I want to talk about the watchman
this morning, the watchman. So thou, O son of man, God says
to Ezekiel, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Ezekiel
was to be a watchman unto the house of Israel, the descendants,
the fleshly descendants of Abraham. Those who are now watchmen over
the Lord's camp, over the Lord's church, are the watchmen over
the spiritual Israel. Those who have been bought by
the blood of the Lord Jesus, regenerated by the Spirit of
God, and they're in Christ. They're the spiritual descendants
of Abraham, if you please. They have received the circumcision
not made with hands. They have been regenerated by
God's Holy Spirit. And so God still has his watchman
in this day. And now the watchman, as he's
described, he says, therefore you will hear the word at my
mouth and warn them from me. The watchman was to hear the
word from the mouth of God and then warn the people. Now these prophets of God, like
Ezekiel of old, they were very, I believe, they were very much
impressed with the burden of the word of the Lord. They did
not, they had no frivolity about them. They were very serious,
very serious men. The old prophets used to speak
of the burden of the word of the Lord. In Malachi 1 and 1
the scripture says the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel
by Malachi. the burden of the Word of the
Lord. These men were not showmen. They
were spokesmen for God Almighty, and they would deliver their
message in earnestness and with fear and trembling, because,
as we said, they were the spokesmen for God. You'll hear the Word
at my mouth. and you warn them from Me. I speak to you, you speak to
them. This is a very serious position. They were not promoters, but
they were prophets, speaking God's Word unto God's people. They were sent of God with a
message that must be delivered, and they knew the weight of the
responsibility, a tremendous responsibility upon these prophets
because the blood of the people would be required at their hands. Now if they delivered the message
faithfully and people did not repent and turn from their sin
and turn to God, then they would die in their iniquity, the people
would but their blood would not be required at his hand, at the
watchman's hand. So it's a tremendous responsibility. Now preachers today, I believe,
could use some of the prophetic burden that these old prophets
had. Every preacher, as he enters
the pulpit to preach the gospel for the glory of God and the
good of souls, If he had this burden of the Lord upon his soul,
I believe he'd be a different man. Now there's about four awesome
facts that I call them that I think that we ought to keep in mind
and certainly the watchman ought to keep in mind as he stands
before the Church of God in our day. Number one, he's a watchman
over the souls of those who hear him. By divine providence, he
has been placed upon the walls of Zion to keep a watch over
the souls of men. And by very profession, he claims
to be a watchman. He claims to be a watchman, one
whom God has appointed, one whom God has placed or sent, as it
were, to watch over people that are in danger. Now the people
to whom Paul ministered, and we'll refer in a few minutes
to the verses that we read in the opening part of our meeting
today, but Paul recognized that there was a great danger in the
world and there needed to be a watchman over God's people. Are you aware that you're under
danger always because there are many false prophets that are
going out into the world? There are many who would destroy
the flock, who would enter in among the flock and devour the
flock of God and destroy the Lord's camp as it were. And so
the people are in danger and they must be warned and they
must be shown the way of safety and the way of life in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so we have this awesome responsibility
being watchmen over God's flock. And then number two, a watchman
or a pastor is responsible to preach in God's stead to men
and women. Now what a responsibility is
placed upon that man. The Bible says that we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's stead be ye reconciled unto God. That's 2 Corinthians
5 and 20. We are ambassadors for Christ.
We stand in Christ's Place and we beseech men and women and
we hear the word at God's mouth and we are to deliver it Exactly
as God has given it to us to deliver to men and women And
we're to do it as men and women feeling their awesome Responsibility
of their souls and the fact that they have an immortal Undying
soul and it's the responsibility of every preacher. I believe
every time he preaches to try to make certain that he has the
message of God to deliver to those that he stands before.
Because that's the obligation. We stand in Christ's stead. We
stand as the representatives, as the ambassadors of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so therefore we have this
awesome responsibility. Now if the pastor in the third
place is God's messenger. If he delivers God's message,
then what he preaches is for eternal consequence. It's of
eternal consequences. That's a better way to say it.
Now then, in the scriptures in 2 Corinthians 2, if you would
turn there, I want to read verse 15 through 17 of 2 Corinthians,
and you'll get the drift of what I'm trying to say here. If a
man is of God, if he's a true messenger sent of God, and if
he's got the word from God and is delivering it to you, then
what he preaches is of eternal Consequences we read beginning
with verse 15 where it says for we are unto God a sweet saver
of Christ In them that are saved and in them that perish now what
he's saying is We are in that that God has sent us and given
us the message of the gospel. We preach that message faithfully
then he says we are the sweet saver of Jesus Christ and We
are the words as we preach, it's the business of the preacher
to bring forth that alabaster box and to open it before the
people, that alabaster box of Christ, that the people may smell
the fragrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. That he might preach
those good tidings of good things, that men and women might hear
the word of the Lord, know the way to believe God and know what
to believe in their souls concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, concerning
eternal life in Him. And so Paul says we are that
sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved and in them that
perish. And so what we have to say is
of eternal consequence because there's some going to be saved
by the message and others will perish hearing and smelling,
hearing of Christ and smelling the sweet fragrance of the Lord
Jesus. To the one, Paul says in verse
16, we are the saver of death unto death. One listens to our
message, and this is the two-fold effect of the message of the
gospel to those that we preach to. To one, we're the savor,
the smell of death unto death. And it only furthers their condemnation
to hear the gospel because they reject the gospel. They reject
the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ upon their life. They
reject the truth of God and will not have this man to rule over
them. This is the savor of death unto
death and to the other the savor of life unto life. We're the
savor of life unto life, the smell of the life that is in
the Lord Jesus Christ, which leads, as men and women believe
on Him, to life in their own souls. And they have eternal
life, and they're brought out of sin's death unto life. And
then the question is asked, and who is sufficient for these things? Who is sufficient for these things?
There's no man in and of himself sufficient for this. This is
the work of God. And what the man is doing, he's
just an instrument standing in the stead of the Lord Jesus Christ,
proclaiming the message that has this twofold and eternal
effect. upon men and women. So beloved,
as we stand then what we preach is of eternal consequence. We must remember that the servants
of God do not labor in vain because as Isaiah 55 and 11 says, the
word of God never returns unto him void. It does not return
unto the Lord void. Whatever God sends His Word to
accomplish through the mouths of His servants, it will be accomplished. God's preachers are always successful
in their labor because they preach the Word of God which God has
pledged to make effectual to the accomplishing of His purpose. That purpose which he purposed
from the foundation of the world. And then fourthly, these are
things that the preacher needs to keep in mind. You cannot believe
how comforting it is to get up as a preacher and to know that
he's not preaching in vain. To know that his message is having
an effect. that God's using the message
to one end or to the other, and to know that the Word will not
return into God void, and when a man faithfully preaches it,
it will accomplish God's purpose. And the fourth thing that a preacher
ought to keep in mind is that the day is coming when every
watchman will meet every person to whom he has preached face
to face before the judgment bar of Almighty God. Now, beloved,
as we preach out to you, certainly we are aware, I am aware, that
I must give an account of your souls. I must give an account
of your souls as that one who watches over your soul. that
one who attempts to find God's message and delivers it to you
faithfully, I know that I must give an account. And this is
what we find there in Ezekiel 33 when it talks about a man
being responsible or obligated, the watchman being obligated,
and the blood of those to whom he preaches will be required
at his hand. And we want to deliver our soul. And so to deliver our soul, if
we've been called into this business of preaching, and those that
preach, they are called into this business if they're of God,
if God has sent them. They're placed with that awesome
responsibility. It's the work of God. They haven't
chosen that as a profession. It's not just a profession with
them. They have entered into this with the call of God as
God has placed it upon their hearts and burdened their souls
and opened the way before them and sent them out and they have
this awesome responsibility. They're going to answer to God
for everybody they preach to, for the sermons that they preach,
for the truth that they preach, for what they withheld from God's
people and what they set before them on the banqueting table. Every preacher, whether he knows
it or not, sets a table before the Lord's people. He puts something
on that table. And I'll tell you, if his message
is not Jesus Christ, if the message is not a true message, if he
misleads the people, oh, what will become of these poor sheep? What will become of them if he
does not preach faithfully to their souls? Well, we feel this
obligation. I've got to answer to God for
every one of you, what I've preached to you. The messages that I've
brought to you, I've got to answer to God for. The watchman, the
test of the watchman. Watchman, what of the night?
Now, most of you could ask that question. Is there a word from
God? Preacher, is there anything in
the night that we need to be aware of? What is it that we
need to be warned about? What is it that we need to hear?
Well, the preacher has to give you those things because he has
to answer to God Almighty for those things. Now, beloved, listen. The Apostle Paul was fully aware
of all these awesome realities when he stood before those Ephesian
elders. If you would turn back now to
Acts 20, I want you to look with me just a little bit at what
Paul here had to say to these Ephesian elders. He knew about
this, and he knew about these awesome responsibilities of the
preacher. And let no man stand in the pulpit
to speak to men and women in God's name who is not prepared
to stand before God in the judgment and to give an account of having
preached the word. If a man's not able, if he doesn't
feel he can give an account, then he shouldn't open his mouth
to preach the word. And Paul was, he understood this,
and he said, He knew they that Paul speaking to these Ephesian
elders right at the end He said I know that I won't see your
face anymore in verse 25 behold I know that you all among whom
I've gone preaching the kingdom of God. You'll see my face No
more and we know the people wept because of that saying that Paul
gave them that they would see his face no more and And Paul
felt an obligation, and he had been among these Ephesians three
years, and he had preached faithfully unto them. And he said, I take
you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. And Paul said that here in verse
26. He said, I take you to record this day that I am pure from
the blood of all men. Now, he says, it's because I've
not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Now,
beloved, this was not an arrogant boast, but it was a statement
of truth. Paul had declared the whole counsel
of God unto these Ephesians, and he did not fear their disproval,
he did not court their approval, Paul just simply preached the
whole counsel of God to them. He had plainly declared to all
those who heard him the truth of God, and having preached the
truth of God to those, he felt that he was free from their blood. He felt that he had delivered
his soul that he had preached faithfully unto them, and that
in the day of judgment that nobody would be able to look at him
and say, I'm damned because I listened to you. I'm damned because I
heard you preach. If I could have heard somebody
else, maybe I wouldn't have been damned, but I'm damned because
you never preached the truth of God to my soul. You never
took this business of preaching seriously. You did not show me
the way of life. You valued maybe my approval
and my friendship and my favor more than you valued my soul. My blood is upon your hands. And you're guilty of damning
my soul to hell because you lied to me when you preached to me.
Nobody could say that of the Apostle Paul. He was a faithful
watchman. He said that I'm free, I'm pure
from the blood of all men. I'm free from the blood of those
that listen to me preach. Now listen, as we think of this,
and using Paul as an example, of the words of God to Ezekiel,
where God said to him, I've made you a watchman over the house
of Israel. Paul said that he was a watchman
and he had been faithful and he had delivered and was pure
from the blood of all men. He had not shunned to declare
all the counsel of God. Using this this morning, I want
to, if I can, to bring you three tests. of a preacher being a
true watchman. Three tests. We're told in the
book of 1st John, where it says in the book of 1st John 4, 1
through 3, but verse 1 in particular. He said, Beloved, believe not
every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because
many false prophets are gone out into the world. Now the way
to prove a preacher's faithfulness to our souls is by the Word of
God, the message he preaches, not by our own feelings and opinions,
but whether or not his message is, thus saith the Lord. Can
you find it in the Bible? Is it scriptural? Did it come
from God? Did he hear it from God? And
before he stands to deliver it, did he get it out of the book?
Now the test of a watchman, his faithfulness in keeping watch
over the souls of his hearers, warning them of danger and showing
them the way of life, is by the preaching of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. And if a man is a false prophet,
then he'll not be true to the gospel, and he'll not be true
to the word of the Lord. The first thing I'd like to talk
about, giving you three things that is the test of a true watchman,
I want to first of all talk about his work, then I want to talk
about his worth, and then thirdly and lastly talk about his witness. But first of all, the watchman's
work. Now the work of a watchman is
not complicated. It's not mysterious and it's
not hard to discern. It's not difficult to discern. And he has only one thing to
do and that is he must keep a watch over God's church. He must keep
a watch. God said you'll hear the word
and then you'll warn them from me. This is simple enough. It
seems that it's a very simple statement. There's a lot involved
in it. Now when Paul gave an account
of his ministry, he simply declared, in other words he said, the word
which I received from God, I preached it to you. I kept back nothing.
This is the whole work of the ministry. I kept back nothing,
I got a word from God, I delivered it. And a faithful preacher is
one who diligently seeks from God for his people a message
and then faithfully stands before them and delivers that. This
is the work of the watchman. Now it is the watchman's responsibility
then also to keep his post. He must keep his post. Now what
I mean by that is that the commander, God Almighty, may move, he may
move the preacher from one place to another at his discretion
as he wills it, but the watchman's duty, it always remains the same. Now God may move his servant
from one place to another, but their work never varies. He still
must find God's message, deliver it to God's people, and do so
faithfully. The pastor is a watchman. He
must not be moved from his place by fear. He must not be moved
by intimidation or by allurement. or personal desires. He must remain in the position
that God placed him until God moves him. Now this is very important
that we see this. As we look at this, you know,
we see and of course we know that preachers move around a
whole lot. Some move often and they very seldom stay anyplace
over a couple of years. They're moving again. But a preacher
must stay where God places him and if he hears about a more
attractive situation, he is. And I read about that. I read
this about a little boy down in Kentucky. And his father owned
a farm, and they lived on this farm, and they had some cattle.
And one day the cattle got out, and they got out somewhere, out
in the soybean field or someplace where they were not to be. And
so the way the pasture was set up and everything, why, the father
said to the boy, he took him around the side of the house,
and he said, I want you to stand right here. And you stand right
here because the cows will be coming up here and you can just
drive them around and you'll be standing there so they can't
go on out into the road. And so the little boy, Oscar
was his name, Oscar stood there and his father went out and he
rounded up the cows. Well, somewhere or another the
cows never did come by Oscar. And so the father got the cows
back into the barn and into the barn lot. and went on about his
business the rest of the afternoon and never thought anything more
about Oscar. And so he finally came in, his
wife called him for supper and he came in and they all sat down
at the table and somebody said, where's Oscar? And they said,
nobody knew where Oscar was. And so the father said, I put
him around in the side yard this afternoon and told him to stay
there because I was going to drive those cows around. And
sure enough, the father went out there and there stood Oscar,
right there beside the house. And I'll tell you, that's a good
illustration of a preacher staying where God puts him. as long as
God wants him to be there. And the cows may not come around
there, but you just stay where God places you, because you're
not to be moved by personal desire or allurement. And this was the
way it was with Paul. You know, he served the Lord
in very difficult circumstances. He said, but none of these things
have moved me. They don't move me. I don't count
my life dear unto myself. So that I might finish my course
with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus
to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. So Paul said, I'm
not moved by all of these things that happen, the afflictions
and the trials. whatever comes my way. And so
a preacher must separate himself from all other things, give himself
wholly to the work of the preaching of the gospel, that he might
finish the course that the Lord has placed him upon, do it with
joy, the ministry that he's received of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
also let me say that faithful pastors are men who labor in
the gospel. I recognize that we're living
in a time, it's kind of like the fellow was saying this morning
about some people on television now, they have straight teeth
but shallow minds. And it's true of a lot of preachers. They may have straight teeth
but they have very shallow minds when it comes to studying the
Word of God and they know very little about it. And you can
listen to a whole lot of preachers and you know that when you're
listening to them that they very seldom ever read the Bible and
it's very seldom that they ever sink their teeth into anything,
into any of the meat. of the Word of God. Now, as John
Gill said, preachers are not lorders, they're not slothful
servants who hide their talents in a napkin. They are not to
be idle shepherds, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber,
but they are those that are to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. They are laborers. They are laborers. Faithful preachers are laborers. They labor in the Word and doctrine,
and the Bible says they're worthy of double honor because they
labor in the Word and doctrine. And I know that many times people
say, well, I'd rather not hear doctrine. I'd rather the preacher
not get involved too much in preaching doctrine. I'd rather
him tell some stories or something, but really to get down to the
doctrines, I don't know whether we need to hear those or not.
Brethren, I don't pay any attention to that. If I hear that, I don't
pay a minute's attention to it, because I know what God called
me to do, and that's to labor in the Word and the doctrine. and to preach something that
is meat as well as milk. And I think this is very important
for us to see. This is part of the preacher's
work. He labors in the Word and doctrine. And preacher must give relentless
work to this ministry. Satan, beloved, will try every
way he can, use every imaginable means to distract the preacher
from his work. to distract him, to cause him
to leave off preaching the Word, getting a message from God, and
delivering it. unto the Lord's people. Now the
pastor must not ever be distracted from the work that God called
him to. Day by day he must resolutely
give himself over and over again to this work that God called
him to and think about it all of his waking hours. Conrad and
I were talking about this very thing this week on the way back. Now you listen to what I'm saying.
Though the preacher is a citizen, he cannot give He cannot be given
to politics. Though the preacher is a husband,
he cannot give himself to his wife. Though he is a father,
he cannot give himself to his family. He must give himself
only to Christ and the gospel of his grace. Now, beloved, this
is how serious a business this is. The souls of men, the glory
of Christ, and the truth of God is his obligation, and he must
yield himself to that over and over. As I said, Conrad and I,
we had quite a lengthy conversation this week about these very things
that I'm talking to you about this morning. That's what impressed
me to bring this message about the watchman this morning was
the conversation that we had in the truck coming back. Now
then, the pastor, he gives himself to the study of the Word of God,
and he gives himself to prayer. He gives himself to praying for
the intercession of God's elect, interceding for God's elect,
praying for them, and then always looking for a message from God.
Every telephone call. Every time you pick up a book.
Everything. Every time you talk to another
preacher. Listening if God will have a word for your soul so
that you can convey it to God's people. Always looking for something
to preach. And I was talking just a few
days ago to Brother Donnie Bell, who was up here about a year
ago. And Donnie, he said, have you got anything preacher you
could send me? He said, I'm always looking for
something to read. I'm looking for something to
preach. And if you got anything, send
it to me. And so a preacher is always looking to find the message. from the Lord. And then to pray
for grace and power from God. How many nights have we woke
up praying in our hearts on a Saturday night, early Sunday morning,
God give us grace, give us wisdom, give the power of the Holy Spirit.
and enable us to bring the few remarks and thoughts that we'll
be bringing this morning in a way that be glorifying to you, edifying
to the saints, useful in the hands of the Spirit to awaken
dead sinners and bring them to Christ. Now then, also it's the
responsibility of every pastor as a watchman to proclaim to
all men this counsel of God and I want to talk a little bit about
that because I think sometimes people get confused about when
Paul said that he had not shunned to declare to you all the counsel
of God. That's verse 27 of Acts 20. What
did he mean by this statement? when he said, I've not shunned
to declare the whole counsel of God. Well, he did not mean
that I have declared to you all the secret decrees of God, because
Paul didn't know all the secret decrees of God. And he did not
mean, in any way, shape, or form, that he had expounded to them
every text in all of the scriptures at that time. Because a man could
not do that, he could have not done that in three years. When
Paul said, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel
of God, his meaning was that I have faithfully in your hearing
set forth the body of divine truth as I know it. I preach
to you the gospel of Jesus Christ." Paul said, that's the ministry
that I have received of God, and that is this ministry. Now
Paul told the Corinthians the very same thing when he said,
I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Christ crucified is the gospel
of God's free grace to sinners. It speaks of the merits of the
Lord Jesus, the obedience of Christ, and it was a vicarious
obedience unto all those that believe. And this, my friend,
is the counsel of God. To preach all the counsel of
God is to preach Christ, only Christ, all of Christ, nothing
but Christ all the time. Now you listen, there's a statement
here that I want to make about the Lord Jesus Christ and you
listen to it very carefully. Doctrine that is divorced from
Christ is nothing but dead religious philosophy. Duty that is divorced
from Christ is nothing but self-righteous legalism. Devotion, divorce from
Christ, is nothing but superstition. Christ is the subject of Biblical
truth, all Biblical truth. Christ is the fulfillment of
all Biblical prophecy. Christ is the end of all Biblical
law. Christ is the motive of all Biblical
precepts. Christ is the example of all
biblical standards. Christ is the foundation of all
biblical hope. And Christ is the reward of all
biblical faith. In a word, in all true gospel
preaching, Christ is all. So that's why I'm telling you
that when a man preaches the gospel of Christ, he's preaching
the whole counsel of God. Now, the watchman also must declare
the truth of God in a very clear and unmistakable way. Somebody has said the gospel
must be declared plainly, without disguise, fully, without concealment,
firmly, without doubt, authoritatively, without fear. That's the way
that a preacher must preach. He must preach with simplicity
and clarity so that no one can mistake his meaning and so the
wayfaring fool will not err therein. He'll be able to receive the
message and to hear the message. Now then, God holds this man
accountable for his work. He holds him accountable. He
must be faithful as a faithful steward of God, one who is entrusted
to, as it were, setting the table that we described earlier. Now,
let me just say a few words about the watchman's worth, about his
worth. We've talked a little bit about
his worth, and now his worth. Isaiah 52 and verse 7 says, how
beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publishes peace, that bringeth good tidings
of good, that publishes salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God
reigneth." Now this, of course, in this particular verse of Scripture,
picture, if you will, a city that is besieged by an enemy.
And they hear coming across the mountains an army. And they come with strength and
power to deliver the city that's besieged. Well, this is a picture
of the preachers that God sends. They're coming with a message
that delivers. They're coming to preach good
tidings of good things and to deliver the people, to publish
salvation, deliverance. that sin has been paid for, and
that atonement has been made, and that God has been satisfied
through the redemptive work of His own Son. The work is finished. Believe, sinner, and live. Okay,
now, I don't know how you esteem God's watchmen. Maybe you believe
that they're important, and maybe you don't have much regard for
God's service and those that stand in this responsible position. But I think the Word of God teaches
that they are of worth. Now they feel about themselves,
and this is the way they feel about themselves, Paul in Ephesians
chapter 3 and verse 8 says, unto me who am less than the least
of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Now a preacher in
and of himself, while he figures himself to be as worthless as
he looks upon flesh, as he believes everybody else, even the people
that he's preaching to, those that he preaches to are fallen.
He's fallen. Those that he preaches to are
depraved. He's depraved. And they're sons of Adam. He's
the son of Adam. They're sinful wretches. He's
sinful wretch himself. but as he is a faithful watchman,
and as he preaches the gospel, then, my friend, his value, well,
who can estimate or calculate the value of a faithful watchman? Now, I want us to look just a
little bit more about this. The man who faithfully preaches
the gospel of Christ, you must consider him to be the instrument
of God, the instrument of God. He has no power or ability himself
to save. Now there are some groups, the
primitive Baptists, they do not believe that God uses the preaching
of the gospel to regenerate sinners. The Bible says, of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth. The Bible says that God
has chosen through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. This is what God has done. But
now without the message that the watchman preaches, who would
be saved? Who would be saved? Well, I believe
that a man who preaches, who is the instrument of God unto
eternal life to men and women, that he ought to be valued as
a man and be held in high esteem for the very works sake. That's
what 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 12 and 13 says. Such a man is
to be highly valued and I do not think that if you understand
what that man is in the flesh that you're not going to too
highly value that man because he's made out of flesh cut out
of the same piece of cloth you're cut out of he's no better than
you are he's just a man that God laid the burden on and the
responsibility to be an instrument in his hand and therefore you're
to judge him as that as that instrument in God's hands. And so this is his worth. He
brings the message of eternal life. The message that if men
believe it, they will be saved. And I'll tell you this, that
if you value your soul, then I think you will value a man
who's faithful to your soul and that is watching for your soul.
Okay, now the watchman's witness and we'll be done here. Turn
to Hebrews chapter 13. Turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Now
I've referred to what God said to Ezekiel But here's a verse
that I want you to look at with me Here's a verse of scripture
that I think we should consider a little bit. It's verse 17 Well, there's two verses, verse
7 and then verse 17. Look at verse 7, Hebrews 13.
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken
unto you the word of God, whose faith imitate. Whose faith imitate,
considering the end of their behavior. Considering the end
of their conversation. The end of their life. Consider
their life. Have they walked by faith? Are
they trusting God? Are they following the Lord?
Paul said, you follow me as I follow Christ. You imitate me as I imitate
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so remember them, but notice
this, which have the rule over you. You remember them, pray
for them, and follow their example. And then look in verse 17. Obey
them that have the rule over you, and submit yourself, for
they watch for your souls as they that must give an account. that they may do it with joy
and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you." Now
then, the preacher will give a witness to God for those that
he preached to, and the question will be asked, when the king's
son was preached, how did the people react about the message
of the king's son? Did they have respect unto the
king's son? Or did they say, away with this
man, let him be crucified. Away with this man. We will not
have this man to reign over us. Now, each one of you here this
morning, you have had dealings with the Son. The Bible says
you kiss the Son lest He become angry with you and you perish
from the way. Now, the way that men and women
treat the Son of God, beloved, will be, I believe, the main
thing under consideration at the judgment when the preacher
gives an account. Because his ministry has been
all about Christ. Remember we said that he was
the saver of life unto life and the saver of death unto death. And all of this was about Christ. The sweet smell of Christ. And
so it's how men and women treated Christ. Now you know the Bible
teaches that men should honor the Son even as they honor the
Father. Have those that we preach to,
and I'm thankful to God to be able to say that you people are
tolerant of the message of the gospel here in this place. You
will listen to the message of the gospel. You don't try to
run a preacher off that preaches Christ in this place. And that
you cannot, Christ cannot be lifted up too high here. You're willing to listen to it.
You want to hear it. And flesh cannot be preached
too low in this place. You don't want to hear flesh.
You don't want to hear men exalted, man exalted. You want Christ
exalted. And so when I give an account
before the Lord, I will be able to say, well, of these dear souls
that came in to the New Covenant Baptist Church and listened to
the preaching, they were tolerant of the message of free grace.
They listened to Christ being preached, and they wanted, they
had an appetite for it, and they kept coming back Sunday after
Sunday to listen to Jesus Christ being exalted. and we had nothing
to entertain them with, but they came back to hear Christ preached,
Christ exalted. Now, beloved, listen, if a man
is a faithful watchman, they watch for your souls, Paul says
in verse 17, as they that must give an account, then I believe
that he can do it with joy, if the people have responded to
the message of the gospel favorably and have rejoiced in Christ and
his full, free salvation. But then, they're not with grief. Oh, beloved, the preacher has
to give an account of some with grief. Some that listened over
and over and over again to the gospel, but they never seem to
close with the gospel. There was a time when they would
listen and be bothered by the message, but they would never
seemingly close with Christ. They never would believe on Him
to the saving of their soul. Now beloved, that grieves me.
That grieves me because I know those people are going to drop
dead one of these days. They're going to drop dead. I
mean, you hear all kinds of stories about how people just, I just
heard a story this week about a fellow who came in to a service. And he came in on a Tuesday night
to listen to one of the brethren preach the gospel. And he'd just
been invited. He worked with one of the brothers
and he came into the church and he listened to the fellow preach.
He went out, never said hardly anything. But he heard the gospel
the next morning, got up to take his normal walk on Wednesday
morning, got out in the street and walked about a half a block,
fell over dead. And that was it, his life was
gone. Well the preacher said how thankful
he was that he got to deliver his soul by preaching to that
man one time the gospel. He preached the gospel to that
man and that man could not stand in the judgment and point his
finger at him with the smoke of hell in his lungs and the
hatred of hell in his voice and saying, you, you preached to
me the last day of my life and you lied to me and you told me
things that I didn't need to know but you preached the gospel
to me. He couldn't say a word to him.
He would have to admit, I died in my iniquity. I died in my
iniquity and the preacher, he would give an account with grief
because the man had not closed with Christ and trusted Christ
and believed the message. now there are some when this
scripture talks about those that have the rule over you i think
that a preacher ought to rule by example i think you ought
to rule by the word of god i don't think a preacher has any legitimate
rule in the church outside thus saith the lord that's the only
rule that he has now i know there are preachers that uh... they
think they have you know that everybody ought to listen to
them about everything where to drill the well in the yard which
side of your head to part your hair on, whether to drive a Chevrolet
or a Ford, or whether to vote this way or that way. Well, I
don't think a preacher has any right whatsoever to rule the
Lord's people legitimately any other way except by thus saith
the Lord. But whenever he tells you what
the Bible says, when he tells you what the Word of God says,
and you can open the Bible and look your own self, then you
my friend, are responsible to obey that man who has the rule
over you. Listen to the word of God that
he preaches. And then, too, there are some that have made a profession. And the preacher knows by the
way they live, by the way they conduct themselves, by the testimony
that they leave in this world, that they're hypocrites, that
they're not genuine. And I'll tell you something,
I'm going to give an account with grief. And some of you here
this morning may have to give an account of you with grief
because I don't know whether you're real or not. I really
don't know whether you're genuine, whether you love the Lord really
or not, whether your soul is really, whether you really trust
in Christ, whether you've really been converted, changed, or not,
or whether you're just a son of Adam in your lost condition
trying to act like a believer, trying to act like a Christian.
And I'll tell you something, I'm going to have to give an
account of you one of these days, and I'll tell you pointedly,
I'll tell you plainly, that you better take heed to yourself
and to what you've heard and you better listen carefully.
You may not be back another Sunday here under the sound of my voice
and I may be in eternity giving an account of you and I certainly
will one of these days. I know I'm going to die and I
know I'm going to stand before the Lord and I'm going to have
this burden to stand before God and give an account of you. The
watchman the watchman, his work, his worth, and his witness. May
God help you this morning, and if you feel ever that this watchman
is not watching for your soul, then you ought to pray more for
him, be burdened for him, and you ought to ask God to either
remove him or to get his heart where that he will faithfully
fulfill the duty that he has toward the church you pray for
me as we've said, tried to say all through this message this
morning and anybody that can't see it you got bad eyes spiritually
speaking that this is a responsibility no man take on himself except
God give it to him except God place it upon him So you pray,
you pray much for me. Well, those are some things that
were put on my heart by the conversation that Conrad and I had this week.
And I hope that the Lord will use them and give you a blessing,
give you some understanding about what this thing's all about.
The preacher preaching to the people. May the Lord bless. Father,
we thank you.