HERALDS OF HOPE

 

Preachers are to be heralds of hope.  A herald in John’s day was a messenger of the king who went ahead of his lord’s arrival to prepare for his coming. That is what preachers are and what we do. Our announcement is that, “The King is coming!”  We are to prepare the people. Their destiny is glorious. No matter their struggle now, despite the situation today, the promise is that some golden daybreak Jesus will come. John beheld this incomparable glory in Revelation 21.

We must preach THE HOPE OF OUR DELIVERANCE, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.”  (Rev.21:1). John was isolated on a prison island. Surrounded by stormy seas, those waters shut him away from his church family. To think of that barrier removed was cause for rejoicing!  Captive to our challenging circumstances can get old. Yet, God will make all things new!

We must proclaim THE HOPE OF OUR DWELLING, “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.” (Rev.21:2-3).  We must continually remind our congregation not to settle down in this world. If people are comfortable with their status, we are to remind them that it is passing away. God has infinitely better prepared. On the other hand, if people seem captive to their situation in the world, we are to reinforce that relief is coming.  We are not home yet!

We must herald THE HOPE OF OUR DELIGHT,  “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev.‭21‬:‭‭4). All that brings sorrow and suffering here is caused by sin.  The delight of a world of absolute holiness and its happiness awaits God’s people!  Let us be faithful as God’s preachers to remind our members to live for eternity!

OFFERING HOPE TO THE HELL-BOUND

 

Paul told the young pastor, Timothy, “do the work of an evangelist,” (2 Timothy 4:5). The gift to the church of the pastor-teacher is not the same as the gift of the evangelist (cf. Eph.4:11). Seeking the lost may not come as freely to the pastor as shepherding the flock, and the effort in evangelism may not be as fruitful as those gifted in it, but this does not absolve us from trying.  The truth is that if the pastor-teacher does not stir a passion for evangelism by his model and equip the saints in his teaching, then few souls will be reached by the local church. God has put us here to offer hope to the hell-bound.

Consider the GRAVITY OF OUR EVANGELISM,  “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire,” (Rev.20:15).  What a dreadful day for the damned!  Hell is a reality, and those who do not receive Christ as Savior are doomed to spend eternity in the flames!  May they have to climb over us to get there!  This is an awful future, and yet an avoidable fate.  Our witness may be the only impediment to their everlasting suffering!

So, there is the URGENCY OF EVANGELISM. John records, “And the dead were judged,” (Rev.20:12c). Scripture is clear, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,” (Heb.9:27). We do not know when that appointment is set for an individual, we only know that it is a certainty. What if it is today for someone we know or meet along the way?  God puts people in our path that we might warn them of the judgment to come and offer them hope in Jesus Christ, “so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many,” (Heb.9:28a).

I am ashamed at opportunities I have missed. I am alarmed at the prospect of souls I have not warned—of those hell-bound who were not told of the hope in Christ!  All I may do is grieve those missed opportunities and resolve by God’s grace to be a better watchman (cf. Ezek.3:16-19).  I am sick to my soul that as I type these words there is blood on my hands—stained from the sinners I failed to warn. May God have mercy on them, and send someone to share before it is too late, and have mercy on me for shirking soul-winning!

DO THE WORK OF AN EVANGELIST!

READY FOR THE WEDDING

 

The church is the Bride of Christ. There is coming a day when the Bridegroom claims His Beloved and we are joined with Him forever!  Until that day, the Bride is to be getting ready.  The wedding garment is “fine linen, clean and bright…the righteous acts of the saints.”

It is the pastor’s task as part of the Bride to prepare himself. It is easier to preach it than to practice it, but sanctification to God and service to Him is paramount, if we are to help lead the church to get ready for Christ’s return. 

In this sense, the pastor has a specific role beyond his own preparation—to help the local congregation dress up with righteous deeds. His practice is to exemplify the standard, and his preaching is to expound the standard.  

How do we do this in our preaching?  That is the thrust of Revelation 19:7-10.

Observe, THE SUBJECT OF PREACHING, “the testimony of Jesus,” twice mentioned here. Our preaching that prepares the church to meet Jesus is rooted first, not in the principles of action, but in the Person of adoration. The why precedes the what.  Wherever we take our text, we are to make a beeline to Jesus. He is the subject of the Scriptures. The more we know Him, the more we love Him, and the more we love Him, the more we serve Him, and the more we serve Him, the more we know Him, and the cycle expands and deepens. 

A Christ-centered message produces a burning heart of devotion.  Recall the Bible lesson the risen Christ gave to two disciples on the Emmaus road, “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” This was the result, “And they said to one another, ‘Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?’” (Luke‬ ‭24:27, 32)‬‬. 

Next, consider THE SPIRIT OF PREACHING, “the spirit of prophecy.”  We can preach with accuracy—and we must—yet also preach with anointing!  Paul put it this way, “who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  (2 Corinthians‬ ‭3:6‬‬). 

The message of the Old Covenant was one of the letter—commandments of God, engraved, as it were, in stone by the finger of God. There was no problem with the accuracy of the message. The problem was in the people who would not obey it and were thus condemned by it. The message says,”Do this and live,” but we do not, and are sentenced to death. Sadly, this characterizes a lot of preaching that tells people what to do and what not to do (and mostly the latter), yet has no power to equip them and so they leave the sermon with condemnation weighing them down. This breeds hypocrites who are legalists and wear a mask of religion or dropouts who are discouraged and carry the burden of failure. Vance Havner put it this way, “You can be as straight as a gun barrel theologically, but as empty as one spiritually.”

Our ministry is one of the New Covenant. It is one of the Spirit—the Spirit of prophecy—who imparts life. It does not call for reformation that is superficial, but for regeneration that is supernatural!  The Spirit of God calls the elect into real life, as He changes us from the inside out. Our dress is not one of the filthy rags of self-righteousness, but the wedding garment is the beauty of Christ—the righteousness that comes by faith.  This preaching, anointed with the Spirit is one of life and liberty. It yields joy!  The Apostle Paul confronted legalism in Romans 14, “For the kingdom of God is…righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,” (v.17).  Four times, “Alleluia” rings out in Revelation 19. The shout of praise will accompany the Spirit of prophecy!

In conclusion, note THE SWORD OF PREACHING, It is said of Jesus, “out of His mouth goes a sharp sword,” (Rev.19:15a). When Paul uses this analogy, he says we are to wield this “sword of the Spirit which is the word of God,” (Eph.6:17b).

When Jesus is the focus of our preaching and the Spirit gives the force to our preaching, then change will be the fruit of our preaching. Someone may ask the pastor in a Monday morning ministers’ meeting, “Was there any response to your preaching yesterday?”  The faithful messenger may say, “Yes!  100%!  Some responded in repentance and some in rebellion. Some said yes to God and left better, but some said no and left worse.”  This is the two-edged sword of the Word of God. We see the element of judgment here when Christ returns (Rev.19:11-21).

This is the promise, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”  (Isa.‭55:11‬‬). There are those who sit under our preaching whose hearts will be tender and they will respond in obedience and become even more sensitive to truth. Others will have hearts that are toughened and they will respond in callousness, exiting even more dull toward truth.  

The preaching of the Word will separate the wheat from the chaff.  In the end, those who are truly the Bride will be dressed in white, yet others: “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” (Matt.22:11-13‬‬).

THE PREACHER AND BIBLICAL SEPARATION

 There is a type of separation from the world that is unbiblical. It is isolation, as we seek to remove ourselves wholly from the world. Yet, Jesus has sent us into the world to seek the lost. We cannot cloister with a monastery mentality and carry out our mission. Yet, there is Biblical separation. While Jesus has sent us into the world, we are not to be of the world. That is sanctification, and we cannot make a difference in the world unless we are different from the world.

In Revelation 18, we see in Babylon a description of the world system—ecclesiastical Babylon marked by false religion and economic Babylon characterized by financial gain. That Babylon is doomed to destruction. Hence the urgent warning, “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” (v.4‬). 

In this context, we will weigh the role of the preacher and Biblical separation. 

Consider then, THE CALL TO SEPARATION, “Come out of her, my people.”  The voice comes from heaven, and it is with that voice that the preacher speaks, as he proclaims the Word of God from the pulpit.  Our message must be clear and compelling. All through the week , the church members have been living in this world that is seeking to shape their thinking and conduct according to its call to compromise and conform. They hear the siren song of deception and dollars, and we must warn them to resist!  Preach on eternity, so that the people will consecrate their lives upon the altar, holy and acceptable to God, being transformed by the truth as it renews their mind.  They will either be transformed by the Word or conformed to the world (cf. Rom.12:1-2).

Importantly there is THE COMMITMENT TO SEPARATION.  The warning is, “lest you share in her sins.”  The preacher’s model must support his message. The congregation needs to see it in the man of God if they are to be convinced as we speak of it.  Compromise with Babylon is a peril for the pastor as well as the people. How many men have diluted and deviated in doctrine and devotion, craving prestige and possessions?  We begin by avoiding uncomfortable truths. We claim to believe them in private, but do not proclaim them in public. This begins the path into the abyss of compromise.

Further count THE COST OF SEPARATION. Babylon is judged, “And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints…” as the final verse of Revelation 18 (verse 24) relates.  The pressure to compromise for religious prestige and material possessions is but one dimension—the flip side is the peril of resisting the forces of evil. On the one hand we are enticed with gain and on the other the threat of loss.  Ultimately, the world system is willing to eradicate those who expose their deception and expound their crimes. Prophets are not popular. Sadly, it has been said that the church today is a non-prophet organization!

The cost of conviction is great, but the cost of compromise is greater. In the former, one may suffer earthly pain, but will have everlasting reward. In the latter, one may have earthly gain, but will have eternal retribution. The warning is to come out of Babylon, “lest you receive of her plagues.”  Carnal, compromising preachers will find the fires of hell exceedingly hot, for they have not only gone astray, but have caused many others to stumble into the pit.  Their own agony will be accompanied by the screams of many of their past congregants!

I read the obituary of what I fear was such a preacher last evening. His church was near the one I served. The times I was around him, I can say he was more noted for what he did not believe than what he did. Here is what he wrote about his legacy:

“I seek no Heaven, nor Hell to shun                                                                                                            When this my earthly life is done.”

Although the final disposition of his soul is not mine to decide, I am concerned the heaven he did not seek has not been gained, and hell he did not care to shun, he has now begun to experience.  There is no joy in saying this. May God give us grace to pay the price of conviction, rather than the cost of compromise!

[The pictures portray Christian and Faithful from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, in Vanity Fair, resisting the allure, and are placed on trial, with Faithful being condemned to death—a fitting illustration of the truths of this post].

PERSECUTION AND PERSEVERANCE

 

Mystery Babylon has been with us since the flood and will be until the final days. Out of the polluted fountain of her false religion, every abominable belief system has flowed.  It will consummate in a global religion in the last days.

Although its form has manifested itself in varying ways, it is ultimately about deception versus truth, and thus, an assault on Him was is the True and Living God. The war is waged against Truth Incarnate—the Lamb of God.  Yet, we are confident that He will prevail and so we, as His followers, must persevere.

Not only must His preachers hold the sword of the Spirit—the Word of God—with firm grip, standing on the solid Rock of truth, but wield it against error. It is the theme of Spurgeon’s great call to arms in, “The Greatest Fight in the World.”  If you have not read it, you should get that book and immerse yourself in it today. It was the final manifesto from the “prince of preachers.”

Do you not know that men of God still suffer and are martyred for their faith?  In America, we may not have faced such, but the ominous storm clouds are gathering—a storm is at hand. 

Will we stand, if it breaks in our generation?  How often have we stood before our congregations and sung the invitation chorus, “The cross before me, the world behind me…no turning back.”  Are those empty platitudes, or do they express the conviction we hold? 

May the Lord give us grace to stand!  Victory is assured!