ALONE WITH GOD     

  "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, 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 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. 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 ministry as a vocation in life, just as they would the medical or any other profession, and they have been miserable failures in God's eyes. They have failed to make any discrimination between the holy and the profane, and so they have been of no benefit to humanity. There is no responsibility so great as that resting upon the man God calls to preach his word to a gainsaying world. Let no man enter this field unless he is certain of a call from God; then may he give all diligence to that call and no be guilty of trifling. Many have entered the ministry without a call, thinking it a good vocation for life an easy way to make a livelihood, therefore we have so much passionless preaching. The idea has been expressed to me that preaching is no more than public speaking. This again gives us the answer as to why there is so, much passionless preaching. God's man will have a deep inwrought heart-concern for souls, such as was expressed by Moses while pleading with God in behalf of Israel. He requested God to blot his name out of his book if he would not forgive Israel. Also we see the burden Paul carried for his kinfolk as expressed in his own words: ÒI could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." It is when the preacher has this heart-concern about the souls of men that his preaching will amount to very much toward the salvation of souls. The audience will not feel more deeply concerned about the subject at hand than the preacher feels; and if the ministry means no more to the man in the pulpit than public speaking, he would be a thousand times better off in the business world. God often refers in his word to his servants (ministers) as his refers in his Òmessengers.Ó I may be possible for an individual to polish the intellect so as to have the ability to build sermons homiletically, logically and even scripturally, but only the man who is "called and sent of God" can deliver God's message. GodÕs man doesn't build the sermon, he merely delivers it. HE IS GOD'S MESSENGER. The true prophets of old had much to say about the "burden of the word of the LordÓ and they proved their sense of their solemn responsibility by faithfully delivering the same. "Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!" (Ezek. 13:3). Such prophets as are spoken of here are not very likely to deliver God's message, neither to have the burden of the word of the Lord upon their heart. They are following their own spirit, listening to their own reasoning; hence their messages are not weighted with the Spirit of God.

  God's man is a Holy Ghost filled man. The Apostles of Jesus had the wonderful privilege of associating with him personally for approximately three-and-a-half years. They sat at his feet and learned of him; they saw the mighty miracles he performed; they beheld the elements obey his word; yet just before he ascended back to heaven he told them not to depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father. This was the promise of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew these men were not ready to face the pagan world with his gospel without the infilling of the Spirit of God. Neither is any man capable of delivering God's message today without first becoming acquainted with God and his message and being filled with the Spirit. God's preachers are Holy Ghost filled. It is unthinkable that a man "anointed with the Spirit of God" to preach the gospel would be passionless, formal, professional, or that he would engage in the ministry as he would any other profession in life. If the ministry as whole would tarry before God until they were endowed with the power of the Holy Ghost there would not be much spiritless, hodgepodge preaching, and men would be pricked in their hearts and cry out as of old, "What must I do to be saved?"

  God's man has been delivered from the fear of the people, and when God tells him to deliver a message, all men look alike. He is no respecter of persons, he fears no man. There are far too many men in the pulpit today who are being governed . There are far too many men in the pulpit today who are being governed and silenced by some individual or group of individuals or by some organization. They have not sensed the fact that some day they must answer to God for the deceitful way in which they handled the word. When God calls a man to the ministry he expects that man to be a channel through which he can get any message he desires to the people. If the fear of people takes hold of this man, he becomes useless in God's hands. Many preachers remind me of the story I read about the little boy leading the band down the street. He was using a stick as a baton, and he was strutting along ahead of the band, but at every street corner he would glance back over his shoulder to see which way the band was going to turn. This same policy is being used by many preachers. They want to take the pulse of hte church on a given issue before they commit themselves. They want to know what the people desire so they can do their best to give it to them. God give us men in the pulpit who have been delivered from the fear of the people, men who will go into prayer before God for a message for the people, and when it is given theyÕll deliver it, even though it does expose the hypocritical profession of a board member or a liberal giver, men who will get their bearings from God and will stand upon his word and preach it regardless of the pulse of the church or the rest of the world.

  God's man relies upon his Lord and Master. He has faith and confidence in him who hath called him, and is persuaded that Christ is able to keep that which has been committed to him against that day. Of course, there will be many discouraging events along the way, times when it seems all has failed, times, perhaps, when he'll feel like Elijah did at one time; yet if he is God's man, he'll not resort to worldly policies or petty chicanery to carry on. His trust is anchored in the word of God, which shall never pass away, neither shall it fail to accomplish the purpose for which God has sent it. The full evidence of his call from God is found in the fact that he relies entirely upon the power of faith and denounces all the tricks of diplomacy and compromise. All "string-pulling" ceases, and he rests his case in God's hands and upon the fact that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the true word of God.

  Brother preacher, are you really God's man or merely a tool being used by some organization to promote its godless policies? Are you living in touch with him who some day shall judge you according to your works? The sermons you preach from Sunday to Sunday—are they God's messages to a sin-cursed world bound for eternal damnation? Are you fully aware of the fact that you must give account to God for every sermon you preach and for every one he wants you to preach and you fail or refuse to do it? Dare any man step into the pulpit and pose as a preacher of righteousness unless he is called of God < and belongs ENTIRELY T0 HIM? It is a solemn thing to assume the responsibility of being God's messenger. Take heed that you be faithful to the trust that he has put in you. "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine," so that someday you may wear a crown of life with the true and faithful in heaven. May God bless and encourage the heart of every man and woman who has been called of God to the ministry of his word.