Pursuing the Biblical Standards

Introduction: The Importance of Meticulous Regard for Christ's Commands

0:03 The following message was delivered on Sunday, November 10, 1991, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may we join our hearts in prayer, asking God that he would attend the ministry of his words so that it may in some sense be truly said at the conclusion of this hour that our speech and preaching were in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Let us pray.

0:39 Our Father, we have been reminded in the singing of the portion of this psalm of the great responsibility that rests upon every generation of your covenant people jealously to preserve and guard the truth deposited in their hands, to walk in its light, and then to seek to pass it on as the most precious legacy to the next generation. Including in it that very vision that they in turn should pass it on to generations yet unborn. And our Father, we know that natively we are so nearsighted and so self-centered

1:24 that even to think of the well-being of unborn generations is foreign to us in any age. But, O Lord, particularly in this me-ism age in which we live, when the whole family, the thrust of life is to get all the gusto we can get with no thought of the consequences to unborn generations. Help us, O God, by the Spirit to feel the weight of your truth. May he so attend the opening up and the application of the Scriptures that you will accomplish in us that which will make us a people committed to this stewardship of passing on the legacy of your truth,

2:08 to another generation. Hear us and help us, we plead in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, according to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, meticulous and careful regard to the least elements of his revealed will is not a mark of a narrow and a legalistic spirit.

2:41 Rather, it is a mark of spiritual, technical nobility. For Jesus said in Matthew 5 and verse 19 these words, Matthew 5,19, Peter, Matthew 5,19 – "...whosoever, therefore, shall break of these commandments,

3:03 and which they teach men," these words Himself, shall be called, "...least in the kingdom of heaven."

3:13 Timothy, Matthew 8.19 But, "...whosoever shall restore Su-sus control,

3:15 the life-giving, spiritual knowledge of uphill assurance, and shoulder of power, and Heavenly purposes, Do and teach them. The them is not His commandments in general, but His commandments down to the least of them. Whosoever shall do and teach them, whosoever shall have a regard to this meticulous, careful implementation of the least of the commandments of Christ shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Furthermore, when our Lord gave the commission by which He set the agenda for His church to the end of the age,

3:59 He did so with words which again underscore the necessity of a meticulous and scrupulous concern to know all that He has revealed of His will and His commandments. And to implement it. For He said in Matthew 28, having baptized disciples, we are then to teach them all things whatsoever He has commanded. Now why do I set these texts and their obvious teaching before you?

4:39 Well, for the simple reason that in our present series of studies entitled A Manifestation, we are considering those concerns which have been central to our life and ministry for the first nearly 25 years of our existence as a duly constituted church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in doing this, it is evident that we have been concerned about meticulous, detailed, careful adherence to the word and will of Christ in all facets of our church life.

5:24 From the initial tenet of the manifesto that we are determined that Jesus Christ shall have His rightful place in the totality of our life and ministry, right down to this present, this sixth tenet in the manifesto, that we are equally determined to pursue a biblically established standard for church officers, one overarching concern has regulated all that we have set before you, and that is this. What has our blessed Lord revealed in His word

6:06 to regulate our thinking and our practice in the areas that we have addressed? Our walking, our worship, and our spiritual practices. These are the many things that need to be viewed in a direction that will lead to our personal and spiritual newness and change. In the name of Christ, amen.

6:22 In the name of God, we ask for your grace and our own testimony that God will bring to you in this day and age that you may be filled with the truth and with the word of God. Amen. Amen. Amen.

6:32 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

6:32 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

6:34 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

6:34 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

6:35 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

6:37 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Elements of a Biblical Standard for Church Officers

6:38 that we are determined to pursue a biblically established standard for church officers. And for several weeks we were occupied with but one question. The question is this. What comprises the main elements of a biblically framed standard for church officers?

7:03 What are the nuts and bolts of a biblical standard for church officers which we have been determined to pursue and which I trust you who will carry on the responsibilities of this church in the future, should the Lord tarry, that you will be determined to pursue? Well, in answer to that first question, what comprises the main elements of a biblical standard we have seen from the Scripture? It pertains to the name and number of church officers. There are only two.

7:38 And they are called bishops, elders, pastors, overseers, all synonyms, and deacons. The gender, they are always to be males. The qualifications, they are set forth in terms of the graces of life and particular gifts in such passages as Acts 6, 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, 1 Peter 5. The fourth element.

8:08 The fifth element is the recognition and reception of these officers. How are we to recognize those whom Christ has equipped and whom Christ is giving? How do we receive them as His gifts? Then we considered in the fifth place their tasks and their functions.

8:27 And in our last meditation several weeks ago, the nature, limits, and spirit of their authority. What precisely is the authority given? What is given by Christ to these office bearers? Now today, I wish to take up, obviously, far more briefly, two concluding questions.

Proofs of Trinity Baptist Church's Pursuit of Biblical Standards: Past History

8:48 Having asked and answered the first question, namely, what comprises the main elements of a biblical standard for church officers with the six parts of the answer, name and number, gender, qualifications, recognition and reception, tasks, and authority, now we want to take up these two remaining questions. What are the main proofs that we are pursuing such a standard? And question three, what are the main motives which ought to spur us to continue to pursue such a standard? What are the proofs that we are pursuing such a standard?

9:34 Well, let me suggest that the proofs break down very neatly into three categories. These are the categories with which we are all familiar. The past, the present, and the future. And I stand here to affirm that our past history, our present practice, and our proposed revisions and additions to our Constitution form a three-fold cord which indisputably demonstrate that indeed we have pursued how, be it imperfectly, imperfectly, and not without sin, a biblical standard for church officers.

10:16 First of all, then, the proofs as they relate to our past history. And I am not at all ashamed to take a few minutes to engage, not in expounding a given text, but in recounting some factual history, because this history is part of His story. The story of the gracious workings of Christ in this assembly. And if you are to feel some of the pressure of your responsibility to carry on whatever is biblical in this legacy, then you ought to appreciate the history out of which it comes.

10:54 What we did in the beginning, way back in January of 1967, when we started to meet as a fellowship, not a duly constituted church, we began very early to study the biblical doctrine of the church, and a series that has been in the tape catalog for years entitled The Local Church, 19 Messages. That was preached way back in the ancient medieval days of 1967. And that series of studies on the local church was concluded with seven messages on church officers. The function of elders, duties of elders, requirements of elders, duties of church officers,

11:39 and then the office of a deacon. And during that period, we were wrestling with the word of God and its teaching on church officers. There was a steering committee that had been appointed by the church, along with me, as the one that had been recognized as the public teacher and preacher and leader, to hammer out a constitution that would embody our understanding of the word of God concerning church officers. Well, somewhere toward the fall of that year, we constituted as a church in September of 1967, and then our first act as a church was to adopt

12:22 that constitution that had been circulating among the people, and one of the most explicit sections in it, and very interestingly, one of the sections that has undergone the least amount of revision through the years, was the section on church officers. And then after we were constituted as a church and had a constitution telling us how to function, including how to recognize and to receive officers, and to look for only two elders and deacons, and to look for them in terms of the divine portrait in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 and Acts 6,

13:05 and to look for them as an entire congregation, not to have them imposed, imposed from without, or imposed from within, but recognized by the suffrage of the church of Christ. We had a pastor friend from another denomination come in and lead a congregational meeting, at which time three men were considered for the office of elder. And on that occasion, two of us were recognized unanimously as a gift of Christ, Pastor Dixon and myself. A third man was rejected.

13:43 A man who had been at the vanguard of leaving the denomination toward the end of 1966. A man who had paid a tremendous price in many ways, personally and in terms of family relationships and social relationships to leave that denomination. Who had been most fervent that we establish a new work built upon the word of God and be prepared to go wherever the hell we go. Wherever the hand of Scripture would lead us.

14:12 But when we opened up the Scripture, and we opened up particularly 1 Timothy 3, which says the elder or the bishop must. This is not a noble ideal, an unattainable, ephemeral standard floating by to inspire us, but one by which we are to be regulated in the recognition of Christ's gifts. This man was perceived to be a man who did not meet, the biblical standard. That he was not a man known for patience with his temper, but rather was in that sense a striker.

14:50 A man who was soon angry and a man who did not rule well his own house. And I remember pleading with God saying, Oh Lord, everything is coming to a crunch. We've labored now for this nine months. I had turned aside a wonderful opportunity of ministry that would have meant much, personal security to me and opportunity to minister to hundreds of people and have a radio broadcast, etc., etc.

15:18 But the vision of seeing a church established on the Word of God burned in my breast as it did in many others. And I can remember pleading with God saying, Oh God, I know this is going to be hard for the people. This man is loved and esteemed and is a friend of so many, but oh Lord, if this people will not obey the Scriptures, just barely out of the womb as a church, then Lord, make it known now so that I'll not waste my life playing church with people who are only going to give lip service to the Bible. I did nothing to carry on a campaign to discredit this man.

15:57 I could not cast my vote for him, but I kept that as a matter between me and God. And as I prayed, I shall never forget that night when I came home from the meeting and the people, had expressed in a secret ballot that they did not see in this man a gift of the risen Christ. And it meant for not a few of our people a disruption of social fellowship because subsequently the man was our first case of discipline of exclusion because his nose was bent that he was not recognized, began to absent himself from the stated meetings, and here we were forced to put all of this nice stuff we had in the Constitution

16:42 into practice, so quickly. And with a key man, and we lovingly tried to win him back and woo him back, but he was stubborn and intransigent. And eventually we had to exclude him from the membership. Those are your roots, Trinity.

17:00 Those are... Some people paid a price.

17:10 There's some sitting here today who have a scar on their heart from the disruption of that very friendship over the cause of pursuing a biblical standard for church officers.

17:27 You didn't know that, did you? That's reality.

17:32 And in our past history, God graciously dealt with us, I say, with all of our ignorance and no doubt sin in many areas, God, as it were, wove into the very foundation materials of this congregation that pattern that we follow to this day, and since we had no existing officers, we had to call in a friend from the outside that I should lead the meeting with my family and my life and qualification and gifts and graces be evaluated in the light of the naked truth of the Word of the living God. And the same with Pastor Dixon, so that from the beginning,

18:16 that practice marked this congregation.

18:22 Therefore, our past history, right up until the... the last confirmations of the last congregational meeting this past spring, we have sought to demonstrate by giving no man tenure as an elder or a deacon that each man must periodically be evaluated in the light of the Word of God by the reading and exposition of that Word, the free and open discussion of the man as he really is.

18:54 What's behind all of that, dear? People, not an idle tradition handed down from our fathers, but a burning conviction wrought with tears and agony and at a price for not a few that the rule of Christ with regard to church officers should be respected in this His house.

Proofs of Trinity Baptist Church's Pursuit of Biblical Standards: Present Practice

19:18 So when I say we are determined to pursue a standard that is biblical as it applies to church officers, our past, history validates it. Secondly, our present practice as framed by our Constitution mandates it. Our present practice as framed by our Constitution mandates it. Our Constitution is simply a human document in which we attempt to embody how we see the Scriptures applying to our ordinary life in its details, in ways that the Bible does not give us those details.

20:02 It gives us the precepts, the principles, the precedents, and we are in dependence upon the Holy Spirit to collate them and seek to apply them to the specifics of our congregational life. And therefore, we still have what we presently call in the proposed changes, it will have a different name, but a rose called by any other name is a rose, still, a nominating committee. That is, a group of people chosen by the congregation to whom the congregation is urged to go with the names of men who in your perception may be gifts of Christ as elders or deacons in this assembly.

20:48 And that matter is brought before the elders that you might be a sounding board to them of the consensus of the people. There is, as I've already said, this ongoing practice of the four-year confirmation process in which every four years from the time we were first recognized, we are brought before the congregation again to make sure that under a fresh scrutiny of the Word of God, we continue to be blameless. Husband of one wife, no striker, no brawler, not soon angry, not self-willed, not greedy, a filthy lucre. Ruling well our own houses, having a good testimony

21:32 of those that are without. Now, why do we do that? Well, there are many reasons. Not the least of which is we are determined to pursue a biblical standard for church officers.

21:46 That's why. That's why. You say, you have chapter and verse for what you do? No, we don't.

21:52 But we have general principles. And we who were there at the beginning of the work of this church were determined not to have a framework where anyone could be a tenured elder or deacon. You know what a tenured professor is?

22:09 He's so set in his job, he may never read another book. He may be a downright rotten influence upon the academic community and the moral community, but nobody can touch him. That's a tenured professor. We have no tenured elders and deacons.

22:27 I talked to a young man recently. He said he wanted to become a pastor in a Reformed Baptist church. He said, look, how do I go about it? I said, well, we don't have a denominational headquarters.

22:37 We don't have anybody, bishops to appoint, so you first of all got to associate yourself with a Reformed Baptist church. I said, I'll be glad to give you the names of four or five that are established, have a multiple eldership, have a mature congregation. Then you get a job and then you just live among them and earn some credibility. Then in due course, make known to the elders you have aspirations for the ministry.

23:00 See if there'd be an opportunity if you're a pastor. If your life has commended itself to the people to start to exercise your gift. And then after a period of maybe two to three years, they would be willing to consider commending you to the churches as a proven man or commend you to their own people. And he said, you mean, and after all that, no guarantees?

23:21 I said, son, he was young enough that I could say that to him.

23:26 I said, after 30 years, I have no guarantee.

23:32 Every four years, I go on the block.

23:37 He said, oh, it's been nice talking to you. Goodbye. I've never heard from him again. A young reverend who wanted a job.

23:49 May the good Lord spare us of young reverends who want a job or old reverends who want a job or anything in between. And anyone who is not willing to be recognized as a gift of Christ according to biblical principles and continue to live circumspectly under the light of Holy Spirit. But think of the abominations of a Jimmy Swaggart. Able to be found in the most sordid moral situations and yet override everybody and anybody else and say, God told me.

24:27 The Holy Spirit came over me with such power that I'm still to preach nonsense.

24:35 Whatever spirit told him that didn't come from above. It came up from the pit.

24:42 So our present practice is framed by our constitution. Our practice of the annual nominating committee. The four year confirmation process. The determination that we shall in every consideration of an office bearer read the relevant passages.

25:02 Briefly comment upon it. And a man's life shall be assessed in open free discussion. Dear people, that is not a tradition that we hold. It is the expression of a determination.

25:16 That we shall by the grace of God pursue a biblical standard for church officers. Why do we have a secret ballot? For the same reason that no social pressure will be brought upon you to violate your conscience. If we said after the discussion all who believe that John Jones should continue to serve as an elder raise your hand.

25:39 That's social pressure. We have a secret ballot where you only need to put a little scratch and fold it. So you will act with conscience before God without the slightest extraneous social pressure. Nobody is so excellent a graphologist to track down your handwriting from the X you put in a little box.

26:04 Right down to the way the ballot is made. There are biblical principles.

26:15 So when we say we're determined. We're determined to pursue a biblical standard for church officers. Our past history validates it. Our present practice is framed by the Constitution.

Proofs of Trinity Baptist Church's Pursuit of Biblical Standards: Proposed Revisions

26:27 Underscores it. And thirdly the proposed revisions and additions of the revised Constitution continues and expands that commitment. You say did you come out with a finished document yesterday? Those in the congregation know that Wednesday night we asked you to pray for us.

26:47 We met from 9 o'clock yesterday morning till close to 4 o'clock. Quarter to 4. Took an hour out for lunch. And all we got was two more pages.

26:59 But you know what else we got? We got light in some areas in answer to your prayers. That have troubled a number of us that we never thought we'd be able to resolve. None of us had it on the agenda openly.

27:11 Someone may have had it secretly and been praying. Only God knows that. But all we know is that something was on the table and before long we were off in an area and we were very conscious that the Spirit of God through the Word of God one of the brethren prayed, Lord, give us not direct revelation, not divine inspiration as you gave the writers of Scripture, but they prayed, Lord, give us as much specific guidance as we can have without direct inspiration. That much, no more, but no less.

27:42 God did that, dear people. And I believe you will be encouraged when you see the fruit of those labors. We marked out all next Saturday to go to work again. We're going to stay at this thing till the baby gets born.

27:54 Now we might all need to be shipped off to Hawaii for a month. Then we're done. This is a long birth process. I've heard of 36 hours, 40 hours of labor.

28:02 But it's a lot of labor. But that's all right. And one of the areas where there has been, we believe, a closer proximity to biblical norms is in this very area of defining the precise limits of the authority of elders. So that now and in the future no diographies would ever be able to rise up and usurp authority that doesn't belong to Him.

28:26 Precisely defining the areas where the congregation's consent must be sought. Must be sought. Or any action would be invalidated. Wrestling yesterday with the whole question.

28:41 Suppose all of us are in a car going somewhere and God should take us all in a car wreck. What should you do to seek spiritual oversight? We've left nothing to give you direction. We feel God has laid upon our hearts we must draft something that would give you direction so that responsible men in the diaconate as office bearers recognized by the church could give leadership and say we are bereft of all our elders but here in our constitution it says should it come to pass in His providence that God removes all of our elders the church shall and give direction that you might not be left without the wonderful legacy of having thought through this issue ahead of time and been given guidance by men whom you presently esteem

29:26 to be gifts of Christ over you. So in those things dear people I believe you will see in the proposed revisions and additions that we are determined by the grace of God to pursue with even greater tenacity a biblical standard for church officers.

29:46 What do I say in summary? In terms of the main proofs with recognition I say of sin and failure and imperfect understanding and imperfect obedience yet I stand here to say on behalf of Trinity Church as our manifesto we are indeed determined to pursue a biblically framed standard for church officers and looking at our past history our present practice and our proposed revisions all conspire to underscore in the language of Acts 24 16 we have a good conscience toward God and man that indeed

Motive 1: Serious Regard for the Purpose of Christ's Death and Resurrection

30:29 this is what we are pursuing. Now we move to the third and final question having considered what are the main elements of a biblical standard for a biblically framed church officers perspective on church officers what are the main proofs that we are pursuing such a standard question number three what are the main motives which ought to spur us on to continue to seek such a standard and here we do turn to the word of God and I suggest to you three major motives the first a serious regard

31:13 to the purpose for which Christ died and rose again as long as the purpose for which Christ died and rose again is kept alive in the understanding and faith and brings its pressure to bear upon the corporate conscience of Trinity Church it will to pursue a biblical standard for church officers when the cross of Christ begins to be remote in your convictions and in your religious experience and affections by degrees your determination to pursue

31:57 a biblical standard for church officers will wane in direct proportion you see? that's a pretty bold statement I'd like to prove it from the word of God turn please to two portions of scripture Titus chapter 2 it isn't often when I preach that you're this long between turning to passages I began with Matthew 5 17 and Matthew 28 in verse 19 gave you a bit of history and I knew no way to do that and it would have been spreading out the thing into too lengthy a period to inject into your heart and it would have been very difficult for you to understand what was going on

32:42 in your life but now at this point I want you to turn to Titus chapter 2 beginning with verse 11 for the grace of God hath appeared bringing salvation to all men instructing us to the intent that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world and in this present world and in this present world looking for the blessed hope in the appearing of the glory of the great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity

33:26 and purify unto himself a people for his own possession zealous of good works these things speak and exhort and reprove the good with all authority let no man despise thee after the apostle is given these very specific directions concerning practical godliness in a number of areas directions to young men to older men to married women etc he now is taking the practical exhortation down to its doctrinal tap roots and he said the reason I'm laying all of my

34:10 this practical directive upon you is that God's grace has appeared and that grace that has appeared in the Lord Jesus Christ has taught us that we are to deny ungodliness we're to live a sober and righteous life we're to have hearts set upon the consummation of our redemption at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ and it's as though someone says well Paul I see that you're saying that the rationale behind the exhortation to practical godliness is that the grace of God has appeared teaching us to deny what is wicked and to pursue

34:55 what is righteous and to wait for the second coming but is there something that is beneath all of that and binds it together and he said yes there is and it is this this exhortation to practical godliness that is an expression of denying ungodliness and living a righteous sober life while looking for the coming of Christ is the very lifestyle Christ died to purchase and implement for his people verse 14 who gave himself for us who died upon the cross who underwent

35:39 the curse of God in our room instead who was inundated by the billows of divine wrath and malediction who was plunged into hell for us to what end in order that he might redeem us from all iniquity purified to himself a people for his own possession zealous boiling with holy enthusiasm for good works the word zealous means to boil and what are they boiling about they're not boiling in anger because their rights have been denied or their persons have been slandered

36:24 they're boiling up with zeal to do good works why because they know that Jesus Christ died that he might have a people not only peculiarly his own but a people who has his purchased possession boil up in the pursuit of doing good works those works which he has mandated by his word and in the apostolic witness you see dear people unless we are prepared to say that all the passages we looked at

37:09 that give us the name and the number of the verses in the group of church officers are irrelevant if the vehicle are grested unless we're prepared to take all the passages we looked at that specify the gender of church officers and say it's irrelevant take all the passages which deal with the qualifications and say they're irrelevant take all the passages which deal with how we recognize and receive them they're irrelevant all the passages which deal with their authority and say irrelevant unless we're prepared to do that every one of those passages under every one of those categories is a path of good works.

37:49 And Jesus died that we might boil up with zeal to walk in such a path.

37:58 And so as we address the question, what are the main motives that ought to spur us on to continue to pursue such a standard, I say motive number one is a serious regard to the purpose for which Christ died and rose again. And we could with equal justification, in the interest of time I won't do it, I have the text listed. Take Ephesians 5, but you may want to look it up at your leisure, where we are told that Christ gave himself for the church, that he might perfect it and purify it and present it to himself a glory. Glorious church.

38:39 And how does that work of perfecting and purifying go on in this present age? Well, part of the answer is it goes on according to Ephesians 4 when he gives pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints.

38:55 You see, there's a direct connection between the thing Christ died to procure and the thing Christ does from his place at the right hand of the Father in order to secure that end. And therefore, as long as the death of Christ for sinners burns in our breasts as a present spiritual conviction and by the Holy Spirit takes its tentacles and wraps them around our perspectives about the totality of life, we will never succumb to the pious humbug. Oh, we just love Christ so much. We can't be.

39:38 We can't be bothered with niggling little details about church officers. If you want to call them all deacons, that's irrelevant. And if you want to have just one elder, just have one elder. Oh, I know the universal practice of the apostles was always to institute a plurality of elders, but that's just a niggling little detail.

39:59 And I know that all the requirements assume male gender, but it's a different age, my friends. To deny of the purpose for which Christ died.

40:14 And if anyone ever tries to say they so love Christ as to be indifferent to the standard for church officers, may God give you the grace in an appropriate form and manner to open up the Word of God and expose that pious humbug for what it is. Because that's all it is. The Christ who loved his church has left not a detailed architectural drawing of every cabinet and of every toilet and every closet in his house, but I tell you, he's left us something more than a blank sheet of paper saying, build it any way you want.

40:56 Something, if it works, use it. It's an insult to my Savior.

41:03 And it's a denigration of his precious blood.

41:08 If Christ crucified is the great theme of this pulpit, and the Holy Ghost keeps Christ crucified precious in your heart, you will never, never, never, never, never give up the pursuit of a biblical standard for church officers. Because you'll see that the purpose for which Christ died and rose again is to have a people zealous of good works, a church increasingly purified. But then the second motive is this. A serious regard to the authority which Christ ought to exercise in his church.

Motive 2: Serious Regard for Christ's Authority in His Church

41:44 You see, we move on. We move now from the cross of Christ to the crown of Christ.

41:50 Not only a serious regard to the purpose for which he died, but a serious regard to the authority which he ought to exercise in his church. In Colossians 1.18 we read, and he is the head. He is the head of what?

42:10 He's the head over all things, but he is also the head of his body, the fullness of him that filleth, all in all. In Ephesians 4.5 we read, as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their husbands in everything. Now has Christ, from his place of exaltation, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, through the unique office of the apostles, has Christ spoken about behavior in his house that touches church offices?

42:47 Well, I submit that he has. 1 Timothy 3.15 is explicit on this point. Paul says to Timothy, I hope to come to you shortly, but if I tarry long, I want you to know how you ought, or how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

43:18 And he says, in this very section where he says, I've written that men may know their divinely mandated behavior patterns in God's house, are the most explicit directives concerning church offices.

43:36 So you see, to say, oh, I love Christ on his throne, and I'm so glad he has all power in heaven and earth. Well, what about those men that are leading the church? What do you call them? Oh, we call them this, that, and the other.

43:49 You don't call them elders. You don't call them elders and deacons. You don't call them over. Oh, no, names are inconsequential.

43:56 And how do you go about recognizing them? Oh, we take out the guys that are sharp and have a charismatic personality and draw. You mean you don't consult 1 Timothy? Oh, no, if we did that, we wouldn't have any leaders.

44:11 Others say, well, the little peons out in the pew, they have no discernment. We leaders, we have the discernment. We appoint them. And there are churches, I could name some that might shock you, where the existing elders actually appoint them.

44:24 You appoint elders and impose them on the people.

44:27 And then you're told to follow men whom you've never assessed and who've never gripped your own conscience that they meet the standard. But that is done. I could have brought into my pulpit materials and read to you where they try to give a polemic for that kind of business.

44:44 Dear people, hear me. As to the motives that will keep you determined in years to come to pursue a biblical standard of church officers, not only must the cross, the cross of Christ in all of its glorious and all of its manifold pressure upon our thinking be embedded in our hearts, but the crown of Christ must be there as well. Luke 6, 46. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

45:19 I don't want your words of adulation. I've crowned him with many crowns, except in the congregational meeting where we're going to pick a deacon. And then King Jesus is nothing but a monarch in a constitutional monarchy, as J.W. Tozer said in the last essay he wrote

45:39 before he went to go home to the Lord. You keep your king for show and for pomp and for impressive ceremonies, but he doesn't make the decisions.

45:50 He said we sing the national anthem of the Christian church, crown him with many crowns, but when it comes to the boardrooms where decisions are made, Christ has no voice. Christ has no will. Dear people, may God grant that that day will never come in this place.

46:07 If Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and in earth, if he's the head of his church and the church is his body, if the church is subject to Christ as a godly wife to her husband, then in his house, created behavior must, must be implemented.

46:31 It's not optional. And if the time comes when the head of the church, does not give you someone, someones, who manifest all the delineations of his picture of his gift, then you do not go out and set your own standard, but you wait upon God till he sends you down leaders who when you compare them with the picture, you say, ah, all the features fit. Blameless, husband to one wife, not greedy, not a striker, not a brawler, holding the mystery, the faith, Lord Jesus, thank you.

47:13 You see, if you can't look up into the face of an enthroned Christ and say, oh, thou exalted Christ, Lord in your house, who sets the house rules, this one fits the picture that you've hung upon the wall of all whom you will give.

47:30 Don't ever mock the Lord Jesus by having an installation service and thanking Christ for something that isn't his gift. It's not his Isaac. It's not his Isaac. It's not his Isaac.

47:40 It's not his Isaac. It's not his Isaac. It's not his Isaac. It's not his Isaac.

47:40 It's not his Isaac. It's your Ishmael.

47:46 You wait for God's Isaacs. Don't go make your own Ishmaels.

Motive 3: Serious Regard for the Salvation of Souls

47:52 Then thirdly and finally, here is the third motive, and this is not out of place, this motive, dear people. God appeals to it many times in Scripture. If we are to continue to be determined to pursue a biblical standard of church officers, not only must we be motivated by what I have called regard for the purpose for which Christ died, but also regard for the purpose for which Christ died, regard to the authority which Christ ought to exercise in his church, but thirdly, a serious regard for the salvation of your own souls and of the souls of unborn generations.

48:33 A serious regard for the salvation of your own souls and the souls of unborn generations.

48:42 Think of what we've considered from the Scriptures. If one of the great tasks of elders is that defined by God, defined in Hebrews 13, 17, obey them that have the rule over you and submit to them, for they watch for your souls as they that shall give an account. The assumption is these are not hirelings. These are not men who are puffing up their ego by getting a name and a title and prominence.

49:10 No constraint has been laid upon them. Most of them, if they could with a good conscience, they would relinquish that awesome responsibility. But having been given by Christ to the church, they have by His grace nobly burdened that extra accountability, not only giving account of themselves in the last day, but giving account of those placed under their care. And if they are biblically qualified, it means that they are not self-serving and self-seeking as the prevailing pattern, though these sins may dog their heels and cripple and wound their hearts, their spirits, and they mourn over them.

49:52 It's not the pattern of their lives.

49:56 You see, my brethren, if you've got leaders like that, you'll have men who have the gifts of public preaching who will be true to your souls.

50:05 They're not afraid to have the congregation turn and say, hey, if you don't tone it down a little bit and go a little easier on it, we'll dock your salary. Their attitude is you can do anything you want. My father won't let me starve as long as I'm an elder in this place. And I'm going to give an account for your soul.

50:25 I'm going to be true to your soul. I'll tell you what you need to hear. He can't be smiled into submission. Can't be cowered by your frowns into submission.

50:40 They are God's free men operating with an eye to the last day. My friend, the salvation and well-being of your soul depends on having such men in the pulpit and in your living room and in the counseling room. Dealing faithfully with your souls from the Word of God.

51:01 Now, if you love your own soul, then you should. And that's a legitimate motive to do things for love of your own soul. What shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul?

51:20 Proper self-love makes the destiny of my soul of supreme importance. And it's only when the church is biblically qualified, biblically recognized, biblically functioning shepherds and overseers and elders that the souls of the people of God in any way can be said to be safe under their care.

51:45 As long as you have a proper love for your soul, you're going to be meticulous in your consideration of the kind of leaders you recognize and submit to in the Lord. You begin to let social issues dominate in this church. You begin to let horizontal relationships be the dominant theme of preaching and of concerns even flavored with Christian terminology. And the worth of a never-dying soul dies as the central issue.

52:21 One of the first manifestations will be you'll start to look for men not who will remind you of heaven and hell and fit you for the same, fit you to miss the one and gain the other. I'm sorry. But you'll begin to get facilitators, smooth men,

52:40 cocky men, men who've got their act all together,

52:46 men who have no weakness according to their estimation,

52:50 men who have no fears. They can strut or amble into the pulpit and lean over it and look at you and smile and say, hello, lovely people. How are you all doing today? Go and have a little chit-chat.

53:05 And they'll stroke you to hell. And they'll stroke you. You're children and unborn children into hell. It's going on all over this country in this very hour.

53:20 Men in pulpits, people into hell.

53:27 These people have no love for their own souls. Well, they'd rise up and say, man, if I want to get psychologized, I'll go to the psychologist. And if I want to get this and that, I'll go there. But please, in the house of God, may there be a place where the great world, the world of eternity breaks open before me under the preaching.

53:50 And I'm brought into contact with the ultimate realities that all of us must face.

53:59 Let that motive of your never-dying soul beat in your breast. And it will go far to keep you from ever giving up the determination to pursue a biblical standard of church officers. Don't ever let the death of Christ become peripheral in your consciousness, in your religious experience. Don't ever let the authority and the enthronement of Christ become a nominal theological concept.

54:31 Don't ever let your concern for your never-dying soul wane.

54:37 Because when that happens, 2 Timothy chapter 4 already describes the process. You'll turn away from healthy teaching. Then you'll heap to yourselves teachers whose one great skill is tickling, itching ears. You'll have an itching ear made up of all the different factors of a religious inclination and a half-seared conscience that you couldn't totally abandon the church.

55:07 But no longer do you come to know the depths of the sin of your heart and the glory of an immolated Christ and the power and wonder of an exalted Christ and the worth of a never-dying soul and the only way to fit it for heaven and how to get to heaven in the best shape possible. You'll heap to yourself teachers having itching ears and they with you will sink into hell in the last day. No more will a pulpit be marked by men who plead that you turn and repent and believe on Christ and live a holy life in the strength of Christ. And when it becomes unfashionable to speak of heaven and hell and sin and repentance and closing with Christ

55:51 and walking closely with Christ and keeping a good conscience, feeding upon Christ, growing up into Christ. You see, under the pious humbug again of wanting such a Christ-centered ministry that sin is never mentioned, it isn't long before Christ goes out the back door. Because if my sins aren't real, I don't need a Savior that's real.

56:15 Dear people, do you see the issues? Do you feel them? Are you ready by the grace of God to spill blood for them? I pray you will.

Conclusion: A Call to Continued Determination

56:27 Up till now I believe this is an honest tenet in our manifesto. We are determined to pursue a biblical standard for church officers. We've answered the question, what are the elements of that standard? We've sought to open up the leading lines of biblical truth.

56:46 Now we've asked the question, why? Why should we be concerned to maintain that? What are the proofs that by the grace of God we have? And having addressed those three questions, I rest this day, this tenet of the manifesto, that I pray God it will live on in many hearts and find reproduction in unborn generations when some of us are in our grave.

57:14 Let us pray.

57:22 Oh our Father,

57:25 what can we say when we know from your word and from the history of the church how quickly and how easily declension set in.

57:37 And when blind leaders lead the blind and both fall into the ditch, thinking that the ditch is a bed of straw on which they will be carried to heaven instead of a skid that carries them down into hell. Lord have mercy on this place. We do beg of you that these great motives of the cross of Christ, of the crown of Christ, of the worth of the soul will be kept alive in the hearts of many who are relatively young in this place. With those motives burning in their breasts they will be able to say should you spare them and delay the coming of your Son

58:22 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now we are determined to maintain a biblical standard for church officers out of love for Christ crucified, out of obedience for Christ exalted and enthroned and out of regard for our never dying souls. Oh Lord, grant it for the glory of Him in whose name we have sought to speak today and for the good of His church purchased with His own precious blood. Amen.