There is a Constituted Rule in the Church

Introduction: The Importance of Church Member's Duty to Leaders

0:02 In your Bibles, please, to the 13th chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 13.

0:16 And I shall read the first and last verses of the last major paragraph in this epistle, this letter to the Hebrew Christians.

0:29 A paragraph filled with various words of instruction encouraging the people of God to go on, not to turn back to the old patterns of the external worship of the temple, but a paragraph, interestingly, that begins and ends with some very practical instruction relative to the responsibility of church members to their appointed leaders. Verse 7.

1:05 Verse 17. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit to them. For they watch in behalf of your souls as they that shall give account, that they may do this with joy and not with grief. For this were unprofitable for you.

1:29 Having completed our series of studies in Psalm 46, I do believe that after seeking... the face of God and weighing all of the factors, that I shall return to Paul's letter to the Ephesians, God willing, in several weeks and begin our study in chapter 2 and verse 1.

1:49 Meanwhile, I would encourage you to read over that chapter, acquaint yourself with its basic contents, so that when we begin an exposition of that chapter, your minds will at least in some measure have been previously acquainted with what it contains. However, today and for the next Lord's Day or two, I am constrained to bring a brief series of studies on the basic subject, the duty of church members to their appointed leaders, and I have some very clear reasons for selecting this subject. I shall give them to you. First of all, the importance of the subject matter in and of itself.

2:32 Few things are so vital to the... The well-being of a congregation as the maintenance of a proper relationship, leaders to the flock and the flock to their leaders, or to its leaders.

2:50 And it has been some years since I've expounded any section of the Word of God dealing explicitly with this subject. About five, six years ago, when preaching through 1 Thessalonians, in chapter 5, verses 12 and 13, I had occasion to explain to you that I had been preaching through 1 Thessalonians I had occasion to explain to you that I had been preaching through 1 Thessalonians, in chapter 5, verses 12 and 13, I had occasion to explain to you that I had been preaching through 1 Thessalonians, in chapter 5, verses 12 and 13, I had occasion to explain to you that I had been I had occasion to explain to you that I had been preaching through 1 Thessalonians, in But it's been at least five years since there has been any formal, explicit exposition of portions of the Word of God dealing with this subject, and it is so vital that there ought to be periodically some exposition of the relevant passages.

3:31 And it's interesting that there are a number of you who evidently have the root of the proper attitude. in your lives, but perhaps your heart is far beyond your head. And so I want, by God's grace, to instruct you so that your head will catch up with your heart and your feet, because when a biblical principle is challenged, either by the flesh or by false teaching, it is then that a heart acquaintance is not enough. There must be an intelligent perception of that truth to which we are committed by the grace of God.

4:06 And so the importance of the thing itself warrants the treatment. Secondly, the situation as it exists in our sister churches and in the Church of Christ at large demands that this subject be treated. The hearts of your elders and some of us in the congregation who have been acquainted at least in a surface manner with some of the problems that our sister churches have encountered in recent months and years cause me to feel as a pastor that I must seek to give. Some preventive medicine, some good doses of inoculation against this infectious disease of a breakdown in the relationship between the leaders of a congregation and those whom

4:50 they are seeking to lead by the directions of the Word of God. And so I say the situation in our sister churches causes me deep concern because the moment there is a breakdown in a proper absorption of biblical principles, there is a breakdown of biblical principles in this area, you can no longer be outgoing in your vision as a church. The moment there begins to be tension, insubordination, tyranny, any of these sins and their first and second cousins in the flock and under-shepherd relationship, the moment that begins to develop, no longer do you have a congregation with ever-widening horizons of vision as to the work of God.

5:33 You have a congregation that turns inward upon itself. You have a congregation that turns inward upon itself. You have a congregation that turns inward upon itself. And is crippled in its spiritual usefulness.

5:41 And because God has been laying upon us in recent months a much broader vision of our responsibility to our generation, He's been causing us to lift up our eyes, to change the biblical figure, to lengthen our stakes, to strengthen our stakes and to lengthen our cords. It is essential that there come into the bloodstream of this congregation those elements of biblical truth in this area that will immunize us against this infectious disease of anarchy, congregation to its leaders, tyranny in the leadership as it seeks to rule in the congregation of God. So that's the second reason.

The Spirit of the Age and the Church's Counter-Testimony

6:23 The importance of the subject matter itself, the situation in our sister churches and in the church at large, and thirdly, the peculiar spirit of our age demands that we treat the subject. Romans 12.2. Romans 12.2 says we are not to be conformed to the spirit of the age in which we live.

6:43 And the world has its own peculiar manifestations of rebellion against God at any given point in its history. And one of the peculiar sins, the aggravated sins of our generation is that of rebellion against constituted authority. Every man does that which is right in his own eyes. We hear.

7:06 We hear it on the radio every day. What's wrong with the government? They can't settle the energy crisis. Then the government comes up with a proposal, and you've got every segment that doesn't completely feel satisfied saying, we're not going to comply with it.

7:20 I heard some fellow the other day say, this is a free country. When in the world does the government have a right to tell me what to do? I'll serve whatever customers I want when I want. What is that but the spirit of total anarchy?

7:31 Every man doing that which is right in his own eyes. It follows through. It follows through at every level. Thank God some of it's crested in certain areas, but the whole idea that immature 20-year-old students should have the right to sit down and dictate to colleges student policy, educational policy, brilliant young know-nothings who force their way into the dean's room and say, we want a place in the administration of the affairs around here.

8:00 We're going to do what's right in our own eyes. Well, I say it's the peculiar spirit of our age, as the scripture indicates. It will be heady, high-minded, despisers of dominion. These are the graphic terms found in Holy Scripture.

8:17 Now, our usefulness lies in our ability to be kept by the grace of God from the crippling sins of our age. What a beautiful thing is a Christian home in a day when there's a breakdown of parent-child relationships. What a beautiful thing, what a wonderful age in which to live as a Christian family, that your family life will reflect. The glory of God's order.

8:41 Children who lovingly submit to parents. Parents who firmly and lovingly take their headship. Likewise, the church should be an oasis in this desert of anarchy, where there is a people who lovingly submit to God-appointed leadership. And when there is a leadership who feels the responsibility of the awesome task of oversight.

9:06 And so the spirit of our age demands... ...that we think clearly and act biblically in this very vital area.

The Context of Hebrews 13: The Duty to Former and Present Leaders

9:14 Well then, those are the reasons why I have chosen to settle on this theme for the next couple of Lord's Days. And as we do so, our attention will be focused primarily upon Hebrews 13, 7, and more particularly upon verse 17. Now, the context is very obvious. The writer of this epistle is drawing to a close...

9:38 ...his letter, and he is heaping together various exhortations, all of which are directed to stir them on against apostasy and the turning away from the faith.

9:52 And no little part in pressing on in the biblical doctrine of perseverance is the matter of being rightly related to our spiritual leaders. Verse 7, obviously, tells us...

10:08 ...of our spiritual leaders.

10:08 ...of our spiritual leaders.

10:08 Our responsibility is to our former leaders. Remember them that had the rule over you. Men that spake unto you the word of God, and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith. We have a responsibility to previous leaders.

10:27 Those that have either gone elsewhere in the providence of God, or have gone to glory, we are to remember them, we are to imitate their faith. Verse 17 defines...

10:38 ...our duty with reference to our present leaders.

10:42 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them. As we are to remember and imitate our former spiritual rulers, we are to obey and to submit to our present spiritual rulers. Now, as we work our way through this text, verse 17, more particularly, there are two main divisions of thought that I wish to lay before...

The Fact of Constituted Rule in the Church

11:08 ...for you.

11:09 The first is this. The assertion that there is a constituted rule in the visible church of Jesus Christ. Obey them that have the rule. Remember them that had the rule.

11:27 The assumption being that there is a constituted rule in the visible church of Jesus Christ. And the second main division of thought will be ...

11:40 ...the definition of our responsibility to that rule.

11:43 Obey them and submit to them. This morning we shall only have time for the first division. Namely, that there is a constituted rule in the visible church of Jesus Christ. As we seek to open up that principle from the text, notice in the first place the fact of this rule.

12:05 Verse 7 and verse 17. Them that had the rule, them that have the rule. Thus at no time were those who received this epistle ever without those who were ruling over them in the Lord. Remember them that had the rule.

12:25 Remember those who presently have that rule. So the fact of this constituted rule is clearly established by the very wording of verse 7, verse 17, and it's repeated again in verse 24, Salute all them that have the rule over you. Now the word used here for rule is found in the New Testament both in the verb form as you have it here and in the noun form. In the verb form it is used to describe a governor.

13:01 Turn to Acts chapter 7 and verse 10. Acts chapter 7 and verse 10. Speaking of Joseph who was sold into Egypt but nonetheless had the presence of God with him, verse 10, and delivered him out of all his afflictions, gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt and made him, same word, ruler, governor over Egypt and all his house. Now if you want to know what it meant to be governor, to be ruler, go back to Genesis and see.

13:42 Joseph was not just sitting on the little cane chair somewhere once in a while saying, Hey fellas, I got a few suggestions here and take them. Go home and think about them. Or go on out and have a little vote about them. Put them on a referendum.

13:54 Next to Pharaoh there was none higher nor more extensive in the exercise of authority. God made this man by the ordering of divine providence to be governor, to be ruler. Precisely the same word in the original. It's the word found in Matthew 2, 6 speaking of Messiah.

14:17 Matthew 2 and verse 6. We read, And thou Bethlehem land of Judah art in no wise least among the princes of Judah for out of thee shall come forth a governor who shall be shepherd of my people Israel. And notice how the term governor and shepherd are fused in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. He shall come to shepherd but he shall shepherd as one who governs and rules his people.

14:49 And you find it used, in the noun form and translated one time, prince, here in the Matthew 2 passage, but everywhere else it is translated governor. Matthew 10, 18. Jesus said you should be brought before governors. We read of the governors existing in the time of our Lord.

15:07 Matthew 27. Peter says in 1 Peter 2, 14 that we're to render obedience to governors. Now why do I go into that? For the simple reason to show that when the writer to the Hebrews said, Obey them that have the rule over you.

15:24 Remember them that had the rule over you. Salute them that had the rule over you. He is establishing the fact that there is a valid, authorized exercise of governing power within the church of Jesus Christ. And if some are authorized to govern, others are obligated to submit to that government.

15:50 And the idea that the church is a democracy in which everyone is authorized to govern is entirely foreign to the word of God. The apostle makes a clear distinction in verse 24 between the saints in general and the governors and rulers in particular, for he says in that verse, Salute all them that have the rule over you and all the saints. And they're not the same group. There are those who have the rule and there are those who are thus ruled and are called the saints of God.

16:32 I can do no better throughout the message this morning than to read, though I don't often do this, I'm going to do it this morning, some of the comments of John Brown in his exposition of 1 Peter 5. Some men read to impress you that they know a lot. Others of us read because we know that we know so little. And some men knew more and could say it much better than we.

16:55 And that's why I read to you this morning the comments of John Brown. It is quite plain from these passages that obedience and submission are required from church members to their office bearers. It is unhappily too certain that much mischief has been done and much good prevented by church officers assuming a power and an authority that do not belong to them but to the one Lord and encroaching on the liberties which every Christian possesses in unalienable right by virtue of the gift of his one Lord. However, he says, great harm has been done by church members impiously

17:38 permitting such a usurping of authority and tamely submitting to such encroachments on their liberties. But just as it is unhappily notorious that much mischief has been done and much good prevented by the tyranny of leaders, so likewise much harm has come and much good prevented by anarchy amongst the church members. Now here's the paragraph that to me is absolutely classic. A Christian church is a very free society but they mistake the matter who consider it as a democracy.

18:17 The church is a monarchy administered by inferior men magistrates chosen by their fellow subjects who are to execute the king's laws being guided solely by his word and neither by their own judgment or caprice nor the opinions and will of those whom they govern. Christ is the Lord and he administers his government by officers appointed according to his ordinance and regulated by his laws. It is of great importance both to office, bearers and private members of a Christian church that they have distinct scriptural views of this subject that the former,

19:01 that is the leaders, may not exact what they have no right to and that the latter, the congregation, may not refuse which by the law of Christ they are bound to give. Isn't that a beautiful statement? The church is not a democracy. It's a monarchy.

19:17 King Jesus rules. He administers his rule by inferior magistrates. Called here, the rulers. Called elsewhere, bishops, elders, pastors.

The Origin of This Rule: Christ's Sovereign Will and Saving Work

19:32 And so the text asserts the fact that a constituted rule has been established in the visible church of Jesus Christ. Now, having seen the fact asserted, let us consider in the second place the origin of this rule.

19:49 From whence does this rule come? Was it the result of power-hungry men who sought to lord it over God's heritage? Or was it merely a temporal and carnal expedient in a day when the masses were ignorant, uneducated, and illiterate, only to pass as education proliferated and expanded? No, no.

20:12 The origin of this constituted rule basically reduces itself to two things. Number one, the sovereign will of Christ, the head of the church, and the saving work of Christ, the Savior of the church. The origin of this rule is not the origin of power-hungry men, but the origin of this constituted rule is first of all to be found in the sovereign will of Christ, the head of the church. When our Lord was about to go back to heaven and leave the affairs of His church as to their visible administration to the apostles, you remember that He gave them a very explicit word of directive.

20:53 He told them in Matthew 28 that they were to teach the disciples everything that He had commanded them to do. He had commanded them. However, our Lord had previously indicated that He was not done commanding them. You remember in John 16, 13, He said the Spirit is going to come to you, and when He comes, He's going to guide you, the apostles, into all the truth.

21:17 That's why when you turn to the epistles and you find such statements as mark them that walk contrary to the traditions which we delivered you, apostolic traditions are in reality a revelation of the mind and will of Jesus Christ the Lord. That's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians, if any man is spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that we say unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

21:48 A man in whom the Spirit dwells will recognize in an apostle the special authority of Jesus Christ. That's why in Ephesians 2 we read that the church, is built upon the foundation constructed of what? The doctrine of Christ, of Christ, apostles, and prophets. The church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

22:16 Not their persons, but their doctrine. You say, what in the world does that have to do with Hebrews 13, 17? Just this. The origin of this rule is to be found in that administration of the church's which the apostles exercised.

22:35 And it was an administration in which, having gathered a group of believers together, they were careful to institute a rule amongst those bodies. For example, Acts chapter 14. If you will, for a moment, Acts chapter 14.

22:57 We read, beginning with verse 21, And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned. To Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, places where they had preached and believers had been saved. People had been saved. Believers had been added to the church.

23:14 And what did they do? Confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, they were very, very, very careful not to feel their work was done until every church had a constituted rule invested in what is called here a body of elders. Titus 1 and verse 5 is another example of this, where Paul tells Titus why he left him

23:57 or why he has encouraged him and directed him to go to Crete. For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city. So you see, the apostolic tradition is a revelation of the will of Christ the head. It is the will of Christ that in every congregation there should be those with this authority to rule.

24:27 Those who are set over the flock of God as under-shepherds of the Great Shepherd, even the Lord Jesus. So when the apostles then write to the churches, they assume that the churches have this recognized, constituted authority structure. Philippians 1.1 Paul writes to the church at Philippi with the bishops and the deacons.

24:52 Peter writes in 1 Peter 5, says, The elders who are among you, who am also an elder, I exhort. Acts 20 Paul calls for the elders of the church of Ephesus. Now again, why is this so vital a matter? To recognize that the origin of this rule in the church is to be found in the sovereign will of Christ, the head of the church.

25:18 Why is this so essential? I quote again from John Brown.

25:25 It is of great importance that a man should be persuaded that the Christian church is a divine and not a human institution, and that its office-bearers, properly chosen, are authorized by the Divine Head, capital H, to execute His laws and to administer His ordinances. Now get the next statement. Without such a conviction,

25:52 obedience to that authority as a religious duty is impossible.

25:59 No man can bind the conscience of a Christian to anything other than that which he's convinced is his Christian duty. Right? Can I bind your conscience to that? To something that is not your Christian duty?

26:12 That's why we don't say you must wear a tie when you come to church. We can't bind the conscience of a Christian to a tie. We have no chapter and verse.

26:23 A lot of the other silly rules and regulations we make to which the conscience of a Christian cannot be bound. Now the point Mr. Brown is making is this. If we're not convinced that the origin of this rule is the sovereign will of Christ, we will never be able rightly to relate to that rule.

26:42 A Christian church is a voluntary, voluntary society inasmuch as no man can lawfully be compelled to enter its fellowship or continue in it. But it is not a voluntary society either in the sense that a Christian man can, without impropriety, continue unconnected with it or having connected himself with it is not bound to submit to the laws of its lord and king administered by office bearers appointed according to his revealed will. That's it. You see, God has instituted his visible church.

27:16 And it's not a matter of indifference whether you as a professing Christian are found identified with that church. You're obligated to. Now the choice is free. No one can coerce you with a sword.

27:26 But having then obeyed the king and head who demands that you be found a part of his visible body, now you are obligated to obey that same king as he administers his rule through his appointed office bearers. And it is only this vision of the origin of this constituted rule that will enable, us rightly to relate ourselves to that rule. But not only is its origin to be found in the sovereign will of Christ, the head of the church, but in the saving work of Christ, the Savior of the church. Remember that precious phrase in Ephesians 5? When Paul is dealing

28:03 with the duties of husbands, he says that their role is to be reflective of the role of Christ towards his church. And he says in Ephesians 5 and verse 23 that Christ is the head of the church, being himself the Savior of the body. We usually think of Christ our Savior in his past work, his life of obedience unto death, his death upon the cross. But the apostle says he is now the Savior of the church. He goes on saving.

28:41 Hebrews 7.25, he is able to save to the uttermost. He is the Savior, while present amongst us, while absent from us at the right hand of the Father. Now, what is he saving us from?

28:54 Well, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save us from our sins. Now, how does he do his work of saving? Well, he intercedes for us. Father, I pray that they be kept from evil. I pray that they may be with me, that they may behold my glory, which I had with

29:10 thee before. The world was. But now listen. In answer to his own prayer, if I may say it without irreverence, the Lord Jesus has provided means by which we are kept from sin. And one of those means

29:27 is this constituted rule in the church. Those who are responsible to warn us, to instruct us, to protect us from the damning delusion of lies and heresy. Ephesians chapter 4. What is to keep us from being children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine? It's

29:49 the gift of Christ to his church, pastors and teachers, you see. What is to keep us from being prey to every religious charlatan, those who watch for our souls? Acts chapter 20. I know that after my departure, wolves will come. Watch ye, he says to the elders.

30:09 Do you see the saving grace of Christ in providing this rule? In his church? Do you see the graciousness of the Savior of his body? The provision of rulers in the assembly is not an expression of tyranny. It is an expression of grace and

30:32 of kindness. As the Lord Jesus seeks to preserve his flock for his glory and their good. Now having seen the fact of this rule established, having looked at the origin of this rule, in the sovereign will of Christ and in the savoring work of Christ, now in the third place, consider with me the nature and the extent of this rule. And the first thing we must notice is its boundaries. What are the boundaries of this rule? When the writer to

The Nature and Extent of This Rule: Its Boundaries

31:06 the Hebrews said, Obey them that have the rule over you, how were his readers to understand the boundaries of that rule? Were they to give themselves up, body, soul, and spirit, all private judgment, all exercise of personal discretion, and follow these leaders like some kind of lobotomized idiots, some kind of zombies, mesmerized religionists who lost all of... No, no, not that at all. Because he had previously told them in verse 7, look,

31:43 remember them that had the rule over you, who were they? Men that spake unto you the word of God. The boundaries then of this rule are...

31:54 They are the word of God written in the totality of that word. Its boundaries, the word of God written. In what areas are we to obey and submit? What jurisdiction do they have over us? In so far as they speak the word of God. That is, when they expound that word,

32:18 the doctrines taught are to be received as the word of the living God. The duties laid upon us are to be received as the word of the living God. The duties laid upon us are to be received as the word of the living God. The duties received as the duties of God, the motives enforced, the warnings given privately, publicly, insofar as they expound and apply the word of God written. That's the extent of that rule.

32:42 And again I quote John Brown who says, even to those elders whom the members of a church have explicitly or implicitly chosen to be their teachers, the obedience due is obedience within certain clearly defined limits. It is only in the discharge of the duties of their office that they are to be submitted to. And even in the discharge of these duties, they're to be submitted to only so far as they administer the law of the one Lord. It's not the arbitrary will of your elders that you're bound to submit to. It is to them declaring and executing the will of Christ. See the

33:22 difference? That's why there are times when, jokingly, I've said to someone, certain people had asked me, you know, maybe they're growing a mustache. What do you think about it? I say, well, frankly, I think it looks rotten, but I'm talking now as a private individual, not as an elder. Do you want to have your mustache? Do you wear your mustache? I'm talking not as an

33:39 elder. I have no jurisdiction over how much fuzz you have on your lip or don't have. None whatsoever. That's not my jurisdiction, you see. And people come and say, well, what do you think about so?

33:51 Shall I marry or not? I say, I have no jurisdiction to tell you who you should marry. I can only say if the person is not a professing Christian, if they're a Christian, if they're a Christian, declaring areas of incompatibility, I can say as an elder, I fear that this relationship is not of God. If there are these areas of judgment, if it's an unbeliever, I can say you must not marry that person. Why? Because the word of God speaks and I have every ground to administer the rule

34:19 of Christ, you see. But if the person's a believer and if there's reasonable assumption that you can work it, I have to say we see as elders. No biblical principle being prohibited. Don't ask us to propose for you. You've got to say, will you

34:36 be my wife? And she says, I do. She's saying I do to you, not to the elders, you see. See that distinction? We have to make it constantly in our own minds. This is what Mr. Brown is emphasizing.

34:48 Submission to them. Excuse me, I back up. Pastors, quoting now, you see, and Mr. Brown quoted other men who instructed him. And he quotes from Andrew Fuller, the great Baptist writer and missionary.

35:00 A visionary in the right sense who shared with the great work of Kerry. Fuller says, pastors are that to a church which the executive powers or magistrates of a free country are to the people at large. They are the organs of the law. Submission to them is submission to the law. If

35:19 elders teach doctrine inconsistent with the doctrine of Christ, or they enjoin anything inconsistent with his law, they're not to be submitted to, but on the contrary, opposed. Opposed to the faith. For they are to be blamed. Remember, this was even true of an apostle. When Peter walked contrary to

35:38 the rule of Christ, Paul said, I withstood him to the face, for he was to be blamed. And he says, you're walking contrary to the law of the gospel. Now, that is not giving an open door to say, well, I have a value judgment that differs from you, and my opinion is, wait a minute now, wait a minute. Value judgments are one thing. Violation of clear precepts, quite another.

36:02 And as we shall see in a subsequent exposition, obey and submit. There are many areas where a body of elders must make value judgments on issues where the word of God does not speak, yea or nay. But viewing the entire spectrum of the needs of the congregation, a certain judgment must be made, such as the time of meeting. And it will not suit everyone in every case. But when that judgment is

36:29 made in matters that are not of the Lord, it will not suit everyone in every case. And when that not explicitly taught or laid upon us from the Word, then, you see, we are obligated to obey and to submit to them, regardless of what our personal opinions may be. But if they try to bind our conscience contrary to the Word of God, Mr. Fuller says, we are not only exempt from obeying, we are responsible to challenge them.

36:56 But when the Christian eldership keep themselves within the proper bounds of their office, it is the duty of all private members of the society to submit and obey them. And they cannot do otherwise without disturbing the peace of the society, interfering with the edification both of themselves and their fellow members, and drawing upon themselves that disapproval which the one Lord, who is the author of order and not confusion, must regard all who resist His ordinances. And, brethren, it is sad to say that the Lord is not the only one who is the author of order and not confusion. That the peace has been disturbed in some of our sister churches in a way that would break your heart.

37:39 Edification has been violently disrupted,

37:44 all because some church members have refused to do what Hebrew 1317 says we must do, recognize there is a constituted rule in the house of God. And violation of that rule is violation of the crown rights of Jesus Christ and a despicable...

38:05 And you do that and you'll reap the consequence.

38:14 What is the nature and extent of this rule? Its boundaries? The word of God written.

38:22 Now, by way of application, before we move on to its motivation, do you see why it's essential that congregations not set just anyone over them to be their rulers? You better have as much confidence as you can have that those whom you set over you are qualified by their knowledge of doctrine, by their practical experience, by their experience in spiritual judgment, rightly to administer the rule book.

38:51 You better have that confidence or don't you set such a person over you. But having done so, there's no more option.

39:00 That's why God says the powers that be are ordained of God. In a free society we have the right to vote for so and so or not to, but once he's in an office you don't have the choice as to whether or not you'll submit.

39:12 Unless it's on matters that clearly violate the explicit law of God, we are bound to submit. To our appointed, elected officers in government.

39:22 It's not a matter of private judgment. This whole so-called energy crisis. Well, I don't believe there is a real...

39:29 Well, that's none of your business nor mine.

39:33 There may not be a real crisis, but when the government says there is and that we're to submit to regulations of alternate day filling our tanks, we better do so and do so joyfully. Or we're guilty of rebellion against Almighty God. If the government sold us a bill of goods and lied to us, they'll be held accountable. They'll be held accountable for that when they stand before God.

39:52 But if you don't submit to them, you'll be held accountable for that when you stand before God. Well, who cares about your rights?

40:03 What about the glory of God in your testimony?

40:08 There was no beautifully Christian-motivated government that existed when Paul said, the powers that be are ordained of God, and whosoever resists them resists the ordinance of God. When he said, honor the king, he was no Christian king having devotions every morning with all of his court.

40:27 That's the word of God, my friend. Shut your mouth.

40:33 Get down before God and tell him, Lord, I've got a clenched fist down here somewhere that you've never opened up. Deal with it. And that's true in the church, my friend.

40:45 But I don't see how the elder... That's none of your business.

40:52 Did they give clear scriptural justification for a course of action taken? Yes. Well, then you be still.

41:00 If they leap the boundaries of scripture, then you better not be still. You better speak. Speak graciously. Speak kindly.

41:09 Speak firmly. Speak scripturally. Speak kindly. Speak kindly.

41:13 Speak kindly. If you can't, be still. Keep your hand upon your mouth.

41:18 We're going to show how God regards rebellion against constituted authority and how most times that rebellion is veiled under very pious garb. I've been reading through the book of Numbers.

41:30 I don't want to anticipate a message two weeks from now, but oh, it's there. You read the book of Numbers. You see what God did. When he got to get in and say, we don't like this.

41:39 Moses, big cheese around here, run the show.

41:43 God says, yeah, you touch my pointed leaders that way.

41:48 Seven days. Two days with leprosy outside the camp.

41:51 Two hundred and fifty slain by the fire of God. It's serious business, dear ones. There is a constituted rule in the church of Jesus Christ. The extent of that rule, its boundaries, the word of God written.

The Nature and Extent of This Rule: Its Motivation

42:05 Now, secondly, its motivation, the good of its subjects. And this to me is the beautiful thing. Look at the text. Obey them that have the rule over you, for they are glad to have an opportunity to put some people in the right place.

42:21 Put some people under their heels.

42:25 For they watch in behalf of your soul.

42:30 What is the motivation of this rule? The good of its subjects. They watch for your souls.

42:40 And any man who's in that place who does not have is his burning concern to watch for the souls of those under him. He's a hireling and has no business being in that place. This word watch is a military term. It's an agrarian.

42:57 It's a military term. It speaks of the soldier who's keeping a vigil through the quiet but dangerous night hours near to the border of where the enemies of his own army are encamped. And he watches, conscious that behind him in the tents are a hundred or a thousand sleeping fellow soldiers and fellow countrymen whose lives depend upon his keenness to perceive any movement in the camp of the enemy that would mean danger. To his own, he watches.

43:29 He keeps a vigilant vigil. Why? He feels the weight of responsibility for his fellow soldiers. That's the force of the term.

43:38 It's used in a military connotation in Ephesians 6 and verse 18. And then it's the watching of a shepherd.

43:48 The Apostle Paul tells us in Acts 20, After my departure, wolves are going to come in. Think of the shepherd who sees his flock of sheep all sitting down quietly, quietly resting, or drinking by waters of quietness. He can't afford to relax his vigil. But his eyes scan the horizon of the plains or the hills where he cares for his sheep to look for the first intrusion of something that would come and plunder the sheep and consume the lands.

44:20 Now God says, Obey them that have the rule over you, for they watch for your souls. The motivation of this rule is the good of itself. Subjects! Oh, do you see what a blessing it is to have some who are officially charged to care for your souls?

44:40 Do you see the danger of not having such a relationship?

44:46 The sheep that wanders from the flock and away from the sphere of the shepherd's protection is a sheep who is courting danger and death.

45:00 So real is that that Jesus made it the basis of a parable. What shepherd is there, he said, who having a hundred sheep, one of them is lost,

45:10 and in its lostness it's exposed to the elements, it's exposed to the ravenous beast of the field. And so it is with the Christian who does not on the one hand either submit himself to a body of shepherds, of overseers, of spiritual rulers, or having done so, resents the exercise of that rule over him. Again, I quote from John Brown who has spoken so perceptibly, Think of the work of your elders, they watch, they watch for you, they watch for your souls, they watch. Their work requires constant solicitude.

45:49 They must ever be on the alert to observe danger and prevent evil. They watch for you. Your best interests are the object of their concern. They're not watching for their own praise or fame, but for your happiness.

46:05 And now notice these next words. So true, so true. Others are watching against you. But they are watching for you.

46:12 Satan is watching you as a wolf watches the sheepfold to steal and destroy. Your elders watch as faithful shepherds to protect and save you. The world is watching you with a malignant eye waiting for your halting. Looking for the first time you stumble and say, Aha! That's a Christian! That's a Christian!

46:32 To throw it up into your face. But your elders are watching with the care of parents to keep you from falling. They watch for your souls, for that which is of all you possess most precious. Surely those who are benevolently engaged in a work so full of concern and labor to promote your highest interest should not be counteracted by you as they will be if you do not submit to them in the Lord.

47:03 Any man of whom it can be said they watch for your pocketbook, he's a hireling, he's not a true shepherd. Elders, pastors, and preachers who were constantly fleecing the flock and begging for money and pleading for gifts, they're not shepherds! They're vicious mercenaries who ought to be thrown out of the ministry. Congregations ought to rise up in mass and say, Stop all of this carnal, abominable begging for money and feed us the bread of life!

47:36 And we'll take care of the bread that's needed to operate the business. They watch for your souls. The motivation of that rule is the good of its subject. What would you think of three or four little sheep who one day formed a little caucus and said to themselves, Well, you know, we're getting kind of tired seeing those guys around here all the time with the crook and the staff.

48:04 I mean, we're grown up now. When we were little lambs, we needed all that business. But we're grown up sheep, you know. We're big ewes and what do you call a male sheep?

48:15 You call them a buck? A ram. A ram, that's right. Okay, all right. Thank you.

48:22 I mean, we're big rams now. We're big ewes. Them little lambs, they need those guys with the crook and the staff. I think it's an impingement on our full development.

48:34 I mean, we've gotten so we know the hills around here and we know the delightful streams and I think we ought to get the message through that we're beyond. I mean, in our infantile stage when we didn't know the ropes, that was fine, but we're beyond the need of someone to watch for us. What would you think? A group of sheep had a little caucus and decided they'd send a message to their shepherd saying, we think we're big enough to be exempt from your care.

49:06 You'd say, stupid little sheep. And it might serve the shepherd right if he didn't know that he had a responsibility to do otherwise, to say, all right, smarty pants, go ahead. You go ahead. And when you find out how foolish you are, send up a good bleat and I'll come.

49:28 Oh, my dear people, do you see what I'm driving at? God, in his grace and love, has provided under shepherds who many times have your good at heart even when you think you know the ropes. I don't need to have people. I mean, I'm no dunce.

49:51 No, a true shepherd will never treat you as a dunce. But the reason he's the shepherd and you're not is because the people of God have recognized a breadth of gifts and graces and spiritual discernment in those shepherds that they have not seen in you or you would have been elevated from the realm of the sheep to become a shepherd. Do you see the impudence and the pride that lies behind insubordination to godly elders? I hope you see it.

50:31 I hope you see it. It's like children, to change the figure, who have firm but loving parents. Listen, when you most need them to exercise their loving authority is generally when you least want them. When you most need them is when you least want them.

50:58 When you most need them is when you least want them. enough to drive the car. I need to be told when, at such and such a time or else. I thank God for mothers and dads who did.

51:17 Many a time on my knees I said, oh God, humanly speaking the thing that kept me from becoming a common lecture was the fact that I had to be home at a certain hour. I trembled to think what would have happened from that hour till the wee hours of the morning if I didn't have to be home. When I least wanted it, I most desperately needed it, and I thank God I was bound to a relationship from which I could not escape.

51:47 I couldn't.

51:49 Now transfer that to the church. Obey them that have the rule over you. God has constituted them over you. He hasn't asked for your vote in it.

51:57 Once they've been constituted elders and you're a part of that body,

52:02 they are over you in the Lord. And my dear friend, listen. If as you sit there today, there's a spirit of resentment or insubordination, my friend, that's an indication that you most desperately need that oversight. When right now, you least want it.

52:21 That we have nothing but your good at heart.

52:24 Whatever the failures are, and God knows that even as I look at this text, I say to myself, as I've had to in the past couple of days as I've been preparing, Lord, how can I preach to my people on their duties from this text when it speaks so powerfully to me as an elder, as a spiritual ruler? When it speaks...

52:45 So searchingly to me, there's a sense in which I've felt I've wanted to turn my back to you and preach to myself.

52:56 As I'm conscious of my failures to watch as I ought, conscious of my failures to be as earnestly solicitous for your well-being as I ought, that there's one area where my conscience condemns me not in the presence of God in my most searching moments, that no matter how I failed, and I'm sure I speak for my fellow elders here this morning, and that my... My mouth is the mouth of all four of us, that our motivation has never been anything other than your good.

53:32 Your good. We seek you, not yours. We watch for your souls.

53:43 You're marked.

53:46 Spend eternity somewhere,

53:50 and we're charged with watching for your souls.

The Nature and Extent of This Rule: Its Platform

53:56 But then under the nature and extent of this rule, we see in the third place, and this will be our final consideration this morning, not only its boundaries, the word of God written, its motivation, the good of its subjects, but thirdly, and I fought for a word, and I'm not satisfied with this, but time came to preach, and I didn't have a better one, so I have to use it. Its platform, the platform from which this rule is exercised, an exemplary pattern of life. Look at verse 7. Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God, and considering the issue of their life, considering their conversation, their whole lifestyle.

54:39 Ah, see what he's saying? They not only speak the word, they exemplified the word. They not only told you what to do, they led the way by doing it.

54:53 Peter states it in the same vein when he says in 1 Peter 5, Take the oversight not of constraint, but willingly not for filthy lucre, but, he says, don't lord it over God's heritage, but be what? Ensampled. To the flock.

55:11 Oh, blessed is the people who have elders whose spiritual rule is exercised from a platform of exemplary life. That's why the first requirement for a man who aspires to the eldership is ethical and moral and spiritual. If any man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. The bishop, therefore, must be what?

55:38 Charismatic personality with a lot of pizzazz, who can meet everybody and every... No, no!

55:44 He must be blameless!

55:48 There must be evidence of well-balanced, well-developed piety and godliness starting in the domestic sphere, husband of one wife, ruling well his own house, all the way to his contacts with the unsaved. He must have a good report of them that are without. Why is this so necessary? For the simple reason, sheep may be dumb, but they ain't stupid.

56:12 They may be weak, they may be helpless, but they ain't fools.

56:22 To have somebody with the gift of gab standing up there pouring out all of his sweet-sounding verbiage,

56:31 whose life does not reflect the reality of what he speaks, it's a form of spiritual suicide for anyone to submit to such a person.

56:43 God never calls a person to submit to a spiritual ruler who is not himself a spiritual man.

56:56 The way you know they're genuine in their concern for your soul, your advancement in holiness, your conformity to Christ, is because you see in their own lives that they take their own holiness and their own conformity to Christ seriously.

57:13 The man who doesn't take his own personal holiness seriously has no business to tell anyone else to take his seriously.

57:23 You don't expect them to be perfect. The Bible nowhere said they would be. They're the first to acknowledge they aren't. But when you see them, when you've seen their sins, you've heard their confessions.

57:37 When you've seen their errors, you've heard their acknowledgement of their errors. And you sense that there's the reality of genuine biblical godliness and piety. And my friend, listen. This does not mean that they must suit all of your whims about your ideal type of a person.

57:59 As far as personality, as far as mannerisms, I'm fully aware. There's some of you, personality-wise, that are not. That are naturally turned off by someone like myself, personality-wise. I just come on too strong for you.

58:13 And you're a bit fearful and timid and feel a bit swallowed up by someone who's as aggressive as I might be. On the other hand, there's some of you who are probably turned off by Mr. Rogers and certain things about him. Just naturally speaking.

58:26 Mr. Dixon. Pastor Blaze. Granted.

58:31 Nothing necessarily sinful about that. It's what you do with it that counts. And you have no grounds whatsoever to alienate yourself from the respect and from the obedience commanded of you to your elders on the basis of any of these natural things that are rooted in purely human phenomena. If they are ministering to you from a platform of exemplary life, and if they aren't, then you better come with your accusations with two or three witnesses, not sit around and pout with some private judgment.

59:05 And the pastors and the elders are not this, and they aren't. My friend, that's wickedness. If you are a pastor, if you have an accusation, you bring the witnesses to the proper sources. God commands you to do it.

59:17 Against an elder received not an accusation except it be at the mouth of two or three witnesses.

59:23 And if they sin, Paul goes on to say, then that sin, and in the context, I believe he's speaking about elders, rebuke before all.

59:31 And if I need public reproof, I want these fellow elders to grant it to me, and I know I speak for them.

59:38 Because once the platform of an exemplary godliness goes from the eldership, I say no one can submit to that eldership without a form of Godliness. I say no one can submit to that eldership without a form of Godliness. I say no one can submit to that eldership without a form of spiritual suicide. Chilling in yourself every sense of what is right and for your own well-being.

59:54 My dear friends, if by the grace of God your elders walk before you not perfect but blameless, you better beware of the wickedness of turning away from their rule because of some personal personality tensions or collisions or anything of that nature.

Conclusion: Summary and Call to the Unconverted

60:16 The nature and extent of this rule bounded by the word of God, motivated by the good of its subjects, carried forth from the platform of an exemplary life. And so I leave you with this great principle this morning. There is a constituted rule in the visible church of Jesus Christ. Remember them that had the rule over you.

60:39 Obey them that have the rule over you. Salute them that have the rule over you. That rule is a fact asserted in the text and it means rule by the very nature of the word. The origin of that rule is the authority of the Lord Jesus as the head of His church.

61:02 The saving love of Christ as the Redeemer of His church. The nature and the extent of that authority we've sought to lay before you. God willing, next week we shall deal with your definitive responsibility to that rule. And it's bound up in two, two imperative verbs.

61:22 Obey them and submit to them. God willing, I hope to open up what those words mean and what that will imply in the life of the congregation. As I close this morning, I'm conscious there are some of you that just couldn't have cared less. This past 45 minutes, 50 minutes, has been one constant bore to you.

61:47 Yes, it has. You said, when in the world is He going to say finally and really mean it? Oh, my friend, listen to me. You know why you feel that way?

62:01 Because the will of King Jesus is of no concern to you.

62:06 We're a group of His subjects who've been searching out His mind and His will in the scriptures this morning because we love Him. And because we love Him, we want to please Him because He's told us, you're my friends if you do whatever I command you. And we love Him. We want to know what He's commanded us.

62:20 That's why we've been searching out His will together. We've been like a bunch of citizens deeply concerned deeply concerned for the preservation of their way of life and government who've been scouring all of the deeds relative to the administration of their country. That's what we've been doing this morning. And the reason you found this one constant bore is because you don't have the same relationship to the King that we do.

62:47 Now, we're not saying that because we're proud because, you see, we don't have that relationship due to anything in us. But He has laid hold of us and changed our hearts and established that relationship.

62:59 And He can do the same for you. And He graciously and sovereignly bids you to come to Him and to say to Him, Lord Jesus, the preacher's right. I couldn't have cared less what He was talking about this morning. Oh, He had the Bible up there and was obviously talking and the people were turning.

63:18 Lord, I'm just dead to all that they've been talking about this morning. But, oh God, I sense even as these things have been spoken an echo in my own breast saying these things are true. These are the things that matter. These are the things that really are the issues of life.

63:36 Oh, God, have mercy on me, my blindness, my deadness, and for Christ's sake, please open my eyes and deal with my heart. You begin to search the Scriptures and ask the God of the Scriptures to show you yourself and show you the Savior. And don't rest until knowing the will and doing the will of King Jesus becomes the most important thing in life to you because until that's true, you have no grounds to claim you're a Christian. You have no grounds to claim you're a child of God.

64:09 And my friend, your miseries now are but a little preview of the miseries of eternity that awaits you if you die in your present state. Oh, may God even use this morning what has been almost exclusively a word of instruction to the children of God to be a stepping stone that some of you may seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he's near. Let us pray. Lord, we do thank you for your holy word.

64:43 We thank you that its teaching comes to us with all the authority of your own Godhead bound up in it and with it. We pray for grace to feel the weight of that authority and to walk in its light. Oh, Lord, help us as a congregation to maintain by your grace a proper relationship between spiritual rulers and followers. Deliver those of us charged with this work of watching for the souls of this flock.

65:19 Oh, God, deliver us from all lordly attitudes. Deliver us, we pray, from inconsistency in our own walk. Deliver us from any area of unfounded tyranny where we would administer anything other than the word of God. Lord, have mercy upon us.

65:39 Left to ourselves, we would run from and operate out of this awesome responsibility. But, Lord, you've laid it upon us. Give us grace to administer it. And, oh, Lord, help this flock that has in the past exemplified a loving spirit of submission.

65:58 But, oh, we are not ignorant of the devices of the enemy. God, preserve this flock from the intrusion of a spirit of anarchy. Preserve this flock from grumbling against its constituted leadership. Preserve us from the sins that have crippled some of our sister churches and have been a reproach to the name of Christ.

66:20 Oh, God, we plead for Jesus' sake, come down upon us and help us to walk in the light of these biblical directives so that the world may know that we are indeed the people of the living God. Hear us and receive our thanks for your presence and go with us as we part with you. As we part one from another through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

66:48 The message that you have just heard was produced by the Trinity Pulpit in Essex Fells, New Jersey and distributed through the Mount Olive Presbyterian Church tape library in Bassfield, Mississippi with permission. Permission for the reproduction of this tape for the purpose of distribution should be requested from the Trinity Pulpit. The Trinity Pulpit. Most office box 277 Essex, that's E-S-S-E-X Essex, F-E-L-L-S New Jersey 070