Walking with the Dead

Berean Baptist on December 30, 2019

In the beginning of Revelation 3, the Lord had a letter delivered to the church at Sardis. Using comparative terminology that most people understand, we might cautiously call this church the Zombie church. I use the term only to emphasize the point with a contemporary reference. They had a reputation of being alive, and yet in the Lord’s estimation they were dead. Their reputation of life might well have been their many social works and their benevolent programs practiced without the power of the Holy Spirit.

            I believe the issue in Sardis was their attempt to be Christian without knowledge and belief of Christian doctrine. Although some in Sardis were faithful and were not defiled with sin, it seems they were in the minority. The church at one time must have been filled with the faithful, but over time unbelievers became dominant. Membership in the church made them appear to be believers, but they were living a false profession.

            How do we know they were not believers? The best indication is the use of the word dead to describe them. The Lord never speaks of His people as being dead. To be spiritually dead is to be without faith in Christ and thus without life in Christ. It is the living (believers) versus the dead (unbelievers). Dead is the often reference in scripture to those still depraved in heart and still in their natural condition apart from God (see Ephesians 2:1-5).

            Since the church at Sardis is used as an example of churches across all ages, we conclude there are active churches doing many works without the knowledge of doctrine that proves they are God’s people. I have addressed this issue from this pulpit many times as the reason the Berean Baptist Church does not fellowship with many churches nor care to join with them in cooperative efforts. We have only one method of cooperation—a common belief in the true gospel of Jesus Christ. There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. This is the basis of Christian unity—it is doctrinal not emotional. We must be compelled by more than common compassion to work together. It must be doctrinal unity in the faith of Jesus Christ.

            We encounter many churches that have a zeal for Christ, but their zeal is not according to knowledge. Ask them about their doctrinal positions and you are greeted with either blank stares or this response, “Does it matter?” It matters because we cannot glorify Christ without knowledge of His ways and works. These are found in scripture encapsulated in the doctrines of the faith. For example, does it matter if you believe Christians are safe and secure in their salvation, or if you believe salvation can be lost? Yes, it matters. The first displays dependence on faith in Christ alone, while the second is dependence on self. One affirms justification by faith and the other justification by works. The first upholds the promises of Christ and gives glory to Him for salvation, while the second glorifies self and our ability to do enough good things to be saved. If salvation can be lost because of doing evil things, it can be gained by doing good things. One ratifies the doctrine of scripture—the other blasphemes the God of heaven.

            When we join with churches that are muddled in their doctrine, are unsure of their doctrine, or have no sense of Christian doctrine, we link arms with the dead. We cannot do Christ’s work without the vital connection of life through the belief of the truth. The living in Christ have no business in the graveyard of the dead.

            What will we do? Continue to walk in the light of Christ’s truth and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. To do otherwise, to work with unbelievers, is to shame the name of Christ.

                                                                                    Pastor V. Mark Smith

The Ministerial Lie

Berean Baptist on December 31, 2018

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. (Exodus 20:16)

The ten commandments were given as the ruling code of law for Israel, and was a constitution for their government. For this reason, we notice the ninth commandment appears as a regulation for judicial procedures and for those who conduct the courts. This is certainly true, but as we learned before, all the commandments are broad in governing all parts of our everyday lives. Thou shalt not bear false witness extends beyond the witness stand in the court of law to every dealing we have with every person. God never gives an excuse to lie even though we know lies sometimes protect people, may even promote their welfare in some degree, or in general may be told for the greater good.

It is the last of these that colors my article today—lies that are told for the greater good. Surprisingly, this is the excuse for ministerial lies. I will cover this aspect of lying more extensively in a later message, but it strikes me today as important because of what I heard recently from the pulpit of a fundamental Baptist pastor. I am very sensitive to what I term ministerial lies. I find no support for it in any place in scripture. Further, it destroys the integrity of the preacher who tells them.

At this point, you may be thoroughly confused. What are these lies? They are varied, but the several I just heard were fabrications of doctrine assigned to another group which the preacher claimed represented their beliefs. These false accusations were hurled for ridicule and were attempts to make the one who told them seem to be a defender of truth, a security force against heresy in his church. In this case, the preacher fabricated a conversation and debate with a man who teaches the doctrines of grace and proceeded to tear down doctrines the man did not believe. In other words, the preacher built a straw man to attack, and with what he described as his “debating prowess,” he tore down the straw man and conquered the gainsayer.

All of this may seem insignificant to you, but on this day, it is very significant to me. The preacher that was belittled, lied about, and ridiculed was me. The man was unable to defend his doctrine on its own merits, so he chose to invent some for me that nobody like me believes. Our Baptist churches are in sad theological shape when preachers resort to lies to make themselves appear theologically astute. The most unfortunate part of this encounter was not what he did to me, but to those in his own congregation whom he owes the truth. At times, he belittled them too for their lack of understanding. The only question we need ask is why don’t they understand? This man has been their teacher for 15 years—why don’t they know anything?

My point today is that it is unconscionable to tell a deliberate lie, and a thousand times worse if it is a ministerial lie. The pretense is that it will result in a greater good. If the man cannot defend his doctrine fairly, what else will he do? To maintain it, he must lie or else his ignorance is exposed to his congregation. The greater good is to protect his false integrity. If he had any integrity, he would deal with the real issues and take his lumps fairly and squarely.

I hope you have confidence in this Baptist pulpit. If you disagree with me, we can discuss it. But I will not resort to any lie to uphold any doctrine. Our doctrine stands without the support of lies. It is just that good because it is the doctrine of God.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith

The Fountain of Life

Berean Baptist on February 4, 2016

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

 As I was thinking over the congregational reading for today, I was reminded of verse number 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 our series on the Fundamentals the Faith 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 our love for Him.

The doctrines of God’s word are so ordered 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. As a preface to our studies, I thought it would be good to quote from Flavel’s introductory remarks. Think carefully as you read the following.

“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 why we study the Fundamentals of the Faith. We must see Christ better through the systematic understanding of truth. If this is your desire, join us for this important series on the doctrines of the faith.

Pastor V. Mark Smith