Month: March 2011

It is my privilege to return to the pulpit of Berean Baptist after attending the Shepherd’s Conference in Los Angeles. I very much appreciate the membership of Berean for allowing me the time and funds to attend this conference each year. It is a great spiritual experience and I truly do believe it will help me to be a better pastor. This was my third year at the conference and again it was a very enlightening and fulfilling experience. It was also instructional and at the same time very humbling.

I wish I could adequately describe the feeling as 3500 men from more than 50 countries rise to their feet to sing great hymns of the faith. This is an overwhelming and moving experience. The joy of this is in knowing there are believers from all areas of our country and the world that share common faith in our Redeemer and Lord. These men represent many more thousands in congregations across the world where the truth of scripture is being taught. I believe we sometimes forget this as we are infected with the Elijah syndrome, which is the impression there is no one left but our little church that stands for the Lord. It is easy to feel this way when we see churches in our area abandoning the Bible and selling out to the market driven, seeker sensitive movement. There is reason for concern to be sure, but just to see the Lord has men that are sold out to faithful exposition of the scriptures is very encouraging. It shows the gospel will be preached because the Lord fulfills His purpose in His way and in His time.

As the sermons are preached and the seminars are given, the exhilaration increases as the listener understands the way preaching should be done and how a pastor should care for his people. This part of the conference is very humbling, and while I enjoy the preaching, I come away from it bruised and with feelings of great inadequacy. I understand the awesomeness of the task and how it is impossible to do without God’s power. Though broken and humbled, though bruised and battered, the words of Christ to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness,” become the solace needed for the overwhelming task.

The striking contrast between this conference and others I have attended is the genuine humility of the speakers and the thousands of pastors that attend. There is no arrogance; it is not a rah-rah campaign or pep rally for prideful preachers. As one speaker so pointedly stated, “What do you have to complain about? Be thankful you are not in hell because that is what you deserve.” This is the attitude that pervades the conference. We do what we do only by the grace of God. Where is there any room for selfish pride? One day while walking across the street from the parking lot to the church, I met a young man getting ready to catch the city bus. He asked me if I was a pastor. When I said I was, he replied, “I admire you because of the integrity it takes to pastor a church.” It is easy to swell with pride when someone speaks this way, but the right response is, “It is only by the grace of God.”

As usual, my heart is filled from this experience. This conference is one of the highlights of my year and I am already looking forward to the next. My only regret is that I did not know about this conference ten or fifteen years ago. Both you and I would be much better off if I had.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

From time to time, I feel the importance of reemphasizing the value of attending all of the services of Berean Baptist Church. This past Wednesday evening we were discussing a subject that is vitally important to the membership of Berean. I read a quote at the end of the sermon which said, “Two things are at stake here. One, your own soul is at stake so you need to understand whether you’re a real Christian or not. Secondly, the church needs to be observant about this so that we deal with the people for their own sake and for the protection of the church.”

I am sure if you were not in attendance you may wonder what issue is so important that your soul is at stake because of it, and is so important that the church must be protected from it. The issue is sin and the belief that a person may profess to know Christ and yet continue to live in sin. Your soul is a stake because there are many in fundamental churches today that teach it is not necessary for a believer to submit to the Lordship of Christ, but may assent to the bare facts of the gospel, believe in Christ, and yet continue to live the same lifestyle of sin that was lived before. The problem with this preaching is that it gives false hope to those who believe their souls are safe from hell, when in fact, the lack of a radical, demonstrated change in a person’s life reveals the person has not actually been saved by the grace of God.

The apostle John makes this very clear with his arguments in 1 John concerning the nature of sin, the work of Christ, and the contrast between believers and unbelievers. Sin is the character of the devil, and habitual sin could not be the character of a person who has become a new creature in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). Those who are born again have received the indwelling Spirit of Christ. They have a new nature with new desires. John also argues from the standpoint of Christ’s work. He tells us in the third chapter that Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. Christ’s power over Satan is demonstrated immediately upon a believer in the work of salvation. The power of Satan to blind the sinner’s heart against the gospel must be broken. This is accomplished in regeneration when the sinner is brought to spiritual life in order to repent of sin and believe the gospel. Christ’s power does not stop upon initial belief. When the individual becomes a child of God, the sustaining power of God’s grace enables him to persevere in the faith. We are in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ. If a Christian could continue living the same life as before, at least three biblical doctrines must be denied—the new birth as a new creation in Christ, perseverance of the saints, and progressive sanctification. In effect, Christ’s present work in the believer is completely nullified.

Also in 1 John 3, the apostle makes this statement in verse 10: “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God…” This is the King James translation which we advocate at Berean. But in addition to the KJV, the ESV, NIV, NEB, RSV, CEV, NASB, and the Amplified Bible among others, all translate this to the same effect. All of these are very clear that a life of righteousness is evidence of the new birth. The preceding verses are emphatic in making the point that a true believer will demonstrate his salvation by a life of holiness.

Your soul is at stake over this issue. Receiving the Lordship of Christ is evidence that you have been genuinely converted. The health of the church is at stake because an increasingly unregenerate membership will be death to the preaching of the gospel. I am afraid many that could be greatly benefited by such teaching are the ones who need it most. Examine your life. Are you one of them?

Pastor V. Mark Smith

It has truly been an eventful two weeks away from the ministry of Berean. I left for an unusual vacation on February 7th and it turned out to be far more unusual than expected. As most of you know, I made it to San Diego and was intending to go to Puerto Vallarta to join my son-in-law on his return from deployment aboard the USS Jarrett, a missile guided frigate. This would have been my first opportunity to board a US Navy vessel at sea.

Things did not go as planned because the day before I was to leave San Diego, I made it as far as Kaiser Hospital and enjoyed the next six days there as my vacation dreamland. And, dreamland is was what it was mostly due to the generous amounts of pain medication. I struggled with the disappointment of not being able to board the ship and sleep in a 2 ½ x 6 ft. coffin rack with dozens of snoring sailors. I was also anxious to fire the weapons and take out a little pastoral frustration without actually having to kill any members! Well,I can chalk that one up as another training experience in this interesting journey we call life.

There were some good things that came out of the experience. I was happy to see my son-in-law, Jason, safely home and to hear about his opportunity to minister to his shipmates. Jason was promoted to Chief Petty Officer just before the deployment and he also served as a volunteer lay leader. He has done this for three deployments and he reported this was the best of the three. He was able to witness and do Bible studies with the men, and there were some real commitments made to the Lord during that time.

I was also able to attend services at Canyon Ridge Baptist Church last Sunday. Chris Chadwick is the pastor there and he did a wonderful job of preaching the word. The enthusiasm of the people over the ministry is infectious and it really lifted my spirits to see how the Lord is working in that church. The church is relatively new and has been blessed with a beautiful facility for worship. For many years, they rented a small space for services and had to set up chairs, the pulpit, and the musical instruments, and then take them all back down again as soon as services were over. They were faithful to do this time after time, year after year, and the reward is the blessing they now have of a great place to grow and minister in San Diego.

In the life of a Christian, the things to live for are not recreation and vacations. On Monday before returning home, I visited the Point Loma Lighthouse and read an interesting fact about the lighthouse keepers that kept the light burning for ships coming into the harbor. The job was 70 hours per week, seven days per week with no vacations. One keeper did this for 20 years. This is how important it was to keep ships safe as they entered the shallow waters of the harbor.

I thought about this and while I have no problems with vacations, we ought never to forget that our primary duty is right here keeping the light of the gospel shining. Membership in the church is a continuous commitment to the Lord’s work. Nothing in life is more important than what we do here. We are redeemed by the blood of Christ not for our salvation alone, but for the salvation of the world. We are God’s lighthouse keepers. If you don’t keep the gospel light shining, who will? How many people will die without knowing Christ if you never tend the flame? “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Two weeks ago in the Sunday morning bulletin article I began a discussion concerning the defining marks of a true church. Jesus gave the promise “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” We take this promise as one of perpetuity for the church, so that in every age since Christ began His church, it has been present in the world. The church age will end when Christ returns and takes His people home to heaven. Since we have His promise, we should be able to find the true church among the many groups that claim to be successors to the apostles.

The identification of the true church is established by its adherence to New Testament doctrine. This of course means the doctrine of salvation must be correct because the church is made up of a regenerate membership. But there are other doctrines that are essential as well. For example, the doctrine of baptism is important since believers were first baptized and then added to the church (Acts 2:41). By this we understand that baptism is the entrance into the church. Baptism, therefore, must be administered properly and by those who have authority to administer it. We believe this authority rests with the true church and the biblical method is complete immersion in water. If the baptism is administered to unbelievers such as infants, and if the method is something other than what the New Testament demands, the baptism of that church is not valid. The practice of that church is not valid and therefore the church itself is not valid.

We believe the identifying criteria of true churches can be found among people today known as Baptists. If we did not believe this, we would keep searching until we found the group that meets the criteria because it must exist. Credible historians of other faiths agree there have been people like Baptists in every century back to the time of Christ. However, it is not the name that makes the church. Many churches carry the name but their doctrines betray the name. We have to look more closely to see if the church still holds those New Testament principles that Baptists have believed and died for through the centuries.

What we are also looking for along with the right doctrine is the historicity of the church. Its history is as important as its doctrine if it is in fact the church that Christ started. Since these articles are short and cannot address the many historical facts involved in the history of the church, we recommend the booklet “The Trail of Blood,” written by J.M. Carroll. These are available through the church office if you should desire a copy. Other works such as “The History of the Baptists” by Thomas Armitage and “The History of the Baptists” by David Benedict are more complete but harder to obtain. We reject any history that considers the Roman Catholic Church at any time a true church and a predecessor to people today known as Baptists. In other words, we are not Protestants! While we do not believe it is possible for any individual church to trace its history in an unbroken line to the apostles, we do believe churches of like faith and order to the apostles have continuously existed based upon the promise of Matthew 16:18 and many other scriptures.

Be sure when you choose a church that you start with doctrine. Please do not start with music programs, children’s programs, and social activities. Start with the word of God and then couple your investigation with history. The true church exists and you can find it!

Pastor V. Mark Smith