His Knees, Part 1

Introduction: The Distinguishing Traits of a Man of God

0:00 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, October 30th, 1988, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. I want to ask you a very pointed question this morning, and it is this.

0:22 What are the distinguishing traits of a man of God?

0:28 What are the distinguishing traits of a man of God? And by a man of God, I mean a man equipped by God and called by God to preach the Word and to shepherd the flock of God. If it were your personal responsibility to list those traits and then to support your list with Scripture, would you be up to the task? Well, it is crucial that all of the people of God at all times, and in all places, be able to recognize the distinguishing traits of a man of God. If they do not, they run the risk of committing the care of their souls to false shepherds and to men who may wear the mantle of a prophet, but who have the heart of a blind leader of the blind. However, in our own church situation, it is a special, but especially crucial that we have a biblically-framed, well-defined understanding of the distinguishing traits of a man of God.

1:48 And this increased necessity is laid upon us because of the peculiar stewardship given to us in conjunction with the presence of the Trinity Ministerial Academy as an integral part of our church life and ministry. As we strike a point as many to about 10 through 15, On the evening of September the 11th of this year, the four new students and one temporary student were introduced to you as a congregation, and on that occasion I began what I thought was to be just a sermon, but has become a series of studies on the subject of the anatomy of a man of God. And in our seven studies thus far, we've examined six parts of the spiritual anatomy of a man truly equipped and called of God to preach the word and to shepherd the flock of God. We have contemplated what the scriptures teach concerning the head of a man of God, his eyes, his ears, his heart, his mouth, and his hands. Today we come to an examination of the lower extremities of a man of God, namely the knees of a man of God.

The Knees Bowed Before God as Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign Ruler

3:12 And as we do so with our Bibles open before us, we shall see that in a very real sense, the distinguishing trait of a man of God is that his knees are always bent or bowed before God. And that they are calloused from the sustained contact with the ground or the floor upon which he kneels. And so we might say in brief that the distinguishing trait of a man of God with respect to his knees is that they are continually bowed and increasingly calloused. Now as we attempt to describe this facet of the anatomy... ...the anatomy of a man of God, we shall do so in terms of three dimensions in which the knees of a man of God are both bowed and calloused.

4:12 First of all, they are bowed before the living God as the creator, sustainer, and sovereign ruler of the world. The mark of a man of God as to his knees is that they are continually...

4:31 ...continually bowed before the living God as the creator, sustainer, and sovereign ruler of the world.

4:42 Turn, please, to the 95th Psalm. Psalm 95.

4:53 The Psalm begins with a summons to whole-souled praise to be directed to God. Verses 1 and 2. Oh, come! Let us sing unto the Lord.

5:07 Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let us make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. There is the summons to whole-souled praise of the living God.

5:28 We are to sing unto Jehovah. We are to make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. We are to come before his presence. We are to come before his presence with thanksgiving with a joyful noise embodied in psalms of praise.

5:45 Then, in verses 3 to 5, the rationale for this summons is given. Why should we be so excited about coming before God with a joyful noise? Why should we bother to engage the whole of our souls and even our bodies, our diaphragms, and our vocal cords? in enthusiastic praise of our God?

6:10 Well, the answer is given in verses 3 to 5. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the mountains are His also.

6:28 The sea is His and He made it. And His hands formed the dry land. Here in verses 3 to 5, the psalmist gives the rationale for whole-souled praise to God. We should give whole-souled praise to Him because He is a great God.

6:50 Furthermore, He is a great and a supreme sovereign. He is a great King above all gods. And He is the sole owner and sole creator of all that exists. In His hand are the deep places of the earth.

7:10 The heights of the mountains are His also. The sea is His and He made it. And His hands formed the dry land. So our whole-souled praise is rooted in the reality of what God is.

7:27 He is a great God. He is the great and supreme sovereign. He is the sole owner and possessor of all that is. And He owns and possesses it because He is its sole creator.

7:42 Now in verse 6, there is a renewed summons to praise and to worship. And the emphasis falls upon the posture to be assumed in that worship, especially in the light of the facts just previously enunciated. Oh, let us worship and bow let us before Jehovah is our God. The emphasis in this renewed or repeated summons to praise and worship falls upon the only that is fitting for the creature when He is in the presence of His creator. Oh, let us worship. Let us ascribe. And the psalmist says in the light of the worth that we ascribe to Him, as the sole king and sovereign of the universe, there is only one posture befitting the creature in the presence of His creator.

9:02 Let us kneel and kneeling and bowing down is the external expression of the internal disposition of the heart. It is the disposition of the creature in the presence of the creator. It is the disposition of the subject in the presence of the creator. It is the disposition of the creature in the presence of the creator.

9:30 And any other posture in His presence is irreverent, it is arrogant, and any other disposition is both incongruous and utterly wicked.

Ministerial Humility, Obedience, and Stability from Bowed Knees to the Creator

9:46 Summoned as His creatures to recognize as creator His utter sovereignty and control and in the light of it to assume that you are befitting the creature in the presence of His creator. And the emphasis of this psalm comes through again very clearly when Paul is preaching there at Areopagus in Athens. And I ask you to turn just briefly to Acts chapter 17. We do not have time to open up the setting except to say that here Paul is preaching evangelistically to heathen philosophers. And though they want to know more about Jesus in the resurrection, the message he had been preaching to the Jews, he does not start off with Jesus in the resurrection. But we read in Acts 17 and verse 23, as I passed along and observed the egypts of your worship, I found an altar with this inscription to an unknown God. What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I set forth unto you,

11:08 the gods and all men and earth in temples made with hands, neither is served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing himself gives and all these men fools of the gospel, he announces to them those fundamental truths of biblical theism, that is, the biblical doctrine of God in fundamental elements, namely the sovereign rule of all. Now you say, Pastor, that's so obvious. What is the peculiar relationship between that truth, the anatomy of a man of God? Well, let me attempt to answer that question.

12:22 In a man of God, the foundational element of all has become nothing short of a prevailing disposition of the soul. The habit of the mind and the heart of a man is continually created

13:10 in the most matter of the measure of his gift, the breadth of his mind, he fundamental tricks in upon us in Genesis 1, 1. If his learning, if his eloquence is holy eloquence. If his insight is holy insight. If his knowledge, it is all upon this truth that he of what he is as a creature in the presence of the creation, the sovereign, and the God. And as a result, these three then constant impressions of this truth making their way out into the very farthest reaches of a man's ministry.

14:29 First of all, this posture of kneeling before the Lord is the verification of ministerial humility.

14:40 It is the foundation of ministerial humility. For no matter what God give a man in the way of measures of gift, when he really, he cannot for ministerial pride, blessing of others.

16:01 If enjoying inwardly, the one is the very thought of ministerial humility. But secondly, this posture is the foundation of ministerial obedience.

16:41 What was the creature made for but to do the will of the Creator?

16:47 Everything. In the created order, the scripture tells us that all things obey His will. The sun and the moon and the farthest galaxies, all the rightful places doing the will was likewise made that He might do the will of His Creator God. And therefore in a man of God who has known the grace of God, bringing him back to moral sanity, no longer drunk with the heady, whining, folly, thinking that salvation comes in the course of enmity against God and rebellion and doing His will. He has come to see that true humanity is found when man, the creature, takes his place as man. I say that before the Lord is not only the foundation of ministerial humility, it is also the foundation of ministerial obedience. He gives,

18:06 He gives me life and breath and all things and sustains that life to what end that as the creature I may do the will of the Creator God. But then thirdly, this posture is also the foundation of ministerial stability.

18:26 It's the foundation of ministerial stability. If this is God's world and all things are under His control, then there are no surprises, no accidents. God never drops. Stitch as He knits.

18:54 God's never caught off guard. God's never caught without aspirin in the medicine chest. God's never caught the situation somehow not quite resolved. He is never tentative.

19:13 Because He is the Sovereign Creator, Sustainer and Lord of the universe, taking that posture before Him, bowing for the Lord, King above all, who holds the wills of every man, who holds the wills of every heart, of every creature, of man, man and angel, and servant of God can rest in such words as Romans 8, 28, and we know work together for good. How can all work together for good unless God is in control of every single thing? God is in control of that tongue that lashes out and slanders the character of the man of God. That tongue could not wag and do its work. No, not at all.

20:20 That tongue could not wag and do its work. its evil without God upholding it. He could silence it in a moment if he chose to. You mean those which would undermine the nerves of a man's confidence that he's of any worth in Christ, the backslidings of God's people, all of his control? Yes, absolutely. And you see, it is only this posture of the need in the presence of the God who is creator, sustainer, and sovereign Lord of the universe. It is in that posture alone that there is a foundation for ministerial stability. And I'm personally convinced that one of the many reasons, not the only reason, but one of the many reasons for short pastorates is because there are so few men. Who've taken this posture and by the grace of God maintained it. You see, the poor God

21:31 theology that has God in control of some things and the devil in control of some others and then a whole bunch of other things that are no man's land. How in the world, when every instance in the language of old Jacob, we stay by our, keep our shoulder to the plow and press periods of dry and dullness. It's not in any way vacated. It is thrown. Then there is the foundation for ministerial stability. It doesn't mean we are stoics. We may go to our closet of prayer to bow before this God with a heart that is torn to pieces by the conduct of God's people. That's why second Corinthians is such a precious epistle. Paul lets us know that the state of the Corinthians tore him out of shame. He didn't give up his apostleship. He didn't run. He didn't give up his faith.

22:46 He didn't give up his faith. He didn't give up his faith. He didn't give up his faith. He didn't give up his faith. He didn't give up his faith. He didn't give up his faith. He didn't run from his God-appointed post because he was confident that God was upon his throne. And so the mark of a man of God as to his knees is that they are in that state of being continually before the living God as Creator, Sustainer and Sovereign Lord of the world. Then, secondly, they are bowed before features.

The Knees Bowed Before God as Redeemer and Mediatorial King

23:22 God as Redeemer and mediatorial. They are bowed before the incarnate God as Redeemer, mediatorial.

23:38 Now what do I mean by those words? Simply this. The scriptures affirm that as the reward for his voluntary humiliation, God the Father has given to God the Son, the Lord Jesus, a position of unrivaled ship and authority. This is what he promised him in the second psalm and what he clearly gave to him as taught in many passages of the New Testament. What was promised him in the second psalm? Listen to the language of this psalm. Verse 7, I will tell of the decree the Lord said unto me. I'm sorry, backing up to verse 3.

24:27 And 2 and 3, we have the language of the kings of the earth conspiring to cast off the rule of the Lord's anointed. God laughs in derision. Verse 5, then will he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. In spite of the opposition of men, God says he has set his king upon his holy hill of Zion.

24:58 Verse 6, I will tell of the decree the Lord said unto me, you are my son. This day have I begotten you. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Here is the prophecy of the mediatorial kingship of Messiah. God is determined to set his king upon his holy hill. And in that posture of exaltation, he has promised the nations for his inheritance. When we turn to such passages as Ephesians 1, we find that position of

25:45 exaltation described in words that almost seem to be a language to it's the reality of that exaltation. Ephesians chapter 1, speaking of the king, he says, I will set my king upon his holy hill of Zion. Speaking of the measure of the power which God exercises to his believing people, he says it is the power, verse 20, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, for all that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come. And he put all in subjection under his feet and gave him to the head over all to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Now to these words we could add Philippians 2, 9 through 11, wherefore he hath highly exalted him and given

26:58 him a name that is above every name. In 25 and 26, he must reign till he has put all in his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. In analyzing the anatomy of a man of God, I have asserted that not only are his knees bowed calloused from maintaining the posture before the living God, creator, sustainer, and sovereign in his universe, but they are also bowed the incarnate as redeemed and mediatorial. Now his knees initially bowed before the redeemer and mediatorial king when he was brought to repentance and faith. For no man enters into the possession of the forgiveness of sin who does not bow to Christ as his sovereign as well as his own savior and hope of salvation. No one enters into the possession

28:14 of the forgiveness of sins who has not joined to the prayer of Jesus Christ. Confess with thy mouth Jesus as well as believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. But in the man of God, mention of that to his own servant of Christ. For he's come to recognize according to Ephesians 4 that it is the activity of the exalt to give apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. It is the exalt who has marnished him with the requisite gifts and graces and has given him as a gift of grace.

29:18 To his church. And therefore he has not only bowed before Christ to receive from Christ pardon and acceptance and title to everlasting life, but he continues in recognition that that same exalted Christ has marked him out, furnished him, and given him as a gift to his church. Therefore his favorite self, his designation as a man of God, is that which the apostle Paul uses of himself, namely bond-slave of Jesus Christ. In Philippians 1.1, notice how the apostle places this designation before his identity as an apostle. Philippians chapter 1, Paul and Timothy bond chapter 1 in verse 1.

30:30 In Philippians 1.1, we see him using it prior to his designation of himself as an apostle. Paul called the apostle. And as I read through the introduction to all the epistles in preparation for the message, it's interesting that in these two places he says bond-slave of Jesus Christ.

30:57 And in almost every other he says Paul an apostle.

31:07 Why does he say that? He says that to express. He says to express his own consciousness that his being an apostle was not something that originated in his own notions. It didn't originate certainly in carnal ambitions, nor in sanctified ambitions.

31:35 It was an expression of the unfolded present epoch is administered by the mediatorial, even the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore in being an apostle by the will of God. He regards himself as the bond-slave of Jesus Christ. Now again you ask the question, Pastor, what peculiar influence will that exert upon a man of God?

The Bond-Slave of Jesus Christ: A Unique Ministerial Identity

32:13 Is not every Christian in a true sense a bond-slave of Christ? Yes, Romans 6 makes that very plain. If you are not joyfully a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, you're as lost. If you...

32:48 But someone... You're as lost as you are.

32:51 And if the Holy Spirit has not given you such a sight of your sin and such a sight of the glory of God's forgiving mercy in the person and work of Jesus Christ, that your heart has run out in joyful submission to Christ,

33:16 best to be his bond-slave, and yet you regulate your life by your own whims and your own desires and your own whims and your own fancies, and by the standards of the world, First, bond service to Jesus Christ is a sham, for the scripture says, his servant you are whom you obey.

33:39 It will not do this, my friend, it will not do. Well, you see, in the case of the man of God, he has become a bond slave in that generic sense by grace, but in this additional sense, as God has made his will known in the ordinary means of grace, and he has come to his posture or his position of responsibility in an orderly, biblical manner, and there has been ample confirmation of the requisite gifts and graces, he sees that the ascended Christ in the administration of his mediatorial kingship has appointed him to be a man of God, and he takes that posture of being bowed before the incarnation, darn it, God is redeemer and mediatorial king, and it has a profound influence upon his ministry. Let me again just trace out three ways in which it will impact his ministry.

Foundation of Proper Ministerial Authority and Influence

35:00 Number one, this posture is the foundation of the proper exercise of ministerial influence and authority. This posture is the foundation of the proper exercise of ministerial influence and authority.

35:19 You see, if a man really believes that Jesus Christ alone is the head of his church, he will never knowingly usurp the crown rights of his Savior. You see, if a man is the supreme and has a right to find consciences of his people, then a man who's bound in God as his Redeemer and mediatorial king will never knowingly, never knowingly intrude upon the crown rights of his Savior. He knows that the nature of his influence and authority is purely administrative, legislative. And what do I mean by that? Simply this, Jesus in the commission said, Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have. I have commanded you.

36:27 He knows that he has no right to make the rules in Christ's kingdom. Christ has made them. Christ has deposited them in his own word and in the words of his inspired apostles. And he is therefore careful that from that posture of bent knees before his Redeemer God as the mediatorial king, he will simply function in an administrative, administrative role.

36:57 He won't be in a legislative role making rules for God's people, making doctrines for God's people, or doctrine, and to extract from the scriptures a balanced statement of the duties and responsibilities of the people of God. And because his posture is one of kneeling constantly before the incarnate God, his great passion is to do what Christ says, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded, and that has a powerful excluding influence upon his ministry. He is careful lest he ever intrude into the realm of the law, Christ's church, anything that is not Christ's whatsoever I have commanded, but it has a powerful inclusive influence, and that is the power of the divine. And he is careful lest he ever intrude into the realm of the law, Christ's church, anything that is not Christ's whatsoever I have commanded, but it has a powerful inclusive influence upon his ministry. He is careful lest he ever intrude into the realm of the law, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded, and when he comes in the word of God to those duties

38:23 that he knows will cut across the crane of men's natural tendencies, and he does not want to displease or agitate his people, and he's tempted to draw back. He says, no, I dare not. Why? I'm bowed before my mediatorial, and I dare not disobey my king and my redeemer.

38:54 You see, the knees of a man of God, while he stands erect preaching, the knees of his soul are bent before his redeemer and his mediatorial king, and he must go wherever scripture takes him, no matter how offensive it may be to the hearers, no matter how strange it may sound upon their ears, if it is the track mark, if it is the track mark marked out by the king and his word, he is prepared to follow that track, no matter what it costs him. But this posture is not only the foundation of the proper exercise of ministerial influence and authority, it is the foundation of liberation from bondage to men. This posture is the foundation of liberation from bondage to men. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7.23, you were bought with a price, be not the slaves of men. Paul said again in 1 Corinthians 4.5,

Foundation of Liberation from Bondage to Men

39:56 it is a very little thing to me if I be judged of you or of man's judgment. I love that text. He says, if I'm preaching to you and you sit there and make funny faces at me, that's a very little thing to me. It's a very little thing to me if I be judged of you or of man's judgment.

40:15 You want to sit there and stick your tongue out at me, put your finger in your ear and wiggle? Very little thing to me. Why? He says, he that judges me is the Lord.

40:24 You see, he was in that posture of being bound,

40:32 mediatorial to his own matter. He would give an account of his ministry. He said, it is a very little thing for me to be judged of you or of man's judgment. Therefore, judge nothing before the Lord come.

40:47 He says, at that time the hidden things will be brought to light and then shall every man have his praise of God. When a man stands to preach, and his heart disposition is one in which he is bowed before the incarnate God as redeemer and mediator, how in the world can he be in bondage to men's frowns or how can he ever be bought by their smiles? You see, Paul makes it plain, and I want you to turn to this text, see it with your own eyes, in Galatians 1 in verse 10,

41:25 that to the extent that any man who claims to be, a man of God, is seeking favor of men at the price of having the smile of Christ, he ceases to be the bond slave of Christ. Galatians 1.10 For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men?

41:50 Now notice, if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a bond slave of Christ. Why? For the simple reason no man can serve two masters. No man can be dominated.

42:16 And there is a constant conflict of directives from master A and master B.

42:23 And so Paul says the two are mutually exclusive. He said, if I am driven by the motivation of pleasing men, I would no longer,

42:40 but they'd be alive,

42:51 pleases men fine if it brings their anger and frowns, stones, and whips. I'm determined to please my master. You see, that's what gives to a true man of God an element of both mystifying and at times threatening independence from his fellow mortals.

43:17 There's something very threatening about a man that you know you can't scare away with your frowns or buy with your smiles, isn't there?

43:27 There's something very threatening about him because he stands as a visible representation of the God who is in need. You're not being influenced by your smiles or your frowns either.

43:40 But when you come to the place where with all your heart you want to please Christ more than anything else, the very man that is threatening suddenly becomes very endearing to you.

43:55 I found it so whenever I've sat under a man of God. If I had any controversy with God, I was threatened by the fact that I knew I couldn't buy him with my smiles or shut him up with my frowns. But when my heart was bowed to his master, no one was more dear to me than the man that loved me enough to be free of my frowns and my smiles. That was the great apostle.

Foundation of Selfless Devotion in Ministry

44:26 That's the identity of a man of God. His knees, the knees of his soul are constantly bowed before the incarnate God as Redeemer and mediatorial king. But then this posture in the third, third place is the foundation of selfless devotion in the work of the ministry. We're looking at the implications of this posture in the work of the ministry and it not only will, as we have seen, enable him to have a proper exercise of ministerial authority, it would be the foundation of liberation from bondage to men.

45:07 But this posture of being bent before Christ as the incarnate Redeemer, and mediatorial king, is the foundation of selfless devotion in the work of the ministry. I want you to turn to Philippians chapter 1.

45:26 It's tragic that Paul's words are true in every generation.

45:32 And in his own generation, the great apostle had to say these very sad words. Verse 19 of Philippians chapter 2.

45:45 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you that I may be of good comfort when I know your state. Now listen to these words. I have no man like-minded who will care genuinely for your state for they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. Think of it.

46:14 He said there's only one man I could select to send to you. Because there's only one man that I'm convinced is motivated by one single, open, uncomplicated agenda. It's my companion Timothy. And he will genuinely care for your state.

46:39 His well-being, his reputation, his possessions, his health, his anything else, that's not the thing that motivates him. He has one agenda. His agenda is pleasing Christ. And in the context, pleasing Christ meant genuinely caring for the people of Christ.

47:01 And then there is a beautiful illustration of that spirit in the other man, Epaphroditus. Look at verse 25. I counted it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my needs and my needs, and longed after you all. Verse 28, I have sent him there for the more diligently when you see him you may rejoice.

47:28 Verse 29, receive him in the Lord with all joy. Hold such in honor. Why? Because for the work of Christ he came nigh unto death, hazarding his life to do what?

47:44 To supply that which was lacking in your service towards me. You mean, he was willing to risk his life to carry the gift from the Philippians to Paul? He said he was willing to hazard his life to supply that which was lacking in your service towards me. His life was expendable, but the servant of God and fulfilling the will of God as a messenger, that was the thing that drove him.

48:19 That spirit, I believe, these men caught from the Apostle himself. And I want you to look at two passages in the book of Acts. Passages that I come back to again and again and find myself humbled and convicted and seared and driven to my knees. The Apostle is about to leave the Ephesian elders and he says in Acts 20-24, I hold not my life of any account as dear to myself that I may accomplish my work.

48:51 I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. He said, I don't count sparing myself as anything worthy of consideration. There's one thing that I long to do and if my life must be consumed in pursuit of it, so be it. I desire to accomplish my course and I'm not out to see how I can feather my nest and find an easy road in doing it.

49:28 Later on in the book of Acts, two chapters later,

49:32 he's on his way from the people of God and he knows that suffering and affliction and possible death await him. Chapter 21. And what happens? Verse 12.

49:47 And when we heard these things, that is, that going to Jerusalem he would face opposition and trial they besought him not to go up to Jerusalem and Paul answered, what are you doing? Weeping and breaking my heart. You see, he wasn't hard-hearted. Their tears and their entreaties broke his heart.

50:07 But they didn't move him from the will of God. For I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when we would not be persuaded, we cease saying, the will of the Lord be done. When a man, when a man is bound in such thick chains of affection and devotion to the Lord Jesus that even the prospect of suffering and death do not move him and he says, why do you carry on weeping and breaking my heart?

50:41 Don't you know that I'm so bound to my Savior that if I must die for his name I stand ready to do so. You see, it's that posture of being bound before the Lord. Before the incarnate God as Redeemer and Mediatorial King that is the foundation of selfless devotion in the work of the ministry. And brethren, as I thought of this and I speak especially now to you men in the academy and to you mothers and fathers,

51:15 what is going to be from the human side the thing that triggers a stream of men going out to the Philippines to join our brother Steve, to labor with our brother Nene Martinez, to be a shepherd to that shepherdless flock in Ormak that met on their Lord's Day with nothing but a tape recorder and a cassette for a preacher. What's going to be the trigger to release men who are willing to endure the discomfort of that tropical climate, to have to get their tongues all twisted around learning another language that they might be useful not only speaking English, but speaking one of the other major languages or possibly even learning one of the many dialects? What is it that will cause men to be willing to bury their lives in a situation where they will be for all intents and purposes written off?

52:22 I say here's the answer.

52:25 It is hearts bowed in such devotion to Jesus Christ that they can say with the Apostle, I count not my life as any account dear to myself.

52:43 Many of you men will be called upon to engage in church planting ministries here in our own country. Why is church planting so unglamorous? Because it means you have to go in and take a little group of people, many times not able even to support you adequately and have to work with your own hands to put bread on the table and you've got to be in the trenches and dig those trenches deeply and lay solid foundations for a generation to come and this is the age of instant success. The church growth movement with all of its carnal sociology and all of its psychology and Madison Avenue's slick technique has no time for what it takes to see churches built on solid foundations.

53:36 What's it going to take, my brethren? I'll tell you what it'll take. It takes this posture of knees that are bent before the Lord Jesus Christ and chains that are forged in the secret place that become thicker with every passing day so that as His bond slaves, reputation, success in the eyes of men mean nothing to us and our only passion is to finish the course that our Savior has marked out for us and then when He calls us to hear Him say, well done.

Application: Radical Devotion for All Believers

54:20 You see, life becomes relatively simple when you live it in the posture of bowed knees before your Redeemer God recognizing that His claims over you are unconditional. And you parents, what's going to make you really pray? I mean really pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers with no subtle fine print if it means God lays hold of your daughter and gives her to a man of God who's going to bury his life in the Philippines or in Pakistan or some other place. And you may not see your grandchildren for years at a time.

55:05 What's going to crush the idolatry of those natural ties that you will hold those children with an open hand? I tell you only one thing. It's a posture of being bent in knee in the presence of the incarnate Redeemer who gave up the very glories of the presence of His Father and the worship and adoration of those angelic creatures and came to this pigsty called planet Earth and then took upon Himself the horrible burden of the guilt of all of our sin tasted hell itself for the likes of you and me.

55:51 I tell you parents that's what it comes down to. Does Jesus Christ and the reward of His sufferings mean more to you than cuddling your grandchildren?

56:03 You better ask yourself that honestly. I'm a grandfather. I'm not speaking in a vacuum.

56:09 I pray for my grandchildren. Say, who are you to say that? Nothing would please me more by the grace of God. than to have my prayers for laborers answered in my grandchildren.

56:25 My hard-hearted... No, I'm not hard-hearted!

56:29 My friend, life is short and hell is real!

56:38 What will it matter? Yes, some tears, some pain, some agony if you don't believe it. Talk to Pastor Dixon and his wife.

56:49 Tears, I'm sure, shed in secret when the Savior comes and by His grace we can present a little something that is the fruit of that single-eyed devotion to Him. In the language of that old gospel hymn, it will be worth it all when we see Jesus. One look at His dear face, all sorrow will erase. So bravely run the race till we see Christ.

Conclusion: The Condition of Your Knees

57:24 I'd hope to touch in the third place on the knees of the man of God bowed before God the Father, who hears and answers prayer, but our time is gone and I've been determined in this series of studies not to get through my notes, but I trust to preach truth into the hearts of God's people in this place.

57:51 I ask you as we close this morning, you who feel God's hand is upon you for the work of the ministry, what's the condition of your knees this morning? Are they knees bowed this morning? Are they knees bowed before the living God as Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign Lord of His universe?

58:13 Pray that God will rivet you in that posture and that you never move from it. For there is the foundation of ministerial humility. There is the foundation of ministerial obedience. There is the foundation of ministerial stability.

58:30 And then pray that that posture of being bowed before the incarnate God as Redeemer and mediatorial King will become the prevailing disposition of the soul that the knees of your soul in every situation will be found bowed before your blessed Redeemer. And in that posture you will never abuse the position of authority and influence. You will jealously guard that position realizing Christ alone is here. He is the head and King in His church.

59:08 And you desire that His word alone will bind the consciences of your people. It is there that you will also find the foundation for true ministerial devotion. It is there and there alone that you will find yourself more and more wedded in single-eyed attachment to the Savior so that you with the Apostle will be able to say, I count, not my life dear to myself that I may finish my course. And you who have no aspirations of being men of God in this technical sense, let me ask you, is there anything in what I've preached this morning that is unreasonable for any child of God? You see, it's not a double standard. It is an intensified standard, but not a double standard. And if you sit here this morning and Christ is not precious to you, then I urge you to run to Him because He stands ready to save all who come unto God by Him.

60:19 Seek His grace. Lay hold of His promise. And you who do know Him, ask yourself the question this morning, is my attachment to Him such that my own life, my own convenience, my children, my grandchildren, everything is expendable that His gospel may be preached in our generation and that He might receive the reward of His sufferings? Let us pray.

61:00 Our Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the gift of Your dear Son. We thank You for the salvation that is offered to hell-deserving sinners in Him. And we pray that You will take the meditation upon Your Word this morning and bring some, perhaps for the first time, to own what they are as creatures who have rebelled against their Creator.

61:30 May they see the magnitude of that rebellion, the horror of it, and may they run to Christ for pardon and cleansing and forgiveness. May they become His willing bond slaves, finding joy in doing the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We pray, O Lord, for each of the men who are in the academy, who are seeking to frame in their minds and hearts what it is to be a man of God. Oh, that You will write these truths upon their hearts.

62:07 And from this place, O God, send forth not mere professional clerics and preachers and pastors, but men of God, men like Timothy, who will naturally care for the state of others, men who by Your grace have been brought to the place where personal ambition and name and fame and reputation mean nothing. And all that matters is the glory of Christ and the reward of Christ and the approbation of Christ in the last day. Oh, Father, cleanse us, we pray, from all of the devious secondary motives, the hidden agendas of our hearts, and make us single-minded in our devotion to Christ. Oh, baptize this church afresh with that single-eyed devotion to Jesus, that as a congregation, O Lord, nothing will matter to us but laying hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of us. Have mercy upon us and deal with our hearts as You see we have need. We ask these mercies through our Lord Jesus Christ.

63:26 Amen.