Turn with me tonight in your Bible to 1st Corinthians chapter
16, and we're going to read the first 14 verses of the chapter.
First Corinthians chapter 16, the last chapter of Paul's first
epistle to the Corinthian church.
Reading here some of his final words, First Corinthians chapter
16 verse one. Now concerning the collection
for the Saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galata,
Even so do ye upon the first day of the week.
Let everyone of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered
him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters,
then will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.
And if it be me that I go also, they shall go with me.
Now I will come unto you when I shall pass through Macedonia,
for I do pass through Macedonia, and it may be that I will abide.
Yeah, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey,
whether so ever I go. For I will not see you now, by
the way. But I trust to tarry a while
with you, if the Lord permit. But I will tarry an Ephesus
until Pentecost, for a great door and effectual is opened
unto me, and there are many adversaries.
Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear,
for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do.
Let no man therefore despise him, but conduct him forth in
peace, that he may come unto me. For I look for him with the
brethren. And as touching our brother
Apollos, I greatly desire him to come unto you with the brethren.
But his will was not at all to come at this time, but he will
come when he shall have convenient time.
Watch you stand fast in the faith.
Quit you like men. Be strong.
Let all your things be done with charity, Amen.
We'll end the reading there at verse 14, and we pray the Lord
and stamp of His own approval and blessing, this reading of
His own precious and infallible word, Amen.
Now my text this evening is taken from First Corinthians
chapter 16 and the verse 13, and my theme tonight is entitled
Stand Fast in the Faith or A Call to Stand Fast in the Faith.
Listen to the text. Watch ye stand fast in the
faith. Quit you like men.
Be strong. Now let me begin tonight by
asking a question. What does the Free Presbyterian
Church stand for today? Now before I attempt to answer
that question, let me state that I believe the Free Presbyterian
Church was raised up by God and brought forth into the province
of Ulster and it was set for the faithful preaching of the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This church from its inception
has preached against the falsehood and errors of Roman
Catholicism. It's preached against apostasy
in the mainline so-called Protestant denominations, some
sadly, who are so far gone that they know nothing of the true
gospel. This church preached against sin
and wickedness in high and low places, preached against
carnality and coldness, preached against dead orthodoxy and hyper
Calvinism. You see, in 1951, this church
I'm speaking about, the denomination now, was on fire
for God. It was reformed in doctrine,
Presbyterian in government, evangelistic in practise.
It was called free because it stood outside the World Council
of Churches, the Irish Council of Churches.
Our our founding fathers had no truck with the charismatic
movement. Men like the late Doctor
Paisley, late William Beattie, late William Whiteside and many
others. They were all men of the book.
They believed that they were called of God to preach the word
in season and out of season. And as they preached, they
called men and women, boys and girls and young people to
repentance and faith in Christ. They called for restoration for
those that were cold and backslidden.
They preached to build up believers in their most holy
faith. And I believe it's right and
proper that we should thank God for their labours.
And in 1951 and going forward, new congregations were quickly
formed and we have rejoiced to see the work of God advanced.
And like you, I thank God for the Free Presbyterian Church.
I want to tell you tonight, you already know this.
It's not perfect, but why do we love it?
We love it because the emphasis is on the preaching of the Word
of God. We love it because it stands for
a biblical worship. We love because of the fact that
it stands separated unto the gospel.
We love it because it's set for the defence of the old powers
and the old truths that were once delivered unto the seals.
I love the fact that it has a ministry to the children, a
ministry to the young people, a ministry to the middle-aged as
well as the old and infirm. We, we love the missionary arm
of the church, the mission board and the Missionary Council.
We, we love our Whitfield College of the Bible.
Do pray for the work. But now, 74 years on, we are
facing challenging times. We are facing choices.
A new generation has been raised up, the third generation of Free
Presbyterians, and we're finding that among the young, they're
asking this question, what is our purpose?
What do we stand for? Why are we here?
And I believe it's important that we teach the young people
what we are about. You see, the face of the
evangelical church in Northern Ireland is changing.
I want to tell you tonight, it's hard to be biblical.
It's hard to be faithful, and it's hard to be watchful.
You see, it appears that even here in Northern Ireland, in the
evangelical church, not all but some are hopelessly confused
about what the gospel is. The true gospel, the genuine
gospel, is more than simply praying a prayer.
It's more than simply asking Jesus into your heart.
Now, that's a component part. That's an important element.
But as the late Doctor Kearns says, that asking Jesus into
your heart is not even the third cousin of the gospel.
Many are not only hopelessly confused, but sadly, some are
heretically corrupted and some tonight are haphazardly
compromised because they have departed from the Word of God,
developed a spurt of worldliness, carnal behaviour,
infidelity, immorality, even iniquity to exist within the
confines of the professing Christian Church.
Let me say tonight, I believe that every problem found in the
Corinthian church can be found today in the contemporary
so-called evangelical Christian Church.
And what would we say to the contemporary evangelical
professing Christian Church? Well, I would say the very same
thing that Paul said. Here's Paul's call, totally at
odds from the wisdom of the world, totally at odds with the
fashions of the day. Because Paul, as he closed his
first letter to the Corinthian church, said this in verse 13.
Look at it with me. Watch ye stand fast in the
faith. Quit you like men.
Be strong. We could add verse 14 that all
things be done with charity. Here are four simple spirit
filled exhortations. Now notice first of all the
context to be explained. The Apostle Paul is writing to
the Corinthian church and he's well aware of it being confused
with spiritual things. He's well aware of the problems
that exist, the corruption that is there.
He's well aware of the the compromise.
He knows all about their problems.
He could list them division, party spirit, open incestuous
sin, disorder, misconduct, drunkenness, abuse of the gifts.
And as he closes his chapter, verses one to three, he gives
instruction for a special offering and financial aid for
the persons and Jerusalem. In verses 4 to 6, he outlines
his time and travel plans and explains the means by which
he'll deliver the gifts to those poor Saints.
In verse 7, he talks of his intention to visit Corinth when
the time is right. In verse 8 he explains the need
to be an Ephesus until Pentecost.
And he tells them why. For a great door.
And the factual is opened unto me.
And there are many adversaries. In verses 10 and 11, he explains
about Timothy coming to the church at Corinth.
And then in verse 12, he mentions brother Apollos.
He says, I'm paraphrasing. He will come when he has
opportunity. You see, Paul wrote this first
letter out of a heartfelt concern for the Church of
Christ. He was often accused of being
insincere. He was often accused of being
untrustworthy. But he wasn't.
He had a heartfelt concern. He had a love and a genuine
compassion for these people. And here's the centrepiece of
his message as he closes 4 simple, short, spirit filled
exhortations. Now let me explain something.
Let's read them again. Watch she stand fast in the
faith. Quit you like men.
Be strong. You see, here's the context to
be explained. All of these four simple, short
spirit filled exhortations have all military overtones.
This is really a military verse. Doesn't it tie into the theme of
VE Day? Here's Paul's final watchword
and one preacher that I read. He talked about military orders
for a backslidden dysfunctional church and that's what Corinth
was. And yet he gave this 4 short
military commands and each one has a military tone to it. 4
commands full of military image, military language.
Why? The Christian life is not a bed
of roses. It's not a banquet, it's not a
party. The Christian Church and the
individual Christian within it is in a spiritual war.
We are in a spiritual battle. We are called to be Christian
soldiers, and the language here is that of a commanding officer
preparing his soldiers for to fight.
See, we are in a spiritual war. We are soldiers engaged in
spiritual warfare. The Free Presbyterian Church
tonight, 74 years after its inception, is still at war from
the day of its commencement. We are called to spiritual
warfare. Now, let me explain.
I'm using the word spiritual warfare.
We are not charged to invade another country.
We're not charged to go out and murder other people.
We believe in the sanctity of life.
We believe in keeping the 6th commandment.
Thy shall not kill. We are called to be spiritual
soldiers. And as spiritual soldiers we are
therefore uniformed. As spiritual soldiers were
united, as spiritual soldiers were unique, as spiritual
soldiers were universally standing shoulder to shoulder
together, And we're going to face heresies and persecutions
and false doctrines and false religion, spiritual lies,
falsehood, discord, division, apostasy, opposition.
And we're not aiming to be culturally relevant, remember?
James says friendship with the world is to be an enmity with
God. The Church of Jesus Christ is
not only a hospital for the sick.
The Church of Jesus Christ is also an army.
Remember what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6 and in the
verse 12, Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12.
Listen to the Word of God, for we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.
Now let me stress something tonight.
Listen to me carefully. Modern churchmen and young men
in particular in the ministry do not get it.
They have lost sight of it because many of them are
terrified by the militant language of Scripture, and many
are not prepared to earnestly contend for the Fiat once
delivered unto the Saints. And they're more than happy to
sit down with the enemies of the gospel, have a cup of tea and
maybe a scorn. And they want to find common
ground. They want to look for what
unites us rather than what divides us.
We'll not talk about what divides us.
It's not important, it's not vital, it's not necessary.
But as they sit down with the enemies of the cross, they're
forgetting that they're in a spiritual war.
They're forgetting that there's a spiritual battle to be fought.
They're forgetting that we're really in a, in a spiritual war.
Oh, not a literal struggle with flesh and blood.
Something more important, something more dangerous,
something more serious, something more deadly.
Because this war's eternal. There's no let up.
This is a a war where there's never a day off.
This is a battle for the hearts and minds of men and women.
This is a battle for the souls of men and women.
We need to accept, we need to own the fact that we have been
called not only to be sons in a family, but we are called to be
soldiers in the army of King Jesus.
We're we're soldiers of the cross.
We were singing there that lovely hymn Am IA, Soldier of
the Cross and Second Timothy, chapter 2, verse 3 says,
therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
I'm not called to be an entertainer or a manager or an
educator. I'm called to be a Christian
soldier. And as a Christian soldier, I
have to live with the idea and the concept that I'm in a war
zone and therefore I need courage, I need a charge, I need
to know that I've got a Commission.
I need, I need conviction. And you see, that's the context
upon which Paul sets forth these four simple but straightforward
spirit filled exhortations. There are 4 military
explanations, the context that needs to be explained very
quickly, the content that needs to be expanded.
Notice these 4 words again. Watch she.
Here's a command to watchfulness.
It means literally be on the alert, be watchful, and one of
the great dangers facing any soldiers to fall asleep in duty.
This is a call to stay awake. And one of the big dangers that
Christian soldiers face is apathy and indifference.
You, you think of a century in duty and he's tired and he falls
asleep and he falls into a spirit of slumber.
And the enemy can come. They can invade the camp.
You see, a century in duty must stay at his post.
He must stand guard. And in order to stay at his post
and stand guard, he has to stay awake.
And he has to stay awake in face of danger, in the face of the
enemy. And if he falls asleep, the
enemies come and he, along with his fellow soldiers, could be
put to death. I think of the night that Paul
was in The Cave, him and his or Saul rather him and his army.
Remember they were hunting King David and Saul fell asleep.
That night Saul was in grave danger.
Remember, David and Abishai walked in and out of the camp.
Abishai, remember, wanted to smite David to death, and David
wouldn't let him because he said it was wrong to touch the Lord's
anointed. So they just cut off a little
bit off his robe and held it up in the mountain side in the
morning when he called out. You see, the apostle Paul was
fully conscious of this need to be watchful.
Look with me at verse 8, he says, But I will tarry at
Ephesus until Pentecost. Why?
For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are
many adversaries. You see this watch ye was a word
that was precious to Paul. It was a word that was personal
to Paul. It was a word that was powerful
for Paul because Paul was taking heed to it.
He's aware that he's in a war. He's aware that he's in a
running spiritual battle. He testified that he'd forced
with some of the beasts at Ephesus.
Remember, a man by the name of Demetrius stirred up the crowd,
and they would have beat Paul to death had the Romans not
intervened. He was fighting many spiritual
enemies, enemies of the cross. And yet Paul, day in and day
out, was filled with a sense of this duty, that he must be
watchful. And we live in a day when many
are ignoring that. Many are rebelling against this
call to be watchful. Many are saying I don't need to
be watchful. To me, they're being arrogant.
To me, they've been full of pride.
To me, many are expressing a false tolerance.
See, we have a false tolerance that's abroad today.
And we've got a, a phoney standard of love and a phoney
standard of gentleness, especially when it comes down to
what we call the, the fundamentals of the faith.
See, in the past 25 years, every fundamental doctrine has been up
for debate. People have come along with a
new idea, the new prospectus, and Paul, a new idea on the
doctrine of justification by faith alone.
People have agreed to disagree. They set aside the fundamental
doctrine of justification by faith alone, and they've adopted
this new fad, this new doctrinal position.
The men have jumped on it. Why?
Because they're so tolerant. And anybody that says anything
against it, well, you're so intolerant.
And you see what the forgotten is this, that we're in a
spiritual war and there's a spiritual fight for the truth.
We're to be valiant for the truth.
We're to be watchful. Remember Proverbs 2323 says by
the truth and sell it, not also wisdom and instruction and
understanding. So we're to by the truth, by
wisdom, instruction and understanding.
Why? Because we need to be watchful,
because we're in a spiritual war.
You need to be watchful for the world, for the world will want
to squeeze you into its mould. Bible says love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world of any man love the
world. The love of the Father is not in
them. We need to be watchful of the
flesh. Our hearts are deceitful,
desperately wicked, prone to sin, prone to error.
Remember the four worldly men in the Bible.
Solomon was the wisest, Samson was the strongest.
Peter was the bravest. David was the choicest, the man
after God's own heart. And yet all four men were
brought down. Why?
Because they forgot about the proneness to sin in their own
heart. The heart is deceitful, and if
these men fail, then you and I are not immune.
You and I need to be watchful and not only be watchful for the
world squeezing us into its mould and trying to to condition
us and and the inward remaining sin pull us down and mar our
testimony. But we need to be aware of the
devil. The Bible says neither give
place to the devil. Satan is the God of this world,
need to watch for his approach, watch for his attack.
The Bible says your adversary, the devil goeth about as a
roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
We could also watch tonight in a positive sense, not just a
negative sense, but we could watch for the souls of men,
those that are needing counsel, those that are concerned, those
that are troubled for their soul.
We need to watch for the second coming, Matthew chapter 24,
verse 42. They are of Christ coming as
dear. We're to labour on.
We're to be faithful. It's wonderful to know that a
man by the name of Horatius Bonner, one of the old
Presbyterians in Scotland, he lived in light of that.
He went to bed every night and closed the curtains and he said
Even so come Lord Jesus. When he opened them in the
morning, he said perhaps today you'll come, Lord Jesus.
He lived in a spurt of comfull watchfulness.
He lived in light of eternity, of meeting God and being
faithful. A command to watchfulness.
Very quickly there's a command to steadfastness, stand fast in
the faith. We're exhorted the steadfastness
when it comes to the faith. The word stand fast means to, to
persevere, to, to, to dig your heels and notice.
It's the faith. It's not just our personal faith
in Christ. It's the body of doctrine that
we believe. Jude three says earnestly
contend for the faith once delivered onto the the Saints.
You see, there is a a standard of doctrine.
There's a body of doctrine to be preserved.
We're to stand tonight as a church for the doctrine of God,
as God has revealed in the Scriptures.
We're to stand for the doctrine of Holy Scripture.
I believe the Bible just doesn't contain the word of God.
It is the word of God, infallible, inerrant and
authoritative. We could say so many other
things. I believe tonight in the
doctrine of salvation that centres in the personal work of
Jesus Christ, His incarnation, his sinless life, his atoning
death, his bodily resurrection. In our texts that's going out in
relation to the Gospel mission, we've got John 14 verse 6.
Jesus said I'm the way, the truth, the life, No man comes
unto the Father, but by me. We stand tonight for the
doctrine of justification by faith alone.
We stand for the doctrine of repentance.
We tell people it's not just enough to be sorry.
You've got to turn from your sin.
Jesus doesn't save you in your sin, He saves you from your sin.
The doctrine of sanctification, the doctrine of separation
ecclesiastically and and personal separation, the
doctrine of the blood atonement, the doctrine of the second
coming, all of these doctrines combined together make up what
we call the fundamentals of the faith and therefore into the
church. When a spurt of pluralism comes
or or something with a postmodern or relative mindset,
we have to say to that individual, but there's an
absolute truth that's clear and plain and we're to stand fast,
We're to dig the heels in, we're to say not an inch.
In John 1717, the Lord Jesus prayed sanctify them through thy
word. Thy word is truth.
We've already been encouraged. Proverbs 2323 by the truth and
shall it not Why? Because it's not ours to sell
the entrance of thy word. The psalmist said 119 Psalm 119,
verse 130. The entrance of thy word giveth
light. It giveth understanding to the
symbol. And you see we must hold on to
the faith with strong conviction.
You see, the 21st century doesn't like dogmatism, it likes
diversity. Let me give you an example.
In the Larry King Show in the States of America, he delights
to get evangelicals on men who profess to be evangelicals,
especially preachers, especially some of the people from the mega
churches. And this is what he asked them.
Is a conscious, personal faith in Christ the only way to get to
heaven? He asks every one of them.
And you know, some of them fumble that and some of them
fudge it. I haven't heard one or heard of
one who has come out absolutely clear and said that Christ alone
is the only door into heaven. And yet that's what the Bible
teaches. See that's what I mean where
very few being dogmatic today they they prefer diversity but
not dogmatism. We need to rediscover dogmatism.
We need to rediscover dogmatic theology.
Stand fast in the faith. Very quickly.
There's a command to manliness. Look again at our text Quit you
like men. That's a charge to behave and
act in a manly fashion, act as a manly man.
It's really a call to play the man.
Many don't want to. Many are fascinated with new
fads, new doctrines, as I've said, the new prospectus and
Paul, a new radical doctrine that emerged a few years ago
with the doctrine on eternal punishment.
Eternal punishment, the author said.
And Mr Fudge is, well, it's not eternal, doesn't matter what the
Bible says. And I argued that point with an
individual. It causes doubt, it causes
confusion, it causes you to deny the word of God.
Mr Fudge had come up with some brilliant idea as to why it
wasn't eternal, wrote a book, it was lauded, held up to be a
great work. And seminaries and universities
in England and in America. See, we need to man up.
This is a word that speaks of masculinity as opposed to
femininity. Or to act like men, not a girl.
And I don't mean that in a derogatory sense or like a
woman. Literally, it's be manly.
Remember whenever Bishop Hugh Latimer at the age of 70 and
Nicholas Ridley at the age of 50 were being burned at the stake
in Oxford and Board St being burnt to death during the reign
of Bloody Mary, remembers the flames LED around them.
Latimer said to Ridley and I quote, Be of good comfort master
Ridley, and play the man we shall this daylight.
Such a candle, by God's grace in England as I trust shall never
be put out. That was on the 16th of October
1555 having been taken from the Tower of London.
There was another time when George Whitfield was being
stoned in the open air and as the stones were flying over the
air towards him and his wife, his wife said now George, play
the man for the Lord Jesus. You see, in our day, God says to
Ezekiel 22 and verse 30I sought for a man and found none.
You see, to be manly will mean you have courage, strength,
boldness. You'll be stout hearted, you'll
have a spirit of heroism that there'll be a daringness about
you, a gallantry of bravery. You see, it's in the context of
warfare and it's it's a call to arms.
It's a it's a a summons to battle.
We're to fight the good fight of faith like men.
We're to find the faith in in a manly way.
Remember, this is given to the whole church.
This is the duty of the pastor, the elder, the Deacon.
This is the duty of the women folk.
We're to be vigilant. We're to be valiant.
And this is not a missing quality today.
Some modern versions of the Bible, believe it or not, have
got the words Quit being manly. Well, that's not what the Bible
says. They want it weak.
They want it to be wonderfully soft and dainty.
They want it to be petty and childless and womanly.
They certainly don't want doctrine.
God uses men. Think of Gideon's 300 men, men
who kept vigilant, men who were valiant.
There's a command to be mandate very quickly here.
There's a command to parlour fullness.
Notice these words. Be strong.
What's the opposite of be strong?
Well, it's weak. And when you're weak, then
you're discouraged. And when you're discouraged,
you've lost heart, you've lost a mindset, you've lost the will,
you've lost your strength. You say to yourself, well, I
can't do it anymore. It's not enough to be bold and
manly. We've got to be strong as we
face the enemy. And not just physically, but
mentally, emotionally, but most of all spiritually.
Be strong to endure all that the enemy hurls towards you and it's
worldly governments not throwing everything at the Christian
Church Today is the media that with all its biassed anti God
agenda not not constantly chipping away at the life and
witness of the church, the established religion, the
political elite, the academics, they all come together to oppose
the Christian Church and it's witness and it's dogmatism that
Jesus Christ and his person and work is the only ground to
heaven. And yet listen to what the Lord
Jesus said in John 15. He said if the world hate you,
you know that it hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love its own.
But because you're not of the world, but I have chosen you out
of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Remember the word that I've said unto you, The servant is not
greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they
will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying,
they will keep yours also. And over in Second Timothy
chapter 3 and verse 12, we read Yeah.
And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution. But evil men and seducers shall
wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
But continue now in the things which that was learned and has
been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learnt them.
We need physical strength to be strong.
We need mental strength, perfect peace, peace of God, peace with
God. We need spiritual strength,
strength to stand. Here's a command, fourfold
exhortation. This is the content that needs
to be expanded. There's a command here to
watchfulness. There's a command here to
steadfastness, a command here to manliness, a command to
powerlessness. And that's what we need to
rediscover. And I finished tonight with
this, keeping in mind what I've said, there's a conclusion to be
established. If we're in a war, and we are,
and we're called to be Christian soldiers, and as Christian
soldiers were to be watchful and we're to be steadfast and we're
to be manly and we're to be strong, then I want to ask this
question as we finish. Do you tonight know that you're
a Christian soldier? Are you a Christian soldier?
Can you say tonight in the words of the little children's chorus,
I'm in the Lord's army? Are you in the Lord's army?
Have you enlisted by hearing the call of Christ to come to him
and repent and receive the gospel?
Have you knelt before him and said, Lord, make me one of your
own, not just a son and a servant, but but make me as a
soldier of the cross. See, many are not tonight.
Many are not saved. Many are not united to Christ.
And I think of the slogan that went out during the World War.
Your country needs you. Well, I'm going to make another
slogan. Your church needs you.
This church, the evangelical church, the Reformed Church in
Northern Ireland, needs men and needs young men.
There's a call for young men to come, to come to Christ, and as
they come to Christ to receive this charge from Christ.
He has called them to be 1, to be a Christian soldier in his
army in a world, to wage spiritual warfare against the
world, the flesh and the devil. And that's the conclusion that
need to be established. And it's going to be hard and
difficult, but that's the call from Christ, the King's army.
Will you be a part of it? That's the conclusion to be
established. There's a context here to be
explained. I've explained it.
There's a content to be expounded.
I've tried to expounded, but this conclusion must be
established. Do you recognise as a Christian
tonight that you've been called to be a soldier?
You're in a spiritual war, in a battle with the world, the flesh
and the devil, and there's no let up until the day the King
calls you home to higher service.
Are you willing for that? Will you accept that charge?
Will you step forward and say Lord and let's me tonight.
Thank you Lord for teaching me who I am.
Stand fast in the faith 511951 When this church was born,
that's what it was called into being to be. 74 years on, the
same call goes out. We're called to stand fast in
the faith. May the Lord bless you.
Next Lord's Day evening we'll look at the call to stand fast
and freedom, and that will tie in then to the VED as the Lord
gives us help.