Happy to see everyone here this
morning. Welcome our visitors from across the Fruited Plain.
Glad y'all are here this morning. Brother Aaron Simpson is having
surgery tomorrow afternoon to remove his spleen, and we want
to remember him in prayer. Pray the Lord uses that to give
him a full and speedy recovery. I'm glad to see Gary back on
his feet. Not as strong as you want to be, but glad you're recovering
in here, doing well. We certainly have no shortage
of things to go to our Lord in prayer for, in need, and in Thanksgiving,
both, don't we? Brother Eric Simpson, or Eric
Floyd, known you 50 years. His name's always been Eric Floyd.
He's gonna come read the scripture for us. You overlook my harmony, won't
you? So put our Bibles together to
1 Timothy chapter 5. Pastors ask that we read beginning
with verse 17 of 1 Timothy 5. Let the elders that rule well
be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in
the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, thou
shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the
laborer is worthy of his reward. Against an elder receive not
an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Them that
sin, rebuke before all that others also may fear. I charge thee
before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that
thou observe these things without preferring one before another,
doing nothing by partiality. Lay hands suddenly on no man,
neither be partaker of other men's sins. Keep thyself pure. Drink no longer water, but use
a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thine often affirmities. Some men's sins are opened beforehand,
going before to judgment, and some men they follow after. Likewise
also, the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and
they that are otherwise cannot be healed. Let's go to our Lord
in prayer. Our God and Father in heaven,
we thank you for this thy word. We thank you for this opportunity
to again, Lord, this privilege of gathering together as a people.
Lord, we pray you bless us with your word here this morning.
Lord, we thank you for our pastor and we pray for him. Lord, take
that which You've laid upon His heart that which He's studied
and prepared. And Lord, enable Him to speak
freely to us here this morning. Lord, give Him the message. And Lord, grant us ears to hear. Lord, a teachable spirit. Lord,
grant it that we might hear Your Word here this morning. That
Your name would be exalted. or we pray for our community,
or we pray for our country, or we pray for those of you who
sit in a position of authority. Lord, guide and direct, give
wisdom. Lord, in all things, point us
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, direct us to rest in him
and him alone. Lord, we pray for our children,
Lord, these young ones that you've blessed us with. Lord, we pray
your hand would be upon them, Lord, that you would protect
and keep them, Lord, that you'd hedge them about in this world
in which we live. Lord, above all things, that
you would be merciful to them, that you would reveal the Lord
Jesus Christ to them in mercy, truth. Lord, for those of our number
who are in a time of trouble and difficulty, Lord, we give
you thanks for those you've restored to health, and Lord, pray that
you would continue to heal. Lord, we pray for our brother
Aaron, Lord, that you would be with him, and Lord, those who
would care for him, Lord, tomorrow and in the days to come. with
comfort, strength, and encourage, and again, calls us to rest in
Thee and Thee alone. Thou art, Thou art the great
position. Lord, we bring these things to
Thee and rest in Thee. Now again, we pray you'd bless
our service here this morning. Lord, set aside the thoughts
and cares of this world. There's so many things that catch
our attention would steal away our minds, but Lord, Lord, put
them aside just for a little bit. Let us see Christ. In his name we pray and give
thee thanks. Once far from God and dead in
sin, no light my heart could see. But in God's Word, the light
I found, now Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. O what a salvation this, that
Christ liveth in me! As rays of light from yonder
sun, the flowers of earth set free. So life and light and love
came forth from Christ living in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation this, that
Christ liveth in me. As lives the flower within the
seed, as in the cone the tree, So praise the God of truth and
grace, His Spirit dwelleth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. What a salvation this, that Christ
liveth in me! With longing all my heart is
filled, that like Him I may be. As on the wondrous thought I
dwell, that Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. ? Oh, what a salvation this ? That
Christ liveth in me All right, let's open our Bibles
again now to the book of 1 Timothy, chapter five, the passage Brother
Eric just read for us. I titled the message this morning,
A Pastor Worthy of Double Honor. I took my title from verse 17,
where Paul writes, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy
of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.
I have been very careful in studying and preparing my comments this
morning. so that it is crystal clear to
you all that my goal in preaching this message is not to be self-serving. I'll just tell you right from
the get-go, I'm not looking for a raise. I'm not looking for
more esteem from you all. You all show that very well.
You take good care of me, and I'm thankful. Thank God for you.
My goal in preaching this message is the same as every other message
the Lord ever enables me to preach. It's to honor the saint. And
I hope it will also help you recognize a good pastor so that
you listen to him, so you listen to his message so that your life
here and your life in the next world will be better. Now, the
word pastor means a shepherd, a ruler, and it means a special
friend. A congregation and a pastor have
a special relationship, especially if they'll both follow God's
instructions to them on what they're to do for each other.
I want you to listen to some scriptures. We won't turn to
them. Just listen to these scriptures concerning God's pastors. Jeremiah
3, verse 15. And I will give you pastors according
to mine heart, which will feed you with knowledge and understanding. That'd be a blessing, wouldn't
it? Ephesians 4, verse 11. And he
gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some
pastors and teachers for, for this reason, the perfecting,
the maturing of the saints for the work of the ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ. God gives us pastors to feed
his sheep so that they grow in grace and knowledge, so that
their hearts are comforted and strengthened by being pointed
to Christ. Pastors are called shepherds
who rule over the flock, who lead the flock, who feed the
flock, and who protect the flock. from wolves and by protecting
the sheep so that the doctrine that they hear is Christ and
Christ alone. Hebrews 13 verse 7, pastors are
called rulers who rule the church. And the word means to order the
church so that the church does what it's supposed to do, that
they preach the gospel. That there is a place provided
in their community where people can come, where sinners can come
and hear of the Savior. where the brokenhearted can come
and hear of Christ the Great Physician, where the focus of
the place is worshiping the Lord. And the writer to the Hebrews
tells us, remember them, follow them, obey them. Scripture calls
pastors guides, guides who guide sinners to the Savior, who guide
the sheep, to Christ, the good shepherd. Just like Philip did
for the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip asked him, I don't understand
what you're reading. He said, oh, how can I? Except some man guide
me. And Philip began at that scripture
and guided him, preached Christ to him. Interestingly enough,
the Lord called the Pharisees blind guides. They can't leave
anybody anywhere. They can't see Christ. They don't
know where they're going. They're blind guides. In Titus three, verse
one, pastors are called bishops. And the word means an overseer.
It means a man who's charged with the duty of seeing the things
that are done by others are done rightly. And I tell you how a
pastor does that, by preaching right doctrine. We preach right
doctrine. Our attitudes will be right.
What we do will be right, typically speaking, if we hear sound doctrine. In 1 Peter 5 verse 1, Peter calls
pastors elders. And usually pastors are a little
bit older. They've got a little bit of experience
under their belt. But the word means a man who presides over
assemblies. That's his job, to preside over
the assembly, to guide it so that it accomplishes the purpose
that God gave it to us for. It's to preach Christ, to worship
him. Now those are the different names that scriptures give to
pastors. And those different names tell
us what is the job of the pastor? What is the pastor supposed to
do in the service of the Lord? What's the pastor supposed to
do in the service of the congregation? And I have four points I believe
will be helpful to us in this matter of double honor for pastors
who rule well. And number one is this, I think
this is a good question. Who is the pastor? Who is the
elder that rules well? You know, Paul says in verse
17, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double
honor. Well, that word rule, it means
what we think, it means to be set over, it means to preside
over. But it doesn't, that's the meaning of the word, but
it doesn't mean that the past was to boss everybody around.
It also means this, it means to give aid and comfort. How am I gonna give aid and comfort
to you? By preaching Christ to you. It means to be a protector,
to be a guardian. I'm to watch over your soul.
I can't do anything for your soul, but how would I be a guardian
of your soul? By making sure from this place,
from this podium, Christ is preached. That's how. That's the job of
the pastor. The pastor who rules well works
hard. He works hard. Paul says they
labor in the word, in doctrine. God's pastor, the one who rules
well works hard in the Word, works hard in the doctrine, studying
God's Word, studying diligently so he can teach the Word to others.
You can't teach anybody something until you study it yourself.
He works hard in this. The pastor who rules well works
hard in seeking God's message, for God's Word, for God's people,
at God's appointed time. The pastor who rules well is
an underseparate. who brings a message to the sheep
from Christ the great shepherd. The pastor who rules well is
an ambassador who comes to God's people bringing them a message
from the king. We pray you in Christ's stead,
speaking to you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God. Be reconciled
to God and the Lord Jesus Christ. The pastor who rules well doesn't
just study when there's time. Doesn't just study when everything
else is done. Now he's got a little bit of free time. He got nothing
else to do. The pastor who rules well works hard in the study.
So that the word is taught right. So it's taught truthfully. So
it's taught correctly. So that Christ is honored and
magnified. Lots of things going on in the
world I can talk about this morning. I talked to you about those things.
Wouldn't do your soul no good. The pastor who rules well works
hard to find Christ in the passage and preaching. The pastor who
rules well is enabled by God to fulfill the job of the pastor
as the word tells us, those scriptures I just read to you. The pastor
who rules well feeds you with knowledge and understanding from
the word of God so that you know Christ, so that you believe him,
so that you grow in grace and knowledge of Christ. He's your
ruler. He's your special friend who
cares for your soul. Do you know how you can tell
if a man cares for your soul? He'll only preach Christ to you.
That's his only message. That's how you can tell he cares
for your soul. A pastor who rules well is a man who rules the flock,
who leads the flock to Christ. His whole goal is to get to Christ. He does that by preaching Christ
to you, does that by his example. A pastor who rules well is a
man who protects the sheep. He watches out for them by praying
for them, by protecting the pulpit, by protecting the doctrine that's
preached so that no poison goes into the ears of God's sheep,
but they only hear Christ preached. A pastor who rules well is a
man who makes sure the focus of every service is Christ and
worshiping him and he guides you to Christ. Now I hope that
you all know how I care for you. How do you know that? By what
you see. I hope that you see from coming
here week after week that I will only and always preach Christ
to you. I teach you God's word. And when I can't be here, I'm
gonna get another man who I know will do the same thing. That's
how you can tell I care for your soul. And what you don't always
see is in the study how I pray for you. Oh, how I pray for you. I pray God won't let me fail
you. Oh, how I pray for that. I pray
God won't let me cause you to stumble. Get your eyes off Christ. I pray for you. I worry for you.
I worry over the dangers that you face. I pray the Lord bless
you and keep you. That kind of care is in the heart
of a pastor who rules well. It's short of pastor who faithfully
preaches Christ and rules things and orders things so that the
congregation is not allowed to get off on a tangent. You know,
that tangent could be something that's true, but it's not truth. Does that make sense? Does that
make sense? Two plus two is four. That's true, but that's not the
truth, is it? Christ is the truth. Let's not
get off on a tangent making sure Our math is all right. Stay focused
on Christ and worshiping him. That man is worthy of double
honor. All right, number two. Interestingly
enough, after I finished my notes yesterday, I was talking on the
phone to a young lady from a different congregation who asked this question. How do I show double honor to
my pastor? How do I show double honor to
the man that's worthy of it? Verse 18. For the scriptures
say, thou shall not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn,
and the laborer is worthy of his reward. Now double honor
means honor both spiritually and physically, spiritually and
materially. The church is to financially support the pastor
as well as it can for this reason. So the pastor doesn't have to
go out and get a job to pay the bills. I had to do that for a
while, work a job and pastor this congregation. And physically,
I could not have done it if Dale Simpson didn't take the class.
He taught the class every week for me while I was doing that.
Physically, I just couldn't have done it. The church is to financially
support the pastor, so you don't have to do that. So he can spend
his time laboring and studying in the word and studying in the
doctrine early in the day when he's fresh, not when he comes
home from working all day and he's exhausted and tired. Look
at 1 Corinthians 9, supporting a pastor. It's our job, it's
our responsibility, it's what we ought to do, but you know
what's also to your benefit? If you support a pastor, he can
preach better prepared messages to you, and you ought to be willing
to support that to get that benefit. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 7. In this passage here in 1 Corinthians,
Paul has a lot to say about giving and our offerings and supporting
pastors. In verse seven, he says, who
goeth to warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth
the vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth
the flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I these
things as a man, or sayeth not the law the same also? Surely
we ought to do more what the law requires, shouldn't we? Verse
nine, for it's written in the law of Moses, Thou should not
muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Does God
take care for the oxen? Surely we're gonna treat each
other better with an ox, wouldn't we? Or sayeth he it altogether
for our sakes. For our sakes, no doubt this
is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that
thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown
unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we should
reap your carnal things? If others be partaker of this
power over you they were giving to support other men, are not
we rather, aren't we too? Nevertheless, we have not used
this power, but we suffer all things, lest we should hinder
the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that they which
minister about holy things live of the things of the temple,
and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?
Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel
should live of the gospel. Now Paul said, this is how it
should be, that we support these men who preach the gospel to
us. And he says, he tells this church of Corinth, I haven't
asked this support of you. It's my right to, but I haven't
done it. You know, they should have been ashamed. I hope when
they read this letter that they were ashamed. If anybody deserved
their support, it was Apostle Paul, wasn't it? Now we're to
support financially God's pastors. And again, let me reiterate this
now. I'm not asking for a raise. Y'all take good care of me. But
we have to be reminded of these things. We have to be retaught
these things from God's word. This is the first part of double
honor. It's financial support. And the
second part of this double honor, much more important, is spiritually. Now I ask you, shouldn't we show
a great deal of respect for a man who watches for our soul. Certainly,
in Jeremiah, that verse I quoted to you, where God said, I'll
give you pastors after my own heart, one of the meanings of
that word is, he's my special friend. Now, shouldn't I show a great
deal of respect to that my special friend? You know, I respect the
man who watches for my soul. And I'm gonna listen to him. I'm gonna consider what he says
carefully. And brother Henry was my pastor.
I considered everything he said carefully, carefully, because
he's saying it for my benefit. And I tell you, I got a real
problem with somebody throwing rocks at my friends. If somebody's,
you're my friends. If somebody's throwing rocks
at you, I got a problem with them. I mean, I just do. I got,
there's going to be some allegiance to your, to your special friends.
But look at Hebrews chapter 13. Here's the biggest way we can
show this double honor to our pastor spiritually. It's to obey
his rule. Now what does that mean? What
does that mean? Does that mean the pastor gets
to order me around and tell me how to live my life, tell me
where to go, where not to go, what to do, what not to do, what
to wear or not, you know, what not to wear. He just gets going
to get down deep involved in my life and tell me everything
to do. No, that does not what that means at all. Hebrews 13
verse seven explains it to us. Remember them, which have the
rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose
faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus
Christ, this is the end. This is the goal of their conversation.
The goal of their preaching is Jesus Christ. The same yesterday
and today and forever. Be not carried about with diverse
and strange doctrines, for it's a good thing that the heart be
established with grace. Not with meats, not with what
you eat and don't eat, not with where you go and where you don't
go, not with meats which have not profited them that have been
occupied therein. And we obey a good and faithful
pastor by obeying his message, by obeying his message and bowing
to Christ. We obey his message by believing
Christ, by coming to Christ. I don't think I preach a message
that I don't tell you come to Christ. Right now, right where
you sit, submit and bow to him. Bow to him, begging for mercy.
That's obeying the pastor that God's given us by following Christ. And that who is all a good and
faithful pastor will preach to you. And I'll tell you, nothing makes
me happier. Nothing in this world makes me
happier than to see you following Christ. believing him and trusting
him. Nothing makes me happier. And
I'll tell you the same thing the apostle said. You follow
me as I follow Christ. You follow me as I lead you to
Christ. To see you come to Christ and
believe him and follow him. Nothing makes me happier. Now
if you look at 2 John verse 4, I'm in good company here because
this made the apostle John mighty happy too. 2 John Hold your place,
I'm sorry, it's probably too late. Hold your place there,
we'll come back to Hebrews 13. Second John, chapter four, this
made John so happy. He wrote here to the elect lady
and to her children. In verse four he says, I rejoice
greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth. as we have
received a commandment from our father. They heard the commandment
from the father. They heard the commandment of
the gospel and they obeyed. They believed him, walking in
the truth. Look at third John, verse three. For I rejoiced greatly
when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee,
even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to
hear that my children walk in the truth. And I say the same
thing John does. That makes me mighty happy to
see you following Christ and believing him. Nothing makes
me happier. Now the writer to the Hebrew says, obey them, obey
them. Now the gospel that we preach
is a commandment, is a commandment to be obeyed. Now this is how
we obey a faithful pastor is by believing the message that
he preaches. And the message that we preach
is a commandment from God. It's not a suggestion. It's not
a good idea. It's not, it's not something
that will make your life happier on this earth and let you win
friends and influence people. The gospel that we preach is
a commandment to be obeyed. I tell you, this is the commandment
of the gospel. You obey God and you quit your works. Just quit
them, quit trusting them, quit those works that you think makes
God happy with you and trust Christ to be your righteousness. The commandment of God is look
to Christ. Look and live. Look to him in
complete and utter dependence. Just like those children of Israel
bitten by those fiery serpents, Moses made that serpent of brass
and held it up on a pole and said, look. I love this. I love that he didn't say, see. He said, look. Look and believe. Look and believe God, look and
trust Him. Quit looking at your sin. I know
you're a sinner and you do too, but quit looking at your sin
thinking that doesn't qualify you to come to Christ. Christ
came to save sinners. So quit looking at your sin,
look to the Savior who came to save sinners from their sin.
Quit looking at your so-called righteousness. Some of us might
like to not look at our sin anymore, but oh, we want to look at those
things that we think Make us better than somebody else. Make
us more savable. Make God more happy with me than
somebody else. Those are our so-called righteousness.
Quit looking at them now. Quit trusting in them. God calls
them filthy rags. Look away from those things and
look to Christ to be your righteousness. Quit looking for answers to questions
that don't matter. If the answer is not Christ,
it don't matter. Quit looking for answers to those questions
now and look to Christ. Look to Christ. Obey that message
of the gospel. Look and live. Look and trust
Christ. Scripture tells us that the Lord
Jesus Christ came to shed his blood to pay for all of the sin
of all of God's elect. When he went to the cross, he
made it clear he wasn't dying for every son of Adam. He said,
I pray not for the world, I pray for those that thou hast given
me. Christ died for God's elect and only God's elect and nobody
else. Every last one of those people shall be saved. They shall
be glorified. They're God's wheat. They're
going to be gathered into his barn. That's the truth of the gospel.
Any other message takes away the glory of Christ, doesn't
it? If Christ died for somebody and they go to hell, what glory
does he have? What use is his blood? What use is his obedience?
Everyone for whom Christ died shall be saved. I'm telling you
this from my own experience. I've been a Calvinist as long
as I can remember. Ah, I've been a Calvinist. Would you please listen to me?
Those of you who are lost and don't know Christ, would you
please listen to me? More than likely, you're a Calvinist too.
Would you please listen to me? Quit trying to figure out if
you're one of God's elect. I burned this book up. trying
to find evidence that I was one of God's elect. Sean, you know
it wasn't there? It wasn't there. You and this book opened up to
me when I read it seeking Christ. Quit looking for the evidence
that you're one of God's elect, thinking, well, if I can find
out I'm one of God's elect, I'm going to believe on Christ. You
know what else you'll never find in this word? Christ saying,
the Son of Man has come seeking to save God's elect. The Son
of Man has come to save God's elect. You know what he said?
The Son of Man has come to seek and to save. That was lost. Christ
said, I came to die for sinners. Paul said, this is a faithful
saying, and it's worthy of all acceptation. It's worthy that
everyone here believes it. Christ Jesus came to this world
to save sinners, of whom I'm chief. The question for you and
me is not, am I one of God's elect? The question for you and
me is, am I a sinner? Am I a sinner? Christ came to
save sinners. Now, you're a sinner. Every one of us here is a sinner.
The question is, do you know it? Do you know it? Do you know
that you're a sinner that has no hope in anything that you
do? Do you know that? If you do,
then cry out to God for mercy. Cry out to God and beg him to
forgive you for your sin for Christ's sake. Lord, you said
you came to save sinners. Well, I'm a sinner. Lord, would
you please save me? Would you please save me? Would
you draw me? Would you give me sight to see
Christ? Now you obey that message and you trust Christ. Nothing
in this world would make me happier. Nothing. You follow Christ and
only Christ. And don't get off following the
religious junk of our day. I know as long as man has been
out of the garden, men have been religious. I know that. I'm always hesitant to say it's
worse today than it's ever been because human nature hadn't changed,
nothing new under the sun. But it's easier for somebody
to put out their message of lies and iniquity. It's easier for
them to spread that across the world today than it's ever been
before. Don't get caught off now following the religious junk
of this day because I'm telling you it's satanic. I don't care
how good How true, how necessary you think it is, if you're gonna
make a religious issue out of it, it's satanic. Isn't Satan's
goal to keep us from looking to Christ? Isn't it now? Isn't
it his goal to get us from trusting Christ alone? I don't care how
good, how true it, don't let anybody make some issue a religious
issue to you. You just be determined to look
to Christ, to trust Him and follow after Him, and you be determined,
God is your helper, to continue like you started. Now, you who
believe, how did you very first come to Christ? How did you start?
Well, if you know Christ, you started right here. You knew
you were nothing, you knew you were a sinner, and you knew that
you needed Christ to be your everything. That's about all
you knew. Continue just like that. Continue just like it now. Now, grow in grace. Grow in knowledge,
grow in maturity. That's one of the reasons God
gives us pastors for the perfecting, the maturing of the saints. Grow
in grace, but never grow beyond needing Christ to be your everything.
Continue just like you started. Don't ever think you've grown
so much. Now you've got a little bit of
independence. Now you can stand a little bit on your own. No,
continue just like you started, needing Christ to be your everything. and absolutely nothing would
make me happier than to see you do that. And nothing could be
better for you. Got Hebrews 13, verse 17. The writer says, obey them that
have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for
your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do
it with joy and not with grief, for that's unprofitable for you.
to refuse to believe, to refuse to follow Christ, to insist on
going your own way, that's unprofitable for you. You obey this message
and you trust Christ and Christ alone. That's profitable for
you. That'll make a faithful pastor
happy and it's profitable for you. Now, a pastor who's worthy
of this double honor is not gonna demand this kind of respect and
this kind of obedience. I go around saying, I'm the pastor,
you gotta obey me. Tell you how a pastor who's worthy of double
honor will do this. He'll earn it. He'll earn it
over time by proving himself faithful to preach Christ, by
proving himself faithful to have your best interest at heart because
he cares for your soul. And if God gives you a man like
that, you obey his message and you help him. You help him and
you help that ministry any way you can so other people will
be benefited just like you've been. All right, thirdly, if
we would show double honor, be careful about accusations, be
careful about phone rocks of the man. Verse 19 in our text,
1 Timothy 5, verse 19. Against an elder, receive not
an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Now, if you
really want to, and maybe not, if you just give a half-hearted
effort at it, it wouldn't be hard for you. to point out all
my faults and pick at them. Wouldn't be hard. But love is
supposed to cover those things, isn't it? I won't list them all to you,
but let me tell you, I got a lot of faults. I got a lot of weaknesses. And there's a person here that
knows them right well. And you know who you will never hear
those things from publicly? Gen Z. Why? Because of love. She knows, she's
not saying it publicly, out of love. You and I ought to do that
for each other. We're commanded to do that for
each other. Love covers a multitude of sins, especially for those
who've proven themselves faithful. Not just the pastor, you and
me both. Somebody's proven themselves to be faithful. Love covers a
multitude of sins. Just, I'm telling you, don't
throw rocks at a man unless he's not preaching the gospel. unless
he's not preaching the gospel. I remember this so clearly. Brother
Henry was preaching, and he made this statement. He said, be very
careful accusing a man of not preaching the gospel. There was
a pause. He swallowed, and he said, it
hurts. And I thought, somebody has accused
my pastor of not preaching the gospel. And if he had said who
it was, I'd have whipped him. I mean, I would have whipped
him. I mean, I probably had to stand in line to do it. Just
be mighty and remember, that hurts. That hurts. Pastor friend
of mine recently has been accused by a longtime member of that
congregation of not preaching the gospel. This accuser wrote
some letters to folks in other congregations and then called
some folks in other congregations. She called another friend of
mine in another city Making this accusation against this man doesn't
preach the gospel. I want to tell you, he does.
I mean, I know this man. He preaches the gospel. He's
preached here. Somebody I would ask to preach
here regularly. He preaches the gospel. This
is what my friend told this accuser. Don't you ever tell me that again.
Don't you ever say that to me again. That man preaches the
gospel. I'm not going to hear these accusations
if a man's preaching the gospel. If you're going to make that
accusation, I'll tell you this, you better be mighty sure that
it's true according to the word of God. Make sure it's not some
little pet thing that you think that you want to make a religious
issue out of. Isn't that true today? People want to take political
issues and make a religious issue out of them. You remember this,
the issue is Christ. He's the only issue. He's all
that matters. Some little pet behavior you have. You want to
make a law out of this. You want to make a religious
issue out of this. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter. It's Christ. He's the only issue. If you're
going to accuse a man of this, you better be sure that the issue
really is the blood atonement of Christ. You better be sure
now. Otherwise, it's a matter of indifference. Now, if a man's
not preaching the gospel, that could happen. You let the matter
be settled by two or three witnesses. Not just one person thinking
this, but let the matter be settled by two or three witnesses. If
a man's involved in some sort of scandal, it's witnessed by
two or three witnesses, you take care of it. You take care of
it, take care of the matter according to the word of God without nepotism,
without partiality, without favoritism. Let everything that's taught
in the word of God be applied equally to everybody. You know,
there's not one set of rules, you know, for those that we like
and a different set of rules for those we don't like so well.
Without partiality, Paul says. And unless it's a, you know,
a sinful scandal that makes it where man, you know, can't be
listened to or trusted, or if he, you know, isn't preaching
the gospel, unless it's those things, just don't entertain
accusations against them. Just don't do it. And don't entertain
somebody else making them. If God gives you a man who's
faithful to preach Christ to you, and he's faithful to rule
so that he's watching for your soul, don't make his job more
difficult. It's hard enough already. And when I say that, you know,
I'm not asking for pity party, and this is not self-serving
anyway. I'm not saying my job is harder than yours. Everybody
here at work's got a hard job. There's thorns and thistles.
You work hard. There's thorns and thistles in every job. But
this one is just, I've done both. I've worked in the warehouses.
I've worked out in the stores, and I'm doing this, and it's
just different. It's hard enough already. Don't
make it harder. Don't make it harder for the
man who's watching out for your soul. If there's gonna be an
accusation, make sure the issue really is Christ. Make sure it
really is. Otherwise, leave it alone and
get over it. You know, there's things that
we do or that we think that everybody doesn't agree with. If it's not,
the issue's not Christ, get over it. Just get over it. Just forget
about it. And hope somebody does the same
thing for you. Hope somebody else does the same thing for
you. Let's do that for each other. Make sure the issue is Christ.
If it's not Christ, it's you forcing the issue and doing something
that you know is going to take the attention off of Christ,
then get over it. Just get over it and forget it.
And hope somebody does the same thing for you. All right, here's
the fourth thing. Don't lay hands on anybody suddenly
until they're proven. Verse 22, Paul says, lay hands
suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins,
keep thyself pure. Now laying hands on a man suddenly,
too soon before he's proven, that's not showing him honor.
It's not. Matter of fact, that's one of
the cruelest things you could do to him. And I'll show you
that. Look back at page of first Timothy chapter three. Paul here is giving the qualifications
of a bishop. He says, 1 Timothy 3 verse 4,
one that rules well his own house, having his children in subjection
with all gravity. For if a man know not how to
rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of
God? Not in office, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall
into the condemnation of the devil. Now don't lay hands on
a man suddenly. You may see that a young man
has some gifts and has some talents. You may see some evidence God's
got his hand on, God's blessing him, but just wait. Just don't lay hands on him suddenly
because it's cruel. It's cruel to do that to him.
A novice could be tempted to let the authority that God has
given him go to his head. He'll do it. Brother Henry said
over pastor. He told me one time, he said,
don't over pastor, never over pastor. He'll over-pastor, just
get himself involved in folks' life, telling them what to do
and what not to do, and he's going to make you and him miserable.
Don't do that to him. You'll fall into the condemnation
of the devil. Just be miserable. Just wait a little while. Wait
until the Lord makes it obvious. And when the Lord makes it obvious,
he makes a man a faithful pastor, you give him double honor. You'll
know him when you see him. Eric and I talk about this frequently.
It's kind of like a man meets a young woman. Eric said, when
I met Abby, I knew. When I met Janet, I knew. Just as an aside, I was 11 years
old, and I still knew. I mean, I knew. The Lord will
make it obvious. A man who's a faithful pastor,
you'll know. You'll know him. I don't know
how to explain it. You'll know him. You'll know.
And when you see him, when God gives it to you, you support
him. Give him double honor. Support him financially. And
obey His message. Obey His message. Put your shoulder
into helping that ministry. And you know what? You'll be
blessed by it. You'll get a blessing from doing it. What would bless
your soul more than obeying this commandment? Come to Christ. Are you weary? Huh? Are you weary? Are you weary? Trying to be good
enough to please God your own self? Are you heavy laden? so burdened down with the bricks
and bricks and bricks that the law puts on your back and religion
puts on your back? Are you burdened down? You just
can't carry it? You just can't go another step? Are you weary?
Are you just tired of being like yourself, being like Adam? Are
you? The Savior said, then come unto me and I'll give you rest. Now, what could be more beneficial
for your soul than obeying that commandment? All right. Lord
bless you. Give us grace and faith to believe.
Let's bow. Our father, how we thank you
for your word. How we thank you that you are
the great shepherd of your sheep. You're the special friend of
your sheep that sticketh closer than a brother. And how thankful
we are for the men that you've given to us, that you've made
faithful to preach Christ. And Father, I beg of you that
you give each one here this morning faith to believe him, to trust
Christ, to rest in him. Cause us to obey and bow to Christ. Bow to him like the leper of
old saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. If you
will, you can have mercy on my sorry soul. Lord, if you will,
you can forgive my sin. Lord, if you will, you can wash
my filth and iniquity Wash me in your blood white as snow,
Lord, if you will. Lord, we bow, begging that you'd
be merciful, begging that you'd reveal yourself to the hearts
of your people, begging, Father, that you'd put your word into
the hearts of your people. Let's take it with us. Take it
home. Take it out into the job, the different responsibilities. Let's take it to the hospitals.
We wait on thee in all things, Father. Let us wait on thee. Father, provide. Be with your
people. It's in the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray and ask this great blessing.
Amen. All rise, you're dismissed.