Your Churchmanship, Part 1

Introduction: My Parting Counsel and the Call to Hold Fast

0:02 Two Lord's Days ago I announced to you that as I approached the last seven Lord's Day that I would be among you as one of your pastors, that it was my purpose to bring a series of messages entitled My Parting Words to the Members and Friends of Trinity Baptist Church. More accurately, My Parting Council to the Members and Friends of this Assembly. I stated that in these messages I would not be establishing truths by painstaking, careful exposition, but rather I would be identifying those truths which, having been established, sometimes repeatedly by careful, painstaking exposition, have formed the heart and the soul of my ministry among you for close to forty-six years, but that identifying them I would be calling you to hold fast to them. And my first word of counsel was that which I stated as foundational to all of the others, and it was a two-pronged word of counsel. The first,

1:26 First, by faith and love, cling tenaciously to the person of Christ, and then out of faith and love obey resolutely the word of Christ. I then applied that word of counsel in three specific areas. Resolutely obey the call of Christ to a life marked, by the serious pursuit of universal holiness. Secondly, resolutely obey the call of Christ to a life of radical separation from the world. And thirdly, resolutely obey the call of Christ to live a life characterized, on the one hand, by the constant reminder that we rest solely in the presence of God, and, on the other hand, by the constant reminder that we rest solely in the presence of God, and, on the other hand, by the constant reminder that we rest solely upon Christ and His justifying righteousness for our acceptance with God, while, on the other hand, constantly drawing upon the sanctifying grace of Christ

2:41 in seeking to live a life well-pleasing to God. And those two things must never be separated. Resting solely upon Christ for our acceptance with God, drawing from Christ the grace needed to live a life well-pleasing to God. Now, this morning, my second parting word of counsel is based upon and is drawn from the language of the Risen Christ found in Revelation and chapter 2.

3:17 Revelation and chapter 2. The middle church addressed by our Lord is the church of Thyatira. The middle church addressed by our Lord is the church of Thyatira. It's the fourth church addressed.

3:33 That church gets the longest message from the Risen Christ. And in the beginning of it, verse 19 of Revelation 2, the Lord commends them, I know your works, and your love, and your faith, and ministry, and patience, and that your last works are more than the first. He commends them. But then He points out something that caused Him deep displeasure.

3:57 But then He points out something that caused Him deep displeasure. But then He points out something that caused Him deep displeasure. A deep concern. They were permitting this woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, who taught God's people that fornication was an acceptable Christian liberty.

4:13 He says that He gave her time to repent, and then that time is expended, and He brings judgment. Then, in verse 25, He gives this summons to the church. Nevertheless, that which you have, and that which you have not, that which you have, and that which you have not, that which you have not, hold fast till I come. And it's the language of this exhortation of the risen Christ to the church of Thyatira that I want to extract from this passage and make the basis of my exhortation to you today.

4:49 And it is this, to hold fast that which you have until He comes. And what do you have? My first strand of exhortation is to hold fast to the church of Thyatira. And my second indication, using this terminology, is hold fast to your biblical churchmanship.

The Historical Foundation of Trinity Baptist Church's Churchmanship

5:09 Hold fast to your biblical churchmanship! That is, your present understanding and practice relative to the life and ministry of this congregation as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hold fast to this knowledge! If you're to understand why this council comes so high up on the list of the words of council that I'm bringing to you, I'm going to have to take a few minutes to give you a little bit of a history lesson.

5:43 I seldom do this. I don't talk about myself. I don't talk about our past. Forty-six years, we've never had an anniversary.

5:51 Not a first anniversary, not a fifth, not a tenth, not a twentieth, not a twenty-fifth. We've never paused to have an anniversary to celebrate what God has done. I'm not bragging about that. I'm just stating a fact.

6:04 So we don't often go back into our history. And I want to give you a little history that will help you understand why this particular concern is high on the list of the things concerning which I'm giving you my parting words of council. In the summer of 1962, I came to a little denomination. A denominational church up in North Caldwell here in North Jersey in order to be a pulpit supply for six weeks.

6:36 At the end of that time, overtures went forth to me whether or not I would consider accepting a call to become a permanent pastor to that little denominational church. And in the fall of 1962, the church extended a call to me. I accepted that call. And...

6:57 And officially began my pastoral ministry in that little denominational church in North Caldwell in the fall of 1962. Over the next couple of years, as I gave myself to consecutive exposition of the Word of God, I became increasingly convinced that I was moving more and more away from the doctrinal distinctives and perspectives of that denomination. And moving more and more into the orbit of the biblical convictions embodied in the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. And this whole transition continued until the end of 1966. I could no longer, with a good conscience, stay on in an organic relationship with that denomination. So I tendered my...

7:57 Resignation to that little denominational church. At the same time, there was a church down in the Philadelphia area where I had ministered when I was in a traveling itinerant ministry. And they were very serious, seeking whether or not I would come and be their pastor. So initially, I thought, as much as I love these people here in North Caldwell, had become bonded to them, they had been very responsive to my ministry.

8:26 I didn't want to be... Privy to any party, to any kind of a church split.

8:31 It seemed that God was opening another door of ministry. There were some of the faculty at Westminster Seminary praying that God would bring me closer to the seminary, that I might have an influence upon the students. And so I thought, well, as much as it's going to be painful to leave these people, it looks as though God is opening another door where I could enter and minister with a good conscience. So I submitted my resignation.

8:57 However, the church would not accept it.

9:01 And after their non-acceptance, they came back to me and said, Look, if we call you to remain on as pastor, even if it means we must leave our church building and leave the parsonage where you're living, would you be willing to stay on as our pastor? So I called the folk near Philadelphia and I said, I don't know who your man is, but I'm not it. I'm going to stay with these people. And so we had to leave the building, had to leave the parsonage.

9:32 And in January of 1967, our first several meetings, we met in the Women's Club of Caldwell. I can still remember that experience. It had a wood floor with wooden chairs, hard surfaces. Our singing was glorious.

9:49 Now, if you just creaked a little bit, you could hear it. And it was very noisy, but it was wonderful for singing and preaching. I had to preach. I had to sing a little bit slower because there was an echo in the building.

10:02 But there was a wonderful sense of God's presence with us from the very outset. Shortly thereafter, that group of people made a very critical decision that lies at the heart of my passionate exhortation, Hold fast to your biblical churchmanship. I know where I'm going. I haven't lost my track.

10:26 Stay with me. And the decision that that congregation made was this. They said, in essence, Pastor Martin, we've been so ignorant about so many things and long-headed about so many other things, if we can't be right at the beginning of a new work, we'll never be right. We'd like to disband the membership, disband the leadership, recognize you as our teacher, and you teach us.

10:58 What is a church? What is church membership? What is an elder? What is a deacon?

11:06 What does the Bible require by way of standards for office bearers? Teach us. And when we feel we're sufficiently instructed as to what a church is, how a church should function, what is an elder, what is a deacon, then we'll constitute, then we'll recognize office bearers. So in September, after eight or nine months of doing that very thing, I was looking through the catalog, the tape catalog, and there's a series of, I think, 19 or 21 messages that reflect the truths that I preached at that time concerning this matter of biblical churchmanship.

11:45 And in September of 1967, we constituted, as a church, embracing the London Baptist Confession of Faith as our confessional basis and standard, and Mr. Dixon and I were recognized as the first two elders. And as best I can remember, there were two or three men recognized as deacons at the same time. So that's how Trinity Church was born, with a passion.

12:17 Have you got me? Second generation? A passion, not a careless indifference, but a passion that, in this matter of what is a church, what is the church for, who gives orders to the church, how should the church worship, how should the church function in relationship to its leadership, do we have congregational rule, do we have rule by elder, what standards should guide us in the recognition? These were matters of deep, visceral, passionate concern.

12:53 And throughout my 46 years, among you, it has remained a deep, visceral, passionate concern. As I look through the tape catalogue, periodically there have been a series of sermons addressing facets of biblical churchmanship, and it has marked our life together. Therefore, because that is your heritage, that is your legacy, That is your legacy. That is your stewardship.

13:29 I'm exhorting you. I'm counseling you. I'm entreating you. Hold fast to your biblical churchmanship.

Counsel 1: Hold Fast to the Unique Place of the Church in God's Saving Purpose

13:39 Now, with that little bit of history behind us, what does this counsel mean in terms of specific and concrete issues? Well, I want to answer that question and give you three specifics this morning, and God willing, next Lord's Day morning, if the Lord spares us, four more specific applications of what I mean by holding fast to your biblical churchmanship. Number one, hold fast to your convictions and practice concerning the unique place of the church in the saving purpose of God.

14:27 Hold fast to your convictions and practice concerning the unique place of the church in the saving purpose of God. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 16.

14:44 Here, in one of the two references where the word church is found in the Gospels, they are both in Matthew,

14:54 Peter has just confessed Christ's identity with respect to his church. To the person and to his offices, you are the Christ, the anointed Messiah, son of the living God. Our Lord turns to Peter and to the others, and he says, You are Peter, and upon this rock, that is the rock of this confession of my identity as to my office and my person, I will build my church. Matthew 16, 18.

15:27 I say unto you, You are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church. And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto you, Peter, as a leader within that church, the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

15:51 Whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. As we shall see in Matthew 18, The keys are given to the whole. The whole church, not exclusively to Peter. But now the point I want us to see here is simply this.

16:05 There is but one structure. There is but one organization. There is but one organism which has Christ as its architect and its builder. And that is his church.

16:22 I will build my church. And to the church he gives the keys. The keys of binding and of loosing. He gives that to his church.

16:36 And it's obvious from Matthew chapter 18 verses 15 and following that the primary manifestation of that church is in recognizable local assemblies of the people of God. Not some innocuous held together by some, mystical relationship of all who say they love Jesus and trust Jesus wherever they are. Yes, there is an invisible church constituted of all the true people of God in heaven and on earth. But its primary manifestation when Christ said, I will build my church.

17:20 How would we see him building his church? When he builds churches that can do what we read in Matthew 18, 15 and following. If your brothers sin against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he hear you, you've gained your brother.

17:36 If he hear you not, take with you one or two more. That at the mouth of two witnesses or three, every word may be established. If he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church. Now what is that church?

17:51 That is not the church universal. It's the church local, specific, made up of individuals who could hear the testimony of people who have gone to his church. He went on to a sinning brother and laid out his sin and called into repentance and he's refused to hear. Now you tell it unto the church.

18:10 And if he refuse to hear the church also, let him be unto you as the Gentile and the publican. Verily I say unto you. Now he takes the same words from Matthew 16. What things whoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

18:26 What things whoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again. I say unto you. In the context of local church exercising discipline.

18:37 Again I say unto you. If two of you shall agree on earth is touching anything they shall ask. It shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. Wherefore where two or three are gathered together in my name.

18:50 How? A little group of people over here gathering. You would say where we're gathering in Christ. No.

18:56 In his name. That is in the context of the gathered church. Where am I? In the midst of them.

19:03 Christ is committed to build his church. And the primary manifestation of that building enterprise is seen in recognizable local assemblies of the people of God. To them the keys are given. The promise of answered prayer is given.

19:24 The promise of the special presence of Christ is given. So when we turn to the epistles. And we find the apostle Paul writing a letter to Timothy. Saying now Timothy.

19:36 I've left you behind at Ephesus. And here are all the things I want you to do. While I am absent. Turn please to first Timothy chapter three.

19:46 And verses fourteen and fifteen. Timothy is left at Ephesus. In the church at Ephesus. And in conjunction with that Paul gives him manifold directions.

19:59 Concerning the life and ministry. The ordering of the internal life of that church. Verse fourteen of chapter three. These things I write unto you.

20:10 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.

20:20 Which is the church of the living God. The. Not a. But the.

20:26 Pillar. And ground. Of the truth. God's saving truth in the gospel bursts the church.

20:34 The church is the child of the truth. But where the church is born of the truth. Then that church becomes pillar. Support.

20:45 And foundation. Of the proclamation. And the upholding. And the defending of the truth.

20:52 And Paul had a passionate concern. About biblical churchmanship. He had spent three years at Ephesus. Molding and shaping the early days of that church.

21:04 Yet when he leaves. He sends his own spiritual son and companion. Timothy. Back to that very situation.

21:13 That he might continue his labor. In the matter of establishing. Biblical churches. So when we read through the book of the Acts.

21:23 What do we find? The apostles preached the gospel. They made disciples. The disciples were baptized and organized into churches.

21:32 The apostles wrote to the churches. Visited the churches. Nurtured church leaders. They organized among the churches.

21:43 Benevolence activities. All of their labors were church centered. And church based. So that one cannot read the New Testament.

21:54 Without Christ. Without coming away with the conviction. That the church is unique. One of a kind.

22:03 In the saving purposes of God. And what I'm saying to you people at Trinity. Is this. Hold fast.

22:13 Not hold it like this. So anyone coming by can knock it away. Anyone coming by can cleverly dissuade you otherwise. Hold fast.

22:23 In the death grip of intelligent faith. The uniqueness of the church. In the purpose of God. Now what would threaten.

22:34 That holding fast. Para church organizations. Are not unique. In the saving purpose of God.

22:44 Some of them have a place. In the saving purpose of God. As hand maidens. To the church.

22:52 That's why you know the name. Open doors. Voice of the martyrs. Middle East reformed fellowship.

23:01 Para church organizations. That are not functioning as churches. Which have distinctive ministries. Which we with a good conscience can use.

23:12 Which we can support. But the tail must never be allowed to wag the dog. Let alone. Eat the dog's food.

23:25 Eat the dog itself. The church is unique. Not Murph. Not voice of the martyrs.

23:35 Not open doors. Trinity Christian school. Is not the church. It must not be allowed to sap away.

23:46 Personnel. Energy. Monies that are essential. For the well being.

23:54 Of the church. That meets in this place. Home school groups are not the church. So that weekends are spent at home school gatherings.

24:09 And the church takes second place. Never. It must not be. School is not the institution that Jesus said he would build.

24:22 School is not the institution that has the keys of the kingdom. School is not the institution. To which is promised. The peculiar presence of Christ.

24:35 To which he has given promise. That when they gather and agree. He will answer. The church.

24:42 The church. Is the unique institution. In the purpose of God. Some of you going off to college.

24:51 You've got campus crusade. Organizations. You've got inter-varsity organizations. They are not the church.

25:00 Their approval that you're a Christian. Is not the validation you're a Christian. It's coming before elders. And the church.

25:09 And having your testimony assessed by the church. That validates the reality. Of your professed faith. Dear people.

25:20 There are all kinds of influences. To bleed away. Your convictions. And your practice.

25:28 I join the two. In every one of these exhortations. Convictions. And practice.

25:36 And my counsel and exhortation. Is hold fast. To your conviction. And practice.

25:44 Concerning the unique. Place. Of the church. In the saving purposes of God.

Counsel 2: Hold Fast to the Maintenance of Doctrinal Purity and Unity

25:52 Secondly. Hold fast. To your convictions. And practice.

26:00 Concerning the maintenance. Of doctrinal purity. And unity. In the life.

26:08 And ministry. Of the church. Hold fast. To your convictions.

26:17 And practice. Concerning the maintenance. Of doctrinal purity. And unity.

26:25 In the life and ministry. Of the church. Of the church. And practice.

26:33 Hold fast. To your conviction. And practice. And practice.

26:41 And practice. And practice. And practice. And practice.

26:49 Hold fast. To your conviction. Of doctrinal purity. And practice.

26:59 You are no more strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom each several building fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. Where does the Spirit of God come and inhabit a people? Where there is a temple whose foundation is apostles and prophets. Now it is not the person of apostles and prophets, but it is the doctrine of apostles and of prophets. That doctrine. That doctrine that is now embodied in the scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments.

28:04 It is that which is the foundation of the church. Their teaching as embodied in their writings. We go back to 1 Timothy 3.15.

28:17 The church is the basement and the pillars to hold forth the truth. That truth which is identified with the apostolic word. That is why Paul could say, We say to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 13. 2 Timothy 1 and verse 13.

28:37 Timothy, hold the pattern of sound or healthy words which you have heard from me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto you. What was that? The apostolic tradition.

28:55 The revelation of the mind and will of God. God concerning Christ and His work given to the apostles. Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. And from our very beginning.

29:12 That is why we have been a confessional church. From the very beginning. When we constituted in 1967. Our constitution stated.

29:24 This church embraces as a man-made document. Yes, but as an accurate expression of what we believe the scriptures teach. The London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. And what is that confession?

29:42 That confession is a beautiful. Not perfectly pure. But crystal clear at most points pool. Of the rich distilled understanding of the church of Christ over the centuries.

29:58 As the church is a church. As the church is a church. As the church is a church. As the church is a church.

29:59 As the church of Christ. As the church of Christ. church has wrestled with heresies and errors that have cropped up. For example, the sections dealing with the person of Christ and the being of God take us all the way back to Athanasius and Arius. They take us back to the council of Chalcedon and other church councils where the people of God came together and against the backdrop of heretics who were denying truth that was established in the hearts of the people of God based upon apostolic instruction, they wrestled and said, no, the truth is this and not that. That's where you get such beautiful expressions in our catechisms as well as our confessions, precise and razor sharp all the way down through the Reformation when the tyranny of Rome was broken over the visible people of God and you find it. Again and again, the errors and the heresies that came to full flowering in many areas of the

31:02 doctrine of salvation in medieval Romanism are particularly exposed and attacked and laid bare in that confession. Now, there may well be supplements in terms of conflicts that we have, post-modernism and the whole mentality of inclusivistic ideas that, your truth is yours and mine is mine. I am not saying that our confession is perfect, but I am saying it is a safe and a trusted guide that has flowing into it the struggles and the wrestlings of the church of Christ over centuries and we stand unashamed for those truths. We're unashamed to say when we're asked the question, who is the Redeemer of God's elect? The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Redeemer of God's elect. The Redeemer of God's elect is the Redeemer of God's elect is our Lord Jesus Christ, who being eternal God became man and so was and continues to be both God and man in two distinct natures in one person forever. That's our Christ. That's our

32:15 Christ. I get the goosebumps quoting it. That's our Christ. That's my Christ. Who's your Christ?

32:23 Oh, my Christ is floating up there, some Jesus. Make me feel good. That's your Christ. He couldn't save a flea. You need a Christ who is as fully God as though he were never man and as much man as though he were never God in two distinct natures in this one glorious person forever. That's our Christ. I need his identity with me in his manhood to reach down far enough to touch me where I am. I need him in the full integrity of Godhood to take me where he is.

32:59 God and man in one person, two natures forever. Hold fast to your convictions and your practice concerning the maintenance of doctrinal purity and unity in the life and ministry of the church. It is for this reason that when you apply for membership here, you get a packet. And in that packet, among other things, is that London Baptist Confession of Faith.

33:28 And when you come for your interview with the elders, you are asked, did you read the Confession of Faith? Were there any things in there that when you read them, said, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I don't believe that. We make it plain. We don't ask, do you grasp everything to where you could teach the adult Sunday school class and go through from chapter one, paragraph one to the end of the confession? But we ask, do you have any conscious controversy with anything in there? Why do we do that? Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter one. We'll tell you why. Paul's dealing with disunity at Corinth. And he says this in chapter one in verse 10. I beseech you, brethren, through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, that there be no schisms among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind, and in the same judgment. You see, the great emphasis of our day is let's have a togetherness orgy. Forget all our differences and let's have a hug fest. That's the emphasis in our

34:43 day. Let's have a hug fest. Forget our differences. Paul says, no, I want unity. But I want a unity that grows out of a same-mindedness and the same judgment, a unity in the truth. That's why Paul in Ephesians 4, where he's describing the church as a body, describes it this way. Speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things who is the head, even Christ. Paul envisions no unity apart from truth. And I say to you, dear people, for whom I've spent my life, hold fast. Hold fast your conviction. Hold fast your convictions and your practice concerning the maintenance of doctrinal purity and unity in the life and ministry of the church. Now, do you think I'm overly concerned that in this place, in a relatively short time, things would be taught contrary to the truth of Scripture, contrary to our confession? I'm simply reflecting the concern of the Apostle Paul. I want you to

36:06 look at two passages with me. In Acts chapter 20, Paul has gathered the elders of the church at Ephesus, the place where he labored for over three years. And now as he's about to leave them, knowing he'll never see them again, notice what he says to them. Verse 28 or verse 27, I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God. I told you all that I knew of God's truth. Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops or overseers, to feed, to shepherd the church of the Lord, which he purchased with his own blood. Now notice these words. I know. He didn't say, I fear. He didn't say, I suspect that. He said,

37:08 I know. I know that after. After my departing, grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock. He said, I know this. I am absolutely confident of this. Furthermore, he goes on to say, and from among your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Wherefore, be watchful. Be watchful. I say to my fellow elders, Pastor Smith, Pastor Carlson, I charge you in God's name, jealously watch the doctrinal purity and doctrinal unity of this church. God lays that responsibility upon you. Not only looking for wolves

38:18 that would come from within you, but also looking for wolves that would come from within you. But men from within this assembly who will suddenly say, oh, I got this new insight. And they will begin in a subtle way to try to draw disciples after themselves. False shepherds looking for a flock. And so they come in the midst of God's flock. Now, do I know of any such thing existing right now? No. But if the apostles, if the apostles, if the apostles, if the apostles, if the apostles, could not immunize a congregation, who am I to think I can? I'd be a stupid, irresponsible shepherd.

39:01 Watch. And dear people of God, you watch. You have a responsibility to discerningly assess what comes over this pulpit. And if anyone plays loose and free with God's word, you nail him at the door and say, Pastor Tansky, Pastor Smith, Pastor Carlson.

39:21 Mr. So and so, whoever it is. In the light of this, how could you say what you said today? This is not just the responsibility of the elders. You have a responsibility for the safety of your own soul and your children and your grandchildren and unborn generations if the Lord tarries that doctrinal purity and unity will be maintained in this place.

39:48 The second passage, 2 Timothy.

39:54 2 Timothy, chapter 4. A man's last words are very significant words. Listen to Paul's last words to Timothy.

40:07 One of the passages I read, Many, many Lord's Day mornings in the quiet of my study in the early morning hours, and I pray them in. I charge you in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead. And by his appearance, hearing in his kingdom, and I say, Oh, Lord Jesus, I'm going to give an account for what I do today. I prayed through this passage again this morning, knowing of what I was going to say.

40:38 A time is coming when I'll stand before my Lord. Give an account for what I did here this morning. I charge you in the sight of God and of the Christ who will judge the living and the dead. Preach the word.

40:54 Herald the message. And don't do it in a talking head fashion. Be urgent.

41:02 Some of you wonder, why in the world is that old man so passionate? I'm commanded to be. Be urgent. That's in the text.

41:11 Be urgent. In season. When you can hear. When you can't hear.

41:17 When you're lightheaded. When you're stable. In season. Out of season.

41:22 It doesn't make any difference. As long as you're heralding the message, be urgent. If you die in doing it, die.

41:30 But be urgent. Don't play games. Serious business. Be urgent in season, out of season.

41:38 Reprove. Go positive, Pastor. Reprove. Rebuke.

41:44 What are those words? I can't write my Bible. It's written. Reprove.

41:55 Rebuke. Exhort. With long suffering and teaching. Substance.

42:02 Why? Look at verse 3. This troubles me. Why?

42:08 For the time will come. The time will come. The time will come. When they will not endure the sound, the healthy doctrine, but having itching ears, they will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts.

42:31 Now look at verse 4. And turn away their ears from the truth. And turn aside unto faith. Folks, I didn't write this.

42:45 The inspired apostle wrote it. And he's talking to Timothy, ministering to a church that was birthed by the apostle Paul. Nurtured by the apostle. Nurtured by his representative.

42:59 He said, the time's coming. Their ears are going to be...

43:03 Itching. And they will heap to themselves teachers whose great facility is tickling ears. It'll happen right in this place.

43:17 Unless you take heed to hold fast that which you come. It'll happen. It'll happen. It'll happen.

43:28 Why? Because people no longer want pierced hearts. They want scratched ears.

43:36 Scratched ears. So if we're going to keep the people, we've got to have a little less heart-piercing preaching. We've got to have a little more ear-tickling preaching. And before long, they've heaped to themselves.

43:52 That's what the text says. They won't just get one or two of them. They will heap to themselves teachers. That's what...

44:03 And I believe it. And I believe it can happen in this place. And 46 years of labor. Can go down the tubes of people who want to have their ears...

44:18 You pastors, God help you. God help you. Never, never to cave in to the ear-tickling society of preachers.

44:35 Hold fast to your convictions and practice concerning the maintenance of doctrinal purity and unity in the life and ministry of the church. You dear people of God. Don't let...

44:47 Don't let your confession of faith and your shorter catechism, the Baptist version, don't let them gather dust. Take them out and periodically read them and assess whether the ministry is reflecting those standards. Work through them as your children get older and make sure that at least they know what you believe and why you believe it. And don't grow weary of mind demanding, doctrine, choose me, doctrinal preaching, and talking to you the people of God.

45:24 Don't start falling asleep if the preacher's not telling you a story and giving you an anecdote. Come prepared to think and to think hard. A Lord's day ought to be your most exhilarating and exhausting day of the week. Both.

45:42 Not either or, but both and. Exhilarating! You've met with God. You've heard His truth.

Counsel 3: Hold Fast to Biblical Standards for Church Membership

45:48 But because you've given yourself mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and to the Lord's day, you whooped. You find that true? It ought to be. And thirdly, my last for this morning, not only do I counsel you to hold fast your biblical churchmanship in terms of, number one, the uniqueness of the church in the saving purpose of God.

46:15 Secondly, the doctrinal purity and unity of the church in its life and ministry. But thirdly, hold fast your convictions and practice concerning the maintenance of biblical standards for membership in the church. Hold fast your convictions and practice concerning the maintenance of biblical standards for membership in the church. When churches are addressed in the New Testament, the letters of the New Testament, what is their dominant trait?

46:54 What is the thing that identifies them more than anything else? Well, it's the little phrase, in Christ. Look with me, for example, very quickly at 1 Corinthians 1.1 in verse 9.

47:09 Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God in Sosthenes, our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Verse 9, God is faithful through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. When Paul sits down to dictate his letter to the Corinthians, he envisions a company of people in the geographical location of Corinth but their spiritual location is in Sosthenes. Christ Jesus, Ephesians 1 and verse 1, the same emphasis comes before us, Ephesians 1 and verse 1, Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God to the saints that are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. They're at Ephesus, there's a geographical location, spiritually they are in Christ Jesus. One more passage, Philippians chapter 1 verse 1, Paul and Timothy, bond slaves of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi.

48:37 There's their geographical location, there's their spiritual location. The distinguishing mark of the churches is that they are assumed to be a company who have a vital union with the person of Jesus Christ. And why could Paul write assuming that? Because the churches admitted none into their ranks without a credible profession of a saving attachment to Christ.

49:07 Acts 2.47 says, And the Lord added to the church, daily, such as should be saved. On the day of Pentecost, after Peter is preached, and people come under conviction, what must we do? He tells them, he continues to preach, and then it says in Acts 2.41, They that received his word were baptized, and the same day there was added unto them three thousand souls. None were admitted, but, listen carefully now, the truth, those who were truly converted, those who were in Christ, except, and hear me carefully, except some self-deceived or willfully deceptive,

49:55 none were admitted, but those who were truly converted, they were in Christ, except some self-deceived or willfully deceptive were also admitted. You have Simon Magus in Acts 13. He heard Peter preach. He was baptized.

50:15 He came into the church. But eventually, Peter said, Your heart's not right with God. You have no part nor lot in this matter. Now, was he self-deceived?

50:26 He felt something emotional? Or was he a willful hypocrite, knowing he didn't have the root that we don't know? But the Bible does tell us that people who were not truly converted did get in to New Testament churches. 1 John 2.2, They went out from us, but they were not of us. They went out from us that it might be made manifest they were never truly of us. And those who go out are either people who come into the church, give a credible profession, they think at the time they are truly saved and in Christ, but they've been self-deceived. What happens to them?

51:06 Well, I'll tell you what should happen. Under searching, applicatory preaching, they ought to come to the conviction, I don't have the root of the matter in me, but I want it. In which case, they will seek it and obtain it in Christ, or they will have enough integrity to say, I'm really not what I professed I was. I want to resign from the church.

51:29 And what about the willful hypocrite? Well, God exposed some of them. Ananias and Sapphira, God killed them. God took the disciplinary action.

51:38 Sometimes they are not exposed, and they won't be exposed until the day of judgment. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? In your name do many mighty works. Then will I say unto them, depart from me.

51:52 I never knew you, you that work iniquity. But once the hypocrite shows what he is, then he needs to be called to repentance or brought to church discipline. That's why you have 1 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, Titus chapter 2, Matthew 18. 15 and following, Romans chapter 16, verse 17.

52:17 The church is to have an internal life and power to expel from its ranks those who are not what churches are supposed to be. People in union with Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, pursuing a life of universal holiness, pursuing a life of radical separation from the world, pursuing, pursuing, unity, peace, usefulness in the work of the kingdom. So when I say hold fast to your convictions and your practice concerning the maintenance of biblical standards for membership in the church, what am I saying? I'm saying don't give up the practice of a careful assessment of any man or woman of any age who applies for membership that, that pastoral interview is critical. Furthermore, when one of your pastors says to you, John Doe has been interviewed by the elders, we are persuaded he has a credible profession of faith. He is now before you based on your interaction, based on your reading his or her testimony on the bulletin board. If you have any reservations, speak to them.

53:37 Seek to resolve it. If it's not resolved, come to one of your elders. That's not an empty, empty form. We had a situation a couple of years ago where a whole year passed from the initial application to the time we received someone into membership.

53:51 You didn't know what went on behind the scenes, but there was intense, concentrated pastoral interaction behind the scenes. Visits with parents, interaction with fellow students, seeking to ascertain, does this person manifest that he or she is a new creature, in Christ?

54:15 And then if people do not walk according to Biblical standards, that's what 2 Thessalonians is about. People walk disorderly. They're admonished. They're exhorted.

54:25 They don't change. Paul says they are to be dealt with. They are to be marked. They are to be disciplined.

54:32 Dear people, this is not some kind of a Gestapo mentality imported into a lovely family of God's people. It's crucial. To keep the membership of the church, a membership that is in,

54:50 that is not a stranger to the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, in which God takes out the heart of flesh, He gives the heart of stone, writes His law upon the heart, causes us to keep His statutes. What happens when by degrees those who sit in the pews are unregenerate? They have no love for the Word of God, no love for the law of God, no love for the person of Christ. But they want to be churchy.

55:16 So what happens? They've got to have church done in a way that panders to their unregenerate flesh. And so you've got to begin to have entertainment. And you've got to begin to have this and have that.

55:30 Why? Because that answers to their unregenerate flesh. If you're not born of the Spirit of God and regenerated by the power of God, you don't love to have the Word of God rip through you and expose you to the power of God. And then lift you and exhilarate you.

55:50 You're dead.

55:53 Preaching means nothing to you. It's a sheer bore. You get weary and tired of this praying all the time. Pastors stand up and call the worship and they pray.

56:04 And then they read a psalm and they pray. And then they read a scripture and they pray. Pray, pray, pray. I can't stand it.

56:13 And there are evangelical churches, my friend, where you have a one-minute prayer. The entire...

56:25 And they got careless about the standards of membership. That's where it happens. And then those members that are around long enough, the men have a little bit of gift of gab and a little bit of organizational ability. They become the office bearers.

56:40 And they set the standards. I know whereof I speak. I spent five and a half years traipsing around the country in an itinerant ministry. Church is full of this.

56:53 And the day will come when it will happen. This place.

57:01 Unless you hold fast to your convictions and practice concerning biblical standards for membership in the church.

Conclusion: A Passionate Entreaty to Hold Fast

57:17 So, by closing application, my dear brothers and sisters, members of Trinity Church, my parting counsel is with all my heart, I entreat you, hold, hold fast what you have in terms of your biblical churchmanship.

57:41 Hold fast your conviction and practice concerning the unique place of the church in the saving purpose of God. Hold fast your conviction and practice concerning the maintenance of doctrinal purity and unity in the life and ministry of the church. Hold fast your convictions and practice concerning the maintenance of biblical standards for membership in the church. I've spent 46 years for these things.

58:14 If you wonder about my passion, that's the answer.

58:21 And the thought that 46 years of labor could go down to tubes in 25 years is very distressful.

58:32 Oh, but isn't Christ the one who keeps this church? Yes, ultimately. But he uses means. He says to the church at Thyatira, hold fast what you have until I come.

58:48 That's their responsibility. This is your responsibility, dear people, to hold fast to your biblical churchmanship in these three areas. God willing, next Lord's Day, we'll look at four more areas that constitute the very nerve centers of biblical churchmanship. May God help us to hear what the Spirit is saying to us in these days.

59:13 Let's pray.

59:22 Holy Father, we pray that you would take your word, bring it home to all of our hearts with inescapable power, and by your grace, may we hold fast to our biblical churchmanship, to the glory of our Savior, to the advancement of his kingdom, to the establishment of his people. We ask in his worthy name.

59:50 Amen.