Our Duty Toward the Rising Generation (2)

The World's 'Gusto' Philosophy vs. God's Purpose for Generations

0:04 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, May 22nd, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, if you were to approach the average man on the street and ask him what his philosophy of life was, most would say, well, I'm not a philosopher. I don't think in philosophical terms. I really can't answer your question.

0:31 But in reality, every man is a philosopher. Some are conscious of being philosophers. Some go to school in order to study philosophy. And some have actually committed their thoughts to writing in the field of philosophical thought.

0:51 But each man is in his own way a philosopher. He is molded and shaped by a view of life which determines his values, which determines his values, which determines his values, which moves him to spend his time and money in certain ways, to establish certain relationships and pursue certain goals in life. And a few years ago, the pop philosophy of American culture was very succinctly captured in an advertising jingle of a certain beverage company which again and again repeated these words, you owe...

1:32 You only go around once in life, so grab all the gusto you can. This is a profound statement of a philosophy of life. You only go around once in life, so grab all the gusto you can. That advertising jingle captures the view of life that is totally preoccupied with pleasure, and with pleasure now.

2:09 And it's not surprising that the generation that produced that advertising jingle described itself as the now generation. It was the now generation that produced the jingle, you only go around once in life, so grab all the gusto you can. And bound up in that jingle and in the designation the now generation was a clear indication that that generation for the most part

2:51 was utterly indifferent to the past and unconcerned about the future. Life was to be captured in the now and captured by grabbing as much gusto as possible. As one could grab in the present moment. However, the people of God, in contrast with the men of this world and with the now generation, are not only sensitive to the past and appreciative of the lessons that it contains,

3:30 are deeply concerned about the future, even the future of unborn generations.

3:42 The motto of those born of the spirit is not, you only go around once in life so grab all the gusto you can. Rather it is this, you have but one life to live. This to glorify God's life and lay spiritual foundations and a spiritual inheritance for unborn generations yet to come.

4:19 You see how diocese of life that's most important, your pleasure is paramount, reach out and grab all that you can and grab it now. Whereas the child of God says, I am here to bring glory to my creator and to my redeemer and so to live as to lay up an inheritance for the rising generations that they too, that they too, that they too, may know what it is to live to the glory and honor

Review of Duty to Natural Seed and Introduction to Spiritual Generations

5:03 of their creator and their redeemer. It is fitting therefore that in bringing to a conclusion our series of studies on the central biblical perspectives which have shaped the life of this church for its first twenty-six years that we should be found focusing our attention on this tenth and final affirmation, that we should be found focusing our attention on this tenth and final affirmation, that we should be found focusing our attention on this tenth and final affirmation, in the manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church. Three Lord's days ago I stated this tenth affirmation as follows. We are determined to establish, maintain and transmit

5:47 an understanding and practice of our duty to the rising generations of our children. Now because three weeks have passed since our church was established, Now because three weeks have passed since our church was established, Now because three weeks have passed since our church was established, now the time to pass since our initial examination of this final tenet in the manifesto let me briefly summarize what we considered on that occasion. I set before you two introductory qualifications in speaking of the rising generations of our children. I am not assuming that there will necessarily be such generations.

6:23 We must always live in the hope and expectancy of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we do not know what God may do in bringing cataclysmic judgments that may wipe out whole segments of those of us who sit or stand in this place this morning. And the second introductory qualification was this. I am not assuming that we can ensure the spiritual vision and commitment of any rising generation.

6:58 Not even our own offspring, let alone unborn generations. God is ultimately the only preserver of His truth in the hearts of men. Having given those qualifying statements, I am committed to demonstrate from the Word of God that a well-instructed Christian will, while knowing Christ could come in his generation, could sovereignly obliterate, the possibility of any progeny from him or his fellow believers unto generations.

7:38 And knowing full well that grace does not flow in bloodlines, nonetheless, if we are thinking and acting biblically, we will be determined both to establish, maintain, and transmit an understanding and practice of our duty to the rising generations of our children. Then, I proceeded to set before you a biblical description of our duty to the rising generations of our children, examining four key passages in the book of Deuteronomy. Chapter 4, 1 and 2, 6, 1 to 9, 11, 18 to 20, and 32, verses 45 and 46.

8:22 And we saw that the common denominator of those four passages focuses upon a twofold duty of the existing speaking. Existing generation of the people of God with reference to the rising or succeeding Generations and those two duties are these We must seek to experience a pattern of universal submission to the Word of God in our own lives And secondly we must seek to command a pattern of universal submission To the Word of God in the lives of the rising Generation and then I use the analogy of a perpetual relay race

9:05 we are responsible to receive the baton of truth from the hand of God and according to the directives of Scripture to run our Segment of the race and then to pass on that that's on to the next generation But not simply to pass on the baton but to instruct them as to how they should pass it on To the next one in the further segments of in the will and purpose of God and then we looked Secondly at some biblical illustrations of those who fulfill this duty to the rising generation of their children

9:46 Abraham in Genesis 18 19 the psalmist in Psalm 71 17 and 18 Solomon with his son proverbs 4 1 and following and Timothy's godly grandmother and mother second Timothy 3 14 and 15 now that's a very brief review of what we covered in our previous study and obviously The focus was upon our natural seed That is the generations that come through our marriages and through the extended family However today and again next Lord's Day in our final two studies I

10:30 want us to focus our attention upon the supernatural or spiritual generations of our children and our focus now will not be on the domestic sphere but rather on the sphere of the church or what is called in Galatians 6 10 the household of faith or that which is referred to in first Peter first Timothy chapter 3 concerning elders How shall they take? Care of the house of God similar reference in first Timothy 3 and verse 15 If then we are determined to fulfill our duty to the rising

11:13 generations of our spiritual children in this Household of faith that is in Trinity Baptist Church How should it be done? What ought our spiritual goals to be? What are the spiritual perspectives that must mold our thinking and impel us? Action if indeed we are going to establish maintain on to the next spiritual generation an

11:48 understanding of and a commitment to fulfill its duty to yet unborn spiritual to the quarry of the world or whether they come from Through our natural progeny who become the subjects of God's mercy and saving grace They become the spiritual generations of the spiritual seed of this spiritual household that is called Trinity Church Well at this juncture there are six things that I want to set before you two of them this morning and

The First Spiritual Goal: Maintaining Unquenched Passion for Christ

12:29 God willing four of them next Lord's Day morning and the first is this Sitting here this morning as a member of Trinity Baptist Church Do you have anything that could even approach a yearning that by the grace of God should the Lord carry and should he maintain? Domestic and civil stability and all of those other factors being assumed in the will of God Do you really have anything approaching a deep visceral desire that ten twenty thirty forty years from now Those who sit in this place will have

13:12 Sense of what true religion is and so what biblical ministry is some sense of what true discipleship is Some sense of what a church ought to be that is living by the rule of Scripture and in the power of the Holy Spirit In other words, do you have a concern? for the coming spiritual generations that will be Found in these pews or replacement pews if necessary that many years down the road Well, if you do what you and I

13:54 We must maintain

13:59 quenched to the person

14:08 maintain the Unquenched to the person now Do you see why I read Revelation chapter 2 and I ask you to turn there with me if you will please the Lord Jesus With eyes as a flame of fire moves He speaks omniscience that comes by his ability to search the heart and to try the reins.

14:49 And when he writes to the Ephesian church, he first of all gives them a commendation. He says in verse 2, I know your works and your toil and your patience or steadfastness, and that you cannot bear evil men, and you did try them that call themselves apostles and are not, and did find them false. And for my name's sake, and you have had patience, and did spare for my name's sake, and has not grown weary. His commendation is you are busy in the work I have called you to accomplish.

15:32 You are principled in maintaining moral, moral and the doctrinal standards that I have set for my church. I know your works. You are toiling, and you are bearing up in the face of difficulty. You are maintaining moral integrity.

15:51 You cannot bear with evil men and retain them in the membership of the church. And you are maintaining doctrinal integrity. Men who claim to be apostles, you put to a test and prove them to be false, and you've not taught. You've not tolerated them, and in the midst of the general opposition and persecution that was then being let loose upon the churches, they have shown steadfastness.

16:16 And in all of these things, they have not grown weary. What more could they ask for the church? Were we to look in from the outside, we would say there is nothing in that church but that which is worthy of the commendation of Christ. Yet after His commendation, our Lord issues His complaint.

16:38 In verse 2, I say to you, Verse 4, but, but, in spite of all these realities,

16:47 but it's leave. Here is my complaint. The love which you have, you have left it. Men discuss and debate and the commentators give their views.

17:09 At the end of the day, loss of first love is just what it appears to be at one's first reading. It is the love that one had. Certainly not the dimensions of it, that are born of the novelty of entering a whole new world of spiritual reality and the initial recognition of sins forgiven and pardoned, sealed in the blood of Christ. God no more expects us to keep what I would call the incidental elements of our first love in our relationship to Him than He expects a happily married couple whose marriage has been tried and tested in the crucible of life,

17:53 over many years, to capture the initial twitch of infatuation that they may have felt when they were teenagers. They have something far more precious and abiding than that. But that qualification notwithstanding, when our Lord says you've left your first love, He is referring to the love they had at the first. When the knowledge of sins forgiven, judgment no longer a threat, one's acceptance in the Beloved and all of those glorious truths so filled the heart of the infant believer that he is obsessed with Christ, speaking of Christ,

18:38 speaking to others about Christ, delighting in communion with Christ, and fellowship in the midst of the people of Christ. The Lord's eye discerned in the church at Ephesus that there had been a leaving, an abandoning of the first love. Then He issues to them in verse 5 a call to repentance, Christ with a threat. And this is the crunch of this passage.

19:09 Remember therefore whence you are fallen and repent and do the first works or else I come to you. Move your lampstand out of its place, except you repent. In other words, the Lord Jesus says, if the generation to whom this letter comes does not heed the call to deal with the things that were quenching its passion of love to the first, it would result in Christ Himself removing that church.

19:50 There is no doctrinal deviation. There is no moral deflection from the standards established by Christ. He says that this quenched passion of love to the first love person, if not dealt with, will result in His coming and removing the lampstand unless there is repentance. Ramsey, whose commentary on the first 11 chapters of the book of the Revelation is most helpful at almost every point, commenting on these sentiments writes,

20:35 Ephesus may teach the churches of every age that if they would enjoy the smile of their Lord, they must labor faithfully and patiently to uphold His sole authority by contending for a pure ministry and a holy practice, by refusing to allow any but the stars in His right hand, while at the same time her long extinguished light and removed candlestick will be a standing warning that all this will not avail to save them from ruin if their love is suffered secretly to wane. The evil therefore which imperiled her existence

21:19 was not an evil in the working of her organization, was not any imperfect or wrong official action, but an evil which had its origin, its seat and its power in the affections of the individual believer. It was therefore only as these warnings and admonitions of our Lord were applied to the individual hearts of the members of the church of Ephesus that they could be of any avail to save it. By such a personal application only can they be of any benefit to us. Let no one then even lightly read these things without such personal application.

22:03 You are orthodox, you are zealous for outward purity and order, but may your Lord say of you, Thou hast left thy firstborn, thou hast left thy first love, once your soul melted in penitence and grateful love as you thought of his sufferings and of your sins, once you wrestled with intense fervency in your closet and in the house of God for greater holiness for yourself and for the salvation of your unconverted friends and others, once you felt the claims of redeeming love drawing your heart out and cordial consecration to his service and self-denying labors for his kingdom,

22:47 is it no longer thus? As the sweet thrill of tenderness, the yearning of desire, the springing energy of love passed away, leaving a painful consciousness of departed joys in your devotions and your services, then the horrid leprosy which the sprinkled blood seemed to have cleansed is again bursting forth in its dark polluting spots over your soul and your life also. When the sick man who's been nigh unto death and so far restored is to feel the power of the disease broken and the process of recovery established,

23:31 again feels the old symptoms returning day after day with increasing power, his appetite for wholesome food failing and his strength decreasing, he will be, if in his senses, at once alarmed and will not lose a moment in hastening to resort to the remedy that before relieved him, if it is within his reach. Your case, declining Christian, calls for greater concern. Remember from whence you have fallen, recall the past experiences of his grace, remember the divine mercies, your lost joys and broken vows, and departed usefulness.

24:13 David complained of his bitter broken bones. Peter wept with his bitter tears. And both David and Peter would tell you that this is the way to restoration. Repent and do the first works.

24:29 Look to the cross, the blood, the righteousness, the spirit, as at the first. Take hold of the invitation and offer of the gospel as a lost and helpless sinner, and believe the love that God has to you. Waste no time in examining and analyzing past experiences, but at once do the first works, that is, renew your repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must again feel the strong grasp of his loving hand.

25:00 You must again repose in the blood of the everlasting covenant. You must again feel the sweet influences of the spirit of love, melting, warming, and reviving your heart, or all is lost. Your light will go out entirely. Dear people, the greatest legacy that you and I can leave to the rising generation is an assembly of men and women who by the grace of God have maintained in vigor and in growing, continuing health that most tender plant of the soul

25:44 for the person of the Lord Jesus. The slightest draft of worldliness into the soul, the first plant is that of the passion of love, of orthodox notion, remain firmly rooted and flourish, the plant of activity and perhaps seal in performance. But that most tender plant will begin to wither if we allow

26:29 the slightest draft of worldliness to bloom. If we allow to choose the imagery, the slightest toleration of any noxious weed, sins of the mind, sins of desire, unholy ambitions, unsanctified desires, seed will most quickly send out a root system and choke that most tender and exotic of all plants of love for future spiritual generations.

27:13 Surely it is this, that the Lord Jesus would not remove this lampstand, that He would not cease to be in our midst as the living, exalted Christ present by the power of the Holy Spirit and allow this thing to go on as mere religious machinery with no fragrance of Christ Himself. If indeed we have any concern, for the successive spiritual generations, we must maintain the unquenched passion of our love.

Spurgeon's Warning: The Perils of the 'Middle Passage' for Churches

27:52 I very kindly put in my hands a choice little volume a few weeks ago. It's called the Memorial Volume Spurgeon's Silver Wedding Testimonial Services. And there at the Metropolitan Tabernacle they celebrated 25 years of Spurgeon's ministry in London. And on the first Lord's Day of that celebration, Spurgeon preached morning and evening.

28:23 And in his morning sermon, and then there were various meetings and testimonials throughout the week, and it's all recorded in this lovely little volume that was given to me. But in that opening sermon, that Lord's Day morning, preaching out of Habakkuk 3 and verse 2, O Lord, I've heard Thy speech and I was afraid. O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known in wrath, remember mercy.

28:53 Listen to Spurgeon's concerns for the Metropolitan Tabernacle after 25 years of ministry. Brethren, there is about the midst of the years a certain special danger. And this led the prophet, as it shall lead us at this time to pray, O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, in the midst of the years, make known.

29:24 Youth has its perils, but these are past. Old age has its infirmities, but these we have not yet reached. It is ours then to pray against the dangers which are present with us in the midst of the years. The middle passage of life with us as individuals and with us as a church.

29:49 The middle passage is crowded with peculiar perils. The middle passage is crowded with peculiar perils. Have you ever noticed how previous dispensations have all passed away in their prime long before they had grown gray with the years? Upon the golden age of paradise and perfection, the sun went down ere it was yet noon.

30:19 In other words, he's saying the biblical evidence points in the direction of an early defection by Adam and Eve from God. The patriarchal period saw a few of its hoary fathers wearing the veneration of centuries, but in a few generations, men with long lives had grown so skilled in sin that the flood came and swept away the age ere it had begun to fade. Then came the Jewish state with its judges and kings, and scarcely have we read that Solomon built a great house for the Lord, ere we perceive that Israel has gained the zenith of her glory and her excellence declines. Even so, in the Christian church

31:04 of the first ages, so far as it was a visible organization, it began well. What hindered it? It was in fullest health and strength when it defied the lions and the flames and laughed emperors to scorn. But ere long Constantine laid his royal hand upon it and the church became sick of the king's evil, the cruelest of all diseases to the church of God.

31:28 This malady, like a canker, ate into her very heart and defiled her soul, so that what should have been a spiritual empire, chastely wedded to the Lord Jesus, became the mistress of the kings of the earth. Her middle ages were a night of darkness, which even yet cast its dread shade across the nations. It seems as if the middle passage of communities cannot be safely passed except by a miracle of grace. The morning comes with a dawn of bright beams and sparkling views, but ere long the sun is hot and the fields are parched, or the sky is black with clouds and the glory of the day is marred.

32:05 This is a matter of constant anxiety to the lover of his race, who knows the jealousy of God and the frailty of his people, lest in the midst of the years the people should turn aside from their faithfulness. And forget their first love, and therefore the Lord should be provoked to remove their candlestick and leave them to their own devices. O Lord, my God, that this may not happen unto this. So you think I'm a cranky old alarmist,

Personal Application: Examining Our Own Love for Christ

32:49 a virgin, and this is no metropolitan tabernacle, and I'm no Spurgeon, with much lesser degrees of grace and much lesser measures of usefulness. Yet our danger is surely the same, that there should be a waning in the passion of our love to the person of Christ. You sitting here this morning, does the Lord have a just complaint with you, as I have had to ask the question of myself?

33:33 Have I left, my first love, with all that the Lord may command in us, as a church? And I believe there is much that His grace has wrought that His kindness would command. Would He have this complaint this morning? I have this against you.

33:55 You have left. You alone can answer that. And if you leave on Thursday, and so many things to do, that you can't as a member of this church even take question, then the question is already answered. You have left your first love, because there was a time as a young believer, and you used to spend hours on the Lord's day reading your Bible and good books.

34:34 And now you can't even take 15 minutes to put your heart in the light of the labors of one another. We must, if we have a concern for the rising generations who will come through the blessing of the Spirit of God upon the witness and testimony of individual believers as we heard in the previous hour, and through the life and ministry of the church and its public preaching, by those combined means brought to faith and repentance, what shall they have as their household of faith?

35:18 Will it indeed be a true land stand with Christ Himself in the midst with grace and power? Or will it simply be another church occupying space, meeting a budget, carrying out its round of activities that Christ designed? Or will it be one of those that will be tempted, start compromising in the slightest way with that sin that no one knows anything about but you and God? Remember, the tender plant of love to Christ will feel the withering effect of that sin that is covered.

35:59 For he that covers his sin shall not prosper. And the first evidence of that non-prospering is a withering of the passion of love for the person. And now, that morsel under your tongue, there are future generations

36:36 that may be cursed. Says you only go through life once, grab all the gusto you can now. Say I go through life once, but how I live will affect unborn generations. And I want so to live by the grace of God that if the whole thing rested upon me, would not remove the last.

37:09 I ask you, if every member in this church were but a replica of your present measure of love for the person of Christ, where would this church be? If every member were to replicate my present passion of love for the person, would the land stand be removed or would Christ have no complaints?

The Second Spiritual Goal: Uncompromising Adherence to Christ's Truth

37:52 You see, you have got to take to heart as an individual this great reality for as Ramsey says, that matter of love to the Lord Jesus is a most individual thing. And we must feel the pressure of his words, he, individual, who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying. But then secondly, by the grace of God, if we would have a biblically framed vision and burden for successive generations of our spiritual children, we must not only maintain the unquenched passion of our love

38:35 to the person of Christ, but we must maintain an uncompromising adherence to the truth of Christ. We must maintain an uncompromising adherence to the truth of Christ. According to the Scriptures, love and loyalty to the person of Christ cannot be divorced from love and loyalty to the truth and word of Christ. Love and loyalty to the person of Christ cannot be divorced from love and loyalty to the truth and word of Christ.

39:16 One specimen text that clearly underscores this principle is Mark 8 and verse 38. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man shall be ashamed of him when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Christ says, Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, not his person divorced from his words, not his words divorced from his person, and his words inseparably joined.

39:59 It does not surprise us then to see that the church is described in the imagery of a vast growing temple in Ephesians 2.20 as a temple that has a foundation. And the cornerstone of that foundation is the person of Jesus Christ. But the rest of the foundation is comprised of the teaching, the doctrine of apostles and prophets.

40:27 Look at the language of the apostle in Ephesians 2.20, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Not their persons, but it is their teaching, the doctrine of apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone. If I am a part of that true living spiritual temple, I have become related to the person, inseparably related to the doctrine of Christ, the foundation stones of the apostles and the prophets.

41:09 And therefore when Paul describes his great concern for the churches and why church order is so crucial in 1 Timothy chapter 3, he writes to Timothy and says in verse 14, These things I write unto you, hoping to come unto you shortly. But if I tarry long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God. Now the image changes, the pillar and the ground of the truth. You see the church of Christ is not only built upon the person and work of Christ and the truth of Christ given through apostles and prophets, but here the church is said

41:53 to be the basement and the supporting pillars of the truth, its own opinions, its legal egalitarianism.

42:25 The church goes forth to make disciples. What is her great task? To baptize them, then to observe. So there can be no attachment to Christ in true discipleship that does not issue in a meticulous concern the command of Christ, the commands of Christ.

The Danger of Tolerating False Teaching: The Church in Thyatira

43:02 Just as surely as we must believe that a waning love to the person of Christ, undetected and unrepented of, will result in Christ removing the lampstand, so any form of error, undealt with, uncorrected, unpurged from the church will likewise bring His judgment. Look at Revelation chapter 2 where the risen Christ discovers in another church false teaching that is not being dealt with. Verse 18 to chapter 2, And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write these things, saith the Son of God who hath His eyes like a flame of fire and His feet

43:47 like unto burnished brass, I know your works and your love and faith and ministry and patience and that your last works are more than the first. They were growing in their zealous deeds of obedience to Christ in a spirit of love and faith and service. What a commendation! Yet in the midst of it He says, But I have this against you, you suffer the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and she teaches.

44:16 And then the influence of her teaching as always is true. False teaching leads to false living. Deviation from the truth which is according to godliness into error always leads to ungodliness. But He says, I have a complaint against you amidst all your labors.

44:33 You've grown tolerant of false teaching. And He then threatens this church as well with some of the most we would say almost gruesome words of threat. He says, I gave her space to repent and if she will not repent I cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation I will kill her children with death and all the churches will know that I am He that searches the reins and the hearts and will give to each one according to your works. And as I was preparing for the ministry this morning and reflecting upon this, inseparable relationship between attachment

Paul's Example: Passionate Love for Christ and Zealous Defense of Truth

45:18 to the person of Christ and the words of Christ and the fact that we must maintain the passion of love to the person of Christ. Who exemplifies that more powerfully and extensively than the Apostle Paul? He is the one who could say for to me to live is Christ. What's my whole goal in life?

45:40 Christ. For to me to live is Christ. Someone would come with a large notebook expecting it would take Paul hours to explain his philosophy of life, his goal in life. He says no, jot it down in a few words.

45:57 For to me to live. A man who could say in 2 Corinthians 5.14 for the love of Christ constrains me. In Philippians 3.10

46:09 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death. Surely in the great Apostle there was evidence that he did not lose the passion of love for the person of Christ but in this same man. Oh what a jealous regard there was for truth and a holy white hot hatred of error. This is the same man who wrote Galatians chapter 1.

46:39 Look at his language. Galatians chapter 1. By passing the niceties of his normal greetings in which he mentions something for which he gives thanks and praise upon remembrance of the churches of Galatia. He could even give a paragraph of praise to that bunch at Corinth but not here.

46:59 After his initial introduction he says in Galatians 1.6 I marvel you are so quickly removing from Him that called you in the grace of Christ into a different gospel which is not another gospel only there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ but though we though I Paul or my companions should come back and preach something else or an angel from heaven should you say an angel came down and said I am Gabriel I have something to add to the gospel you received though we or an angel from heaven should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you let him be

47:43 literally a cursed of God let him be anathema let the curse of God fall upon him as we have said before so say I now again if any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which you received let him be and in his passionate concern for preservation of doctrinal integrity Paul calls down the curse of God upon anyone even an angel that would tamper with the figinal truths that come from the gospel of Christ and in his own example he knew you could do this not only with your words but with your actions so in chapter 2 notice what he says in verse 2 and following and I went up by revelation

48:27 that is to Jerusalem and laid before them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles and what was that gospel Christ alone received by faith alone faith alone that was my gospel the Judaize who were saying Christ yes faith yes but Christ faith the holy days the law of Moses I went up by revelation that is to Jerusalem and laid before them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles and what was that gospel Jesus I went up by revelation laid before them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles but privately before them that were of repute lest by any means I should be running or had run in vain but now notice

49:12 but not even Titus who was with me being a Greek was compelled to be circumcised and that because of the false brethren privily brought in who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus that they might bring us into bondage to whom we gave place in the way of subjection no not for an hour why why Paul wouldn't you make a quick trip to the nearest synagogue or to the nearest rabbi and have Titus circumcised if it would shut the mouths of these antagonists didn't you take Timothy to the local synagogue and have him circumcised

49:57 before you went out on your second missionary journey with him as a companion Paul said yes I did but there was no Judaizer breathing down my neck or propagating his heresy in the error that Christ was not enough faith was not enough therefore that I might remove unnecessary prejudice when Timothy would accompany me before we went out yes he was circumcised but there in that setting these people are saying our gospel is Christ's faith plus circumcision he said I would not allow to get near Titus with a knife if I had I would have jettisoned the truth of the gospel by my actions you see that

50:39 he said we did not do these actions why that the truth of the gospel might you can compromise by what you do as well as by what you say and the Graham organization comes into any city and enlists liberals and Roman Catholics and tries to enlist everybody in its campaign why will we not throw in our lot and go with the flow because we would be relinquishing the truth of the gospel that the Romans on the platform next to your pastor for the same thing at heart no we're not

51:23 sacrifice is black in Romish teaching and in the actions of the Romish priests my friends the end never justifies the means that's Jesuit doctrine not biblical doctrine we can compromise the gospel by our deeds this man who had such a tender passionate love for the person of Christ that love for Christ's person rather than make him latitudinarian

52:06 indifferent to doctrinal niceties and doctrinal distinctions he saw every truth revealed by God as a beam of radiant light going out from some aspect of the glory of God reflected in the face of Christ and were you to touch any aspect of God's truth you were ultimately to touch the glory of God at the face of Christ and so this apostle had this passion of love to the person of Christ but he had this fastidious concern for maintaining the integrity of the truth and of the word of Christ

Paul's Charges to Elders and Timothy: Guarding the Truth

52:51 in the interest of time let me quickly quote the verses after he charges the Ephesian elders in Acts 20-28 take heed to yourselves and to all the flock of God to shepherd the flock which he purchased with his own blood what does he focus upon as a peculiar area of concern when he charges those Ephesian elders he says for I know that after my departure wolves shall enter in not sparing the flock and from among your own selves shall arise men speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them wherefore watch ye remembering that by the space of three years I cease not to admonish you day and night

53:35 with tears what you believed made a difference and he wasn't doctrinaire and hard and crusty he was a man who had this warmth and tenderness of passionate love for the person of Christ but he also had this jealous regard for the truth of Christ when he charges his son Timothy in second Timothy four two preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching why does he give him this charge for the time will come when they will not endure the sound teaching but after their lust will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and will turn away their ears

54:20 from the truth how can you turn away from something you've never heard this is a church where the truth was once loved now they turn away from it and what they want is not truth that pierces the conscience and that warms the heart and enlightens the mind they just want enough religion with enough Jesus and enough gospel to relieve the religious itch in the outer vestibule of man's religious ear and my friends the time could come in this place when that would be true and I'm saying to you members in this assembly if you and I have a God given concern for unborn generations

55:03 the rising spiritual generations we must not only maintain the undiminished passion of love to the person of Christ but an uncompromising adherence to the truth that's why in our Sunday school we don't just keep the kids occupied but as soon as we feel they're able to they are taught the children's catechism they are taught and why we encourage you parents to teach them that at home because in catechetical instruction the truth of God is set out in simple succinct propositional forms it's set out in contrast to error

55:48 and in this way we are seeking to hone the thinking of our youngsters regarding truth and error this is why they are encouraged to memorize the word of God this is why we have the consecutive reading of scripture so that if there is error so that if there is any doctrine with which we are uncomfortable any truth of scripture that we have begun to push to one side Christ can speak of his word to an allegiance to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God this is why we encourage you to bring your Bibles and sit with an open Bible upon your laps and sit with the spirit of the Bereans to receive these things with readiness

56:33 but to search the scriptures to see whether these things are so this is why we encourage doctrinal preaching and expositional preaching this is why we unashamedly put in your hands before you ever come into the membership a proven historic confession of faith that states in succinct ways the great central issues of our faith and what we understand them to be a statement that was hammered out in the anvil of centuries of controversy with error this is why we do this why because we want to be doctrinaire no we believe that God's truth is precious to God's heart Martin Luther said words to this effect

Conclusion: Personal Repentance and Uncompromising Adherence for Future Generations

57:17 because I'm quoting a translation into English I don't know how vigorous it would be in the German he said I would rather that the universe collide with the earth than that one grain of God's truth should fall to the ground in other words he said I would rather see a disruption in the cosmos than one grain of God's truth to fall as we conclude this morning we're seeking to work out what will it mean for us as a congregation if we are indeed determined to establish maintain and transmit

58:02 an understanding and practice of our duty to the rising generations of our spiritual children well it will mean that we must maintain the unquenched passion of our love to the person of Christ and if sitting here this morning your conscience is smitten you that there has been a leaving of that first love you and you alone can do the repenting you and you alone can do the first works of going afresh to Christ in the naked sight of what he's done for sins and let your heart afresh be melted

58:45 in the presence of an immolated incarnate God as he the just dies for the unjust that he might bring us to God behold him afresh by faith at the right hand of the Father praying for you even though you've allowed that plant of passion of love to him to be blasted and withered until now it's drooping and you wonder if it's even alive you've allowed one chill wind of worldly concern and worldly music and worldly entertainment and worldly television shows and worldly talk and worldly standards and worldly ambitions they have well nigh withered the plant

59:28 oh my dear friend go to Christ and have that plant refreshed and revived at the foot of the cross and at the footstool of that place where he intercedes for his people and then if you've begun to be indifferent you've long since given up reading the books on your shelf that make you think and make you make distinctions so that you can discern truth from error you have the books they're there in the library they're there upon the shelf they're there in the bookstore but know your time is spent in people magazine and better homes and gardens and perhaps a hundred other things some of which may be perfectly legitimate in themselves

60:12 but they're doing nothing to hone your conscience to think accurately about the truth of Christ we must maintain an uncompromising adherence to the truth of Christ and that understanding must be resident in the rank and file of the people of God so if notice how much the emphasis was upon privily brought in privily brought in errorists never come in the front door knocking on the door saying hey people no it'll be a very nice persuasive guy in this pulpit who'll say things in a very nice and persuasive way and unless you're a discerning people and can say wait a minute

60:56 wait a minute that's skewed two degrees left of center that's skewed three degrees right of center that's not the truth of God I close with a confession I have wanted many many times to stand up in this pulpit some Lord's Day morning and without giving you a clue by my facial expression or my voice to try to pull off injecting some error in the midst of a sermon to see what would happen just to see what would happen I believe there are people here who as I went on it became more and more evident that I was teaching something contrary to the word of God I do believe there's somebody that would have the moral courage to stand right up and say

61:40 Pastor Martin I don't know whether you lost sleep last night whether a vessel is snapped in your brain or what but what you're teaching is heresy and I'm not going to sit here and listen to it and if I went on someone else might rise up and say I say amen to what our brother said if he's determined to keep teaching this stuff I'm walking out all who believe the truth of scripture as embodied in our confession follow me and I hope the place would empty I've never done it because I couldn't do it with a good conscience and I don't think I could do it with the approbation of my fellow elders I've never even dared ask them but I've confessed I've confessed to you I've wanted to do it for one purpose alone to see it indeed your attachment to Christ

62:25 is such that you will not allow a gram of his truth to be cleverly denied in your hearing there must be a kind of understanding and conviction that would if need be take such drastic action may God grant that these first two things will be true of us as a people maintaining an unquenched passion of our love to the person of Christ and maintaining an uncompromising adherence to Christ to the truth of Christ if these things are true by the grace of God

63:09 then the future generations of spiritual children will be safe in this place let us pray our Father we acknowledge that you know us all together and we pray that out of your perfect knowledge of where we are and what we are you would deal graciously with us we pray for the grace of spiritual honesty that we may not seek to hide ourselves from you or hide ourselves from ourselves but that we may be determined to know ourselves as you know us to be and in that knowledge

63:54 to have dealings with you bless we pray your word where we have left our first love oh God enable us truly to repent and to do the first works give us we pray that ardor that passion of love that person of your son that out of the abundance of Christ filled hearts we may worship and serve and love and speak of him who loved us and gave himself for us give us that uncompromising commitment to the truth of Christ that we will allow no gram of that truth to fall to the ground but that we shall be prepared if necessary

64:38 to seal our commitment to the truth with our life's blood for those among us who see no beauty in your son who have no regard for your truth Lord may the very hearing of these things shame them and shame them to the point where they will cry out to you to have mercy upon them until Christ and his truth become precious to their hearts hear our cry and dismiss us with your blessing we plead in Jesus name Amen