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.