Stand Fast in the Faith

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

1 Corinthians 16 · chapter mention

epistle to the Corinthian church.

Reading here some of his final words, First Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 16 · chapter mention

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

1 Corinthians 16 · chapter mention

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

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

verse 12, Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

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,

2 Timothy 2:3

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,

Matthew 24:42

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.

John 14:6

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,

Psalms 119:130

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

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

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.