The Weight of the Word

GOD'S MAN

Note: In the caption of this article I have use word "man", and also throughout the article itself. This does not mean I do not believe in women preachers. I do believe God calls both men and women.

  "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, IF YE CAN FIND A MAN, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it" (Jer. 5:1). Even though these words were penned by one of God's prophets centuries ago, they are strangely modern. The crying need in every age has been for men, not merely the male of the human species, but men in whom are incarnate those virtues of sagacity, sobriety, integrity, those virtues we usually associate the concept of real manhood. Surely in this day the moral fabric of mankind is being tested to the severest point, we need real men to take the helm and guide us on. God give us men whose hearts are strong with faith in God, men with willing hands to work, men are willing to risk their position, their influence, their name, and even their life, for the sake of truth and uprightness; men whom the lust of office will not kill and the spoils of office cannot buy. Give us men opinions and convictions based on "thus saith the Lord,Ò and a will to see justice awakened, men who will stand before a sin-benighted world and expose her treacherous, ungodly deeds without fear or favor, men who can say Òthus saith the Lord" without flinching, men with character, men with spotless lives, men in touch with God. Yes, beloved, [131] this is the need of our day as well as in the day Jeremiah.

  Now may I call your attention to the portion of scripture found in Ezek. 22:23-31- It would be well for you to stop right now and read these words from your Bible. IÕll not record them here for lack of space. In this passage of scripture God declares there was a conspiracy of the prophets in the midst of Israel. The men who were standing guard on Israel's walls were giving the trumpet such an uncertain sound that the people were unaware the enemy was at the gate. Furthermore, he declares in verse 26 that the priests have lost the power of moral discrimination. They have put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither showed any difference between the unclean and the clean. The Lord further indicts them with Sabbath desecration and finally asserts that the prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them. What defilement could be more serious or degrading than that which God charges Israel? She is found here in a state of moral degradation, and the prophets and the priests are charged with the responsibility. Practically the same call we read in Jer. 5:1 is found in verse 30 of this passage of scripture. "And I sought for a man among that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none." It's a sad condition indeed when God seeks for a man to make up the hedge (a barrier between holy and profane) and finds none.

  These scathing words of denunciation apply in our present day as well as in the days of Ezekiel. The prophets of our days have entered into a conspiracy of silence [132] in respect to the sinfulness of sin. One rarely hears solemn words, "Thou shalt not," sounded -from our pulpits, and as a result of this silence, sin stalks boldly into the fore ranks clad only in a thin veneer of profession. We find many lustful, covetous, greedy hearts with a profession of religion, and the preacher hasn't enough God in his heart to expose sin for fear his bread and butter will be cut off. God give us men filled with fear of God. Too many preachers have reasoned in their own minds that every individual has a conscience of his own to tell him how far to go into sin. Preacher, this reasoning does not deliver you from the responsibility of delivering the word of God to eternity-bound souls. You are to cry out against sin, as Isaiah tells you (Isa. 58:1): "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." If you fail to do this and enter into a conspiracy of silence, or spare one Agag, you'll be lost forever. God also declares in verse 26 the priests have put no difference between the holy and the profane neither have they showed the difference between the unclean and the clean. This is also a failure of our present day ministry. The ministry has failed in its preaching to draw a visible line of distinction between sin and righteousness. The so-called churches of our day do not command the respect of God-loving people because have so lowered themselves as to put no difference between the holy and profane. Nominal churchanity long ago lost the vision of its duty before God and humanity, having been perverted from a body of God-fearing people into a body of pleasure-lovers. The church buildings have been partially converted into halls of amusement.[133] Their basements have become in many instances recreational centers to entertain the people. And so goes churchanity while the souls of men are bound in the galling yoke of sin and headed for eternal damnation. How sad to think a preacher and his congregation have lost the power of moral discrimination. They are no longer able discern the difference between the holy and the profane; such is the case today with many. Men who at one time cried out against sin have been silenced by the subtle forces of compromise. At one time they discerned the difference between the holy and the profane but now have lost power of discernment. God give us men in the pulpit who have cherished and preserved this God-given power discernment and who are not afraid to exercise it. The true minister of God and the true church of God still have that power of discernment and are still drawing the line between sin and righteousness that all who desire may see. When any minister or church fails to draw this line they soon lose their hold on God and his truth and apostatize.

  The preacher must be a MAN. He must be a "twice bornÓ man, born of the Spirit of God, a man who has experienced the redeeming, cleansing, pardoning love of God, and has tasted the powers of the world to come. He must be a man who has experienced the sanctifying, power of the Holy Spirit and realizes the abiding presence of the Spirit. He must have a genuine experience with God before he is qualified to receive a call to the ministry.

  The preacher must be a CALLED MAN and a SENT MAN. The ministry of God's word is not a profession that men may enter if they so desire. Many have entered the [134]

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