Month: July 2010

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” (Nehemiah 8:8)

The book of Nehemiah is the story of the rebuilding of the city walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonians had destroyed them and taken Judah into captivity. Nehemiah was a Jew that had risen to prominence in the kingdom of Persia. When news reached him of the poverty and deep affliction of his people in Jerusalem, his heart was broken so that he wept and prayed that God would forgive the people of the sins that had led to their devastation. Nehemiah recognized God’s promise that if His people would repent God was able and more than willing to restore them.

Nehemiah petitioned the Persian king to allow him to return to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the walls of the city. God was gracious to inspire the people to work, and astonishingly the walls and gates of the city were repaired in only 52 days. After the wall was finished, a great celebration was held in order to thank God for His providence in enabling the people to overcome the many obstacles that could have ruined their efforts. This brings us to this important verse in chapter 8.

Ezra, a scribe and priest, along with 13 prominent Levites, mounted a wooden platform that was built for the occasion. Ezra opened God’s holy word and as he did the people rose to their feet in reverence. He began to read the Word and explained very clearly to the people the meaning of the scriptures. The result of this reading and explanation was a national revival that caused the people to weep for their sins.

I related this story to you today to help you understand the profound effect the word of God has for the salvation of souls and the growth of God’s people. The apostle Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth” (Rom. 1:16). He also said the holy scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation (2 Tim. 3:15). Peter said we grow by the word of God (1 Pet. 2:2). These are just a few of the statements made in scripture about the power of God’s word through the gospel.

It is the sacred trust of true ministers of the gospel to faithfully expound the scriptures just as Ezra did in the book of Nehemiah. The scriptures demand repentance, faith, and full surrender to the Lordship of Christ. How will this be accomplished if churches do not declare the whole counsel of God? The gospel shows our sinfulness; it declares the penalty for our sins, which is hell; it proclaims the only remedy for sin, which is the bloody sacrifice of Christ; it demands our faith in Christ’s sacrifice, and then evidence of our faith in holy, righteous living.

Sadly, Nehemiah’s and Ezra’s method is not the method of the modern church. The gospel has been abandoned for a message of self-esteem, self-help, and felt needs. The message of repentance and deep contrition for sin has been buried under the performance stage and drowned out by pulsating rock music. Preachers are as Isaiah described, “…blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” (Is. 56:10).

Today, in our worship service, we will stand in reverence for the reading of God’s word. We will respect the holiness and glory of God; we will sing old hymns of the faith; we will pray with conviction; and we will preach the timeless gospel from the timeless Bible. Nothing less will do. Soli Deo Gloria!

Pastor V. Mark Smith

During the months of July and August we are hitting what I would call a “rough patch” in our ministry. I am not speaking of the summer doldrums that hit most churches as well as ours. The summer is difficult with many of our people on vacation and occupied with other things. The work load increases on the few that do most of it anyway, and the offerings slip as well because vacation drains off tithes and offerings that are used to carry on the ministry. These issues make for rough riding in the ministry.

These are not, however, the makeup of the rough patch of which I speak. In our studies on both Sunday mornings and Sunday nights, we are discussing unpopular themes for most of the “Christian” world. On Sunday mornings the theme is the warning given by Jesus in Matthew 7 to beware of false prophets. The warning is not that some wildly heretical blasphemous people are attempting to tear down everything we hold sacred. The warning is not that atheists and agnostics are knocking on our doors trying to shut down the work of the church. The warning is that there are those that call themselves Christian ministers, which purport to be ministers of the gospel, which claim they are doing the work of God, but really are ravening wolves that make shipwreck the doctrines of the faith (1 Tim. 1:18-20). We are charged with the responsibility of identifying them and rooting them out. The “rough” character of our work is unacceptable to many because they believe in unity—at all costs, unity. Doctrine doesn’t matter to most people especially if it gets in the way of having a good time and ruining the party atmosphere of their church. Jesus warns against this by saying “broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.” The only basis for unity is truth and when the truth of God’s word is not spoken we must separate and be as divisive as true doctrine requires.

Coupled with the Sunday morning sermons is our study on Sunday nights in the book of Revelation. Has God providentially worked this out that after two years of teaching in two different books of the Bible that we should suddenly hit an exact parallel course? We are studying the 17th chapter in the Sunday night series that warns of the conglomeration of the world’s religions that make up ecclesiastical Babylon, the religious empire of the Antichrist. At the forefront of this religious system is compromising apostate Christianity that also seeks unity at all costs. Our firm stands on Biblical doctrine, our unwillingness to compromise, and our willingness to expose those who do will not make us popular. Our “rough patch” is the bumpy road we encounter when we teach systematically through the Bible. If the Bible says it, we teach it, because it is God’s word on which we stand. If it makes some uncomfortable, praise God, because it evokes the reaction Jesus promised it would (Matthew 10:17-40). If what we preach is easily acceptable to all people, we have missed the truth. Stick around to hear it all and rejoice that God has given you a church that still “contends for the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

Pastor V. Mark Smith