Author: Berean Baptist

For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. (Psalms 36:9)

Recently, I was asked why I end each Sunday afternoon sermon with the phrase, Blessed be God for Jesus Christ. Each of the sermons on the tabernacle is to explain the beautiful pictures of Christ that are displayed in the types and figures of tabernacle worship. I am reminded of verse 9 in Psalm 36 in which David writes: “For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.”The purpose of these studies is to open up this fountain of life in order to perfect our knowledge of Christ. We are not in the midst of an academic pursuit to merely fill our heads with useless knowledge, but it is our desire to be filled with the fullness of the knowledge of Christ. To know Christ is to love Him, so as we increase our knowledge of Him so shall we increase in our love for Him.

The doctrines of God’s word elucidate the work of Christ that we might know Him better. In 1671, the great Puritan, John Flavel, presented a series of messages entitled The Fountain of Life Opened Up. In these sermons, he sought to draw the truths of Christ together to present them in an orderly fashion so that his readers could see the interdependency of each doctrine to the meaning of the whole gospel. In the introduction to his work, Flavel wrote:

“A young ungrounded Christian, when he sees all the fundamental truths, and sees good evidence and reasons of them, perhaps may be yet ignorant of the right order and place of every truth. It is a rare thing to have young professors to understand the necessary truths methodically: and this is a very great defect: for a great part of the usefulness and excellency of particular truths consists in the respect they have to one another. This therefore will be a very considerable part of your confirmation, and growth in your understandings, to see the body of the Christian doctrine, as it were, at one view, as the several parts of it are united in one perfect frame; and to know what aspect one point has upon another, and which are their due places. There is a great difference between the sight of the several parts of a clock or watch, as they are disjointed and scattered abroad, and the seeing of them joined, and in use and motion. To see here a pin and there a wheel, and not know how to set them all together, nor ever see them in their due places, will give but little satisfaction. It is the frame and design of holy doctrine that must be known, and every part should be discerned as it has its particular use to that design, and as it is connected with the other parts.

“By this means only can the true nature of Theology, together with the harmony and perfection of truth, be clearly understood. And every single truth also will be much better perceived by him that sees its place and order, than by any other: for one truth exceedingly illustrates and leads another into the understanding. Study therefore to grow in the more methodical knowledge of the same truths which you have received; and though you are not yet ripe enough to discern the whole body of theology in due method, yet see so much as you have attained to know, in the right order and placing of every part. As in anatomy, it is hard for the wisest physician to discern the course of every branch of the veins and arteries; but yet they may easily discern the place and order of the principal parts, and greater vessels, (and surely in the body of religion there are no branches of greater or more necessary truth than these) so it is in divinity, where no man has a perfect view of the whole, until he comes to the state of perfection with God; but every true Christian has the knowledge of all the essentials, and may know the orders and places of them all.”

This is the reason we study the tabernacle. We must see Christ better through the systematic understanding of truth. In the tabernacle, we touch on every aspect of Christ’s work. And by the way, as if to stand back in amazement at each discovery in the unveiling of Christ, Flavel ended each marvelous exposition of the Saviour with these words: Blessed be God for Jesus Christ.

                                                            Pastor V. Mark Smith

Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. (James 5:8) 

For many weeks, we’ve studied the Day of the Lord and how God intends to end this world. Those without Christ should be frightened to face the Lord and indeed Paul said in 1 Thessalonians they will not escape the wrath to come. While we as Christians will not face God’s wrath, we do face hardships in life that sometimes make us think we are not in God’s favor but in His wrath. One of these problems is financial trouble.

You will notice in James chapter 5, James gives one of the most scathing rebukes of the sins of the rich that can be found in scripture. While the Bible never says it is a sin to be rich, it does give strict warnings about the deceitfulness of riches and what God expects as stewardship of the resources He gives. Most in our congregation do not concern themselves with the temptation to horde riches. It is a challenge for many of you to meet your normal everyday household needs. We find ourselves on the other end of the spectrum fretting about making the house payment or the rent for next month.

For many Christians, this seems upside down. Why must God’s people suffer trying to make ends meet when there are unbelievers that are so rich, they can’t figure out how to spend their money? Some churches developed an entire theology to answer this question. Their conclusion is that Christians that suffer with financial problems and with health problems are living short of God’s intention for them. They suffer because they lack the faith to claim all of God’s promises.

            This is where our featured verse brings such comfort. Those that are not wealthy ought not to think that God will right this perceived wrong in this life. James reminds his readers of the holy prophets that suffered affliction (v.10) and patiently endured it. Could we say the prophets suffered because their faith was lacking? He also reminds them of Job (v. 11) who is the Bible’s classic example of patient endurance. Job certainly did not suffer because of lack of faith. It was his great faith that caused God to allow Satan to test him to prove that he would never turn his back on God despite the harshest of troubles. In the end, Job received the reward of endurance which was more than what he gave up at the beginning.

            The point made by James in this example is not that Job received his riches in this life, which he did, but rather there is always the faithfulness of God in respect to the reward. Many of the Christians James addressed would never see riches in their lifetimes because they were slaves. Were they to conclude as modern preaching says that their lack of faith was the cause? This is wild and crazy theology—even demonic theology that arrives at such erroneous conclusions.

            When is the Christian living in hardships to expect relief? It comes when we meet Christ. Those that live in light of the return of Christ or in the hope of their immediate presence with Christ at death realize they have eternal life in the present. They are going through such a minute period of time in this life that it does not register on the scale of eternity. The hurts of this life are no more than a scab that will be healed and quickly cast aside. If we truly believe in the reward that is coming, we will endure until we reach it.

            Another example James gives of patient endurance is in verse 7. The farmer toils in the field plowing and planting. It is a necessary part of receiving the harvest. The harvest will come but he cannot rush it. At the same time, he is confident the hard work will have a happy result. I don’t think we have any farmers in the church, so think of it another way. How much hard work and schooling does a professional endure before he becomes established and successful? The hardships are first and then the reward. James is simply saying this life is the hardship; it is the proving ground, and then the payoff of faith in Christ will be ours in the eternal home of heaven.

            So, be patient. Hold on a little longer and establish your heart in the faith because Jesus is coming!

Pastor V. Mark Smith

            In our message today, I briefly discuss the religious apostasy of the tribulation. Since I don’t have time during the sermon, let me give you a little more of the background of the religion system of the Antichrist that is an integral part of his government. It is a mixture of all the great religions of the world headed up by apostate Christianity.

            In has never been Satan’s primary tactic of deception to convince people to be atheists. He knows that man was created with the innate knowledge of God and rather than fight against human nature he chooses to exploit to his best advantage man’s ignorance of the true God. Since the beginning of the church two thousand years ago, Satan’s greatest weapon has been to pervert the gospel by corrupting the church and creating a confusing counterfeit. Today, Christianity claims two billion adherents most of which have some affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church. Through the centuries, Roman Catholicism has proved to be a great compromiser and thus Satan’s most effective counterfeit. During the Reformation, it was common for the reformers to equate Mystery Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5) with the Roman Catholic Church. Having been part of the Catholic system themselves, they were very familiar with its rife corruption.

            It has always been Catholicism method to increase her numbers by compromise. In the fourth century, Constantine saw the advantages of joining Christianity with his secular government but it was difficult to convince pagans to give up their mythological gods. To diffuse the opposition, the gods of the pagans were given new names and incorporated into the worship of his universal church. Although known by different names, their practice of worshipping Mary, the saints, and angels predates Christianity by thousands of years going all the way back to the construction of Babel in Genesis 11. In its missionary efforts through the centuries, when Catholicism wanted to embrace a different culture, it was no problem for them to be flexible and to incorporate the superstitions of their converts into their religious system.

            In the Tribulation, history will repeat itself as Roman Catholicism will be the head of the Antichrist’s apostate religion. Compromises will be necessary to mix all the world’s religions into one satanic concoction that will help the Antichrist rise to power and control the world. The same movement is foreshadowed today in the compromises of Protestants to rejoin their harlot mother. When the ECT accord (Evangelicals and Catholics Together) was signed in 1994, many well-known Protestant and Catholic leaders agreed to cooperate in their efforts to propagate the gospel. This was done notwithstanding Rome’s gross perversion of the doctrine of justification. The chief battle in the 16^th century Reformation was the correction of Rome’s false gospel of meritorious justification. This was laid aside in the ECT as being inconsequential, which makes the ecumenicism of the agreement nothing less than the affirmation of the Antichrist’s agenda.

            In 2022, it is hard to find a religious leader that still identifies the Great Whore of Revelation with the Roman Catholic Church. Satan’s deception goes on as one world church and religion become more of a reality every day. When the leaders of our country, many of whom claim to be Christians, cover up the atrocities of Islam and approve them as seekers finding their own path to God, they are setting up the convergence of all religions. As Congress gives up national sovereignty, they pave the way for the one world government of the Antichrist. Mix these two together, apostate Christianity and one world government, and the result is Mystery Babylon the Great, the wickedest vilest enemy of God that ever inhabited earth.

            Revelation 17 is the worst of the world’s history looking backwards or forwards. Thank God the King is coming! Mystery Babylon will fall, and the King of kings will reign supreme! We pray daily for God’s Kingdom to come to earth. Until it comes, we oppose religious dualism. We cannot and will not join any ecumenical efforts that promote unity by compromise. We are not ashamed to name the names of religious apostates. The day of wrath is coming. We will not be sleeping dogs who are passive and will not bark out the warning.

                                                                                    Pastor V. Mark Smith

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. (1 John 2:18) 

In our study of the end times, there is the term “last days” used several times in both Old and New Testaments but is often misunderstood. Sometimes the same concept is expressed in the way the apostle John did in 1 John 2:18 when he said, “it is the last time.” Since the Bible was completed two thousand years ago, we might think the writers were referring to a far-off time, different from theirs and referring to our own time or some other future date. However, it is clear from John’s present tense usage, “it is the last time,” that the time he was living in was also considered the last days. Hebrews 1:1-2 defines the last days as a time inaugurated with the first advent of the Messiah. This means for these past two thousand years we have been living in the last days and will be until Christ returns to close out this period of earth’s history.

The last days are characterized as a time of growth in the kingdom of God. We see this in Matthew 13 and the seven parables Jesus taught concerning the kingdom. This is a time for God’s people to witness the gospel, or as Jesus illustrates in the first parable of Matthew 13, it is a time to sow the seeds of the gospel. This is also a time of great opposition. In the second parable, Jesus described how Satan will sow tares among the wheat. The tares are poisonous plants that represent the children of darkness who infiltrate the kingdom. They hate the wheat, which is God’s people, and they hate the works of Christ. Using the term antichrists, which is peculiar to John’s writings, John describes the character of these tares. They are anti meaning against Christ. They try to destroy the growth of the kingdom by teaching false doctrines.

            Antichrists are extremely dangerous because the most effective work they do is when they are able to infiltrate churches with their false doctrines. These are not people that stand outside throwing stones. Rather, they are deceitful workers that stealthily worm their way into the church and eat away at it from the inside. They represent false Christianity, and their main target is Christ Himself. If they can destroy doctrines such as the deity of Christ, the penal substitutionary nature of the atonement, justification by faith alone, the inerrancy of scripture, and other essential doctrines they are successful at destroying the gospel before it can take root in the heart.

            John and other Bible authors warn us to be on the lookout for any deviation from the truths taught by Jesus and the apostles. The theme of 1 John is the apostle’s systematic criteria for identifying those that are not true believers. If these false teachers are characteristic of the end times, then we are sure that John was not the only one living through the last days. We are in the heat of it at this moment, especially when the people of this country have become dreadfully confused about the definition of true Christianity.  When heterodox Mormons are considered Christian, you know we are in trouble! We must be very diligent to “contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude v. 3). We are surrounded by antichrists—not my term but John’s—and a very appropriate description it is.

                                                                        Pastor V. Mark Smith

The End Is Near!

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. (1 Peter 4:7) 

            I am sure each of you is familiar with the cartoon of a man with long hair and beard standing on a street corner with a sign reading “THE END IS NEAR!” Usually, the sign flanks both the front and rear and some sort of funny caption is placed beneath. The idea is that anyone that thinks the end of the world is approaching is a fool. Every day we wake up to the same sunrise, we head off to work, put in our shift, and then make the drive back home. At night we watch a little TV, crawl into bed and go to sleep. The next morning it starts all over again and we do these 365 times per year and have done it for every year since we were born. Further, everyone we know has done the same routine with only slight variation and everyone we have ever heard of or read about in the history of the world has done the same. It is no wonder that when someone begins to sound an alarm for the approaching apocalypse, he is considered a fool.

            It has now been 2000 years since Peter wrote “the end of all things is at hand” and no doubt there were many that read his words and said he was a fool. Peter’s reference is to the Second Coming of Christ when God will destroy this universe and all that is contained therein. In his second letter, Peter spoke of scoffers that said “Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:4). Are we to consider Peter a fool because Christ has yet to return? Is the Bible’s warning nonsense?

            It is helpful to understand that although New Testament Christians believed in the imminent return of Christ, they were not date-setters. Peter did not imply he was certain tomorrow, or next week, or next month, the world would end. He followed the consistent pattern of New Testament teaching, especially that of Jesus, which said the Second Coming would be a sudden event that would occur without warning. The “end” refers to the consummation of the ages. “At hand” means the day is approaching. Every day we live we are one day closer to the time Christ will return. We are encouraged therefore to live in anticipation of the event. This does not mean to stand on street corners with signs, although we should witness of the event in a rational manner. It does not mean to neglect our daily routines in order to stare at the sky. It means to guard our personal lives so that we are a living testimony of faith. The closer we are to the Lord in obeying His commands the more it speaks to the degree of our confidence in the truthfulness of the scriptures.

            The prophet Amos said, “Prepare to meet thy God.” Years ago, I remember seeing signs along the roadway that said the same. The time of our life is uncertain and at every turn in life’s roadway there is a possible hazard that could end our lives. It is not as crazy as we might think to say, “the end is near.” One way or another we will meet God. It could be at the suddenness of the Second Coming or at our failure to breathe the next breath. No one knows the time of either. Are you prepared? In either event, you can be by placing your faith in Jesus Christ.

                                                                                    Pastor V. Mark Smith

Patriotism – Good or Bad?

            Today marks the 246^th birthday of the United States of America. We rejoice in another year of God’s providence as we are still free to worship our Lord according to our conscience. More importantly, we worship according to truths that are found in God’s Holy Word. The freedom to worship must not be taken lightly as we know Satan constantly attempts to tear down the liberty of conscience. While this statement is true, it is also true that liberty of conscience is neither too bothersome to the master of evil. He knows the human heart is well capable of destroying itself with little to no help from him. The more we depend on free-thinking, the less we are like God. We wander and weave from side to side on the broad road to destruction without guardrails to prevent mass destruction.

            This is not to say we do not cherish the Declaration of Independence in its most concise definitive summary of American government: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Notice the capitalization in the original—Creator, Rights, Life, Liberty, Happiness. It seems from the Creator the others divinely flow. This is truly a grand statement, and yet we recognize these fundamental rights are good only as they are exercised under the most powerful government of all—the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. We seek no independence from Him nor any free-thinking that counters the principles of His Holy Word.

            In the past few years, I have more struggled with the intersection of politics/government with the worship of the church. Politics is polarizing and at times deafeningly maddening. It tends to accomplish Satan’s purpose in the church without us realizing it touches the perversion of the gospel. Anger without a cause is the problem, that is, a cause that does not impugn God’s character. Conflating God and country rarely finds us without an imagined cause. If Satan can divide us on any avenue of thought, he accomplishes his purposes all the same. This is perfectly acceptable to him. He does not always claim credit for what we voluntarily do to ourselves. If he converts the middling church member who barely acknowledges responsibility to the gospel into flaming political activism as his passion, the gospel is abandoned equally as well.

            I posit this question for your consideration. Is America’s rabid patriotism a help or a hindrance to the gospel? I believe it is helpful whenever our desire for the direction of our country coincides with biblical objectives. Moral questions are certainly a part of our righteous agenda but with the understanding the human heart cannot be legislated into morality. We hold back the tide on each issue only temporarily until we are finally overrun by the insatiable moral drunkards on immorality’s broad road. Our patriotism is unhelpful when a political agenda is broadened and more inclusive of issues that do not affect the gospel. We may divide a church on these issues as our old human nature drives us rather than our common faith.

            Today, I choose to acknowledge the blessed beginnings of our country and thank God for the protections the Founding Fathers placed in our Constitution. No doubt God’s hand was upon them and some were indeed Christians. However, the birthday of the USA is only coincidental to Sunday worship observance. It is in the background, not the foreground. Therefore, we worship Christ fervently and only salute with a nod to our patriotism.

                                                                        V. Mark Smith

            On many occasions, I have remarked that the Bible’s first readers would not have seen the chapter and verse divisions that we see in our Bibles today. The first manuscripts were scrolls with continuous lines that make the text, thoughts, and ideas run together. The scribes who copied these scrolls and those who read them had to be experts in the word to locate the areas of the manuscript they wanted to read and expound.

            When Jesus stood in the synagogue to read from the scroll of Isaiah, the prophecy He read was well-known and neither had He trouble finding it nor were those who heard unfamiliar. Today, if you see a scroll of Isaiah such as the one in the Dead Sea Scrolls Museum in Israel, you would be amazed at how capable these people needed to be to find anything.

            I point this out because when we read Isaiah 53 and then go into 54, the chapter break makes us think the thoughts are not continuous. In the end of the 53^rd chapter, the death of Christ is the subject, and then immediately chapter 54 begins with singing. The singing is oddly connected with Christ’s death. Why? Because the death of Christ was not His end. The ministry of Christ did not end for His death would bring forth the salvation of many more than He saw come to Him during His life.

            When Christ was crucified, there were few in Israel that believed. Many miracles were done but when Acts 2 begins after the ascension, there were only 120 disciples gathered on the Day of Pentecost. Proof of the resurrection was attested by more than 500 people, but the 120 gathered might indicate that most who saw Christ after His death were scattered with fear the whole experience would yield very little. How wrong they were! The Holy Spirit descended, and Peter preached. Three thousand souls came to Christ in one day. More were added to the church in the following weeks than were added during the three years of Christ’s ministry. Soon, the Jerusalem church was bursting at the seams as thousands more heard the gospel and believed.

            Do you see the connection to the work of Christ on the cross? He was wounded for our transgressions. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. He was numbered with transgressors and then He died. What did it yield? His death is cause for rejoicing, for out of His death we read in chapter 54, “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine inhabitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes…” The salvation of millions is the result of the death of the cross. Tent stakes must be pulled up. The fabric must be enlarged; the cords of the tie downs must be lengthened to accommodate the burgeoning numbers of the redeemed under the canopy of God’s tent.

            As you read the Bible, keep it together. The divisions may throw you at times and you won’t catch the continuity intended by the old manuscripts read by the ancients. We need the divisions to find what we want because we are not the Bible students they were. From preacher to the pew, we know less than we should.

            Can we do better? Yes. Personal study and presence at the sermons and Bible studies is needed. The word of God comes alive, if only you know how to read it!

                                                            Pastor V. Mark Smith

by J. C. Ryle

• There is an undeniable zeal in some teachers of error–their “earnestness” makes many people think they must be right.

• There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge–many think that such clever and intellectual men must surely be safe to listen to.

• There is a general tendency to completely free and independent thinking today–many like to prove their independence of judgment by believing the newest ideas, which are nothing but novelties.

• There is a wide-spread desire to appear kind, loving, and open-minded–many seem half-ashamed to say that anybody can be wrong or is a false teacher.

• There is always a portion of half-truth taught by modern false teachers–they are always using scriptural words and phrases, but with unscriptural meaning.

• There is a public craving for a more sensational and entertaining worship–people are impatient with the more inward and invisible work of God within the hearts of men.

• There is a superficial readiness all around to believe anyone who talks cleverly, lovingly and earnestly, forgetting that Satan often masquerades himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14).

• There is a wide-spread ignorance among professing Christians–every heretic who speaks well is surely believed, and anyone who doubts him is called narrow-minded and unloving.

All these are especially symptoms of our times. I challenge any honest and observant person to deny them. These tend to make the assaults of false doctrine today especially dangerous and make it even more important to say loudly, “Do not be carried away with strange doctrine!”

(This was written before the end of the 19^th century. Satan has not changed his tactics—only the names and numbers of false teachers have changed. They are bigger, bolder, and have easier access to the masses of gullible people. Sadly, those willing to confront them are a dying breed. Let’s stand for truth and call them what they are—heretics and enemies of souls. ~ Pastor V. Mark Smith)

            In one of our studies in our Romans class, we talked about witnessing to people who do not believe the Bible is true and do not accept its authority. It seems like an insurmountable problem since our faith is built on the revelation of God in scripture, and without it, we have no reliable basis for our beliefs. It should be that the one who rejects the Bible is an impossible person to reach with the truth.

            A few days after our class, I saw a short missions’ video about a remote tribe in Papua that had no contact with the outside world. About 15 years ago, a pilot was flying over the remote area where this unknown tribe lived and spotted the thatched roofs of houses of this previously undiscovered people. Once the news of the discovery was out, missionaries made this unknown group a target for the gospel of Christ. These indigenous people welcomed the strangers, but the monumental task was before the missionaries of how to communicate and teach these people who had never heard of the Bible or Christ. They had no alphabet and thus no written language.

            Progress was slow at first as the missionaries began with the basic approach of Paul in Romans 1. All people know there is a Supreme Being and none can deny there must be a Creator God. The missionaries began to tell them of the God who made all things by relating the account of creation from Genesis. As they continued their witnessing and education of these backward people, they listened to the sounds and syllables of their language and began to form an alphabet for a written language. When this was accomplished, they taught them to read their own language by translating the Bible into their native tongue. Now these people were enabled to see for themselves what the Bible says about God and His creation.

            The emphasis of the missionaries was the use of the word of God to reach the hearts of the people. First Peter 1:23 says: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” It is always the word of God that is the means by which we are born-again. No one circumvents the necessity of the word in salvation.

            Now these people had the word of God, but this does not mean they would believe the Bible is true. Miraculously through the operation of the Holy Spirit, the Bible does its job of converting the soul and convincing of truth. Once the natives began to read for themselves, the Spirit took over and made the word effectual in their hearts.

            I recite this story because the word works the same way with the hearts of skeptics that you often meet. They do not accept the authority of the Bible and they do not believe it is true. However, when they hear and the Holy Spirit works, there is an irresistible draw to the Father. They are changed from unbelief to belief through the regenerating power of God who enlightens the mind and changes the will.

            The testimony of the natives was unanimous. One said, “I was in darkness until the Holy Spirit showed me the truth.” These were people shackled by fear in their animistic beliefs, but their hearts were set free by reading the word of God. Now they are anxious for the word, and they live in the word, and it is their primary source material for learning to read.

            Never underestimate the power of the word. Often, skeptics believe they are intellectually superior, and we are too often tempted to appeal to the learned through their intellect rather than taking them down to the basic truth—all people are sinners in need of the grace of God. Not one person was saved because they were smart or had good sense. The unbelieving college professor is as ignorant of God as the undiscovered tribes of Papua. The word of God is the only way to reach them. Try it and depend on the Holy Spirit to do His work.

                                                                        Pastor V. Mark Smith

A few weeks before church closures in the pandemic, I read an interesting article. This article was about confession of sin. In 1 John 1:9, John wrote: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” For those of you who still remember our 1 John series a few years ago, we examined this scripture and determined it is a verse for believers not unbelievers.  While the verse is true for unbelievers, John did not intend it for them. The verse is for the church as the epistle of 1 John is for the church. The teaching, then, is that believers need to maintain an attitude of repentance and confession of sin.

            We are to confess, a word that means agreement. We agree with God that His assessment of our sins is correct and immediately upon conviction by the Holy Spirit, we are to agree with God that we have broken His holy law. The question framed in the article was, how do we confess? What actions do we take in confession?

            These are good questions when we consider both private and public sins. The answer is dependent upon which type of sin it is. All sin is first and foremost against God, which means in either case God is our confessor. We go to Him in our prayers and with proper confession we admit our sin and ask for His forgiveness. This confession is not with a prescription or form described in the Bible that tells exactly what to say. I believe the words are directed by the Holy Spirit according to His righteous, holy, gracious influences. Private sins only require private confession. The confession is to God never to a priest or anyone we consider to be a representative of God. Forgiveness is granted by God and no other.

            The public sin, however, is quite different. The modern church has abandoned public confession of public sins. In fact, our churches are far away from discipline for public offenses. Occasionally, it is necessary to dismiss members of our church for non-attendance of our services. This is public sin. It is sin against the congregation. Excisive discipline is a church term and a church action. It is intended for the good of the member and the good of the body. It is never a vindictive action but is intended for the hope of later restoration. It is an action taken to emphasize the seriousness of the sin as it requires severing from the body of Christ.

            How might a person removed for church discipline be restored? Our church requires public confession. The church as well as God is an offended party. Therefore, the church must be included in the confession. Restoration to membership is granted when the person admits the sin to the membership and asks for forgiveness. The church desires this, so forgiveness is forthcoming upon credible repentance.

            I might add if the person wants membership restored but does not want to take this step, he does not understand the serious nature of his sin. If he is truly contrite and loves the Lord’s church, he will understand the church must be satisfied. This is more important than his personal feelings.

            Much more could be said on the subject. I believe John in writing to the church envisioned the scenario of which we speak. It is consistent with church discipline as taught by Jesus in Matthew 18.

            I encourage you to pray for members who have been removed. I am afraid to speculate that some of them may need salvation. John addresses this too: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 John 2:19) 

                                                                        Pastor V. Mark Smith