His Backbone, Part 1

Introduction: The Anatomy of a Man of God and the Need for Backbone

0:00 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, October 16th, 1988, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:11 As we have prayed together in the language of the hymn we have just sung in God's presence, so let us again draw near to our God and plead that He who is the Divine Instructor will Himself come by the ministry of the Spirit and speak not only to the outer vestibule of the ear, but in the depths of our heart, and to so speak that we may know His voice and grant loving and obedient response to all that He says to us. Let us pray.

0:50 We bow in Your presence, our gracious and our holy Father,

1:03 and we would acknowledge as we now come to the study of Your Word that all things are naked and laid bare before You, the God with whom we have to do. And we pray that out of Your perfect knowledge of every heart in this place, every boy, every girl, man or woman, each of Your servants, that You will speak to us that Word which You know we most need to hear. We are conscious. That we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers.

1:45 And we therefore plead that You will bind the powers of darkness, that You will cause Your Word to run and to have free course in every heart in this place in this hour. Speak to us then, we plead, O God, and by Your grace we shall render loving obedience to all things. And we pray that all that You say to us hear our plea, as together we offer up afresh ourselves and our petitions through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

2:22 Now in planning the schedule for our fall ministries in the Word, it was our intention that we should be found back in the gospel of Mark, more particularly in the fourteenth chapter of Mark. And as I anticipated this beginning of the pastor's conference, I had every reason to believe we would be in the second paragraph of Mark's gospel and for a number of months had even thought of the areas in which that passage would have peculiar relevance to the servants of God who would be gathered with us. However, when we had our annual academy night a month ago, that's an evening service in which the new students in the academy have opportunity to introduce themselves to the congregation and in which the ministry of the word is focused particularly upon some aspect of the work of the ministry and what constitutes a man, a man of God. I preached on that particular evening. I preached on the subject of the anatomy of a man of God.

3:44 And it soon became evident to your overseers and to many of God's people that that theme begun that night should be expanded into a brief series. And so for several weeks we have been contemplating together this subject, the anatomy of a man of God. And we have been doing so for three very clear, and simple reasons. First of all, that every man in the academy might have set before him from the scriptures a picture of what it is he is seeking to become by the grace of God in pursuing the goal of becoming an able minister of the new covenant. Secondly, it has been our concern that those of you who are newer among us might also understand the importance of the new covenant. Understand what it is that the church is committed to in its particular stewardship of the Trinity Ministerial Academy. What are we as a church and the academy in particular concerned to see as the fruit of our labors?

5:00 And then thirdly, it has been our purpose that those of you who have been with us for a long period of time might have your own vision for and vision for the future of the church. And that is what we are concerned about. And that is what we are concerned about. And that is what we are concerned about.

5:10 We have one commitment to these goals stirred up and refreshed so that you with fresh zeal would give yourself to prayer and to the other channels of influence assigned to you as the people of God in seeking to see the head of the church raise up shepherds after his own heart. And thus far in our studies together, we have looked at the head of a man of God and three categories. We have looked at the characteristics of his head. We have contemplated his eyes and likewise three dominant characteristics of the eyes of a man of God.

5:53 We've considered together his ears and those three things which must of necessity mark the ears of a true man of God. And then we've looked at his heart and we've considered together his mouth, the purified, a skilled and an anointed mouth. And then last Lord's Day, we began to contemplate his backbone, the spine of a man of God. What does it look like?

Defining Ministerial Backbone and Its Essentiality

6:24 Of what is it made? And in our study last Lord's Day, we had time only to consider what we mean when we speak of the backbone of a man of God and secondly, why it is that we have to preach the gospel. it is essential that a man of God have such a backbone. We described the backbone essentially as that character trait in which a man manifests resolution and determination to face opposition without flinching.

7:07 A man of God must have the kind of spiritual backbone that will enable him with resolution to face opposition without flinching. And why does he need such a backbone? Well, for at least three very basic reasons. First of all, because a man of God must faithfully expound and apply many offensive features.

7:38 Truths in his public ministry of the Word of God. He is called to proclaim the whole counsel of God. And there are many aspects of that counsel that are utterly offensive both to the unregenerate and even to the remaining sin that is in the hearts of the people of God. And unless he has a spirit-wrought backbone that is the resolution unflinchingly to do the will of God, he will never proclaim the whole counsel of God either to the unconverted or to the people of God.

8:23 But he needs this backbone secondly because a man of God must faithfully expound and apply many undesired truths in his private dealings with the people of God. Thirdly, because a man of God must faithfully expound and apply many undesired truths in his private dealings with the people of God. Thirdly, because a man of God must faithfully expound and apply many undesired truths in his private dealings with the people of God. For every man of God follows the apostolic pattern of the great apostle who could say, I taught you publicly and from house to house.

9:04 That same Paul who could say, Whom we preach with respect to God, Whom we preach with respect to God, Whom we preach with respect to God, Whom we preach with respect to God, Whom we preach with respect to God, Whom we preach with respect to Christ, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ. And there is many a preacher who manifests the spiritual backbone of moral courage in the proclamation of the whole counsel of God in his public ministry who has a spine of judgment, when it comes to the one-to-one confrontation with the word of God that is an essential nonnegotiable dimension of his pastoral task. And therefore without this kind of spiritual backbone, he will not faithfully and expound and apply those undesired truths he will not faithfully and expound and apply those undesired truths in his public ministry. private dealings with the people of God. And thirdly, he needs this kind of backbone because a man of God must expand, implement many unpopular truths in the administration of the house of God.

10:30 He must expand, apply, implement many unpopular truths in the administration of the house of God. For the task of a man of God functioning as an elder in Christ's church is not limited to his preaching either publicly or privately. But he is described as a man in Timothy 3, 4, who takes care of the church of God. He stands in the stream of responsibility laid upon Timothy to administer divinely behavior to the people of God. He is the one who takes care of the church of God.

11:13 He is the one who takes care of the church of God. He is the one who takes care of the church of God. In God's house, 1 Timothy 3, 14 and 15. And unless he has this kind backbone, this sperm forged by the Holy Ghost, he will not be popular in the administration of the house of God.

11:42 He will not have the tenacity necessary to keep God's worship pure. As the children of Israel were constantly hankering for something other, then God's provision in manna from heaven, so God's people grow restless for the intrusion of unauthorized elements into the worship of God. And only a man of true backbone will stand and say, in Christ's tongue as I am the steward of the care of that, no shall ever be found upon God's altar in this place. And when it comes to the proper assignment of the role, of men and women, a matter clearly addressed in Scripture with reference to the public worship of God, if a man does not have this kind of spiritual backbone, he'll succumb to the pressure and he will begin to find himself flirting with some of the specious reasoning that we've examined in our adult class, which would make way for the church to conform to the world in its view of spiritualism. So-called women's liberation. And certainly with respect to the matter of the kind of formative discipline

How Ministerial Backbone is Attained: Initial Dynamics of Regenerating Grace

13:11 as well as corrective discipline, which Scripture clearly says must be operative in the house of God, in which there is real commitment and real accountability of the members one to another and to the church, in which there is real commitment, there is real concern that the leaven of known sin be purged from God's house. Without spiritual backbone, a man will not expound, apply, implement many unpopular truths in the administration of the house of God. Well, we come this morning after that review to consider in the third place how is ministerial backbone attained, maintained, and strengthened. We have seen what it is, why it is essential to a man of God, and now thirdly, how is ministerial backbone attained, maintained, strengthened. And I believe the answer of the word of God points us to two categories

14:34 and at least three elements under each of those categories. In the first category, we have the word of God. The second category, out of which spiritual backbone is formed in a man of God, is what I am calling the initial dynamics of regenerating grace. The initial dynamics of regenerating grace.

14:59 And the second category, the continuous supplies of sustaining grace. First of all then, the initial dynamics of regenerating grace. regenerating grace there are mighty operations of divine grace in regeneration which are as it were the womb in which ministerial backbone is originally and fundamentally formed and i take that imagery from the 139th psalm for you'll remember there speaks of god as covering him in his mother's womb and there forming him as a man well taking that imagery i say ritual backbone is form the womb of the dynamics of the grace that god all when he regenerates and perhaps the most fundamental cause for the absence of ministerial backbone in our own generation his generations is the the the ,

Element 1: Implantation of the Fear of God

16:20 tragic reality of office of the ministry for there are the initial dynamics of regenerating grace formed in the soul of that become beginnings of the kind of a spinal column that enables a mature man of god preaching teaching apply implementing the word of god well what are those initial dynamics of the ministry of regenerating grace which form the raw materials for ministerial backbone i've indicated there are three to which i would point your attention first of all there is the implantation of a principle of the fear of god in regenerating grace there is always an implantation of a principal of the fear of god and i take that language from jeremiah the prophecy of jeremiah chapters thirty one thirty-two

17:48 passages in which the problem is given the privilege of announcing what god will do under the new covenant uh... passage a portion of which is quoted in hebrews eight in hebrews ten meaningful through the work of jesus christ in speed in the book of hebrews as far of that which is come now is gospel days.

18:24 Listen to the promise of what God will do under the new covenant. First of all, in Jeremiah 31, we read in verse 31, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will write my law, and in their heart will I write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And then he goes on to speak of the fact that he will bring the whole new covenant commandment. into experimental knowledge of himself and all of it under the canopy of the great blessing of the forgiveness and pardon of their sins. But I would ask you to focus your attention upon the language embedded in the middle of verse 33.

19:39 I will put my law, prophesize that there will be an implantation of a principle of obedience to his law. Now notice, in similar, thought pens what the prophet says in chapter 32,

20:11 and beginning with verse 39.

20:18 One heart, one way, that they for the good of them, and for their children after them, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and I will not turn away from following them to do them good. Now look at the language. And I, that they may not depart from me. The same God, says that he will implant a principle of his law under the blessings of the new covenant, says that he will all plant a principle of the faith which will have as its practical expression that his people will not depart from him. Though they will be an oppressed people, though they will be a persecuted people, though as a holy people in an unholy world,

21:28 the tide around them, none the less they will not depart from their covenant God, because in the grace of regeneration, he will implant in them a principle of his fear. And when we ask the question, what is the fear of God? Some would say it is a synonym for true religion, both in the old and in the new testaments. I would narrow it or expand it a bit and say that the fear of God is that inward sin, the spiritual disposition, which has as its regulating concern that God's smile and God's frown my greatest dread. To live in the fear of God is to live as a man or woman who in the depths of his or her being regards life as life's greatest blessing and the frown of God as life's greatest curse. And ministerially,

22:44 you regenerate and God does as a regenerate man precisely what he says he will do in this passage. And it is interesting that when we turn to the New Testament, and I ask you to turn to Matthew 10, when our Lord is commissioning his own to go out and preach, and he knows he will preach in a hostile environment, notice what grace he focuses upon as essential to ministerial fidelity. Matthew 10. What is he doing? Verse 1. He called unto him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. And then the twelve are named.

23:43 Verse 16. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. I send you forth defenseless. I send you forth defenseless and vulnerable amidst predators.

24:00 Verse 17. Beware of men. They will deliver you up to councils and in their synagogues they will scourge you. Before governors and kings you'll be brought for my sake.

24:11 Verse 19. When they deliver you up. Verse 21. Brothers shall deliver up brother to death.

24:18 Verse 22. You shall be hated of all men. Not a very encouraging commissioning service. I send you forth amidst wolves.

24:34 I send you forth into a whole context. I send you forth into opposition that at times will break out into nothing short of murder. You'll become fugitives. Verse 23.

24:48 When they persecute you in this city, flee to the next. And then in verse 24. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his teacher, the servant as his Lord.

25:03 And he says then you're going to get called bad names. For if they've called the master of the house Beelzebub, prince of the devils, how much more of them of his household. Do not fear them, for there's nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness speak in the light.

25:24 Now verse 28. Be not afraid of the body, but are not able of the soul, but rather both, as our Lord commissioned us, our Lord commissions these men of God to go forth and to declare and announces that they will do so many times in intensely hostile environment. He said it is this grace that they will desperately need an all who can cast soul and body into hells who can merely the body in one stroke of the broad by degrees suffering or sin don't who can merely but fear of him who can destroy and body in hell. The God who will take every person who under the fear of what may come to him in the way of obedient discipleship

26:48 is prepared to deny him not in a moment of weakness as Peter's denial, but as a settled rejection of the soul to be identified with a rejected and an unpopular Christ. All to reject him is to place oneself in the path to hell. And ministerial fidelity to use the imagery of our subject the anatomy of a man of God backbone in the work of the ministry that will enable men to proclaim unpopular truth is constructed that commodity that comes in the initial dynamics of regenerating grace, namely, the implanted principle of the fear of God. But then secondly, in the initial dynamics of regenerating grace there is not only the implantation of a principle of the fear of God, there is the impartation of a principle of supreme attachment to Jesus Christ. The impartation of a principle of supreme attachment to Jesus Christ.

Element 2: Impartation of Supreme Attachment to Jesus Christ

28:13 The estimation that all of us have of Jesus Christ by nature, whatever it is, is one that reflects the reality of 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and I'd ask you to turn there please. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. The apostle writing concerning his own perspectives and activities in the work of the ministry says in verse 3, and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled, in them that are perishing, in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory should not dawn. If you are sitting here this morning as an unconverted man, woman, boy or girl, you may sit here with much knowledge about the Christ of Scripture. You may sit here with little knowledge of the Christ of Scripture. You may have an estimation of Him that is very high.

29:28 You may have one that's very low and ignoble. But one thing is true of every one of you who is an unbeliever. Every man who has never been quickened by the Holy Spirit unto truth and repentance. One thing is true about your estimation of Christ and it's this.

29:51 You do not see the glory of God in the face of Christ. The devil blind to what? Not to the history of Christ's existence. Not to the historicity of His life, death and resurrection.

30:14 No, that the light of the gospel of the glory should not dawn upon them. In other words, they acknowledge, live, die from the dead. Concerning whom they may hold positive and noble, they see of both the majesty and the beauty of Jesus Christ. Because the moment any sinner sees an outshining of the majesty and the beauty of Christ crucified, he'll never be the same again. There will be implanted within his breast a principle of supremacy to that Savior. That's why Paul can go on to say in verse 6, seeing it is God that said, Light shall shine out of darkness. Who shines?

31:26 To do what? To give the light of the knowledge of the glorious of Jesus Christ. Paul at his conversion, not to the blind, it shone upon his physical eyeballs. Blinded him?

31:45 He says no. My conversion with every other Christian's conversion. Notice the hour is attributed to this. God has shined in the inner depths of our .

32:05 What has been illumined by that of divine light, divine vision with light? He said, Glorious. He has given the light and knowledge of the glory in the face of Jesus Christ. And whenever anyone has, by the illumination of the Spirit, been given a saving sight of Jesus Christ, has always resulted in the imitation of a principle of to Jesus Christ.

32:48 To put it differently, the Holy Spirit never savingly reveals Jesus in such a way that the sinner only gives him half of himself. Never! When the Holy Ghost the heart runs out in the language of Paul, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? That's why Paul can go on in this very next chapter and use such language as this.

33:22 Verse 9, Wherefore we make it our aim literally vicious, whether at home or at home, to be well pleasing unto him, Christ that object of supreme attachment and devotion, and therefore the focus of all of my soul's ambition. Verse 14 of chapter 5, backing up to verse 13, some of Paul's detractors said he was out of his tree. No man would live the way he does unless he had something less than a full load upstairs. And so the accusation went out that he's beside himself.

34:06 And he picks it up and says, whether we are beside ourselves it is unto God. Or whether we are of sober mind it is unto you. But what you call fanaticism and what you call the evidences of a demented mind, this is the truth. For the love of Christ it holds us in its grip.

34:27 You see, the love of Christ did not sin and a cage for Paul's. Now the humanity if I can dicker with the terms of how I live and what I'll do with my life. Revealed to his heart by the Spirit now became mighty chains of grace that bend to the Savior. It is Christ's love for me that holds and it's a grip in attachment to the person of Jesus Christ. That's why he can say for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Why? Because then I'll have more of Christ.

35:22 I'll see him face to face. And though none of us will perhaps know in our most advanced stage of growth the measure of the outworking of that attachment to Christ which the Apostle knew. There is not a regenerate man or woman who does not have this principle of supreme attachment to Jesus Christ. And that's why I say that ministerialism is a ministerial backbone that enables a man to stand with his Savior and in the words of his Savior not be ashamed of him or of his words. ...sultrous and sinful generation.

36:10 The raw materials of that backbone are formed in the womb of regenerating grace and the dynamics put forth upon the soul of a man. And just as I am convinced that the lack of ministerial boldness is an indication that many are unregenerate because they fear the faces of men more than the face of God, so likewise that weak attachment to Christ that is relinquished at such a little price again and again in order to court the favor of men to advance one's own ecclesiastical standing or popularity creates the estimation of many a minister rather than they should bear even a few thorns in pursuit of pleasing Him. Ministerial backbone is attained when there is first of all this initial dynamic of regenerating grace implanting a principle of the fear of God. Secondly, imparting a principle of supreme attachment to Jesus Christ. And thirdly, in communicating the Spirit of God as the Spirit of boldness.

Element 3: Communication of the Spirit of Boldness

37:33 In communicating the Spirit of God as the Spirit of boldness when God regenerates us and in the mysterious depths of the human soul so that the governing principles of the soul that the Christ who was despised is now embraced the sins loved are now forsaken as vile and unclean. When there is that repentance and faithfulness in the spirit of God and in the spirit of God and in the spirit of God and in the spirit of God and in the spirit of God and in the spirit of God and in the spirit of God and in the spirit of God and in the spirit of God you, I give to you the first actings of the present and as B hunted dawn to be none of his and when he is given and given particularly to one whom god is marking out for the work of the ministry he is given as he is described in second timothy one verses seven and

38:53 eight those of you who have studied the life of timothy those of you who are with us when some years ago dr sinclair ferguson preached an unforgettable sermon on grace mercy and peace some of us remember it very vividly you know from that sermon and perhaps from your own study in first and second timothy that timothy had it appears by nature not only a weak constitution physically take a little wine for thy stomach's sake in thine off infirmities but he seemed to have a timid streak along with his weak physical constitution a timid streak that left him vulnerable to draw back and so paul again and again exhorts him be not ashamed of me his prisoner be not ashamed of the testimony of christ and here in second timothy chapter one he points in the direction of the source of ministerial backbone for timothy verse six of second timothy one for which cause i put you in remembrance to stir up the gift of god which is in you through the laying on of my hands

40:10 foregone discipline or not ashamed timothy is to deny you're enabled for minister is not the spirit of timidity and cowardice and comfort and makes you to fulfill all of his ministry ministerial backbone take courage my brother may have little to do with how god knit you together in your mother's womb psychologically this preacher standing before you is living witness to the

41:20 most beautiful thing about god that you have been a part of this military camp when god knit me together in my mother's womb he knit a very insecure in faith of fearful little boy and my parents liked to recount all the evidences of that that were manifested in me long before i can remember but i can remember the first day i made my shoeshine box and i was going to go to the main I was rather proud of my shoeshine box, and I had properly furnished it with black polish and brown and tan and liquid cleaner and shine rags, and I went off all bright-eyed but fearful to earn a little money. No sooner did I hit the street corner where I was going to stand and say, shine, sir, when this young man came over and says, hey, boy, what you doing here? This isn't my turf. I ran home crying.

42:26 That's what I'm made of by nature. When God gave me his spirit as an 18-year-old boy, he gave me a spirit not of fear, but of power. Until the waste had done, I did not repent on any measure whatsoever of ministerial boldness. It's not to be attributed to what was knit together in my psyche in my mother's womb, but what came out of the womb of regenerating grace and the gift of the Spirit of God as the source of my life. It was the spirit of boldness and of power. Now I say to you men aspiring to the ministry, you men here today in the ministry, could it be, could it be that the root cause of the absence of backbone, of Holy Ghost vertebrae, is you've never really known the initial dynamics of regenerating grace.

43:52 What a horrible thing to do to try to bear the burden of a biblical ministry. I'm a big believer in the Holy Spirit. You listen to me. Listen to me.

43:58 Listen to me. Define me without a doubt by the dynamics of regenerating grace. May God grant that you'll search your heart and give yourself no rest until you know whether or not those initial dynamics are present. But now I must hasten to touch on the second category.

How Ministerial Backbone is Maintained: Continuous Supplies of Sustaining Grace

44:26 Ministerial backbone is comprised not only of those three things that come in the initial dynamics of regenerating grace, but ministerial backbone is composed and strengthened and increased by the continuous supplies of sustaining grace. Now that grace does not work magically or mysteriously. In increasing the strength of ministerial backbone, but it grows by the assimilation of specific truths in the word of God calculated to make strong spiritual vertebrae.

45:17 I point you to three such means. Number one, the continuous supplies of sustaining to increase and maintain spiritual backbone come, number one, by maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God.

45:37 By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God.

45:40 By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God.

45:42 By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God.

45:45 By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God.

45:47 By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. By maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God. of God, when we go one to one with one of our sheep to expand and apply the Word of God, when we stand in the midst of God's people with our fellow elder to implement self-appointed clerics in a script we both put, exhort by the men of the King and the Lord of Lords.

Means 1: Constant Awareness of the Call of God

46:36 And if that doesn't strengthen backbone, nothing will. I point you to two examples of this, one in the Old and one in the New Testament, and then we'll seek to give a vivid illustration of this from church history. Turn to the book of Amos. I want to whet your appetite for this book because, God willing, very shortly we'll begin to have a more extended feast in it.

47:05 Pastor Lamar will be spreading the table for that feast. In the book of Amos, we read in Amos chapter 7 and verse 10 and following. Amos 7 and verse 10.

47:24 Don't ever be embarrassed to look at the table of contents in your Bible and find where some of these lesser-known books are. Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel saying, Amos has conspired to you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be led away captive out of his land. When you start telling the king he's going to die, and that his whole nation is going to be defeated and led captive, you're not about to be named person of the weak. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou that is, you prophet, go away to the land and prophesy there. The land can't bear you. Prophesy not again anymore in Bethel. For you to

48:35 stomp in the royal house and pronounce death to the king and destruction to all his subjects. Do you think you are? Well, look at Amos' answer. He says, I know who I am. Then answered, Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees. What an answer. In the world are kings going to die if he didn't go into captivity? Amos answers, well, I don't have any credentials to give me the warrant to do it in my breeding and in my family tree. And furthermore, by occupation, I certainly have no

49:30 right to do it, because by occupation, I was simply a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees. But now listen. And the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said unto me,

49:47 prophesy unto my people Israel. Now, therefore, you say, prophesy not against Israel, drop not a word against the house of Isaac. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, your wife shall be a harlot in the city, and your sons and daughters shall be a harlot in the city. And the Lord said to Amaziah, shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line, and you yourself shall die in a land that's unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land. You talk about backbone. If we could look at it in terms of a grotesque caricature, if Amos were a man six feet tall at that point, he had a 14-foot backbone sticking all the way up through the back of his neck. Man can't be a herdsman and a vine dresser.

50:48 But Jehovah has called me. And because he's called man by the previous word, your cheekiness, O king, is such that I will augment against you. Your wife shall be a harlot. Children will die. Where does a man get boldness like that? It was rooted in his consciousness of his call from God. The dresser of sycamore was clever because he got a notion one day, Israel's in bad shape. I need to help it. Poor God. He didn't enter the ministry by

51:34 personal ambition. He didn't enter because of a poor God theology. He was constrained by divine call. And that became the stuff out of which his backbone was constructed. That's the Old Testament illustration. Now turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 for the New Testament illustration. In the providence of God in our regular reading, as so often happens, our consecutive reading addresses issues that are coming before us. And we're going to talk about the issues that are coming before us.

52:07 And we're going to talk about the issues that are coming before us. And we're going to talk about in the regular ministry. How does Paul view his posture? Verse 20. We are ambassadors therefore on the behalf of Christ. What is an ambassador? He is a man who in himself is nothing. But once his sovereign appoints him to represent him, he becomes, may I say it reverently, the altar of his sovereign. We are ambassadors therefore on the behalf of Christ. We are ambassadors therefore on the behalf of Christ. We are ambassadors therefore on the behalf of Christ. We are ambassadors therefore on the behalf of Christ.

52:43 And therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God, each by us, we on the behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. And you see woven into all of that imagery was Paul's consciousness of his call to God. And you see woven into all of that imagery was Paul's consciousness of his call to his office. He did not one day get the notion it'd be nice to go around the Roman empire saying some thing about Jesus about Jesus, saying some things about Jesus, and get myself thrown in jail for it. And get myself thrown whipped for it and get myself thrown out of town and let down over a basket no the same God who regenerated him and showed him the glory of God in the face of Christ said to him I have a point to be a witness unto me among the Gentiles and Paul could never forget his identity as a cold man and you see the element of ministerial backbone that has its incipient elements formed in the womb

53:59 of regenerating grace it becomes strong and stronger and well set and enables a man to stand as he maintains a constant awareness that though nothing in himself but a hell-deserving sinner the head of the church is made of sin and sin is made of sin and sin is made of sin and sin is made of sin and sin is made of sin. it plain in the ordinary means of an orderly biblical call to office that he has an appointment from the God of heaven to speak in his name publicly yes to speak in his name privately his sovereign has said take heed to all flock of God in which the Holy Spirit has made you an overseer pressure of your own ambitions noble or base if you are true call it's the Holy Spirit the spirit who has placed you in that position therefore your boldness in one-to-one dealings will be no different from the boldness when speaking in the assembled congregation of God's people and when there is any attempt to break the rules of Christ house and to order his house

55:25 by pragmatism by sensationalism by the itch of the flesh for entertainment you will be bold as your Lord these things hence why because you are called to be a watchman for the purity of his house I said I'd give you an illustration from church history I get the goose bumps every time I read this it's found in Gardner Springs book the power of the pulpit and he is emphasizing this very thought that I am a called man no matter what the difficulty or danger lies in their course there is in the bosom of every intrepid teacher of God's truth that whether he wake or sleep he is reiterating the thought God sends me I must go God speaks by me therefore I must speak what but thoughts and sentiments like these sustained John Huss and Jerome of Prague in the presence of the perfidious Sigmund and John Knox in the presence of the almost adored Queen of Scotland when entreated not to present himself at the diet about to convene in the Imperial City of Worms in Germany Luther said I must go were there as many devils

56:52 in firms as there are tiles on the houses that's Holy Ghost backbone that distinguished American preacher Samuel Davies then the president of the College of New Jersey now alas Princeton University went on a visit to England on behalf of the college was invited to preach before King George the third King George's youthful Queen was sitting by his side and so enchanted were they by the preachers eloquence that the King expressed his admiration in no unmeasured terms and so audibly as and rudely as to draw the attention of the audience and to interrupt the service the preacher made a sudden and solemn pause in his discourse looked around upon the audience and fixing his piercing eye upon England's noisy monarch here's a man in his thirties a humble preacher from that little brat nation that kicked mama in the shins and yet kicked her in the shins officially at this time but would fix his eye upon the monarch and said when the lion roars the beasts of the forest tremble when Jehovah speaks let the

58:15 kings of the earth keep silence before him you talk about backbone where did he get it because he was brash and insensitive to royal protocol it sent a humble preacher across the ocean to speak in the name of the king of kings and when that King speaks let all kings of the earth be silent before him and when that king speaks let all kings of the earth be silent before him you see he maintained in his breast the awareness of his call he wasn't on strong because he was amidst royalty he wasn't overwhelmed and forgetful of his identity and i say to you my preacher friends as you and i maintain a constant awareness of the call of god coming to in the midst and throughout our public preaching how can we ever from a facet of the law of party law preaching how can we ever from a facet of the law of party law of the counsel of God, that we may fear or even be offensive.

59:29 Yes, I may offend my fellow mortals, but dare I offend my God?

59:39 And when I must go one on one, and that's where the crunch comes. Because often people who are willing to receive the word of God from your lips when you stand in a pulpit suddenly, they think, oh, you may be called of God to preach. You have no call from God to come and say to them, my brother, my sister, here's the word and this is what I see and here are patterns that concern me. Am I seeing the patterns properly? Yes.

60:06 Well, the word of God at this point rebukes, admonishes. This portion of the word indicts and condemns your action. And then they say, who are you to come and talk to me that way? I'm exactly what I am when I stand in the pulpit.

Means 2: Constant Awareness of the Presence of God

60:22 I am God's servant, His ambassador. Call to deliver His word, not only publicly in the great assembly, but one to one with those to whom that word comes in the providence of God. But then I hasten to say that this continuous supply of sustaining grace for spiritual backbone comes not only by maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God, but by maintaining a constant awareness of the presence of God. Constant awareness of the presence of God.

61:05 And here I give, again, an illustration from the old and from the new. Turn, please, to 1 Kings chapter 18.

61:17 1 Kings and chapter 18.

61:27 Elijah burst upon the scene of the sacred page like a meteor across the sky. And I don't know if you've seen it, but I've seen it. In the dark night, 1 Kings chapter 17, I'm sorry. No previous introduction.

61:44 The chapter begins with the words, And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel lives, now here's the phrase, Before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but the sun and the moon. And I don't know if you've seen it, but I've seen it. But according to my word. And if you know anything of the subsequent history of the prophet, you know the tremendous price he paid for his fidelity to his Lord.

62:21 But the thing which enabled him to march into the presence of a monarch and to declare that according to his word, a man who was from the sojourners of Gilead, it was this consciousness of the presence of God with him. Has the Lord...

62:38 The Lord God lives and lives not in the distant netherland of the outer galaxies, but he lives and I stand before him. I am surrounded by him. In him I live and move and have I my very being. Sent by my sovereign, I stand before you in the presence of my sovereign and I declare, there shall be no dew nor rain.

63:08 You see, this same man, when he, for a while, forgot that awareness of the presence of God, what did he do? A painted witch named Jezebel went, and he ran off into a wilderness.

63:25 While he was aware that he stood in the presence of God, he could face a monarch, he could face the whole nation on Mount Carmel, he could face the hundreds of false prophets, taunt them and mock them, and talk about something that, sends chills up and down your spine, is to read those incidents of the life of Elijah. He strives like a colossal...

63:51 of that section of the divine record, a man bold... And then word gets to him second hand that old Jezebel's out to get him, and he splits and he runs.

64:05 Why? He forgot.

64:09 You see, it wasn't something that was put in place and was self-sustaining.

64:16 Spiritual backbone is sustained and maintained and increased only as we maintain a constant awareness of the presence of God. We are in His presence as we speak His word, in His presence as we deal with that wayward sheep, in His presence when we seek to implement His directives. Quickly, the New Testament incident from the book of Acts. The apostle Paul,

64:51 bold and yet so sensitive, one who admits that there were times when he had not only fightings without, but fears within. Don't get any view of Paul, that he was some kind of heartless automaton, this great embodiment of strength and no vulnerability. He said without were fightings within, were fears. God who comforts those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus.

65:22 He was a sensitive, vulnerable man. What was the secret of his boldness, of his spiritual backbone? Here we see it in Acts chapter 18. He is preaching at Corinth.

65:38 And as so often happened, there was great opposition from the Jewish community. So he departs from seeking to minister exclusively to the Jews and says, I go to the Gentiles. We read of it in verses 7 and 8. And there's a great turning.

65:55 But apparently his own spirit is still feeling the shock waves, the aftershock of the opposition and wondering what lies ahead. And now look at the beauty of verse 9. And the Lord said unto Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not your peace,

66:18 for I'm with you. That's all he needed to know. Don't hold back, Paul. Speak.

66:27 Don't hold. Your peace. Deliver your soul. You're not only called by me and aware of your call, but I am with you in every exercise of the ministry to which that call gives birth.

66:42 And isn't that precisely the great capstone of consolation given to the church in her worldwide mandate? Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them, teaching them, and lo, don't forget this, lo, here's a word of attention, don't ever forget this, lo, I am with you all of the days, even to the consummation of the age. And that's all I need to know. He is with us.

Means 3: Constant Awareness of the Judgment of God

67:15 Thirdly and finally, this continuous supply of sustaining grace comes not only by maintaining a constant awareness of the call of God, a constant awareness of the presence of God, but by maintaining a constant awareness of the presence of God, a constant awareness of the judgment of God.

67:35 Spiritual backbone has, as one of its essential bone ingredients, a constant awareness of the judgment of God. And here there are so many texts, I can only quote them quickly and give the references of some. Time does not permit us to expound them. But when Paul is giving his last charge to Timothy, notice the climate that he creates for that time.

68:03 Notice that charge. Knowing Timothy with his native timidity,

68:08 knowing that he will no longer be around to urge him and encourage him and prod him, he now gives his final solemn charge to Timothy, 2 Timothy 4.1, I charge you in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead and by his appearance, his hearing and his kingdom, preach the word. He says, Timothy, I would charge you. And I would charge you, as it were, with the shadow of that future throne of judgment cast across your face as I charge you.

68:52 I solemnly charge you in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus. And then he focuses upon that future activity of Jesus as the universal judge, the judge of all men. And he says, Timothy, my charge to you to preach the word is a charge that bristles with all of the solemn overtones of the day of judgment. The whole texture of my charge is woven through with threads extracted from the realities of the day of judgment.

69:28 What is it that will give a timid Timothy constant spiritual backbone? It's the realization that he is the judge of all men. The realization, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, 5, it is a very little thing if I be judged of you or of man's judgment. I do not even judge myself, but he that judges me is the Lord.

69:47 Therefore, judge nothing before the time come when the Lord shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness and then shall every man have his praise of God. He says in 2 Corinthians 5, similar things, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, having said, we shall all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Our boldness to persuade and urge and entreat grows out of this constant awareness of the judgment of God. And so in our preaching, we must preach as it were with that day set and the exalted Lord upon the throne and envision our standing before him conditioning, our fidelity in public preaching. Hebrews 13, 17 says that must carry over into our individual shepherding. They watch for your souls as they that shall give an account. They shall give account.

70:50 They watch as those who shall give account. Judgment day is in their watching. That's why we can't just blink when we see the signs of declension. It's not love and spirituality.

71:04 It's not love and spirituality. It's not love and spirituality. It's not love and spirituality. If you ever see a pattern of chronic absenteeism from prayer meeting and say nothing to you, that's often the first step to apostasy.

71:13 That's why we put an arm around you and say we miss you at prayer meeting. Where have you been? Not because we're some spiritual Gestapo. We're going to give an account to your soul.

71:27 And if the inlet of the horrible poisons that led to apostasy began with your drawing back from God's people, Drawing back from the place of prayer What kind of an account should we give If we saw the drawing back and were silent This is what will keep us faithful In our individual shepherding And I tell you this is what will keep us faithful In terms of the ordering of God's house You read, every preacher here read Again and again 1 Corinthians chapter 3 Verses 10 through 15 Or 17 even The day shall declare every man's work Of what sort it is That day of judgment will not be A quantitative analysis Not what size it is It will be a quantitative and a qualitative analysis And in that day Wood, hay and stubble that may have built Something very impressive to men's eyes Will go up in a puff of smoke Take heed how you believe The day of declaration and unveiling is coming And when men through the preaching of a shoddy gospel And through careless admission of people into the church And no close oversight of those within the church

72:56 Allow the church to be shot through With wood, hay and stubble declaring We do not chase any mirage Of a totally pure church here on earth But we give ourselves to the realism Of seeking under God by the priesthood Of the principles of the word of God To admit none into the house of God Who give positive marks of being God And they don't remain Any longer than they continue to manifest That they are determined to obey God And become like God And what will keep you faithful in that? The coming day The coming day The coming day Well, my brethren Surely we desperately need This day of declaration and unveiling This element of ministerial anatomy As you people pray for your own elders in this place Cry to God, O God Give them holy backbone Give them holy backbone Keep them constantly aware of your call Constantly aware of your presence Constantly aware of the day of judgment And where you see Men who profess to be called of God

Conclusion: Prayer for Backbone and a Call to the Unconverted

74:20 Who seem to have no backbone whatsoever Then maybe your prayer Ought to be, O Lord You alone know the hearts of men But it would appear That they've never had a backbone Formed in the womb of regenerating grace O God, save them O God, save them Implant the principle of the fear of God Impart a principle of supreme attachment to Christ Communicate to them the Holy Spirit As the Spirit of power Without those initial dynamics of regenerating grace No man will ever have ministry of God in his life But having begun there It will not be automatically increased And sustained and maintained Remember Elijah Remember Peter It must be sustained, maintained and increased By what I have chosen to call this morning The continuous supplies of sustaining grace And dear unconverted friend The grace that alone can make a minister Is the grace that alone can make a minister Is the grace that alone can make you a Christian And that grace is in Christ It's not in the church It's not in his servants It's not in an act Or raising a hand Or walking an aisle It's in the Savior And you make a straight line to the Savior You say, how do I get to him? You get to him

75:49 In repentance and faith You cry to him For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord Shall be saved May God grant That you who are strangers to his grace Having heard these notes of the glory of Christ And the judgment of Christ Will realize Those are not just commodities With which preachers have to do Those are commodities with which I, too Must have honest dealings And my dear ministerial friends I plead with you To take at least some time this afternoon And ask the Holy Ghost To do a little Surgical work And to do a little examination of your backbone And pray God that we shall be men of God With backbones constructed Of these materials Throughout all the days of our life Let us pray Our Father We bow in your holy presence And we thank you for that presence And though we know you are everywhere present In the whole of the vast universe We thank you for that presence We thank you that you are especially present

77:14 In the midst of your gathered people Thank you for the sense Of that presence As well as the fact of it And we pray, O God That you will take your word And so rivet it to our consciences That we will have no rest Until our affections and our wills Follow the track marked out by the scriptures May no one deceive himself by being a sinner May no one deceive himself by being a sinner May no one deceive himself by being an idol And fruitless hearer But may we each, by your grace Be doers of the word Hear our cry And continue with us throughout this Your special day We ask in Jesus' name Amen