Month: October 2024

During my long absence this past summer, it was natural for me to think about the faithfulness of our Berean members. As God’s chosen people, fellowship in the gospel church is our highest priority. It is in the church that we receive instruction in God’s word and learn what we should do to honor and glorify Him. In the New Testament, the apostles were busy about the business of winning souls to Christ and then teaching the new disciples to band together in local assemblies. These assemblies are the same as what we call churches. Thomas Paul Simmons wrote in his systematic theology, “When one is saved, the next consideration that should claim his attention is the church. Gratitude to God for salvation should make him as conscientious about church affiliation as about matters pertaining to salvation.” This is an accurate assessment of the value placed upon church membership by the apostles in two ways. As Simmons states, there should be conscientiousness about affiliation. His primary meaning is that each Christian should carefully choose a church that is faithful to New Testament doctrine. To this we would add, a Christian should be conscientious about becoming a church member at all! Neither the apostles nor Simmons would imagine a Christian not being a part of a church.

In the Great Commission, Christ told the apostles to preach the gospel, to make disciples, to baptize them, and teach them to observe the commandments of Christ. Thus, we emphasize again a great reason to become a part of the Lord’s church. The church is the place for the teaching of God’s word. Paul explained in Ephesians that God put pastors and teachers in the church for the purpose of building the faith and knowledge of His people. Contrary to the thinking of many, the church is not primarily a place for evangelism. Teaching those who have already received Christ is our primary mandate. Since God has predestined our conformity to the image of Christ, He has given His church as a place for us to receive instruction that we might come “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).

Additionally, I would like to point out the fellowship of the church. The church is a place for Christians to come together to encourage one another. Hebrews says, “Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another…” (10:25). Church membership identifies you with other Christians and is acceptance of the responsibilities of your faith. Church membership is commitment to the cause of Christ and accepting the personal responsibility of conducting the commission that Christ gave to His disciples. Our Lord gave the Great Commission to the apostles as they constituted His first church. He commissioned them as a church for the perpetual work of evangelism. It is your responsibility as a child of God to assist in obeying the commission through the work of the church.

Instructions for the church fill the New Testament. Paul wrote nine of his epistles specifically for local congregations. He wrote three for instructions to pastors and deacons and for church order. The Revelation written by John begins with a message for seven local churches. Acts is the history of the growth of the church in the first century. These books along with the gospels and the general epistles center on the church. We cannot escape the reality that the local church is the plan and purpose for God’s people today. I encourage you to be thankful for your true Bible believing church and serve God faithfully by committing yourself to its ministry. Be conscientious about your choice of affiliation. Be sure your choice is a church that is committed to sound doctrine. I can think of none better than Berean Baptist Church! Help us as we minister to this community and send the gospel around the world.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother. But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together… (Psalms 35:14-15a) 

         If I were to give a name to the 35^th Psalm, I would call it the psalm of the ungrateful. The title would not be given because David was ungrateful, for the psalms are replete with his praises and thanksgiving for the Lord’s wonderful works. Rather, I would look at the underlying issues depicted in the psalm. This is David’s plea for God to turn back his adversaries whom he once befriended but were ungrateful for his friendship. They were people he honestly cared for and prayed for, yet they turned on him and spread lies about him. I hardly think a more loyal and trustworthy friend than David could be found, but though receiving benefits from him they did not value his friendship.

         I think you can see in this assessment a striking parallel to the ungratefulness of the Jewish people that turned their backs on the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus stated clearly that He came to save them. He demonstrated boundless love and compassion by expending Himself to the state of exhaustion as day after day He healed the helpless multitude. What was His reward? “They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul” (v. 12).

         With all the helping and healing, it was very difficult, in fact impossible, to find fault in Jesus. This was exceedingly frustrating for His enemies because when seeking charges against Him they could never find any legitimate accusations. What did they do? Just as David was lied against when they said he was against Saul, so Jesus was lied against when they said He was against God and the government. The psalm says: “False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not” (v. 11).

         At the time Jesus was taken to the cross, there were plenty in Israel that had been helped by Him. There were so many they could have easily overcome the mob that was against Him. But where were they? Were they thankful? We would scarcely believe they would come to His aid when His own disciples forsook Him and fled. Despite the constant rejection of Him by Israel’s leaders, Jesus still uttered words of compassion. He truly desired even His bitter enemies to repent, and He would gather them to Him in loving forgiveness. Still there was no gratitude for His concern—only relentless attempts to murder Him.

         This psalm is a lament against such ingratitude. However, it is also a plea for true justice. Those that refuse Christ’s friendship, who live for personal gain, who care little to thank Him for their very breath—this psalm heaps upon them their righteous reward.

         We cannot help but think the same attitude prevails today. In a world that is strangely tolerant of every evil harmful to man, there is intolerance for what will do us the best. We partake of the Lord’s benefits every day, but as the old proverb goes, we bite the hand that feeds us. The psalmist says: “Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me” (v. 26). God will not tolerate ingratitude indefinitely. The second advent of Christ will not end like the first. The ungrateful will meet their demise while the righteous grateful will magnify the Lord forever. Ingratitude is a serious sin, so do not be party to it. Praise the Lord and give Him the thanks He deserves.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Reprinted 07.14.24

         The sermons and articles of the past few weeks may leave you feeling trounced and beaten to a pulp. When we preach scriptures dealing with the natural moral condition of mankind, we will not go away from them thinking too highly of ourselves. Neither should we because the scriptures force us to see ourselves as God sees us.

         In the sermon on the Memorial Day weekend, I mentioned I had been reading from the last chapters of Job. At the close of chapter 37, Job’s “comforters” had exhausted their speeches without offering Job any relief from his misery. In God’s place, they announced their wisdom and judged and condemned Job as a vile wicked sinner. Surely, the chastisement of God was on him proved by the terrible calamities he experienced that practically ruined his life.

         After these condemning speeches, God’s voice came out of the whirlwind and His scathing words seemed to confirm the assessment of Job’s comforters. This continued from chapter 38 through chapter 41. What could Job do but say, “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:6). As Job’s comforters heard both God and him speak, they must have felt justified with an “I told you so” attitude. As if hearing God speak audibly in the wind was unexpected, hearing next what He said to these three wisemen of the East was the least expected of the entire ordeal. God said, “I am angry with you because you have not spoken what is right as did my servant Job.” Then God commanded each of them to offer a burnt sacrifice and ask Job to pray for them. After God burned their best wisdom to ashes like the sacrifices they would make; after obliterating their self-congratulations; this command to ask the one they eviscerated to pray for them was the ultimate humiliation. However, they knew the Lord and knew they must obey. Did they grumble at the requirement and act as if God was unjust to treat them this way? No, there is no recording of more speeches.

         In my sermon on the holiday weekend, this was in my mind as we discussed the Syrophonecian woman in Mark 7. She gladly accepted Jesus telling her she was a dog. I quoted Matthew Henry’s commentary on the reaction of Job’s three friends after God exonerated him and told them make their sacrifices. Henry wrote: “Peace with God is to be had only in his own way and upon his own terms, and they will never seem hard to those who know how to value the privilege, but they will be glad of it upon any terms, though ever so humbling.” Henry commented on a much different event than in Mark 7, and yet the underlying issue was the same.

         My thoughts were that we will never come to the type of faith God requires, until we accept how truly wicked we are. The suffering Christ endured on the cross reached its infinite intensity in view of the measurement of our crimes against God. It is beyond our ability to understand how far we are beneath the holiness of God. When we admit our sinfulness, it is not as if there is a light dusting of grime on our souls. A sense of the seriousness of our plight without Christ leads us to Henry’s conclusion. Anything God asks of us no matter how far we think it is beneath us is a valued privilege to do. We rejoice in God’s demand of humiliation—an accepted humiliation when the word of God describes exactly what we are.

         I do not preach to beat up on anyone. I preach the doctrines of the faith of Jesus Christ to exalt Him and never to let us think we deserve anything at God’s hand but judgment. If God grants the ability to miss the judgment of hell, are the terms too steep?

Pastor V. Mark Smith

          Today’s message concludes Mark 7, a chapter in which Mark carefully crafts a synopsis of Jesus’ teachings and demonstrations of the moral condition of all people. The summation is the 21^st through the 23rd verses: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Jesus used the familiar term “heart” as the moral repository of all people. In His description was not one word of commendation for the goodness of anyone but rather the identity of a holding place for evil that may at any time erupt into the performance of immoral acts. This is one of many scriptures that signify the sinful potential of every person.

          The scripture I chose for our congregational reading is Ephesians 2 which most remember for verses 8-10. These verses tell us our salvation is by grace through faith and not by any good works we may do. Most will eagerly quote these verses without explanation of the reason they must be true. The first part of the chapter paints the dismal prospects of our moral condition. We are dead in trespasses and sins and under the control of the prince and power of the air. This power is Satan who aggravates and stirs up our evil hearts to keep us bound in its corruption. We are without desire or ability to remedy this condition. Additionally, scriptures spoken by Jesus and others say that Satan blinds us to the light of the gospel. He means Satan obscures our spiritual understanding leaving us unable to decipher the cause and the truth of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins. This results in children who are not destined for eternal happiness but for the eternal destruction of hell.

          For the salvation of any person, a power greater than Satan must overcome the sinner’s natural blindness and affect a change of his sinful disposition. This power is not in us nor is there any ability to do better or to see beyond the darkness of the back of our eyelids. God must do this for us which is the reason Paul said grace, faith, and salvation are gifts of God. There is no merit in our work because no good works proceed from a corrupt heart. Thus, Jesus’ teaching of the heart’s terrible condition in Mark 7 concurs with Ephesians 2. With more space to fortify the argument for man’s total depravity and total inability, I could mention Jeremiah’s assessment of the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of the heart, or I could include the scripture in Job: “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” Anywhere we turn in scripture, we vainly search for anything about the good moral nature of anyone without Jesus.

          It is the gross misunderstanding of this deplorable condition that leads to a more favorable reinterpretation of the method of regenerating the totally depraved. The famous, or should I say the infamous, Robert Schuler, redefined original sin as the lack of self-esteem. His redefinition affects the meaning of “born again” which he also needed to redefine. He wrote, “To be born again means that we must change from a negative to a positive self-image—from inferiority to self-esteem, from fear to love, from doubt to trust.” As Bereans, search the scriptures carefully. Do you see Jesus speaking to anyone about changing from a negative self-image to a positive one? Jesus supplied the correct definition of our moral condition. To be born again is not to change our self-esteem. It is to esteem Christ as our righteousness and ourselves as our hopelessness. Why are we not a part of the solution? It ensures we do not boast, and God receives all the glory.

                                                  Pastor V. Mark Smith