Faith Bible Church in Fallon Nevada

The counsel of the wicked

(Arthur Pink, “The Blessed Man”)
Conversion is the soul’s surrender to God, and acceptance of God–as Guide through this world of sin.

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.” Psalm 1:1

Notice exactly how this is expressed–it is not “does not walk in the open wickedness” nor even “the manifest folly of the wicked,” but “does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.” How searching that is! How it narrows things down!

The ungodly are ever ready to “counsel” the believer, seeming to be very solicitous of his welfare. They will warn him against being too strict and extreme, advising him to be broad-minded and to “make the best of both worlds.” But the policy of the “ungodly”–that is, of those who leave God out of their lives, who have no “fear of God”–is regulated by self-will and self-pleasing, and is dominated by what they call “common sense.”

Alas, how many professing Christians regulate their lives by the advice and suggestions of ungodly friends and relatives–heeding such “counsel” in their business career, their social life, the furnishing and decorating of their homes, their dress and diet, and the choice of school or avocation for their children!

But not so with the “blessed man.” He “does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.” Rather is he afraid of it, no matter how plausible it sounds, or apparently good the intention of those who offer it. He shuns it, and says “Get behind me, Satan!”

Why? Because Divine grace has taught him that he has something infinitely better to direct his steps. God has given him a Divine revelation, dictated by unerring wisdom, suited to his every need and circumstance, designed as a “lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path.” His desire and his determination is to walk by the wholesome counsel of God, and not by the corrupt counsel of the ungodly.

The “blessed man” does not walk according to the maxims of the world. “But his delight is in the Law of the Lord.” “The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God” (Romans 8:7). The worldling seeks his “delight” in the entertainment furnished by those who scorn spiritual and eternal things. Not so the “blessed” man–his “delight” is in something infinitely superior to what this perishing world can supply, namely, in the Divine Scriptures. The unregenerate delight in pleasing self–but the joy of the Christian lies in pleasing God. His Word is the daily bread of the “blessed” man.

“And in His Law, he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2). Thereby does he evidence his “delight” therein–for where his treasure is, there is his heart also! Here, then, is the occupation of the blessed man. The voluptuary thinks only of satisfying his senses; the giddy youth is concerned only with sports and pleasures; the man of the world directs all his energies to the securing of wealth and honors; but the “blessed” man’s determination is to please God, and in order to obtain a better knowledge of His will, he meditates day and night in His holy Word. Thereby is light obtained, its sweetness extracted, and the soul nourished!

“Your Words were found, and I ate them; and Your Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart!” (Jeremiah 15:16). Meditation stands to reading–as digestion does to eating. It is as God’s Word is pondered by the mind, turned over and over in the thoughts, and mixed with faith–that we assimilate it. That which most occupies the mind and most constantly engages our thoughts–is what we most “delight” in.

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season.” Fruit is an essential character of a gracious man, for there are no fruitless branches in the true Vine. “In season,” for all fruits do not appear in the same month, neither are all the graces of the Spirit produced simultaneously.
Times of trial–call for faith.
Times of suffering–call for patience.
Times of disappointment–call for meekness.
Times of danger–call for courage.
Times of blessings–call for thanksgiving.
Times of prosperity–call for joy.

How far, dear reader, do you resemble this “blessed man”?

(J. R. Miller, “Garden of the Heart” 1906)

We should get it settled in our minds, that the purpose of God for our life on earth, is to have us grow into Christ’s image. We are not in this world merely to accomplish a certain amount of work–but to be fashioned into strength and beauty of character. If we would always remember this, we would not be perplexed so often by the mysteries of our lives.

If joy is ours–it is to make us better and a greater blessing to others.

If sorrow is ours–it is to purify us and bring out some line of Christ’s image in us more clearly.

If our hopes are disappointed–it is because God has some better things for us, than that which we so earnestly desired.

If we are called to endure pain–it is because the best in us can be called out only by pain.

If bereavement comes and we are left without the strong human arm we have leaned upon heretofore–it is because there are elements of strength in our life, which never could be developed unless the human supports were taken away.

If our burdens are heavy–it is because we grow best under burdens.

If we are wronged by others–it is to teach us better, the great lessons of patience and sweet temper.

If our circumstances are uncongenial and our condition hard–it is that we may be disciplined into self-control, and may learn to be content in whatever state we are in.

The Master is always teaching us new lessons, making us into the beauty of the pattern He has set for us, and preparing us for greater usefulness and better service.

Today we had the pleasure to listen to God’s Word taught to us by Jerod Gilcher. Jerod is currently attending Masters Seminary. He will finishing up there next summer. Listen to Jerod preach by clicking here.

Next week Roland Sanchez will be our teacher. You can view Roland’s profile by clicking here.

Fling him [the preacher] into his office. Tear the “Office” sign from the door and nail on the sign, “Study.” Take him off the mailing list. Lock him up with his books and his typewriter and his Bible. Slam him down on his knees before texts and broken hearts and the flock of lives of a superficial flock and a holy God.

Force him to be the one man in our surfeited communities who knows about God. Throw him into the ring to box with God until he learns how short his arms are. Engage him to wrestle with God all the night through. And let him come out only when he’s bruised and beaten into being a blessing.

Shut his mouth forever spouting remarks, and stop his tongue forever tripping lightly over every nonessential. Require him to have something to say before he dares break the silence. Bend his knees in the lonesome valley. Burn his eyes with weary study. Wreck his emotional poise with worry for God. And make him exchange his pious stance for a humble walk with God and man. Make him spend and be spent for the glory of God. Rip out his telephone. Burn up his ecclesiastical success sheets.

Put water in his gas tank. Give him a Bible and tie him to the pulpit. And make him preach the Word of the living God! Test him. Quiz him. Examine him. Humiliate him for his ignorance of things divine. Shame him for his good comprehension of finances, batting averages, and political in-fighting. Laugh at his frustrated effort to play psychiatrist. Form a choir and raise a chant and haunt him with it night and day—”Sir, we would see Jesus.”

When at long last he dares assay the pulpit, ask him if he has a word from God. If he does not, then dismiss him. Tell him you can read the morning paper and digest the television commentaries, and think through the day’s superficial problems, and manage the community’s weary drives, and bless the sordid baked potatoes and green beans, ad infinitum, better than he can. Command him not to come back until he’s read and reread, written and rewritten, until he can stand up, worn and forlorn, and say, “Thus saith the Lord.”

Break him across the board of his ill-gotten popularity. Smack him hard with his own prestige. Corner him with questions about God. Cover him with demands for celestial wisdom. And give him no escape until he’s back against the wall of the Word. And sit down before him and listen to the only word he has left—God’s Word. Let him be totally ignorant of the down-street gossip, but give him a chapter and order him to walk around it, camp on it, sup with it, and come at last to speak it backward and forward, until all he says about it rings with the truth of eternity.

And when he’s burned out by the flaming Word, when he’s consumed at last by the fiery grace blazing through him, and when he’s privileged to translate the truth of God to man, finally transferred from earth to heaven, then bear him away gently and blow a muted trumpet and lay him down softly. Place a two-edged sword in his coffin, and raise the tomb triumphant. For he was a brave soldier of the Word. And ere he died, he had become a man of God.

by George Whitefield
December 16, 1714 - September 30, 1770

Keys for getting the most out of what the preacher says

Jesus said, “Therefore consider carefully how you listen” (Luke 8:18). Here are some cautions and directions, in order to help you hear sermons with profit and advantage.

1. Come to hear them, not out of curiosity, but from a sincere desire to know and understand. To enter His house merely to have our ears entertained, and not our hearts reformed, must certainly be highly displeasing to the Most High God, as well as unprofitable to ourselves.

2. Give diligent heed to the things that are spoken from the Word of God. If an earthly king were to issue a royal proclamation, and the life or death of his subjects entirely depended on performing or not performing its conditions, how eager would they be to hear what those conditions were! And shall we not pay the same respect to the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and lend an attentive ear to His ministers, when they are declaring, in His name, how our pardon, peace, and happiness may be secured?

3. Do not entertain even the least prejudice against the minister. That was the reason Jesus Christ Himself could not do many mighty works, nor preach to any great effect among those of His own country; for they were offended at Him. Take heed therefore, and beware of entertaining any dislike against those whom the Holy Spirit has made overseers over you.

Consider that the clergy are men of like passions with yourselves. And though we should even hear a person teaching others to do what he has not learned himself, yet that is no reason for rejecting his doctrine. For ministers speak not in their own, but in Christ’s name. And we know who commanded the people to do whatever the scribes and Pharisees should say unto them, even though they did not do themselves what they said (see Matt. 23:1-3).

4. Be careful not to depend too much on a preacher, or think more highly of him than you ought to think. Preferring one teacher over another has often been of ill consequence to the church of God. It was a fault which the great Apostle of the Gentiles condemned in the Corinthians: “For whereas one said, I am of Paul; another, I am of Apollos: are you not carnal, says he? For who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but instruments in God’s hands by whom you believed?” (1 Cor. 1:12; 2:3-5).

Are not all ministers sent forth to be ministering ambassadors to those who shall be heirs of salvation? And are they not all therefore greatly to be esteemed for their work’s sake?

5. Make particular application to your own hearts of everything that is delivered. When our Savior was discoursing at the last supper with His beloved disciples and foretold that one of them should betray Him, each of them immediately applied it to his own heart and said, “Lord, is it I?” (Matt. 26:22).

Oh, that persons, in like manner, when preachers are dissuading from any sin or persuading to any duty, instead of crying, “This was intended for such and such a one!” instead would turn their thoughts inwardly, and say, “Lord, is it I?” How far more beneficial should we find discourses to be than now they generally are!

6. Pray to the Lord, before, during, and after every sermon, to endue the minister with power to speak, and to grant you a will and ability to put into practice what he shall show from the Book of God to be your duty.

No doubt it was this consideration that made St. Paul so earnestly entreat his beloved Ephesians to intercede with God for him: “Praying always, with all manner of prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and for me also, that I may open my mouth with boldness, to make known the mysteries of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19-20). And if so great an apostle as St. Paul needed the prayers of his people, much more do those ministers who have only the ordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit.

If only all who hear me this day would seriously apply their hearts to practice what has now been told them! How ministers would see Satan, like lightning, fall from heaven, and people find the Word preached sharper than a two-edged sword and mighty, through God, to the pulling down of the devil’s strongholds!

This excerpt is adapted from Sermon 28 from The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield. Published by E. and C. Dilly, 1771-1772, London. George Whitefield (1714-1770) was a British Methodist evangelist whose powerful sermons fanned the flames of the First Great Awakening in the American colonies.

Roland Sanchez, who has ministered to us here in Fallon several times, has recently been ordained. Our own Pastor, Mike Rosario was on hand at the Ordination process, You can read all about it on Roland’s blog which can be found here; Family Forum. Here is a Photo posted there of Dan Jarms, (the tall guy in the back) Roland, Mike and John Smith on the right.

I would like to call your attention to what I believe to be a very important question for you, “Why did Jesus die?” It is very clear historically that Jesus did die, and that He died on a cross. The way He died was very typical of a criminal’s death. But why did Jesus die?”

Was it against His will?

Was He some victim of circumstance?

Was it to prove a point?

Was He the greatest martyr to ever live?

Actually, the Bible tells us Jesus died with purpose. It tells us Jesus was sinless when He died. In fact, Jesus was born to die in exactly the way He did. The Old Testament part of the Bible, written 600 years before Jesus was even born, told us that Jesus would die the kind of death He died (Isaiah 53). But why? The Bible gives us eight reasons why, there are more I’m sure, but consider these eight;

FIRST;

Jesus Christ died to pay for our sins. 1 Corinthians 15:3 says that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Man must have an answer for his sins, a payment. His sins form a debt to god that must be paid. God requires perfection because He is perfect. But man was born into sin and proves it every time he breaks one of God’s laws. So when we say that Christ died for sins we mean that He died to pay for the penalty that being a sinner carries.

SECOND;

Jesus died to rescue the ungodly helpless sinner. Romans 5:6 says, For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Man is helpless against sin. He can’t help himself. He is in a pit so deep he cannot by his ow strength get himself out.

THIRD;

Christ died to demonstrate love to the hateful sinner. Romans 5:8 explains that, God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Verse 10 tells us to be a sinner is to be an enemy of God. While we hated God, He loved us. Man by nature is hateful, self-loving and therefore, man-despising. He hates others, and that includes God. The Lord Jesus died for that.

FOURTH;

Jesus also died to be Lord of the dead and the living. Romans 14:9 puts it this way, For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Man has a lordship problem. He is unwilling to give up his rights, to give up his own rue of himself. The Bible calls that, rebellion against God, and that is sin. Christ died for that.

FIFTH;

Jesus Christ died to build up love. Romans 14:15 reasons, For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Jesus died to save the elect, ones God chose to be saved. He saves sinners to build them up to love one another. There is no greater mundane thing than food, everybody eats and needs it. But our appetites can also show how sinful we really can be. Christ died to show us that things like “food” don’t really matter so much. You can give up something in order to love someone else, but only the one whom Christ died for can be like that, can love others that way.

SIXTH;

Jesus died to give people the grace of God. Galatians 2:21 says it like this, I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly. Jesus died to get sinful people who deserve to be punished in hell to be declared righteous by God. The act of God doing that is by His grace. People who try to work to be accepted by God nullify Christ’s death. You need God’s grace instead.

SEVENTH;

Christ died to bring us to God. 1 Peter 3:18 is clear, For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. Man is separate from God. He is alone. He walks away from God. Man is unjust. The death of Christ was to bring people close to God, actually to Him. No one comes to God apart from Jesus’ death. The way Jesus brings us to God is by giving us faith to believe Him.

EIGHTH;

Jesus Christ died to give us a certain future. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 makes the point, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. To fall asleep in Jesus is to physically die. Ho can a person be sure that when he dies he will go to heaven to be with God? He must believe that Jesus died and rose again on their behalf. He must repent of his sins and trust Christ to be his Savior, to be his Lord.