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22, on such a great occasion as this
is, 15 years in the Church. I was here shortly after the
Church started, as Brother Modine said. I used to teach or preach
the morning sessions in the camp meeting where we met and sometimes
preach at night. That just seems like yesterday
in a way and here we are and how God works. I want to read
one verse and just have some comments on the subject
of the ancient landmarks. And I'll just ask if you'll stand
with me while we read this verse, Proverbs 22, verse 28. And before
we read, let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we come
to you today and we thank you for your love, we thank you for
your mercies, we thank you for your so great salvation. We thank
you, dear God, that you do convict us of our sin, bring us to the
place of absolute desperation, and then convince us of your
love for us and your willingness to save us and draw us with cords
of love and give us that so great salvation. And we thank you for
this church. We thank you for its ministry
in this area. We thank you for the faithfulness
of the ministry of your Word here and the emphasis that is
put upon truth. We pray that you will bless this
church in a special way today and help them to recollect the
many ways you've blessed throughout the years. And we pray and ask
that you bless this reading of your scripture and the message
today. And if there are any here that
are unsaved, Father, that You would convict them, break their
hearts, and cause them to come to You and receive You as their
Lord and their Savior through Jesus Christ. For it's in His
name we pray. Amen. Proverbs 22 and in verse
28 the Bible says, Remove not the ancient landmarks which thy
fathers have set." Please be seated. Remove not the ancient
landmarks which thy fathers have set. The thing about landmarks,
and boy, I think about this a lot today, because the ancient landmarks,
number one, they're valuable. Landmarks are valuable. I grew
up on a 265-acre farm that my grandfather was able to get help
with when he came back from France after World War I, and they had
their landmarks. Sometimes there were a big beam
planted in the ground, or there might be a big rock, but they
had their landmarks. That marked off their boundaries. But there are other kinds of
landmarks other than that. But I want to say three things
about landmarks. Number one, these landmarks are
venerable. They're venerable. And number
two, they're valuable. They're very valuable. But number
three, They're vulnerable. And we're seeing that underscored
more and more today. I want to give you a definition
of the word landmark, Webster's definition. He said, it's a point
of orientation. I'll be thinking about this.
It's a point of orientation in locating other structures. An
event or development that marks a turning point or a stage. a
structure of unusual historical and aesthetic interest or that
is officially designated and set aside for preservation. The word venerable refers to
something that's made sacred by religious or historical association,
calling forth respect through age, character, or attainments,
conveying an impression of aged goodness and benevolence. And the landmarks are very, very
venerable. And I'll mention two areas in
which they're venerable in the order that they're presented
in the Bible. The venerability of the sacredness of ancient
landmarks. The most ancient landmark of
all is presented in the book of Genesis, and that is in reference
to the venerability of the family. All of these things that I'm
going to mention are under attack today. They're under attack in
the church and outside the church. But the venerability of the family,
the family and the home, date back to Genesis chapter 2. There's
that unusual historic interest. in the family. It's an old institution. It's a beautiful institution.
It has an unusual aesthetic interest. It's a house or a home, the family. Now, a man can pay rent all of
his life and still own his own home because a house is not a
home. Amen? So a man can be a renter
of a house all of his life but still have a wonderful home. A man can own his own house and
never really have a home. And you know, you've heard it
said again and again, and I'm sure your pastors said it over
and over and over, but the church is no stronger than the homes
and the families that are in the church. And there's a certain
responsibility, a certain stewardship that's involved in our having
a strong home and a good home and a good family. But the venerability
of our family is, I want to follow that with the idea of the venerability
of our faith. We have a good old faith. I'm like your pastor. I love
the old hymns. I mean, when you read, I've got
a lot of systematic theologies in my library. Strong's theology
and on and on and on, but we had a good theological treatise
in our hands just a moment ago, And Can It Be, all of those verses. I think churches need to take
a real strong look at what is happening in them concerning
music, because these old hymns This contemporary music is just
not doing the job. In fact, it's militating against
the job that is to be done. The Bible says teaching one another
in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, that's one of the most
important ways that we teach one another is through the singing
of these hymns and singing about the great hymns of the faith. Our faith is an old faith. in
Jude verse 3. The Bible says we should earnestly
contend for the faith. That takes some concentration.
That takes some effort. Earnestly contend for the faith
which was once delivered unto the saints. When you really study
that verse out, it's talking about earnestly contending for
this good old Christian faith, not the faith that we put in
the Lord Jesus to be saved, but the system of beliefs that comprise
the Christian faith. Our job is to contend for those,
to strive for those. In Ephesians 4 and verse 4 and
5, the Bible says there's one faith. There's not a whole bunch
of faiths. There's not a bunch that God
recognizes. There's not a, you know, there
are not a multiplicity of roads and they all lead to heaven.
All roads don't lead to Rome. And they sure don't all lead
to heaven. There's only one Lord and one faith and one baptism. Jude went on in verse 20 and
he said, But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy
faith. When you read in the New Testament,
you see so much in the Bible that reminds us of our personal
responsibility, building up yourselves in your most holy faith. It's good to have a church. It's
good to have a Bible-preaching pastor and all of these things,
but the main responsibility for our growing in the faith and
being built in the faith, built up, is our own. Amen. We can't be like little birds
perched down on the end of a limb with their beaks open, waiting
for the pastor to come by once a week and drop something in. But we have to study to be approved
unto God ourselves. Now the beauty of our faith lies
basically in two things. Number one, the beauty of our
faith, and I want you to listen real good to this part, because
this is really where it's at, as they say. What makes our faith
so beautiful is the cross of Jesus Christ, His wonderful cross. I've been preaching a series
of messages on the cross and the power of the cross, they
all start with a P, I just like it that way, the passion of the
cross. or the price paid on the cross and so on, but the power
of the cross. The cross is one of the most
beautiful things about our faith. Paul said this in Galatians 6
and in verse 14, he said, but God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I listen carefully
to this, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. For years I have preached and
preached on that, Brother Modine. God forbid that I should Glory
saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Preached lots of
sermons on it and never paid as much attention as I should
have to that second part of that verse because that is full of
theology and good practical teaching. God forbid that I should glory
saving the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world
is crucified unto me. The more that we concentrate
on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's not enough preaching
on the cross in churches today. But the more that we focus and
concentrate and meditate and study and sing about the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more His precious cross is magnified
in our minds and in our hearts, the more despicable and repulsive
the world will become to us. The world will be crucified unto
us. The world will become like a
piece of roadkill. That's what Paul was talking
about. Glorying in the cross will make us see this world as
the God-hating, Christ-rejecting, dirty, demonic system that it
is. But Paul went on and said, an
eye unto the world. But just to the degree that that
other is happening and our attitude to the world, where we have no
longer any use for the world, the world will no longer have
any use for us. The greatest plague in churches
today, in New Testament churches, scriptural churches, is worldliness. And it's because an emphasis
has been removed through the music, preaching, everything
else, from the cross in so many places. But the more that we
glory in the cross, we'll become the kind of people the world
will be of no use to the world. The world will be of no use to
us and we'll be of no use to the world. The cross, the old
rugged cross. The beauty of our faith also
extends to the church. The church is a glorious thing. In the Song of Solomon, I believe
this. In the Song of Solomon, in chapter 6 and verse 10, is
an Old Testament picture of the New Testament church that Christ
loved and gave himself for. And some of the most beautiful
language there. Solomon said, who is she that looketh forth
as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and as terrible
as an army with banners. In Revelation 19, verse 7 and
8, the Bible says, let us be glad and rejoice. I'm not talking
about some mystical church. I'm not talking about some church
in a fog bank of somebody's imagination. I'm not talking about any universal
church. I'm talking about the local visible church that Christ
loved. And it's a glorious institution.
And one of these days, it'll be recognized Let us be glad
and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the
Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints."
Now this just describes a body of people. Forget the labels,
the denominational labels and all of the other labels that
people use today. These are just people who have
been born again, and they have been committed to the truth that's
been handed down to the saints. So family and faith both are
under attack in America today. One of the things I appreciate
so much about Brother Modine's messages is you've got to have
people like this. You've got to have both kinds.
You've got to have people that will go on the attack. You talk
about fondness for pit bulls. I'm not too fond of them myself.
You've got to have a pit bull or two today. In fact, we need
a whole bunch of them to cry out and expose error and sound
the alarm. That's what watchmen on the wall
do. That's what Ezekiel was talking
about. Both family and faith are under attack. In other words,
where family is concerned and where our faith is concerned,
there's a whole lot of effort to move the ancient landmarks.
of these venerable institutions. Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy
1 and 13 and said, hold fast the form of sound words. In 2 Timothy he said, the time
will come when they'll not endure sound doctrine. That's why these
rock and roll and rodeo churches are growing by leaps and bounds,
is because people will not endure sound doctrine. I'm just going
to tell you why a lot of people won't endure sound doctrine. I'm not
going to preach much longer today, but I want to get this in. A
lot of people won't endure sound doctrine because they don't have
ears to hear. It's because they're lost, and
they can't take it, and they don't want it. And church is
an entertainment. It's a smorgasbord for them. And so they go around with their
little invisible shopping carts shopping for a church. And the
things on their criteria are so far from what it ought to
be in looking for a church. But Paul warned of this time. He said, the time will come they'll
not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they
heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. They'll turn away
their ears from the truth. And when you turn your ears away
from the truth, now listen carefully. If there's somebody here, and
this is just your mental makeup, I'm preaching, you've already
turned me off. Next Sunday, the pastor will be preaching. You'll
be sitting there looking and so on and so forth, but you've
dismissed what he has to say from your mind. Here's what's
going to happen to you. Here's what's happening to you.
Paul said in the last days they'll turn their ears away from hearing
the truth, and when you turn your ears away, you will be turned
unto fables. When you turn your ears away
from the truth, there will be an invisible presence there,
and I think it's the demonic forces that work in this world.
Just as you turn your ears from God's truth, there will be a
demonic force there to turn you unto the most outlandish, foolish,
ridiculous, absurd propositions, and you'll eat it up with a spoon.
Amen. See, that explains evolution. There's nothing more absurd and
unscientific than evolution. It's so ridiculous. When Brother
Modine was talking about the bulletin this morning, I don't
even bother to think this takes the cake anymore because there's
going to be something else take the cake the next day. We are
suffering from national dementia in this country. One of the biggest signs of it,
the most recent, is the election of the president that we have
right now. He's not the worst that we've ever had, but he is
a reflection on how much the American mind has snapped today. I was talking to Brother Modine
about a book that I've read, and I'd recommend it to anybody
to read, by Peter Kapalian, entitled The Snapping of the American
Mind. And the American mind has snapped. Suicide rates through
the roof, and so on and so forth. I know Brother Modine preaches
on all these things. It is a disaster today. What has happened to the
home, what happened to the family, everywhere you look, every area,
all of our institutions gone wild. He called it the snapping
of the American mind. He said the reason it's happened
is because of all of this aggressive, locomotive-like attempt at the
fundamental transformation of America. Does that sound familiar? Because of the fundamental transformation
of America, we have all of these things like you have in the bulletin
and more. But the reason, the worst reason,
and before that, and the cause of this that we have today, goes
much deeper than the fundamental transformation of America. It
goes to the falling away from the truth by Christians. Now the reason I'm just preaching
these things and saying these things is to celebrate, really,
a church like this one that's contending for the faith and
for the truth. These landmarks we have are very
valuable. The preaching of the truth in
a church like this about family and about faith is important. In other words, they're valuable.
These landmarks that the Lord said, remove not, they're valuable,
and that's seen in the interest that our forefathers had in them.
They knew that these landmarks would be important to the recognition
of boundaries. That's why you put landmarks
out. Here's another insane thing today. No borders. You can't
have a nation without any borders. And another insane thing is multiculturalism. That one culture is as good as
another. I beg to differ. I've been in a lot of places
in this world and some of the most sad, filthy, violent cultures,
and I'm telling you right now, they're not as good as our Judeo-Christian
culture. There's not even a country mile.
There's no comparison. But landmarks are valuable because
they establish some boundaries. And our forefathers understood
that. And by the way, let me just say
this. People are not smarter today than they were in the past. You do understand that, don't
you? Christians with all of their new Bibles and everything, are
we more pious today since back in the 60s when all of these
new versions and everything started being cranked out? And it wasn't
to help people spiritually, it was for the sake of the dollar.
But all during this time we have been in a steady decline in churches
and in individual Christian lives when it comes to spirituality
and piety. The old timers who were concerned
about the ancient landmarks, especially where the Word of
God is concerned, knew what they were doing. They knew that these
landmarks are important because they establish bearings, or boundaries,
and they help you to maintain your bearings. I was telling
you about my grandpa's farm. One day when I was about 10 years
old, I took his .22 rifle out from behind the refrigerator
and set out to hunt squirrels. And I walked and walked and hunted
squirrels, and as I was walking along, I saw a fox take off running. And so I started trying to follow
that fox and find the fox. Well, to make a long story short,
before long I was royally lost in the woods. And I wandered
and wandered and walked around for, it seemed like hours. And all of a sudden I came to
a big, a big tree, and I recognized it right away. I'd already, I'd
been past that tree probably two hours earlier. I had no sense
of my bearings. Churches have lost their bearings
today. And the country has lost its bearings today. And people
are disoriented because of it. And they grope like a man in
darkness. And they tremor and they are
in a state of disorientation and tremble like a drunken man,
as Isaiah says. And it's because of not having
these bearings. Churches like this are important. because they
hold to the old landmarks that the Bible speaks of. So they're
valuable because of the interest concerning having boundaries
and maintaining your bearings, but also they're valuable, their
value is seen in the investment that our forefathers made in
them. And I appreciate what the pastor said. when he referred
to the sacrifices, the martyrdom of people. Personally, I think
we're going to go through that ourselves. I think we could well
see it. I mean, if people can't see the train coming, there's
something seriously wrong. There's the buildup of hostility
against Christianity. grows more and more and more
every day. But our forefathers and foremothers
and people in our history bore the burdens, and they fought
the battles. And we're going to have our burdens
to bear and our battles to fight. So these landmarks that this
church represents here, these are These are valuable landmarks,
they're venerable, but they're vulnerable. Now, we see how vulnerable
they can be. Brother Modine and I were talking
this weekend, every time I'm with pastors, it'll come up,
how many churches. I remember when I was pastoring
in Flint, Michigan for years and years and years, there were
many good churches. in the Flint area, the Detroit
area, here around Toledo and so on and so forth. They're almost
all gone. They're changed beyond recognition. And the reason that
is is because of their vulnerability. There's vulnerability here. Listen,
beloved, there is no reason for anybody to take it for granted
that this church will be what it is right now next year. Amen. I mean, it can change, it seems
like, overnight. And that's why in our text he
says, remove not. You know why he says that? I
learned this from the Greek, not really. When he says remove
not, he says that because it's possible that they can be removed.
And it's like our borders. You know, they want to move,
the Mexicans want to move the border. Vincente Fox, former
president, He wants to go all the way back
and say, you know, the old thing that started the Spanish-American
War, Mexican War, rather, he said, that back then they contended
that the Nueces River was the boundary between America and
that would have given them a whole lot more land. But our contention
was that it was the Rio Grande. Well, there's a whole movement,
and our president is cheering them on, that says, give the
whole Southwest back to Mexico. And somebody said, well, that'll
never happen. There's a lot of things that have happened in America I thought
would never happen. But let me just wind it up here
real quick. He says, remove not the ancient
landmark, because their removal is possible. What makes it possible? Other people. Other people can
come along and move those landmarks. Like in our country, we're seeing
what activist judges can do. They can just remove what's always
been landmarks in this country. We can see what immigration policies
can do. And they can just remove what's
always been recognized in this country. We can remove these
landmarks ourselves. I'm talking about churches. People
can infiltrate a church. Know what I'm talking about.
They can infiltrate a church and turn it upside down. And
what that church once believed can become a thing of the past
because people have come in and ingratiated themselves and hijacked
your church. But what's really sad is when
a church's landmarks are removed by their own selves. And that can happen. Modernism, liberalism, Catching
on to the latest trends in so-called ministry can all be part of people
in a church removing their own landmarks. In Deuteronomy 27
and 17, the God who said, remove not the ancient landmarks had
a penalty for losing, anybody that removed the landmarks. He
said, cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmarks. Israel
had God-given landmarks. Here's some more of the insanity
of sin, is for there to be anybody that would contest where Israel's
boundaries are and can't recognize what is just a matter of fact,
that Israel has always been in possession of the land that others
are claiming has been theirs. And God gave them their landmarks. I won't read it all, but it's
in Genesis or Deuteronomy 18. God gave them, or Genesis 15,
God gave them their precise landmarks and from the Nile to the Euphrates
River and laid it out concisely. And those who removed or have
helped removed Israel's landmarks, Muslims, Turks, the British,
the present administration is trying to do that and aid and
abet it, are doing exactly what God said He would curse and what
He would punish. And God will punish. In Proverbs
23, verse 10 and 11, He says again, Remove not the old landmark,
for their Redeemer is mighty, and He shall plead their cause
with thee. So to remove the landmarks, see
what you have here, Some people came to our church, I'll use
this as an illustration, closing. Some people came to our church
a few weeks ago, been about a month now. Both of them had been born
and raised in a good, strong, independent Baptist church, about
50 miles from us, maybe not that far. Had grown up in it from
the time they were babies. And he had been put on staff
part-time as a minister of music. His father and his mother had
been part of the organizing body, and so on and so forth. After
30 years, the pastor brought somebody in, in his family, to
groom to be the pastor. And the pastor stayed on staff
under some other title, and this other guy took over. And immediately,
the first line of attack was the music. And they got rid of
this young guy that had been there 15 years serving in the
music, been there all of his life, and got rid of him, got
rid of all of the getting rid and forcing out all of the people.
For 30 years, that church had been seen like sound as a dollar.
And here's the sad thing. The people just put up with it.
They're just letting it happen. They're just letting people come
and hijack their church. It's a wonderful thing to be
able to celebrate 15 years as a church. And the stewardship
of this church, if the Lord doesn't come back, another celebration,
another 15 years, if the church maintains good stewardship of
Maumee Valley Baptist Church. So I want to again thank you
for being here, having the privilege of being here. But before the
pastor comes, if you're not saved, I didn't finish my story. I got
saved in that church. Got under conviction, got saved
one night, left the church, went upstairs to the second family
flat, pushed my face between two couch cushions and asked
God to have mercy on me and save me. Here's how bad it was. When
I started to pray and ask the Lord to forgive me and save me,
the pastor said, just pray and ask God to forgive your sin and
save you. When I knelt down and I closed my eyes, and the devil
said, you don't even know how to pray. And I thought, that's
right, I don't. I don't even know how to pray.
And just that quick, I thought, but I do know how to talk. And
I'll just talk to God. I could talk to anybody else
and ask God to forgive my sins and save me. And He saved me. Amen. He'll save you. If there's
anybody you don't trust in your religion, or don't even trust
in being a member of this church, trust in Jesus.
The Value of Ancient Landmarks
Series 15th Anniversary Worship Mtg
The value of landmarks? Many.
They are venerable. They are valuable. They help us know where the boundaries are. They help us know our path and direction.
And they are under attack in these last days . . . being toppled, moved, subsumed, and eradicated.
| Sermon ID | 45162253910 |
| Duration | 33:36 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
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