Let us turn again to God's Word. And I direct you this evening
to words that we find in the book of Proverbs. In the book
of Proverbs chapter 22 and verse 28. Proverbs 22, 28. Remove not the
ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. Remove not the ancient
landmark which thy fathers have set and I want to take up that
theme then of the ancient landmark the ancient landmark when they came into the possession
of that land of promise we were reading of it back in Deuteronomy
27 and how the curses were to be
pronounced but also the blessings curses
where they were disobedient to God and to God's commandments
and statutes and precepts the blessings as they sought to walk
in the path of obedience but as they entered into that land
that he had promised to their fathers they had to divide it
and they were to divide it by lots and there in Joshua chapter
13 verses 7 and 8 and again at the beginning of chapter 14 we
read of how they went about that task of dividing the land amongst
all the tribes and all the peoples and each one then of the children
of Israel would have his allotted plot in that land that was flowing
with milk and with honey and they must always be careful to
observe those ancient landmarks or boundaries as we read here
in the margin remove not the ancient bounds it says in the
margin which thy fathers have set and it was important of course
when it came to the matter of the widow and the fatherless
that they were not in any way to be cheated out of what was
their lawful possession God Himself takes care of the fatherless. And they are reminded of that.
We're reminded of that. Here in chapter 23, the following
chapter, verse 10, remove not, it says, the old landmark. And
enter not into the fields of the fatherless, for their Redeemer
is mighty. He shall please their cause with how they were to respect then,
all those bounds, all those various landmarks. And again in that
portion that we read, Deuteronomy 27, 17, Cursed be he that removeth
his neighbor's landmark, and all the people shall say, Amen. And again in the Book of the
Prophets, in Hosea chapter 5 and verse 10, It says, the princes
of Judah were like them that removed the bowels. Therefore I will pour out my
wrath upon them like water. All those who dared to remove
the bowels, dared to intrude, dared to disregard the ancient
landmark. Well this is what is being spoken
of here in the word of our text. Remove not the ancient landmark
which thy fathers have set. But what is the spiritual significance
of these words? When we come to scripture we
We trust we want to understand some spiritual lesson. What is
it that we can learn then from what is said here by the wise
man Solomon? One of his wise sayings. So I want to speak tonight more
particularly of the spiritual significance of the ancient landmarks. The spiritual significance of
the ancient landmarks. And how we have to be mindful
of the fact of the importance of sound doctrine and the importance
of a right experience and practice of that sound doctrine. Think of the language that we
find when Paul addresses himself to Timothy in those pastoral
epistles there in the second letter to Timothy and the opening
words of the fourth chapter, he says, Charge! I charge thee
therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom,
preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, But after their
own loss shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears,
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall
be turned unto fibres. men will turn from the old paths,
turn from the ancient landmarks, and want something different,
something new, something novel. Like those Athenians that the
Apostle speaks of in Acts 17, always looking for some new thing,
disregarding them. of the ancient landmarks, the
great truths of the everlasting gospel. Again there in that same
second epistle to Timothy in chapter 3 and verse 5 we read
of some having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.
They might still maintain the form, they have some respect
for the ancient landmark. but they know nothing of the
power of that Gospel. And it's not that the truth that
we see in that hymn of John Berridge that we were just singing, 169.
We want more than doctrine in our heads, in our minds. We want
it to be that that is food and sustenance to our souls. We want
to derive some spiritual benefit from our consideration of the
Word of God. So, thinking of the ancient landmarks,
I want to mention certain truths, certain doctrines that are so
vitally important. First of all, of course, there
is the doctrine of scripture itself. Isn't that one of the
ancient landmarks? What is our authority? Well,
it's to the law and to the testament. says Isaiah, if they speak not
according to this Word, it is because there is no light in
them. And what is the doctrine of Scripture? Well, we believe that it is God's
Word. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, says Paul. Literally all Scripture is the
breathings of God. It's God breathed. Holy men of
God, says Peter, they spake as they were moved, as they were
borne along by the Spirit of God, not speaking their own words,
but speaking the very words of God. And I think I've said before,
that's an interesting word that we find there in 2 Peter 1.21. Moved. It's the same word that we find
in Acts 27 verses 13 and 17, that great wind, that Paul and
the mariners experience as he's being transported from Jerusalem
to Rome, and this great storm brews up, and though they're
experienced sailors, they can do nothing against the elements
and they have to simply commit the vessel to the wind and to
the waves. And twice we read how they leave
the vessel to drive, that's the word that's used, and the vessel
that they're on board of is driven along They have no control over
the vessel. Well, it's the same word, exactly
the same word that Peter uses with regards to those holy men
of God. They spake as they were driven, borne along, carried
along by the Spirit of God. They're not speaking their own
words. And so we say that this book, when we think of the original
autographs, the Old Testament in the Hebrew, the New Testament
in the Greek, the very words are the words of God. It is inspired
in heaven. Inspired in every part of it.
Verbally inspired that the very words of God intended to use
to convey to us his precious truth. But how the doctrine of
scripture is constantly under assault in the 19th century there
were those so-called higher critics who came to the Word of God and
particularly to the Old Testament and they decided that it was
full of myths and fables And they said, well, what have we
got to do? We've got to demythologize the Bible. We've got to take
away these stories, these fantasies. We have to try to understand
what lesson is being taught here. And so they discredited so much
of the historic happenings that are recorded with regards to
the account, the biblical account of creation, There's so much
else that we read of there. The book of Jonah and how Jonah
is swallowed by a great fish and yet preserved in the fish's
belly and then recommissioned to go to take God's word to the
Ninevites. All of these things were simply
written off by those who were so critical of the word of God. And there were those raised up
who withstood the critics and contended for the authenticity
of the Word of God. But Satan is never inactive,
of course. When we come into the 20th century,
what happens? Well, we then see a different
form of attack. How subtle a foe is Satan? Because
in the late 20th century, we find there are a multiplicity
of versions. So many versions of Scripture,
so many new translations, and so it continues even into this
21st century. multitudes of different versions
and people must often wonder, well, what is really the Word
of God? How the devil is ever active? And we are to be those
who would have a right understanding and hold that high view of the
doctrine of Scripture. Because this is the only source
of our authority. We have to establish every truth
by what is written in this blessed book the spirit of the Bereans
to search the scriptures to say that these things are true we
don't just accept them because a man stands in a pulpit and
says certain things but we have to take everything back to that
touchstone of the word of God the doctrine of scripture then
it's one of the ancient landmarks but then also the doctrine of
God When I speak of the doctrine of God I think in particular
of the great doctrine of the Trinity and also the doctrine
of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And how the doctrine
of the Trinity and the doctrine of the person of Christ are so
bound up together really when we think of the deity of the
Lord Jesus Christ. How do we think of him? as God. Well, we see Him revealed in
Scripture as God's eternal Son. The eternal Sonship of the Lord
Jesus Christ is such a vital doctrine. Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that
abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the
Son. Says John there in verse 9 of
his second epistle. We abide in the right view of
the doctrine of Christ. We have both the Father and the
Son. If there is no eternal Son of
God how can there be an eternal Father? It seems so basic. He is the Son of the Father in
truth and in love. We often refer to those words
here in Proverbs chapter 8 concerning Christ as the wisdom of God.
And there he says, when there were no depths I was brought
forth before there were any fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. From eternity I was brought forth.
In other words, He is that One who is brought forth in that
He is eternally begotten. The Word was made flesh, we are
told, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory
as of the only begotten, the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. And how Paul brings that out
so forcibly when he writes in his epistle to the Hebrews and
there in the opening verses of that epistle he says God who
at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto
us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also
he made the world who being the brightness of his glory and the
express image of his person and upholding all things by the word
of his power and so forth the brightness of his glory and the
express image of his person he is the image of the invisible
gods no man has seen God at any time the only begotten son which
is in the bosom of the father he has declared him and so How
is his birth prophesied? How do we read of that great
mystery of godliness? God manifest in the flesh, the
incarnation. There in Isaiah 9, 6, unto us
a child is born, unto us a son is given. Yes, the child is born.
The child is born, that human nature, that little babe that
comes from the womb of the Virgin Mary. that holy thing that was
conceived in her womb by the Holy Ghost, that is the child
that body, that soul but it is joined to the eternal Son of
God, the Son is given the child is born the Son is given, that's
what we read there in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6 all this
doctrine, the doctrine of God, that God is Father, Son
and Holy Ghost. The doctrine of the person of
Christ that God's Son became a real man. And so, when we think
of Christ in his person, we don't only think in terms of his divine
nature, we recognize that he is also truly man. Oh, a man there is, a real man. for as much then as the children
were partakers of flesh and blood Paul says likewise therefore
took he part of the same a real body but not just a body also
a soul because man is not just body when God made man he made
him out of the dust of the earth but he breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life and he became a living soul man is body soul
and so the Lord Jesus Christ is also body and soul when thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin it says there in Isaiah 53 how he pours out his soul
onto death how at the end he commends his spirit his soul
into the hands of God his father as he gives himself in sacrifice
upon the cross he shall see of the travail of his soul all what
sufferings that man endured not just physical sufferings all
they were physical sufferings that he endured how he suffered
how he was whipped how the crown of thorns was forced about his
temples His back lacerated, taken then nailed to the cross. The
soldier's spear thrust into his side. What agonies of burden. And they were great agonies.
But how much greater were those that he felt in his soul when
he made his soul an offering for sin. When he cries out in
agony, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? all he tasted,
the bitter thing of a spiritual death really that it must have
been the eternal lot of those who the father had given to him
he bore in his own person that how that would have been their
dessert and that human nature, that human
nature of the Lord Jesus Christ was an impeccable and an immortal
human nature. There was nothing of sin in him. He would never sin and he would
never die. He could only die by a voluntary
sacrifice. No man was able to take his life
from him. He says that himself, doesn't
he? No man can take my life from me. I have Power, I have authority
to lay it down. I have power, authority to take
it again. This is the commandment I have
received of my father. It is a voluntary death that
he dies when he gives himself there upon the cross. How important
it is then that we understand the significance of his human
nature. He is a real man. and as we said
this morning as a man he lives and he lives a life of faith
he lives a life of dependence upon his father he prays to his
father he spends all nights in prayer to his father he is dependent
upon the Holy Spirit why the father give us not the spirit
by measure to him he cast out demons by the spirit of God what
a life it is that he lives it's a real human nature that we see
in the Lord Jesus. And how important the doctrine
is, and again it's John who brings that out when he writes there
in that first general epistle in chapter 4 in the opening verses,
beloved, says John, believe not every spirit But try the spirits,
whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone
out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even know already
Is it in the world? Oh, there were those who denied
that Christ was a real man. They said he was some sort of
phantom. He wasn't a real person. And so his death was not a real
death. Oh, we must be very careful not to move the ancient landmarks
to even a smaller man. even a small amount. If we deny
the truth of His Sonship, His Eternal Sonship, it's a grievous
error. If we deny the reality of His
human nature, and there have been and are those who do, they
say He never had a human soul. And amongst the Baptists there
have been those and are those who would say that, and there
have been some who have denied His Eternal Sonship. I like the
remark of the reformer, Protestant reformer Luther, when he says,
all heresies and idolatries arise principally from the denial of
the doctrine of Christ. There's the root of all heresy,
the denial of the doctrine of Christ. We see it so clearly
in the early church. Christ. Christ is the ancient
landmark. And that's what we have here
in the text. remove not the ancient landmark, it's in the singular.
What is the landmark? If we're those who are truly
Christians, it centers in this blessed person, even the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. He is the ancient landmark, he
is of course the chief cornerstone, and again, doesn't Peter Remind
us of that truth. Writing there in 1 Peter chapter
2 at verse 6, Therefore also, he says, it is contained in the
scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, he's quoting
Isaiah 28, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious
And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto
you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which
be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed, the
sign is become the head of the corner. It refers to the words
of Psalm 119 verse 22. the stone which the builders
disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and the
stone of stumbling, and the rock of offence even to them which
stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed."
Oh Christ, you see, a stone of stumbling to some. Here is that
that is truly the ancient landmark, the person. the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, but also the work. Oh, isn't
this a significant landmark, that great work that He came
to accomplish? There was a work to be done when
the fullness of the time was come. God sends forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law to redeem. to redeem them
that were under the law that they might receive the adoption
of sons as a work to be done. He is under the law and as he
is subject to that holy law of God so he obeys it, the obedience
of his life. In that life he honors and magnifies
the law with regards to every one of its commandments and precepts. He lives a life of obedience,
perfect obedience in thought, in words and in deeds. But then
he is obedient unto death. That same law has to be honoured
also with regards to all its dreadful penalties. He has come to redeem sinners.
He must satisfy the demands of the Lord. He must pay the ransom
price that the law demands. And the law says the wages of
sin is death. The soul that sinneth he shall
die. He must die. And he did die. As I say, it
was a voluntary death. He gave himself willingly. Why he so loved those that the
Father had given to him. He loved them unto the end, it
says. We loved them to that bitter
end, even the death of the cross. And so we accomplished salvation.
He didn't just make salvation a possibility or even a probability. No, He made salvation that that
was certain and sure for as many as were given to Him in the eternal
covenant. Here is the ancient landmark
there. it all centers really in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ and in the work that he came to accomplish but as we
think of the ancient landmarks in many ways there are more than
one doubtless there were many bounds set throughout the promised
land there's also the worship of God it's not just doctrine
it's also a practice that must be brought to the test of God's
words. When the Lord Jesus speaks to
the Samaritan woman, there in John chapter 4, remember how
they discussed the whole matter of worship. The Jews said you
have to worship in Jerusalem. The Samaritans said, oh no, you
can worship in this mountain. And there the Lord goes on in
that conversation to say what the true worship is. God is a
spirit, he says. And they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth, for God seeketh such to
worship him. Always to worship God in spirit. Our worship is to be spiritual
worship. That means that the entirety
of our being is taken up with the act of worship. Our thoughts,
our affections, everything set upon God we come to magnify His
name. We come to ascribe unto Him all
the honour and glory that is His due. It's a spiritual exercise. and in order to worship how we
are those who are so utterly dependent therefore on the Holy
Ghost himself. If we're going to worship a rite,
and if we worship a rite, if it's spiritual worship, it will
also be worship that is in accordance with truth. It will be in accordance
with that word that the Spirit himself has given us here in
Holy Scripture. And so, spiritual worship is
that that is governed and controlled by the Word of God. Now, what does that mean? Well,
it means that we cannot introduce our own innovations. We're not
free to think, oh well, this would be nice, or that would
be nice. Let's bring this into our worship.
See how the Apostle Paul warns against will-worship, there in
Colossians chapter 2 and verse 23. when men will do as they please
and think it is worship acceptable to God. No, we are to be those
who would desire that our worship might be subject to God's standard,
controlled by the word of God, all things to be done decently
and in order. All Paul, you see, can speak
of traditions and we're not to imagine that all traditions are
evil because tradition is spoken of in scripture therefore brethren says Paul
writing to the Thessalonians therefore brethren stand fast
and hold the traditions which have been taught whether by word
or our epistle now When he uses the word tradition, it literally
means that that has been passed down. It's something that has
been passed down verbally, which have been taught, he says, whether
by words or our epistle. Again, he can write to the Corinthians
in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 2. Keep the ordinances, he says. It's the same word. as we find
there in 2 Thessalonians 2.15 where he trended traditions but
there right into the Corinthians in that 11th chapter he says
keep the ordinances as I deliver them to you so there are those
traditions that have come down come down from the Apostle himself
And we have to desire these old paths, you see, these ancient
landmarks. Or Jeremiah says, stand ye in
the ways, and see and ask for the old paths wherein is the
good way, and walk therein. That's what he says to the people,
and it says, and they would not. All men want to do the thing
that is right in their own eyes. and we are to be concerned to
do that that is right in the sight of God with regards to
our worship and then a fifth of these ancient landmarks and
I think particularly of strict Baptist now I speak not so much
of restricted communion although of course that's is a thing that
defines us. We are particular Baptists in
that we believe that the death of the Lord Jesus was for a particular
people, even as many as the Father had given to him, those who were
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. But we also say
that we are strict Baptists in that we practice a restricted
communion. the word particular has to do
with our doctrinal distinctive and the word strict has to do
with the way we we seek to to practice our church order and
we say that the scripture teaches that it is those who are baptized
and have joined the church who should then observe that other
ordinance of the Holy Supper of the Lord. So we practice a
restricted communion. But when I speak of a fifth ancient
landmark among strict Baptists, I'm thinking more particularly
of the preaching, and how there is, or has been historically,
an emphasis upon experimental preaching. And there's a reason. We read of some having a form
of godliness but denying the power thereof. They have a form. There are many who have a form,
a form of godliness. But what do we know of the power? Paul says to the Corinthians
his gospel came to them not in word only but it came to them
in power. He says the same to the Thessalonians. What is it that he is speaking
of? Well, when he comes in power it is that gracious work, that
sovereign work of the Holy Spirit who applies salvation. That's
what I mean when I speak of the importance of experimental preaching
because it has to do with the covenant offices of the Holy
Spirit. It's bound up really with the
doctrine of God. And salvation. Salvation is that
it is Trinitarian in its very nature. It is the Father who
has made choice of the people, who has elected them before the
foundation of the world. It is the Son who in the fullness
of time has come and redeemed them by the shedding of his precious
blood. And it is the Holy Spirit who
then makes that Salvation that was purposed of the Father and
procured by God the Son makes that salvation a blessed reality. And so we try in the preaching
to unfold something of the work of the Holy Spirit also in the
application. Or there are those covenant offices.
How the Lord speaks of Him when He has come. Says Christ He will
reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.
He will convince as a work of conviction that the spirit accomplishes
in the soul of the sinner when that sinner is awakened. And
as soon as he's awakened, strangely, paradoxically, he's aware that
he is by nature dead in trespasses and in sins. And he comes to
understand something of his condition and the awful doctrine of his
total depravity. He can do nothing to help himself,
to save himself. And there are those who like
to speak of universal offers of salvation and like to say
that we have to use evangelistic argument to persuade these people.
But what is the great danger there? Does it not really engender
a sort of creature religion? A notion of faith, a presumption
that a person can do something for himself when the Spirit only
shows us that we can do nothing for ourselves. when he comes
to convince of sin, of righteousness, of judgment. That's not all that
the Spirit does. The Spirit comes as the Spirit
of Christ and the Lord goes on there in John 16 as He's speaking
of the coming of the Comforter. He doesn't just speak of the
work of conviction. Oh, He is the Comforter. And Christ says, He shall glorify
me. for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. It
is the Spirit who grants that gracious revealing of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who works so strangely and effectually in the heart
of the sinner. Oh, the exceeding greatness,
says Paul, the exceeding greatness of his power to us all who believe.
according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought
in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. Why Christ says,
because I live, ye shall live also. All the life comes from
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's that faith of the operation
of God and the sinner is brought to look to the Lord Jesus Christ
and to see in Him His salvation, looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith. Oh, the Holy Ghost, what does
He do? He works faith. And He works faith in that finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in the soul. We have those
lines in the hymn 306, It is finished, said the Lord, in His
dying minute. Holy Ghost, repeat the word,
full salvations in it. Oh yes, we read it, We read it
here on the page of Holy Scripture. Christ did say, it is finished. And breathed out His Spirit and
commended His Spirit into the hands of God. A finished salvation. But what does the hymn writer
go on to say? Holy Ghost repeat the Word. Or
we want the Spirit to come and to apply the Word, to repeat
the Word in our soul. to make it a blessed reality
in our hearts. That's what I mean when I speak
of the need of that experimental preaching, that tracing out of
the workings of the Spirit of God in the hearts of the souls
of men. Salvation you see in all its
parts, in its original purpose in its blessed accomplishment
in time, in its application in the experience of the sinner.
It's all the work of God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. All the ancient landmarks. And then, as I draw to a conclusion,
how we have to go right back to the beginning. Right back
to the beginning, creation itself. And what do we see there in the
opening chapters of Scripture? We see creation ordinances. And aren't these ancient landmarks? How God creates all things in
six days. We read of that in the opening
chapter of Genesis. We come into the second chapter,
God rested on the seventh day. And God sanctified that day.
God set that day apart. It's a creation ordinance. It's a creation ordinance, the
observance of the day. Well, if it was the seventh day,
why do we observe the first day, men might say? Well, the Lord
Jesus Christ is Lord of the Sabbath. He says as much. He is Lord of
the Sabbath. And it is evident as we read through the New Testament
that Christians began to observe not the seventh day but the first
day of the week. Why writing there in Hebrews
chapter 4 and verse 9 doesn't Paul say that there is a rest
that remaineth to the people of God? And we see in the margin
that that literally says the rest is a Sabbath. There is a Sabbath remaining
through the people of God. There's still a day to be kept.
It's a creation ordinance. And of course where it is denied
and desecrated what does it do? Because it's part of creation
and what God has ordered it only brings confusion into creation.
When Mendes regards the ancient landmarks Ah, but worse than
that, marriage. Marriage. The man shall leave
his father and his mother, and shall claim unto his wife, and
the twain shall be one flesh. That's creation. It's what God
himself ordains. And what do we see now? Utter
confusion. All the very fabric of society
constantly being undermined. Gender issues. You know you're
aware of all these things that we're constantly bombarded with,
the media really it seems to me it's a
propaganda arm really and it's all contrary to what we have
here in the Word of God all it says remove not the ancient landmark
which thy fathers have set oh God grant to us all needed grace
that we might contend and contend not in our own spirit, we're
not to be contentious God preserve us from that spirit but we are
to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the
saints and it all ultimately and I want to leave on this note
it all centers in that blessed person and that glorious work
that he accomplished for sinners even the Lord Jesus Christ himself
remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. May the Lord bless his word to
us. Amen. Let us close as we sing
our concluding praise, the hymn 141, the tunisian saviour 228.
Behold the sure foundation stone which
God in Zion lays to build our heavenly hopes upon and His eternal
praise. The Hymn 141.