Younger Be Subject Unto the Elders, #3

Introduction and Review of Elder and Member Duties

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, March 19, 2000, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:13 Now we turn again this morning to 1 Peter, Chapter 5, 1 Peter, and Chapter 5, and as we've done for several Lord's Day mornings, I shall read verses 1 through 5 of this chapter. 1 Peter, Chapter 5, and Verse 1. The elders, therefore, among you, I exhort, who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, tend or shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight not of constraint but willingly, nor yet according or for base gain for filthy lucre but of a ready mind, neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall be manifested, you shall receive the crown of glory that fades not away. Likewise, you younger, be subject unto the elder.

1:32 Yes, all of you, gird yourselves with humility to serve one another, for God resists the proud. But gives grace to the humble. Now let us again seek God's face in prayer, asking for his blessing upon our meditation in his word. Let us pray.

1:59 Our Father, we do believe that by the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit, you are here in a very special way. And we pray that as your word is opened, that that word will come not in word only, but also in your name. In power and in the Holy Spirit, that with the apostle we may be able to say, my speech and preaching were not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. O Lord, we desperately need that which we've asked of you, granted to us for Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen.

2:55 A little more than 48 hours ago, many of us were gathered in this very place in order to celebrate the homegoing of Mr. Gordon Daughtry. Gordon's memorial service was indeed a celebration of the grace of God manifested in his life and of that grace that will again be manifested in the last day when he, with all of God's redeemed, is brought out of his present resting place. And we are here this morning on this, the first day of the week, in another gathering of celebration.

3:41 Our Lord's Day is, each time it comes around, a fresh celebration of the great reality that our Lord Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. In the very real sense. Every Lord's Day for us is Easter Sunday, a celebration of the resurrection and the abiding livingness of our Lord Jesus. And as we come to the scriptures, I trust we come believing that in a very special way, Christ is present by the Holy Spirit to minister to us as our risen, resurrected, living prophet, priest, and king.

4:25 Amen. You remember in Revelation chapter 1, the vision John had of Jesus was that of this exalted one with the garb of a priest, and yet the golden band about his chest symbolizing his royalty, eyes as a flame of fire, voice that spoke like thunder, and this exalted Lord was in the midst of the landstands, the churches, ministering to them presently and powerfully by his word to those seven churches, thereby manifesting his ongoing gracious ministry to his people as their prophet, their priest, and their king. And if we are serious to embrace the Lord Jesus in his prophetic office to us, his people, we will come to his word with a mental and spiritual diligence to know, to understand, to receive. To believe and to obey all that the Lord Jesus says to us in his word. Well, here we come this morning to 1 Peter chapter 5 once again, not to study an ancient document because we have some antiquarian itch, but to posture ourselves at the feet of Jesus, our living, exalted prophet, priest, and king.

5:52 If preaching is what preaching ought to be, then we must be able to do it. And if we are serious to embrace the Lord Jesus in his word, then we must be able to That's what listening ought to be, posturing your mind and heart in the presence of the exalted Lord as your prophet, as well as your priest and your king. We have seen in our studies of this letter that the Lord Jesus, through the pen of the apostle Peter, has been nurturing a suffering and an afflicted people. And after Peter has unburdened the central concern of his pastoral heart for these Christians, in Asia Minor, here in chapter 5, he gives some specific directions to the elders, the pastors, the appointed leaders of these churches, and also then to the people of God specifically, and then more generically. And what we have seen in the passage read in your hearing thus far is that in verse 2a, the duty of elders is very clearly enunciated, shepherd the flock of God which is among you, and the duty of the shepherds is to the duty of the elders is to sustain the relationship of and fulfill the special responsibilities of shepherds to sheep. And we went to the scriptures to see what that involves.

7:13 Then secondly, the disposition of elders is highlighted in verse 2b through verse 3. These three couplets, not this, not this, not this, but this, but this, but this. And then in verse 4, the reward promised to faithful elders. Then, as we move to verse 5, I took great pains to convey my persuasion, shared by some very well-respected, competent students of the Bible, that in verse 5a, Peter now turns to ordinary church members.

7:46 He's addressed the leaders, and now to round out this element of concern, he says, likewise, younger ones, using it as a reference. Now, this is a metaphor to describe the church members, be in subjection to older ones, that is, to your elders. And I cannot go back over the ground as to why I am persuaded that that's what the Spirit of God is saying. I leave to you a tape in which, for 15 minutes, I labored to seek to demonstrate that from the scriptures, and I can only commend it to you as it is now embodied in the tape.

What Submission to Elders Does NOT Mean

8:23 Then, what we began to... to address is this very critical question, what does it mean, scripturally, to be in submission to one's elders?

8:32 What is the nature, the extent, the kind of submission required by the Lord Jesus of all whom he places in his flocks in various places, and to whom he gives overseers, shepherds, and tells them to shepherd them? You younger ones, that is, you church members, be in submission to your elders. Your shepherds, your pastors, your overseers. Well, we saw, it does not mean, and I will never tire of underscoring this, it does not mean that you or I are to give absolute authority over our consciences and wills to any human being.

9:13 We are not to do that. Secondly, we must not regard our elders as infallible in all of their interpretations and applications of scripture. And thirdly, it does not mean...

9:25 It does not mean that you must agree with all of your elders' judgments on matters not explicitly addressed in the word of God. You may not think it's in the best interest of the whole congregation to sing a hymn while the offering's passed. This is something new. We're trying.

9:41 I saw it in another church, thought it was helpful. I haven't yet polled people to see, do you like that? Now, suppose we decide to stop that. Some of you may say, well, I like that.

9:51 I think we ought to do it. But you won't know why we've said...

9:55 We're going to stop it. We will eventually tell you. But you see, even after we do that, you may say, I don't agree. Fine.

10:01 No problem. We don't have a chapter and verse to say, thou must sing the fourth hymn while the offering's being passed. We as elders must make a decision in the light of our concern that all things be done to edification. And you don't necessarily have to agree with that decision.

10:18 But you must submit to your elders because it's not explicitly addressed. It's not immoral for you to say, I don't agree with them. But I'm not going. I'm not going to cause a fuss over this.

10:27 And I'm not going to let it be a burr under my saddle and say, well, until I get... No, no.

10:31 No, no. Just like a wife may say, sweetheart, I believe you're dead wrong in this decision. But I'm going to be submissive to you because the Bible says I must be. If you're telling me to do something contrary to the Bible, I'll defy you in the name of Christ.

10:45 Put on matters of judgment, we don't necessarily need to agree. But we must nonetheless be submissive. And submissive from the heart. And submissive with not keeping a track.

10:57 And not keeping a track record of all the things you don't agree with that are matters of judgment. Because if you get a big long list of that, what you're saying is the men in leadership are incompetent to make sound judgment. Then you better consider whether you belong in that church or not.

11:13 Am I making sense? All right. Good. This is critical stuff, folks.

11:17 And I know I'm reviewing. It's not because I don't have something to say. I've got a good few hours worth of stuff here without repeating myself. But unless we grasp these things, we will not live together in true biblical submission to our elders.

11:31 While maintaining blood-bought liberties of conscience. May God help us. Then we began last week to say, what does it mean? This is what it does not mean.

What Submission to Elders DOES Mean (Review)

11:42 What does it mean? And the basic principle I worked with, if you didn't discover it, was this. If it is the duty of elders to shepherd and oversee, then whatever's involved in that duty, the counterpart of those duties is what God requires of the sheep. Now, we saw from Scripture that if...

12:01 If pastors, elders are to shepherd the flock, it means they must secure adequate nourishment. Therefore, the duty of the sheep is to be present when the food is spread before them and to receive it with eagerness and to seek spiritually to masticate, to chew, to digest and assimilate it. Secondly, if it's the duty of pastors to guard and protect the flock, it's the duty of the sheep to heed their warnings. It's about spiritual dangers that would harm them.

12:36 If it's the duty of shepherds to guide and to govern the flock, then it's the duty of the flock to respond cheerfully with the guidance they give out of the Scriptures. And then fourthly, if it's the duty of shepherds to seek to heal the sick sheep and restore the strained sheep, it's the duty of the sheep to welcome the medicine and welcome the crook that pulls you back into line. The crook, not the guy that steals, but thy rod and thy staff. It's the staff with the crook in the end that the shepherd uses to bring back the wavered sheep.

13:11 And then we saw from verse 3b, if it's the duty of the shepherds to live an exemplary life before the flock, then it's the duty of the flock to follow and imitate them insofar as they follow and imitate Christ. Now, I hope those things, dear people, are not matters. They're not matters that floated by you in two sermons, and that's the beginning and middle and end of it. This stuff is vital, absolutely vital, to the ongoing health and blessing of God in our assembly.

Prerequisite 1: Genuine Regenerating and Converting Grace

13:44 Well then, if this is what younger ones being in submission to the older ones does not mean, but it does mean, what must be present in our hearts if we are going to establish long-term duty? What are the patterns of compliance with our duty as church members? What are the prerequisites for performing this duty? And as time permits, I want to cover four of them, but I've pleaded with God this morning as I did last week.

14:19 I'm determined to preach these things out, not simply preach over them. And if I only get to two of them this morning, then I'll know what I need to do tonight and set aside the sermon I've been preparing for this evening. Now, if I only get to two of them this morning, then I'll know what I need to do tonight and set aside the sermon I've been preparing for this evening. Now, if you, let's get nice and personal now, if you, as a professing Christian, a member of this assembly, if you are going to be able to do what 1 Peter 5, 5a says, you younger ones, that is, you church members, be in submission to older ones, that is, your elders, what must be true of you?

14:55 Not the person left, right, front, back. What must be true of me? If I am going to embrace from the heart the shepherding influence of my four fellow elders, what must be true of Albert N.?

15:08 What must be true of you? I submit there are four prerequisites to the fulfillment of this duty. Prerequisite number one, foundational to all others. Here it is.

15:20 You must experience a genuine work of God's regenerating and converting grace. You must experience a genuine work of God's regenerating and converting grace. Now, in order to see clearly why this is so, think for a moment with me. What does the Bible say is the foundational, baseline, undergirding disposition of all of our hearts by nature, especially in the presence of God's revealed will?

15:58 Well. What is your heart like by nature when it gets near God's revealed will? God's thou shalt, thou shalt not. When it gets near a passage like this, it's an imperative.

16:13 Likewise, you younger, you church members, be in submission to your God-appointed leaders. You younger, be subject to the elder. What is your heart and my heart like by nature when it gets close to God, telling us, Well, I want you to turn to two passages for the answer. I could quote them, but I want you to get them through the eye gate as well as the ear gate.

16:37 Romans chapter 8 and verse 7. In this section, Paul is demonstrating that all men are in one of two realms. They are either in the realm of the flesh or the realm of the spirit. If they have been regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they're in the realm of the spirit.

16:58 If that's not true of them, they're in the realm of the flesh. They may be bums. They may be down and out. They may be up and out.

17:04 They may be cultured. They may be educated. They may be ignorant. All of those distinctions don't matter.

17:09 There are only two classes here this morning. Those of you who are in the spirit. Those of you that are in the flesh. Now, he's describing that contrast.

17:18 Look at verse 6 of Romans 8. The mind of the flesh is death. The mind of the spirit is life and peace. Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God.

17:30 For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Now, that's your heart and mind by nature.

17:47 It is enmity. It doesn't say it is at enmity. It is enmity itself. The human heart by nature is one tightly clenched fist in the face of God.

18:00 That's what it says. The carnal mind is enmity against God Himself. It is set against God. Now, how does it show its setness against God?

18:13 Going out in the field and saying, I don't believe in a God. If there is a God, let Him strike me dead. No. Look at the verse.

18:19 The mind of the flesh is enmity against God. For it is not subject. Not submissive. It will not be cheerfully ranged.

18:32 Under the directives of the law of God. That's how the enmity shows itself. If God says it, I don't want it. And I need no other reason for not wanting it but that God says it.

18:45 That's your heart and my heart by nature. Second text, Titus chapter 3. Here's a very religious man who puts himself in the same category as others. A man whose outward life, he says, was blameless according to the existing standards of the religion in which he was steeped.

19:04 And yet he says this in Titus chapter 3 and verse 3. For we also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving all kinds of lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Paul puts himself in that category. A man whose external life, himself, declared it was blameless.

19:33 But he said, we, we, all of us, you there at Crete, here in my own breast, Paul says, this is what I was. We once were foolish, deceived, disobedient. We had a settled principle of determination to do our own thing. Now, what in the world does this time take in to look at these two texts that embody the whole teaching of the Bible as to what we are by nature?

20:02 What in the world does that have to do? What in the world does that have to do with the duty of sheep being in submission to their shepherds? Well, it has everything to do. Because, you see, this text, 1 Peter 5, 5a, is a revelation of God's law, God's will, God's design for a certain group of people called the younger ones.

20:25 That is, the church members. And God says, be submissive to your elders. And if that basic disposition of a clenched fist to God, the commitment to a life of disobedience, serving all kinds of lust and pleasures, if that's not been radically changed, how in the world do you expect that such people, sitting in pews and gathered in congregational meetings, sitting before people seeking to implement the will of Christ, they are Christ representatives. Not to impose their will upon the people, but to articulate God's will as revealed in the Scriptures.

21:07 How can you expect compliance with God's will when the heart is still a clenched fist? You can't. And you see, Peter, in writing these words in chapter 5 and verse 5, is assuming that everyone who hears them in the churches has experienced what he's already described in the earlier part of the letter. The prerequisite of a deep work of regenerating and converting grace, Peter is convinced, has occurred in those to whom he says, younger ones, be submissive to older ones.

21:43 He is assuming, let's turn back to chapter 1 now and make a quick flyover, he's assuming that all of this is true of all of them. He writes to them, and how does he think of them? Peter, an apostle of Christ Jesus, or Jesus Christ, to the elect sojourners of the disciples, sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, notice, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ's grace to you, and peace be multiplied. When he says, you younger, be subject to the elder, he's assuming these are a people who know the reality of being sanctified by the ministry of the Spirit, who have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, who have been brought into a framework of a life of obedience, and who are under the sprinkling of the blood of Christ. And those three things are always inseparable. No one gets sprinkled who doesn't get subdued. And everyone sprinkled and subdued is sanctified, set apart unto God.

22:49 You don't get one or two without the other. So when Peter says, you younger ones, he's writing to those who've been sanctified by the Spirit. Set apart unto God because the Holy Spirit has regenerated them. Imparted new life to them.

23:03 And he knows that they now have a fundamental disposition of obedience to the God to whom they once were disobedient. He said, your being foreknown in God's love and saving purpose has been unto this impartation of sanctifying grace, subduing grace, and cleansing grace. Without that, you're never going to be submissive to any authority from the heart. From the heart!

23:31 From the heart. Then he says, verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begot some of us? No! Begat us!

23:42 He's writing in the assumption that all the true believers have known the reality of being begotten again unto a living hope based upon the saving work of Christ. That they have that inheritance in their eye, incorruptible, undefiled, reserved in heaven. They are presently being kept by the power of God. He's writing to people that he knows fit the description of verse 8, whom not having seen your love, they have a love for Christ, on whom though you see him not yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

24:14 And then he goes on through these chapters as we've seen in our past expositions. He describes them as a people who are children of obedience. Verse 14, children of obedience. You have been soundly converted, truly regenerated.

24:30 God has taken out your heart of stone. He's given you a heart of flesh. The child of disobedience has become the child of obedience. Verse 18 of chapter 1, knowing you were redeemed.

24:43 They've been bought out of sin's slavery. They are now Christ's free men and women. Verse 22, you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth. Verse 23, you've been begotten again.

24:56 Folks, do you get the message? Peter hasn't forgotten. He hasn't forgotten all that he wrote in the earlier chapters. When he says, you younger, be subject to the elder, he is not calling upon people to be in submission to their leaders who've never known the exquisite delight of having that stony heart of rebellion.

25:20 And the heart that is supple and pliable to God and to his will placed within it. And God writing his very law upon the heart. That's what God says he will do. Whenever he savingly lays hold of any woman, any man, any boy, any girl.

25:35 Look at Ezekiel 36. When I say that the first prerequisite is to have a genuine experience of regenerating and converting grace. This is what I'm talking about. Ezekiel 36.

25:53 And I begin reading at verse 24. For I will take you out from among the nations and gather you out of the countries and bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you.

26:14 And a new heart will I give you. And a new spirit will I put within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. And I will give you a heart of flesh.

26:27 And I will put my spirit within you. Now notice. I will cause you to walk in my statutes. And you shall keep my ordinances and do that.

26:39 You see what God is saying? Under the new covenant I will come. And I will take out that heart of stone. That is adamant, inflexible, unbending.

26:50 The clenched fist in the face of God and his revealed will. He said I'll take that out. And I'll put within you a heart of flesh. And that flesh that is tender and responsive.

27:00 And living. And that heart of flesh I'll write my law. I will give you an internal disposition to obey me. That's what God is saying.

27:09 Because he goes on to say. And cause you to walk in my statutes. How does he cause us? By standing behind us with a club saying do this or I'll zap you?

27:20 No. By putting within us a desire that says I delight to do thy will. Oh my God. Yea thy law is where?

27:28 Within my heart. Now if you're going to have a people acting like a bunch of sheep. They've got to have the disposition of a sheep. And they get that disposition by God's sovereign regenerating work of grace.

27:46 That always leads to true conversion. That is a turning from sin and self and every idol unto God through Christ. 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9. And they themselves report of us what manner of entering in we had unto you.

28:02 How that you turned to God from your idols to serve the living and the true God. And to wait for his son from heaven. Now notice I did not say you must have a memorable experience of God's regenerating and converting grace. Nor did I say you must have a dated experience.

28:22 I did not say that. Don't read that into my words. What I said is. That you must experience a genuine work of regenerating and converting grace.

28:34 Whether you know precisely when the work was done. Whether you can sort out at which point God actually excised the heart of stone. Gave you a heart of flesh. Don't let those questions trouble you.

28:48 The issue is this. Do you sit here this morning with an internal disposition inclining you to obey God out of gospel motives? Do you? Is the fact that Christ loved you and died for you.

29:02 Is that what sets as it were bands around your heart and constrains you to say. Lord Jesus whatever you say by your grace and in your strength I'll do it. If that's so don't worry about where and precisely how God did his regenerating work and brought you to conversion. The issue is sitting there.

29:28 Are you a regenerate? Are you a regenerate and converted man or woman? Boy or girl? That's the issue.

29:35 And without that it is impossible. They that are in the flesh cannot. Cannot. That's a word of ability.

29:43 Cannot. Please God. Now that being so. And that being the first and foundational prerequisite.

29:54 Do you see why it is so crucial that we be committed to have a membership made up of only those who have credible professions of faith. And then continue to walk in a way that validates that profession. You see what happens when you take lower than biblical standards for church membership. By degrees you get formalists and hypocrites get into the majority.

30:24 And because the law of God is not in their hearts. And the spirit of God is not taken out the heart of stone. And given them a heart to follow Christ. By degrees Christ's word directing the church as to what it should be and do.

30:37 Is treated with increasing indifference. And then with open hostility. Until you have mainline denominations. Daring to say we will sanction same sex marriages.

30:48 They didn't get to that posture overnight. They got there when somebody. He determined did not remain determined. That none should be admitted.

31:03 To the membership. Who do not give credible profession of regenerating and converting Christ. I speak to you the rising generation in Trinity Church. And my heart is burdened on this point.

31:20 Because the pressures will increase upon you. To lower the standards. And make them something other than what the scripture does. And when we can no longer say as Peter did.

31:34 And I want you to turn to this verse for a moment. Chapter 2 and verse 25. These that he says you younger ones. Be subject to the older ones.

31:45 This is what they had all experienced. You were past tense going astray like sheep. But you are now returned unto the shepherd. And the overseer of your souls.

31:59 You see before he says. The elders among you shepherd the flock overseeing. That's the human leaders. He said they had all returned.

32:08 To the divine leader. And it's only when you have churches made up of people. Who from the heart have embraced. The chief shepherd.

32:19 And the true overseer. Whose hearts are wedded to Christ. In faith and submission. Only then will you have a cheerful.

32:29 Joyful discerning flock of sheep. Who cheerfully follow the biblical directions. Of their God given under shepherds. And overseers.

32:40 You see that. Most major church problems come. From unregenerate people. Seeking to impose their will.

32:54 Upon Christ's church. And there's no way to secure. The perpetuation. Of people with a disposition to obey Christ.

33:06 But to cry to God for his gracious work. And to determine. If this church shrinks to ten members. Committed to biblical standards.

33:16 You'll not seek to have the membership grow to eleven. At the expense of fidelity to Jesus Christ. And some of you may live to see that time come. God help you.

The Importance of Regenerate Church Membership

33:32 God help you. Now quick. Number two. What's the second prerequisite?

33:39 Assuming now by the grace of God. Many of you can say yes. By God's grace. I do know.

33:45 His regenerating. Converting grace. In my life. Here's the second prerequisite.

Prerequisite 2: Biblically Grounded, Spirit-Imparted Conviction on Church Order

33:51 You must have a biblically grounded. And spirit imparted conviction. Concerning the divine. Authority of church order.

34:01 Now I know it's quite a sentence. But I've labored to state. What I wanted to say. To reflect.

34:07 Biblical teaching. If you're going to cheerfully. As a pattern of life. I'm not saying you won't have a problem.

34:12 Here or there. Along the way. We all do. But as a pattern of life.

34:16 If you're going to cheerfully. Face this directive. Younger ones. Church members.

34:20 Be in submission. To your overseers. To the older ones. To your elders.

34:24 What must be true of you? Not only must it be true. That you have a genuine experience. Of regenerating.

34:28 And converting grace. But secondly. You must have a biblically grounded. And spirit imparted conviction.

34:32 Concerning the divine authority. Of church order. Now let me explain what I mean. By my terms.

34:36 And then we'll go to our Bibles. Now let me explain what I mean. By my terms. And then we'll go to our Bibles.

34:41 Now let me explain what I mean. By my terms. And then we'll go to our Bibles. Now let me explain what I mean.

34:45 By my terms. And then we'll go to our Bibles. Your perspectives concerning rule by elder. What is the nature of that rule?

34:53 What are the limits of it? What submission to them does not mean. What it does mean. Your perspectives concerning rule by elder.

35:03 The limits and the nature of that rule. The nature and degree of submission of church members. Your perspectives must be grounded in the word of God itself. They must not be resting down.

35:17 They must not be resting down upon a framework you've inherited and with which you feel comfortable. Now a number of you young people have said to me without any solicitation, you know pastor I'm so thankful I was reading the church that had rule by elder and elders I could respect and elders that carry my judgment. Wonderful! But that's not going to last very long.

35:40 If you believe in rule by elder with the limitations and nature of that rule as taught in the scriptures. If you believe it. Simply because you've inherited it won't be long before you'll relinquish it. If it's just an arrangement that seems to work and pragmatically you say well I can't imagine another way of doing it that's better, that's not enough.

36:02 There must be a biblically grounded and spirit imparted conviction concerning the divine authority of church order. What do I mean then with those words? Biblically grounded? That you could turn to the relevant passages by anyone who chooses to believe in the word of God.

36:20 That you could turn to someone who challenged you and demonstrate from your own bible why you believe rule by elder with the due limitations and restrictions. Why you are convinced that is of divine authority. But it must be more than just mere information you see. So I've used the words biblically grounded spirit imparted conviction.

36:46 It is the spirit of God alone to use the dichotomy between head and heart. Which is not very accurate biblically but at least it will help. What you believe about the divine authority of biblical church order has got to go another 12 to 16 inches from here down to here. And when it's here you're ready to spill blood for it.

37:10 The measure of the truth that the spirit of God has imparted to you is the truth for which you're willing to give your life. Buy the truth and what? Sell it not. What?

37:24 What must you be willing to pay to get truth out of the market place? Anything. Anything short of sin. Buy the truth.

37:32 At what price? Any price short of sin. And once you've bought it nobody can offer you a price that will even let you start a bargain. Buy the truth.

37:43 Sell it not. And if you must seal that truth with your own blood you're prepared to. That's what I'm talking about when I say biblically grounded spirit imparted conviction. Concerning the divine authority of church order.

38:02 That is that there is an order taught in the Bible expressed in our passage. The elders among you I exhort be nice laid back man pleasing facilitators of the will of the people. Is that what your Bible says? Mine don't say that.

38:23 I know don't ain't the right word. Mine does not. But that's what we're being told in our day. This is an anti-authoritarian age.

38:31 You cannot have definitive, strong, aggressive leadership. You need to have facilitators. I've been invited to go to a conference some years ago and be a facilitator. I said it.

38:35 I had to write back and say I don't know what that preacher is. You want me to be a teacher? You want me to be a preacher? I'll do that.

38:39 But facilitator I don't know what a facilitator is. Do you? Do you? Do you?

38:43 Do you? Do you? Do you? Do you?

38:47 Do you? Do you? Do you? Do you?

38:51 Do you? Do you? Do you? Do you?

38:55 Do you? Do you? Do you? Do you?

38:58 Is he a perfect学Pleistator? No. He's the catalyst who stands along the way and just makes things happen. That isn't what the Holy Ghost says.

39:03 The Holy Spirit says elders, among you, shepherd, shepherd, be graciously aggressive in making sure the sheep are well fed, in guarding and protecting the sheep, in guiding and directing the sheep in to the paths of Scripture, and in being determined to heal the sick and reach out for the stray. הה ש Cind labourile Alertbron wax. But you've got to be convinced of that in the depths of your being.

Warning Against Anti-Authoritarianism, Egalitarianism, Feminism, and Democracy

39:34 It must be Bible-based, spirit-wrought conviction about the divine authority of biblical church order. And here again, I speak to you, dear young men and women.

39:48 If God does not visit our nation with an unusual outpouring of the Holy Spirit,

39:57 what we presently know of the anti-authoritarian mentality in our society, egalitarianism, feminism, the idol of democratic rule, false spirituality, those forces are all going to combine to swallow up biblical church order in the coming decades.

40:21 There is a spirit that says anything or anyone that's going to tell me what to do, I'm a gimmick. I'm a gimmick. It's the spirit of the period of the judges. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes, no king in Israel.

40:38 And there are churches that claim to be churches of Christ in which everyone does that which is right in his or her own eyes. And that spirit throbs through current American society. Egalitarianism, that's just a big word for saying, ain't no distinction. We're all equal.

40:56 No respect from the young to the old. The old trying to look, isn't it ridiculous when you see a man my age trying to look mob and hip and cool? Isn't it ridiculous? More than once I've had to resist the temptation to get on airplanes and see people like this.

41:12 Kind of say, look guy, you ain't fooling nobody. You're at least my age. You're making a jerk of yourself.

41:21 That wasn't true when I was a boy growing up. Men who were middle age and older age weren't ashamed to look like it because they expected there to be some respect. But egalitarianism is the leveling of everybody. Leveling of everybody.

41:33 You level men and women. You level leaders and those. Egalitarianism, everything's equal. That's spirit.

41:40 It throbs through society. Feminism, anything that looks like a male hierarchy, forget it. Forget it. Anything you can do, I can do better.

41:52 Any note you can sing, I can sing higher.

41:56 And in the churches, egalitarianism, feminism that says this idea of a divinely established hierarchy is ridiculous. It's abominable. It's wicked. We've got to destroy it.

42:07 The concept that God, whoever your God is, has woven into the very texture of man-ness, leadership, and of woman-ness, following as the church is subject to Christ so that the wives be to their husbands in everything. It's the order of creation and the order of redemption. And aggressive feminism knows this. And that's why it has no stomach for the biblical doctrine of creation or the biblical doctrine of redemption.

42:41 It's throbbing through society. You've got groups called. You've got evangelical feminists who explain away every single verse that establishes male hierarchy. I'm not talking about male machoism.

42:54 I'm talking about divinely established hierarchy. Husbands who are willing to be sacrificial loving heads of their wives as Christ is the sacrificing loving head of his church. And elders who are ready to lead with the spirit articulated in verse 3, not lording it down upon, bullying their people, but going before them in godly example and leading them into biblical paths of obedience and Christ-glorifying service. But no matter how you cut it, no matter how much they have the towel around them with a servant's disposition, at the end of the day, somebody's leading and somebody's following.

43:35 And God says in his church, I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in quietness. And the Holy Ghost has not come to do that. And the Holy Ghost has not come to do that. And the Holy Ghost has not come to do that.

43:46 But I want you to rewrite this word. The pressure's going to be on you. Do you hear me young men and women? The pressure is going to be increasingly upon you.

43:54 And listen to me. If you've breathed any of that noxious air into your spiritual lungs, you better cry to God to get it out. Because if it's there, sooner or later, it's not going to be content to be in one little pocket of your lower left lung lube. And I'm not so foolish as to think that some of you could not grow up in this church, exposed to this current situation, in this current secular society and not be infected with egalitarianism, with feminism, with the anti-authority disposition of our age.

44:30 You better cry to God because sooner or later, what you spare right now will come around to haunt you in future years. The idol of democracy. You would think that God had come down from heaven and spoken in 25 chapters saying, one man, one vote for every society and every age and every circumstance. That is the divine will.

44:53 Where do you find that in the Bible? I don't find it in the Bible. That our society is made a god of democracy. It's an idol before which people bow.

44:58 And they'll do anything to get the raised hands of those who worship at the same idol. That's what's behind all the nonsense of our political campaigns that are just mass manipulation. It's all worshiping at the idol of the so-called democratic way. Dear people, this is real stuff.

45:02 You're hearing me. Do you hear me? I'm not saying that you're not. I'm not saying that you're not.

45:06 I'm not saying that you're not. I'm not saying that you're not. I'm not saying that you're not. I'm not saying that you're not.

45:10 I'm not saying that you're not. I'm not saying that you're not. I'm not saying that you're not. And I'm not saying that you're not.

45:14 And, you see, when we think biblically, then we say, Lord with all my heart, I know your ways are right. I know your ways are wise. I know your ways are good. And I am determined that by your grace, what you call good, I'll call good.

45:48 And what you call good, I'll call good. called wise, I'll call wise, and anything that rises up again, I know that's residual flesh. That's my remaining corruption that needs to be mortified. And then I want to touch, I mentioned false spirituality, and I want to touch on this. You see, it's not unpopular in our day to talk about my spiritual side. One of our men is getting a book published. None of us will read it. We couldn't understand half a page of any of it. It's highly technical stuff. But in his acknowledgments, he wanted to acknowledge those for whom he was particularly grateful for their influence and help. And in one of those paragraphs, he gave thanks for his pastors. And the editor wanted him to change those words and call them spiritual advisors. See, that's not, that's all right. He said the term pastors, that's not politically

Refuting False Spirituality Regarding Church Leadership

46:36 correct. Spiritual advisors, oh, that's good. Yes, Oprah's my spiritual advisor. And somebody said so-and-so's my spiritual advisor, so he's got his spiritual advisor. But when he talked about my pastors. And then he put thanks to his spiritual advisor. And then he put thanks to his spiritual advisor. And then he put thanks to his spiritual advisor. And then he put thanks to his spiritual advisor. And then he put thanks to his spiritual advisor. And then he put thanks to his spiritual advisor. And then he put thanks to his spiritual advisor. And then he put specific individual who prayed for him. You know what the editor wanted to change it? I saw it with my own eyes. I give thanks to Ms. So-and-so for her thoughts, prayers and thoughts. You see, it's politically correct to say, I'm thinking about you. Well, I'll clue you. You're lying in a bed dying. Your thoughts ain't going to do much good for me. But Almighty God might come and answer the prayer and raise me off my sickbed. And if he doesn't, he'll give me grace to bear it to his glory. See, don't be fooled with words, folks. And if he doesn't, he'll give me grace to bear it and say, oh, it's just terms. No. Terms embody concepts. And concepts are either true or false.

47:30 They're healthy or they're unhealthy. And there is a false spirituality in certain so-called evangelical circles that says, well, wait a minute. If I have Jesus as my prophet, priest, and king, I have Jesus as my good shepherd, and I have Jesus as my guide, then all I need is Jesus, my Bible, and the Holy Ghost. I don't.

47:55 I don't need any leadership. I don't need any human shepherds to watch over me. I don't need any human shepherd. That's an intrusion upon my precious Lord Jesus and all that he is to me. That sounds so spiritual. I may just drip like honey, doesn't it? But I want you to turn to Acts chapter 14 and see how that nonsense won't stand before this one text of Scripture. Just one text of Scripture.

48:24 Blast that false pseudo-spirituality. Here the apostle going back to cities, some of which were cities in which he greatly suffered, but so concerned for the converts that they be stabilized and instructed, and also greatly concerned about another matter. All right? Acts chapter 14, verse 21.

48:44 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium. They suffered greatly there. And to Antioch. Doing what?

48:55 Now notice. Confirming the souls of the people. Confirming the souls of the people. Confirming the souls of the people.

48:58 Confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, now notice, they commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed. Now do you see the significance of that text? Here the apostle and his companions go back into the very places, where there was great opposition, not knowing whether they'd face it again.

49:33 And their passion is to see these believers established. And so what do they do? They exercise a ministry among them, confirming the souls of these disciples, and one of their dominant strands of emphasis was this. You must continue in the faith, even though you're going to do so in the face of much opposition and difficulty.

49:53 But they didn't stop there and say, all right, now we've told you that. We've taken you to the second or third place. We've taken you to the second or third place. We've taken you to the second or third place.

49:59 We've taken you to the third grade in Christian discipleship. Now we'll just hand you over to the Lord. No, no, they did something else very significant. They said, and if you are going to continue in the faith, and if you are going to continue to cling to Christ in the face of opposition, you need Christ appointed under shepherd. And so what do they do? When they had appointed for them elders in every church, prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed. Did they impose elders to take the place of the Lord? No. They guided the church to recognize elders because they knew that was the Lord's means of keeping people clinging to himself. So that the elders were not imposed to rival

50:53 Christ, elders were put in place to be the instruments of Christ that they might continue in the faith. And make it safely to the end. So this pseudo-spirituality that says, oh, I've got Christ and the Holy Ghost and the Bible, I don't need elders. If anyone's sitting here with that mentality, I challenge you to go before your Christ with this text and tell him to give you an understanding of it that will make you feel comfortable. I know a better exhortation. Repent of your arrogant, self-imposed sense of Lone Ranger Christianity. And thank God that he's kept you in spite of it. And then you make a beeline to get yourself integrated into a biblical church somewhere and make yourself accountable to biblically qualified, biblically functioning elders somewhere. For you are tempting God, thinking you can persevere in a framework not established by the Lord Jesus.

51:57 Oh, but Pastor Martin, you're saying that... No, no, that's smoke. No, I'm not saying that someone thrown into prison with no fellowship in no church, and no pastors will not be enabled in that set of circumstances to cling to Christ. Of course, God will give special grace for the special providential difficulties that he arranges. But that's not you and that's not me. So blow the smoke away. Don't hide behind, well, what? Forget, my friend, forget all of that. Pastor Martin, that's what irritates me about you. Every time I try to find the escape route, you cut it off. Yes, and you know why I do that? I do that because I love you so. That's why I do it. I know that's what causes some people to get angry. That's all right. Because there'll be some people in heaven who'll say, thank you for being relentless to go after me when I start down some rabbit trail. And that's a rabbit trail. God nowhere said you can make it safely to heaven without his appointed means. And here's the apostle in his actions, in his priorities, evidences, his conviction, imparted by his Lord, even Jesus, that this arrangement was of divine authority.

Conclusion and Prayer for Enduring Convictions

53:10 Now, let's do two prerequisites. The other two are going to have to wait for tonight. But have I carried your judgment? I trust I have. If we're going to have a people in this place, and on into coming years that the Lord delays his coming, who when they come to 1 Peter 5 say, yes, Lord, when I read the elders among you, I exhort, I do want to have elders who meet the biblical standard. I want elders who shepherd and oversee. Elders who enter their task not because of Elijah. external pressures, but from the internal conviction it is the will of God. Those who are not in it for base gain, but of a ready mind. Those who have the servant's heart, who aren't looking for a name and a title and a position to throw their weight around and to crush us, but to be examples and to lead us into godly paths of obedience to Christ.

54:07 And, O God, I want elders whose great desire is your approbation at the last day, who love you enough to be willing to forfeit my love temporarily to be faithful to my soul. And then, Lord, when I read you younger ones, you church members, be subject to such elders as you say, O Lord, that's the most sweet and reasonable thing in all the world. Give me grace and joy. I believe that's the disposition of many of you. And it's your disposition because of those two things. Maybe you didn't recognize it this way, but it is. God has worked through regenerating, converting grace in your heart so that you love. You love his laws. You love his ways. You love his directives. And you've become persuaded that this matter of elders governing, shepherding, guiding, overseeing, and sheep who with biblical intelligence, knowing the limits of the elders' authority, determined not to fall short of that or step beyond it, they are persuaded that this whole arrangement is not something that men thought up, that men have imposed. But they are persuaded it is of divine authority. And therefore, they are prepared to take whatever pains necessary to be established with a knowledgeable, spirit-gripping grasp upon

55:31 these things and determine that Christ's rule and Christ's way in Christ's house shall be acknowledged. And if anyone suggests otherwise, it will be over. If not my dead body, it will be mine. If any of us as elders steps aside from the word of God, every one of you women has as much right to come to us as any man. But you are sheep and we profess to be shepherds functioning by this book. Don't you be reluctant to come simply because you're a woman. In terms of us being fair game for you with the Bible between us, there's neither male nor female. I beg you women who have embraced from the heart your God-given place.

56:17 Don't let the devil put you in a cocoon where you think that means you have to be silent in the light of any violation of the word of God. The time may come when this will be like the prayer meeting at Philippi. There were just a handful of women. And if there are a handful of women who have to be involved in calling a pastor, you better be vocal.

56:34 That you intend that the Bible will be recognized in Christ's house. Now we surely oppress our ladies down here, don't we? We really keep you down under our thumb and treat you like a bunch of mindless ninjas. No, we don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't.

56:46 We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't.

56:47 We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't. We don't.

56:48 We love you. We love you as our sisters, with the peculiar dignity of your femininity. And we love you to be faithful to our souls. May God grant that these two foundational presuppositions will live in the hearts of the people of God in this place, even until the Lord Jesus Christ returns. Let's pray. Our Father, we are so thankful that we have the Scriptures as a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. Amen. thank you for the many in this place Lord whose consciences are bound by the scripture we pray for those who may be waffling on some of these issues you know their hearts we pray for some of the young men and women who unknowingly have absorbed some of the worldly thinking of our contemporary society we pray that your word would expose those dark pockets of un-Christ-like thinking that you would be so gracious to this place to implant these biblical perspectives in the hearts of the rising generation that they may outstrip some of us

58:04 who are well into our adult years before we ever saw them in the scriptures we pray for any who sit here this morning for whom the clenched fist in your face is still a reality Lord, show them show them that they're in a losing cause oh God in mercy show them your heart of love show them the largeness of your desire that they know the blessedness of which we read in our opening psalm even the blessedness of sins forgiven seal then your word to our hearts and to our prophet and be with us through the remainder of this day that we may glorify and honor you through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen