in verse
9, All ye beasts of the field, come to devour. Yea, all ye beasts
in the forest. Now the beasts of the field represent
the enemies of men. It represents the devil
and the host of unseen enemies and the principalities and powers
that we war against. They're all at Christ's command. When He tells them what to do,
that's what they do. And He tells them to come. Christ
declared that the house of Israel to them, He said, your house
is left to you desolate. And then 70 years later, in 70
AD, Christ was the one who sent Rome to destroy Jerusalem. That
was Christ who did that. They were not without warning.
God told them through the prophets that He'd destroy them in Deuteronomy
28. He told them in Jeremiah 12,
He told them in Ezekiel 29 and Ezekiel 39. Not to mention all
of the prophecies like this one where He's spoken of a future
judgment to come for those not found in Christ. Now it doesn't
just apply to the political house of Israel. It applies to everybody
who in that day when Christ has gathered the last of His elect
together, It applies to all those who are left outside of Christ. Notice here, the beast of the
field come to devour the beast of the forest. Take the word
yea out. That's added by the translators.
Read it again. All ye beasts of the field come
to devour all ye beasts in the forest. The beasts of the forest
are the false preachers and their followers. A false believer and
a false preacher. Why are they called beasts of
the forest? Because they pretend to be the trees of righteousness. They pretend to be the planting
of God. That's what they profess to be.
But here's the problem. And here's what... This is where
the fault lies. And this is why those followers
of those false preachers don't have this warning. This is why
that the beasts will come and devour them without warning. This is why, right here, verse
10. His watchmen are blind. That man who's sitting under
a false gospel, his watchmen are blind. They're blind. They're all ignorant. They're
all dumb dogs. They cannot bark. sleeping, lying
down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which
can never have enough. They are shepherds that cannot
understand. They all look to their own way. everyone for his gain from his
quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch
wine and we will fill ourselves with strong drink and tomorrow
shall be as this day and much more abundant. What is a watchman? Here's the picture that when
they would build a city and they put walls around the city and
they put watchtowers And watchmen would be in those watchtowers.
And the watchmen, together with guard dogs, their job was whenever
beasts of the field would come, whenever enemies would approach,
enemy armies, they were to sound the alarm. They were to blow
the trumpet to let everybody in the city know danger is approaching. Danger is approaching. Flee to
a refuge. Danger is coming. Well, Christ's
true preachers, those that He sends, are watchmen. They're
watchmen. We sound the alarm through the
gospel. You've heard this warning of
judgment to come many times because that's the trumpet we blow. It's
a constant warning. We warn of the coming judgment.
We warn that you need a righteousness that only Christ can provide. We warn of false preachers and
of false ways that will do harm to you. That's what a true watchman
does. Now, we have five characteristics
here of false watchmen and their followers. False watchmen. And we're going to contrast the
false watchmen with Christ, who is our chief watchman, and with
those that He sends to be watchmen over His church, His city. First of all, the false watchman
has no spiritual discernment. Verse 10, he says, his watchmen
are blind. They are all ignorant. All. He says, they are all ignorant.
All false watchmen are spiritually blind and are spiritually ignorant. All of them. Their blindness
is obvious whenever they major on the minors and minor on the
major. Turn with me to Matthew 23. Hold
your place here and let's go to Matthew 23. This is what shows
us those that are spiritually blind. The Lord said in Matthew 23,
23, He said, Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for
you pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cumin, and have omitted the
weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith."
These are the weightier matters of the law. Judgment, mercy,
and faith. These ought you to have done.
These weightier matters is what you should have focused on. These
you ought to have done. And not to leave the other undone.
If you focus on these and have done these, you won't leave the
other undone. Ye blind guides. See what he
calls them? You blind guides. Which strain at a gnat and swallow
a camel. Go back to Micah. Micah. Just go back to the first of
Matthew and work your way back and you'll come four or five
books back, you'll come to Micah. False preachers use the law unlawfully. That's what he's saying here.
That's what the Lord was saying. That's what made it clear they
were blind. They were using the law unlawfully.
They taught that sinners must pay the law's demands. And that's
true. Sinners must pay. He said, you
pay tithe of Cuman and Anise. And that's one word showing that they taught
that you must pay. That you must pay the law what
it demands. And you must. But were they where
they taught falsehood was they taught sinners that they could
pay the law's demands. And they taught it by making
it matters of lesser importance. They taught that righteousness
is in things like tithing. and in keeping the Sabbath day,
and in keeping the Ten Commandments in the letter of the law outwardly. That's what they were teaching.
And they were teaching sinners that they could obtain a righteousness
thereby. But they omitted the weightier
matters. When the Lord spoke of judgment
and mercy and faith, He was speaking about Micah 6 and what we see
right here. Let's work our way to it, Micah
6. Let's start reading in verse 6. Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord? Now here's the question. Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before
Him with burnt offerings? With calves of a year old? Will
the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams? Or with ten thousands
of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression? the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul. Is that going to please God?
Is that going to satisfy the demands of the law? He hath showed
thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of
thee. Now here's what the Lord requires.
Here's the weightier matters that the blind watchman omit
to do justly with thy God. and to love mercy with thy God,
and to walk humbly with thy God." Judgment. He said, you've omitted
judgment. Here he says, to do justly with
thy God. That's to confess your sin. To confess what David said when
he said, Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this
evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be just when you condemn
me. That's to do justly with God.
To come before confessing your sin, your total inability to
keep righteousness or obtain righteousness. That's to do justly
with God. To love mercy with God is to
confess your need of God's mercy. That you need God to withhold
from you what you deserve. That you need God to be gracious
to you, to give you freely. not based on anything in you.
That's to do mercy. That's to love mercy with God.
And then he says, faith. You've omitted faith. And that's
what he means here when he says to walk humbly with your God.
It means to come before God with a broken and a contrite heart,
casting all your care upon the Lord Jesus Christ, confessing
He's your only righteousness, He's your only sanctification,
He's your only acceptance with God. That's to love, to walk
humbly with your God. And He said, this ought you to
have done. Now, if they had been teaching
these things, they wouldn't have been blind guides. If they'd have been teaching
this, they'd have been preaching Christ, the gospel. They'd have
been using the law lawfully. And He said, this you ought to
have done. And if you, themselves, if they
had done this, if they had believed on Christ, He said, then the
other you would not have left undone. Because how do we establish
the whole law of God? Through faith in Christ. The
other wouldn't be left undone. And not only that, when He gives
a new heart, you love the law of God. You see it's holy and
it's just and good. You don't pretend that you can
keep it in righteousness, but you see all the commandments
of God are right and they're holy. But Christ said, blind
watchman, instead strain at a gnat. What does that mean, strain at
a gnat? They're straining at the least little thing, and that
is they're straining to make men keep the outward obedience
of the law. That's what they're striving
for. Just straining and straining and straining. And he said, that's
like a little gnat being in your water, and you're just straining
to get that little gnat out and thinking that's going to make
you righteous. And he says, and while they're doing that, they're
swallowing a camel. another unclean animal, omitting
judgment and mercy and faith in God in Christ Jesus. So Christ
says those watchmen are blind. They're ignorant. They're ignorant.
But look at John chapter 9. John chapter 9. But the blind
watchmen reject Christ's testimony against them. You and I rejected it. We rejected
Christ's testimony against us. And they reject Christ's testimony
against them. And they will. They will. They'll go on doing it unless
God breaks their heart. Look here. This is where Christ
healed that blind man. Christ said he was born blind
that the works of God might be made manifest. And after he healed
this man, Christ made this statement in John 9, 39. Jesus said, for
judgment I've come into this world, that they which see not
might see, and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees, these
are some of those false watchmen, they always deny the testimony
of Christ against them. He called them blind guides.
And here he makes this statement. Now, if Christ the Lord had called
you blind, And then he sits here and makes this statement. I'm
coming to this world that they which see not might see, and
they which see might be made blind. Now here's what he said. Some
of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words and they
said unto him, Are we blind also? He said, Are you trying to say
that we're blind? Here we are. Look at the following
we have. Look at the massive temple we've
built. Look at all the sacrifices we
make. Look at all the benevolent deeds
we do. Are you saying we're blind? This is what the Lord said. Jesus
said unto them, If you were blind, you should have no sin. But now
you say we see, therefore your sin remains. I didn't hear them say, we see,
did you? That's exactly what they were
saying. When they said, are you calling us blind? They were saying,
we see. Why do you think it is that I
don't stand up here and preach and give you all these little
lesser matters to do? I preach to you in hopes that
you'll find out that you're spiritually blind. If you're spiritually blind,
if you're spiritually blind, if you need Christ to give you
sight, and you go to God, humbled, come to Christ to save you, if
you can say, yes, I'm blind, yes, I need Christ to save me,
you know why you can say that? because He's already begun to
work a grace in your heart. That's why. But if a person says,
no, I don't need Christ to see. I see it. I understand it. I
gave myself the understanding. I studied it out. I don't need
Christ to make me righteous. I just need Him to make up the
difference. That's all. He says, Because you say that
you see, He said, your sin remains. That person who could say, I'm
blind, He said, your sin is gone. Christ has put it away. He brought
you to Him and He's put it away. He's given you sight to see,
He's put it away. But those who say, I see, by
my will, by my power, He said, your sin remains. Your sin remains. And concerning blind watchmen,
this is what Christ said about them. Leave them alone. Leave
them alone. In Matthew 15, 12, the disciples
came to him and they said, Did you know the Pharisees got mad
when they heard what you were saying? They got mad about what
you were saying. And he answered and said, Now
listen to this, Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted
shall be rooted up. Oh, I know they're calling themselves
the trees. They're calling them the planting
of the Lord. He said, they're beasts of the
forest. That's what they are. They're beasts, they're natural
brute beasts of the forest. And every plant that my father
has not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind lead the blind,
both shall fall into the ditch. Do you know that the only sinners
who will follow blind watchmen are blind sinners? A sinner that's been given sight
to see Christ, he can't hear his Savior blasphemed. He can't
hear his Savior and his Father spoken evil of and brought down
and belittled. He can't stand that. Only blind
sinners follow blind watchmen. That's what he said there. They
be blind leaders of the blind. That's who they're leading. And
he said, And if the blind lead the blind, both are going to
fall into the ditch. Both are going to be devoured
in that day when Christ says, Come and devour. Both will be
devoured. Alright, now it's sad to say
this, but this is true. In the end, when Christ has gathered
all of his sheep, in the end, most are going to be like most
in Israel were. Most people that are in religion
today are going to be like most that were in Israel. They were
devoured. Their house was left desolate.
The Lord said, many shall come unto me and say, Lord, Lord,
do we not do many wonderful works? And I'll say, depart from me.
I never knew you. That's sad, but that's true. Brethren, Christ
Jesus, though, Christ, He's the all-seeing. He said they're blind. He's the all-seeing. And He said,
and they're ignorant. He's all-knowing. Christ is wisdom. He's light and He's wisdom. That's who our chief watchman
is. He's the shepherd and bishop
of our souls. That's who he is. He said in
Ezekiel 37, 17, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the
house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word at my
mouth and give them warning from me. God made his son the son
of man. He made him to be a watchman. God made him the watchman. He
chose him before the world began when there was no one but God.
He chose his son and said, this is going to be my watchman. And
he chose him to be the watchman over God's true spiritual Israel. He said, I've made you a watchman
over the house of Israel, over God's true spiritual Israel.
If you read the first part of Isaiah 56 again, you'll see that's
what he's saying. I'm the chief watchman. I'm gathering
them all, every one of them. And Christ hears the word from
God's mouth and he brings it to his people. He said, hear
the word at my mouth and give them warning for me. When Christ
walked this earth, He said, the words that my Father gives me,
those are the words that I speak unto you. And then Christ gives
the warning to His people through under watchmen that Christ has
sent who He says to them, I've made you a watchman. And I've
made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Now you hear the words
from my mouth and you give them to my people. That's what Christ
says to his under watchmen. Look at Acts 20 in verse 28. Paul had called all the watchmen
together at Ephesus. A true watchman. And he said
this in Acts 20 verse 28, Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made
you overseers. That's what a watchman is. That's
a watchman. A description of a watchman.
The Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church
of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know
this..." Why does the church need watchmen? He said, I know
this, "...after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock." You know, The only way they're
going to be able to do that is for Christ to say, come ye beasts
of the field to devour. That's pleasant to know that
Christ is ruling everything. The wolves that are coming and
entering in, it's just they're under Christ's control. And He
says this, they won't spare the flock. And He says, also of your
own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away
disciples after them. Therefore, watch. Watch. That's the pastor's job. His job is to oversee the flock,
to feed the flock of God with the Word of God and to watch
for the wolves. That's the two-fold job of the
pastor. And to do as Christ did when He walked this earth, He
stood between the flock and the wolves. That's the job of his
underwatchman. Therefore, watch and remember
that by the space of three years, I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears. That's what I'm trying to do
right here. I'm trying to warn you. Every day, every night that
we meet together, I'm warning you. I've not ceased to warn
you for seven years of this night and day. Now, the problem with
the false watchmen is that they and their churches made them
watchmen. That's the problem. They and
their churches made them watchmen. In Jeremiah 23, 32, the Lord
said, Behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams, saith
the Lord, and do tell them and cause my people to err by their
lies and by their likeness. You ever notice how light a false
gospel is. It's light. They don't talk about
righteousness and judgment and justice. It's just these lesser
matters that Christ talked about. He says, Yet I sent them not,
nor commanded them, therefore they shall not profit this people
at all, saith the Lord. They just won't profit. Only
Christ makes true watchmen. The Holy Ghost has made you overseers,
Paul said. Only God makes them. A seminary
doesn't make them, or as Brother Rupert calls it, a cemetery.
They don't make them. And men don't make themselves
watchmen. God makes them watchmen. Christ
sends them. The Holy Spirit has made you
watchmen. So that's the truth of the matter.
Now secondly, let's go back. That's the first characteristic.
False watchmen are blind, spiritually blind. He said in another place,
to the law and to the testimony. If they don't use the law and
they don't preach the gospel, if they don't use the law lawfully
and they don't preach the gospel in spirit and in truth, he said,
it's because there's no light in them. There's no light in
them. Make excuses, whatever you want to. Show respect to
persons if you want to. What's just and equitable is
to say, they just don't have any light. That's what God said. All right, now secondly, because
the false watchmen are blind and ignorant, they don't blow
the trumpet and sound the alarm. Look here now, Isaiah 56.10. This is the second characteristic.
They do not warn people. They don't blow the trumpet.
They are all dumb dogs. That means mute, silent. They cannot bark. They have no
ability. Sleeping, lying down, loving
to slumber. The purpose of the watchman,
like a guard dog, is to sound the alarm. To sound the alarm
when the enemy is coming. That's the purpose of a guard
dog and of a watchman. And the false preachers, he says,
are all silent, mute dogs. They can't bark. You get this
picture. This picture came to my mind
of an old house, you know, and underneath it just these old
hound dogs laying there in the dust, just sound asleep, just
snoring. And a robber comes up and just
right over the top of them, just tiptoe, right up the stairs,
right in the house, robs the whole house, comes right out,
and they still sound asleep. That's the picture. That's what
a false watchman is. Sleeping, he says. Sleeping. Sleeping means something else
as well, too. It means they dream. It means
they dream. They're dreamers. Peter called
them filthy dreamers. What does that mean? Create doctrines
of men? And it's just subtle. It's slowly,
you know, their preachers preach this, and so then they preached
it, and down the line they'll preach it, and it's just, it
becomes, well, this is the gospel. And you look it up in the Word
of God, where is it? And it's not in the Word of God. Traditions
of men. Things about God, things about
salvation that are just as fictional as a dream. They're just not
in the Word. And he says here, lying down.
That includes their bed of spiritual adultery and fornication. It includes the way they prostitute
themselves to the highest bidder. Let me show you that back in
our text. Isaiah, look down at chapter 57 and look at verse
3. He says, draw near, hither ye
sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore,
He's saying, draw near, you sons of the sorceress. He's saying,
you're the seed, you're the children of the adulterer and the whore. He's saying, this false watchman
and this false church, you're the children of it. That's who
he's calling near. Verse 7. Upon a lofty and high
mountain hast thou set thy bed. Even thither wentest thou up
to offer sacrifice. Behind the doors also, and the
post, hast thou set up thy remembrance. Now here's what they did. Here's
what... This is all pictures to show
us what a false gospel is. Here's what it is. Thou hast
discovered thyself to another than me. You've prostituted yourself,
you've adultered, you've hired yourself out for adultery to
another than me, God said, and are gone up. Thou hast enlarged
thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them, and lovest their bed
where thou sawest it. Let me put that in plain as I
can put it. They don't preach the truth.
They wouldn't dare stand up and just preach the truth, flat out
preach the truth in clear terms. But they'll prostitute themselves
to anybody that'll pay the price. Anybody that'll pay the price.
They'll unite with vain religion. Because they're trying to build
a bigger church. Are they trying to build a bigger name? Are they
trying to just be bigger? And in their process of trying
to exalt their bed on the highest mountain, they've prostituted
themselves to the lowest hell. That's what he's saying. And
you've revealed yourself to another than me, he said. Now look at
this. Loving to slumber. Why do they
love to slumber? Why are they so tired? He tells
us that too, because they're tired from all this prostitution. Tired themselves out. Look at
verse 10. Isaiah 57, 10. Thou art wearied
in the greatness of thy way. Yet saidst thou not, there's
no hope. You would not, you could not
bark that word. Couldn't say there's no hope.
Couldn't give the warning and say there's no hope. Thou hast
found the life of thine hand. the God of your hand, the life
of your hand. That's what he's saying. Therefore,
thou was not grieved. He didn't mourn your sin. You
didn't have to confess your sin and your guilt. You know, I might
have cried some crocodile tears to impress everybody with how
contrite you are and just so proud of that. But he's saying
here that you hadn't been really grieved. You haven't been smitten
in your heart. You haven't been brought... When
a man's been smitten in his heart, he'll say, I'm nothing. He'll confess, Christ had...
God had to choose me. He had to come and redeem me.
He had to come make me righteous. He had to come sanctify me himself
because I hated the true and living God. But he says, you
are grieved. Why? You found life of your own
hand, he said. Look at this. And of whom hast
thou been afraid, or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast
not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? Have not I held my peace even
of old, and thou fearest me not? You haven't, he said, you've
done all this in my midst, in front of me, in my face, and
you haven't even been afraid of the living God, he said. Look
at this, verse 12. I'll declare thy righteousness
and thy works, they shall not profit thee. Brethren, flee from
idolatry. Flee from the idolatry of men
who tell you that salvation is in a man's decision or in a man's
works in any shape, form or fashion. Flee from that. Flee from it.
Flee that message that tells you that sanctification is by
the works of your outward obedience to the letter of the law. Flee
that message. That's a lie. It's just a lie. Flee those who prostitute the
word to gain the rewards of men. That's what you see. Most people
won't stand up. Most false watchmen won't stand
up and preach the truth because they're afraid they're going
to lose their salary and their house and their whatever else. God said, I'll declare thy righteousness
and thy works. They shall not profit thee. But
you know what Christ gives His watchmen? Christ gives His watchmen
the tongue of the learned. that they might speak that which
they do know, and speak it with certainty and clarity. Christ
is a faithful husband. He's a faithful husband. He's
not going to allow His watchmen to be adulterers. He's just not
going to allow it. He's going to make His people
a chaste virgin before Him. He's made His everlasting vow
in our heart, promising His people that He's redeemed us, that He
will not leave us, and He will not forsake us. He promised that
just as he's seated at God's right hand and cannot be moved
and cannot be charged and cannot be changed from where he is and
how God receives him and delights in him, that so of his people.
And that's what He makes you know in your heart. Like a husband
vows to his wife when you're married. That's what Christ vows
to us when He comes in the in the power of His grace. And He's
told us that as we go forth and preach this word, He tells His
watchmen, and I'm going to make the word effectual in the hearts
of my people just like I've made it effectual in your heart. And
so His watchmen are not silent. They're not silent. They stand
up and they preach the gospel. He's given us the words of eternal
life. Christ did that. And because
Christ gave the words and sent us, we preach the words that
He gives and not our words. We're not dreaming. We're not
sleeping. Christ's watchman must sound
the alarm. They must do it because Christ
commands it. Our master commands it. The one that we're an ambassador
for commands it. Look back at Isaiah 62 and look
at verse 6. He says, I've set watchmen upon
thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace
day nor night. That's different from those other
watchmen, isn't it? They won't preach the Gospel. He said, and
my people won't be quiet about it. My watchmen. Ye that make mention of the Lord,
that's who his watchmen are. Keep not silent and give him
no rest till he establish, until he make Jerusalem a praise in
the earth. Through the gospel, his watchmen
sound the trumpet, speaking of the Lord. We're speaking of the
Lord. We're speaking of the Lord all the time. Why is it? And
I've had people ask me this. People say, why won't my preacher
preach the gospel that you preach? Well, the Lord said here, they
can't. They can't bark. They can't do it. Until Christ
gives them the words of eternal life, they can't do it. But when
He gives them the words of eternal life, they cannot not do it.
No man can call Jesus Lord but by the Spirit of God. And no
man can, speaking by the Spirit of God, can call Him a curse.
He just can't do it. It's an impossibility. And so
we speak salvation is of the Lord. We speak that God the Father
chose His people. We speak that Christ the Son
redeemed His people. We speak that God the Holy Spirit
regenerates His people. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
our message. And we preach to sleeping dead
sinners. And this is what we say to them.
Awake thou that sleepest. Why in the world would you tell
a dead sinner awake? He can't wake up. We say awake
thou that sleepest. And that's not our only message
though. That's the message of a false watchman if it stops
right there. A false watchman will tell you, now wake up. You
do and he'll give you steps A, B and C on how to wake yourself
up. and make yourself be born again. That's not what we preach. Awake thou that sleepest. And
we preach this too. And Christ is the one who's going
to give you the light. We preach and tell you awake,
live. And while we do it, we say Christ
is the one who's going to make you live and give you light.
We preach this to believers. Paul said, knowing the time,
that now it's high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our
salvation nearer than when we believed. That's our message. Awake. We don't sleep and we
tell another sinner, don't you sleep either. Wake up and watch,
because the Lord's coming. Our Savior's coming. Watch. Be
ready. Be watchful. He's a watchman
also sound the alarm too. They also sound the alarm. Look
at Philippians 3. There's this notion that's been
spread amongst religion that it's uncharitable and it's not
loving if you tell the truth about false preachers. You ought
not to do that. We're all going for the common
goal and let's just love one another and be charitable to
one another. Well, the Lord sent Isaiah with that message of our
text right here. And He's putting it pretty plain
about false preachers. And Paul put it pretty plain
too. Because this is what a watchman's supposed to do. He's supposed
to bark and he's supposed to declare the danger. Look here. Philippians 3.2. Beware of dogs, Paul said. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers. Beware of the concision. They
always want to cut something out. Cut this out, cut that out,
cut that out. You'll be godly then. Cut this,
cut that, cut that, and you'll be sanctified then. That'll be
holy. Paul said, here's godliness,
here's holiness right here. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. Now that's a true Jew right there. But he said beware of dogs, didn't
he? He warned them about false religion. He warned them about
it. That's what God's watchmen do. Christ's watchmen do. And
as we preach to His people, we give Christ no rest, praying
continually that He'll establish and make Jerusalem a praise in
the earth. Because only He can. Only He can. And Christ, our
Chief Watchman, He's not only able to speak. Those dumb dogs,
they can't bark. Christ is not only able to speak,
He's able to speak effectually through His Watchman, through
His Gospel, into the heart of His people and accomplish His
Word every place that He sends it. He's able to do it. He's
able to do it. If He can speak to the beasts
of the field and tell them to come and they come, He'd speak
in the heart of a dead sinner and tell him to awake and he'll
wake up. That's our watchman. That's our
chief watchman, our bishop and our savior. Men can only speak
what they're able to speak. Men can only speak what they're
able to speak. The only reason Christ's true
watchmen are able to speak the truth is because we've experienced
the mercy and power of Christ in our hearts. It's only because
He's given us the words. That's the only reason. The only
way. Alright. Now here's the third characteristic
of a false watchman. Back in our text. They're covetous. They're covetous. Verse 11. They are greedy dogs which can
never have enough. They are shepherds that cannot
understand. They all look to their own way. Every one for
his gain from his quarter. Greedy dogs never have enough
and the fruit that they bear, the followers are just like them.
And here is the problem. They are greedy for the glory
of God. They want their choice. to be
the end all be all. Their choice gives their God
permission. And they make the blood of their Jesus effectual.
They give their God, the Holy Spirit, permission to rebirth
them again. And that's why they never have
enough. They don't have enough fig leaves.
They don't have enough righteousness. They don't have enough holiness.
They don't have enough works. They don't ever have enough.
They never have enough. They can't understand, it says,
because they all look to their own way instead of to Christ's
way. And they're doing it for His gain instead of for the glory
of God in Christ. The reason I don't give you a
list of things to do like other churches do and try to tell you
this is your sanctification or this is your righteousness is
because I want to preach Christ's works to you. Because as long
as you're looking to your own way, you'll never have enough
and you'll never be satisfied. But when Christ turns you to
Him, you'll be satisfied. He said, let your conversation
be without covetousness. be content with such things as
you have for he said I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee so
that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper I will not fear
what man shall do unto me and that's why we're not afraid to
speak the truth of Christ if y'all want this won't happen
to you because the Lord has given you a heart to believe but if
all of a sudden everybody here turned your back on me and said
we don't believe this and you kicked me out I'm not afraid
that I'm gonna heard or be, I'm fine. The Lord's on his throne.
He's going to provide everything. He'll provide everything. That's
what makes this preacher able to stand up and preach. He really
believes God. He really believes Him. I have
enough in Him. And we want His glory to be the
glory. Not ours. He chose us. He redeemed
us. He regenerated us. He preserves
us. He grows us. He's going to resurrect
us. And He's going to glorify us.
Not unto us. Not unto us, O Lord, but unto
Thy name give the glory. We want Him to have the glory.
Now look at this last thing. This last thing. They keep the
people drunk on the wine of Babylon's fornication. He said, verse 12,
Come ye, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong
drink, and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.
Now look what he said. This is the false watchman. He
says, Come ye, I will, and we will. And thus they drank that
hundred-proof bottle of of Will Works religion and stay drunk
all the time. Stay drunk all the time. And
they say, tomorrow we'll get up and it'll be just like today.
We'll tempt God tomorrow just like we did today. We'll make
converts tomorrow and we'll make them two-fold more the child
of hell tomorrow just like we did today. We'll go on making
it more firm and more sure that we're going to be damned to hell
for eternity and turned over to reprobation just like we did
today. Be sober. This is what God's
Watchman said. Be sober. Be filled with the
Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit. For
what is your life? It's a vapor. Seek the Lord while
He may be found. Call on Him while He's near.
Now's the time. Don't count on tomorrow because
He might not come. Seek Him now. Go to Him now. Call on Him now. Jonathan Edwards
said every one of us, that sinner that doesn't have Christ, he
said he's like just hanging by a little thin spider's web over
the fires of hell. All God's got to do is just cut
the cord. Flee to Christ now. Now. Now. Then tomorrow won't be like today.
Then tomorrow you'll have righteousness. You'll have holiness. Tomorrow you'll be accepted of
God and forever. I pray that's a blessing. Let's
thank God for His watchmen. Lord God, we thank You that You've
provided for Your church, that You've sent preachers after Your
own heart to feed us with knowledge and understanding. Lord, we thank
You that You've, speaking through Your preachers, that You keep
us and that You grow us and You warn us and You robe us. You
provide everything we need. Thank You, Father. Thank You
for Christ, our watchman, our bishop and our shepherd. Lord,
You've promised You'll never leave us nor forsake us. What
a great blessing. We pray, Father, You'll bless
the Word to one of Your chosen sheep Christ now come forth and
speak into their hearts and give them eyes to see. Make them be
members of your true body. Make them see that they are and
see that they have been from eternity. We pray it in Christ's
name, Lord. Amen.