Preface: I was in conversation with a friend today....July 4th....about some electrical problems that he was having....and how he had a friend coming in who is an expert on these things. I took my cue and mentioned how I appreciate all the friends who have expertise in so many areas....areas that they have dedicated to much of their life in acquiring knowledge....and that I also had my own expertise....with forty years of study and tearful prayers to go along with it....but few value my expertise because it is in an area where it is perceived that one does not have to work at all ....for all they have to do is....say whatever comes out of their mind. I'm referring here to religion. Politics can be included....no one needs to do any real work....just come up with whatever they happen to think at the moment. My conclusion for this preface is....study and work....does not....does not....in itself guarantee anything as to expertise....for there are multitudes out there who have spent longer than four decades in studies in religion....and are nothing but heretics or charlatans. So study does not guarantee that you will learn a lot and be well-informed and have wisdom and discernment.....but....do not study....do not work....and it does guarantee....that you will not....be well-informed....or have a lot of wisdom....or discernment!
Who Are The Watchmen In Your Life?
Who might you consider to be the....'watchman'....in your life.....or rather do you even have someone like that? Might it be the pastor? It should be! What is a watchman? Well Billy Graham surely was one. Ezekiel was a watchman....as was Jeremiah....as were all the rest of the prophets. God told Ezekiel to blow the trumpet....that if the others heard it....the responsibility was on them....and no longer on Ezekiel.
In a very real sense we are all to be watchmen.....because we are to be vigilant and sober and watching always....but do you have hours on end to stand and watch....every day of your lives....over decades....but we can listen to what the watchmen say....and listen for the sound of the trumpet. Alistair Begg is a watchman....as is John Piper....as is Michael Horton….as is Stephen Lawson….as is MacArthur and so many others today....and we have the words of the watchmen of the past.....Spurgeon and Ryle and Lloyd-Jones....and Bunyan and the Puritans and the reformers are as if speaking today....if only we would search them out and listen.
The evangelical church does not know the severity of the situation that we are in today. Oh they know the politics of it....they are well versed in the concepts of liberty and freedom....and economic collapse....but not false prophets....and not God's warnings of judgment. They are all for keeping the churches open in a pandemic....but unaware that the cross and the gospel are all but gone in most of those churches. They can see and lament that the 'glory' is gone from America....but have not noticed that the GLORY has departed from the pulpits. Watchmen are needed....they are always needed....and they are there....but we say to them as did those of Judah to Jeremiah....'we will not pay attention'.'
Jeremiah 6:16...."Thus says the LORD: 'Stand by the roads,and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it'."
Jeremiah 6;17...."I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, 'we will not pay attention'."
