Transcript: God's Plumb Line of Righteousness in Scripture Explained

I would like you to open your Bibles today to Amos 7, verse 1. And we are going to see an account of God setting His plumb line as a standard of righteousness to a wayward people. Amos 7, verse 1. Thus the Lord God showed me Amos, and behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the second crop, and behold, it was the second crop after the king's mowings. And when the locust had finished eating the plants of the land, then I said, O Lord, forgive, I pray you. How can Jacob stand, for he is so small? The Lord relented and revoked this sentence. It shall not take place, said the Lord, and he was eased and comforted concerning it. Thus the Lord showed me, and behold, the Lord God called for punishment with fire, and it devoured the great deep, and would have eaten up all the land. Then I said, O Lord, cease, I pray you. How can Jacob stand? He is so little. The Lord relented and revoked the sentence. This also shall not be, said the Lord. And he was eased and comforted concerning it. Verse 7. Then he showed me, and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall with a plumb line and with a plumb line in his hand. The Lord said to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A plumb line. Then the Lord said, Behold, I am setting a plumb line as a standard in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not pass by and spare them anymore. The door of mercy is shut. Verse 9. And the idolatrous high places of Isaac, Israel, shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste. And I will rise with the sword against the house of King Jeroboam, who set up the golden calf shrines. Then Amaziah the priest of the golden calf shrine at Bethel sent to King Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all of his words. Verse 11. For thus Amos has said, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land. Also Amaziah said to Amos, O you seer, go. Flee back to the land of Judah, your own country, and eat your bread and live out your profession as a prophet there, as I perform my duties here. But do not prophesy any more at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary and a seat of his kingdom. Then Amos said to Amaziah, I was no prophet by profession, neither was I a prophet's son, but I had my occupation. I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and a gatherer of figs. And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, Go prophesy to my people Israel. Verse 16, And therefore listen to the word of the Lord. You say, do not prophesy against Israel and drop no statements not complimentary to the house of Isaac. Therefore thus says the Lord, Your wife shall be a harlot in the city and your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword and your land shall be divided up by line and you yourself shall die in an unclean and defiled land and Israel shall surely go forth out of his land into exile. Well, what we are seeing in this chapter is the power of prayer of a man who God's hand was upon to bring order and right standing back to his people once again. And this is what the plummet represents. The people of God were not considered true and straight in their devotion to God because they had fallen into the worship of false gods. The name of this word to you today is called the plumb line of God's righteousness. We see in verse 8 where God calls the prophet by name as though he were a friend of God. And he was known by God and approved by him just as God had said to Moses, I know you by name. The Lord knows as well today those who are his. And we see in these verses that God had manifested a vision before Amos' eyes showing him about what was to come in the way of judgment in the form of locusts and fire. and when God showed Amos a swarm of locusts descending on sinful Israel Amos realized how hopeless was his people's condition and he pleaded with God to spare them from this disaster and God relented then a vision of fire brought the same alarm from Amos and his fruitful heartfelt prayer brought God's mercy once again for the people then God shows Amos the plumb line this plumb line reveals that measured against God's laws Israel was out of line and she had escaped the judgments of locusts and fire because of the prophet's prayers but now the time of God's justice was about to be unleashed against her Amaziah the priest says to King Jeroboam This prophet is saying terrible things. In responding to Amos' vision of the plumb line, Amaziah, who was the priest of the idolatrous shrine at Bethel, falsely accused Amos of conspiring against King Jeroboam by acting treasonously for upsetting an order that had been established by man rather than by God. these rebellious hard headed greedy and idolatrous leaders did not want what they considered to be a peaceful land disturbed by the man whom God had handpicked to go to them and tell them what he was about to do Amaziah tells Amos go home obviously unable to get the king to arrest Amos the false priest attacks Amos himself by ordering him to leave Israel and return to Judah where he had come from. In verse 12, Amaziah the priest tells him to get out of the land and go to your own country and prophesy your duties there and no longer at Bethel because this is the king's sanctuary and the seat of his kingdom. Well, obviously, the false priest was speaking what was on his own heart and was admitting the truth that this place had become the center of false worship and he planned to keep it that way. It had truly become the house of King Jeroboam rather than the house of God as its name had implied. King Jeroboam was a king of Israel who was concerned that the Israelites might return to the house of David if they continued their journey for the festivals and observances at the Temple of Solomon. So he proposed an alternative form of worship that was idolatrous, which was instituted to keep them in the land. So he made two calves that held the great resemblance to the Canaanites' pagan god called Baal. then listen to what King Jeroboam tells the people in 1 Kings 12 verse 28 so the king took counsel and he makes two calves of gold and he says to the people it is too much for you to go all the way up to Jerusalem behold your gods oh Israel who brought you up out of the land of Egypt verse 29 and he set the one golden calf in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Verse 30, And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship each of them even as far as Dan. Jeroboam also made houses on high places, and made priests out of people who were not Levites. And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast kept in Judah, and he offered sacrifices upon the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he made. And he placed in Bethel the priest of the high places he had made. Verse 33. So he offered up on the altar he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month a date which he had chosen individually. And he appointed a feast for the Israelites and he went up to the altar to burn incense in defiance of God's law. once he committed to this sinful and abominable direction Jeroboam's progress went downhill like a huge snowball and one great sin leads to another and then he appointed priests from other tribes other than Levi from whom God had ordained that only his priests were to come from and he offered sacrifices to these two images and gradually polluted the worship ordained by God, the God of Israel. And he appointed the feast days for the people rather than obey the days God had given them to keep and celebrate. Well, then the Lord confronts King Jeroboam by sending him an unnamed prophet who predicted God's judgment on the king and nation. And even though outwardly this defiant king appeared to be repentant, Jeroboam would not change his horrendous and dreadful idolatry. His rebellious and arrogant attitude set the pattern for future rulers of Israel for generations to come. And I would like us to notice especially verse 7 where Amos has a vision of the plumb line. Verse 7, then he showed me in the vision. behold the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line with a plumb line in his hand the Lord said to me Amos what do you see and I said a plumb line and the Lord said behold I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel I will not pass by them and spare them anymore the door of mercy is shut the high places of Isaac shall be desolate and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste. I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam. The Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb line and he held a plumb line in his hand. And this is prophetically showing us that the plumb line is an emblem of strict justice and is indicating that God would now visit his people and mete out his justice according to their iniquities. God's people, Israel, represented this wall which God himself had raised up as a wall of defense to his sanctuary which he had set in the midst of them. And this was to be the place of holy habitation for the people of God. And these were to be his holy people whom he had raised up to worship, honor, and bring glory to his name. and this plumb line is very exact, firm and sure and everything in that wall was ordered by God and was to be the model of his righteousness as long as it stood fast. God is now standing upon this wall not to hold it up any longer but to bring it down because of great and long rebellion to his righteous decrees and commands. The plumb line measures the exact straightness of it, which is God's righteousness. The plumb line would show if the wall is bulging or crooked and or wouldn't measure the exact straightness of it. God has spoken through the prophet, declaring that the days of mercy are over and that according to the line of righteousness and justice, he is not going to spare them any longer because what he has measured is not true nor upright. In other words, his patience has reached its end and he would not strive with these people in their sin of rebellion any longer. And this is really speaking something to us today. In our day, rebellion against the laws that God has set up in the government of his church is not a new thing. the church of our Lord Jesus Christ has been fighting the old serpent called Satan the devil and his diabolical, malicious and malignant attacks of perversion and corruption in the church from the onset of her birth she has come through the dark ages and it looked like there was little hope of her existence but there was indeed a flame burning within because the Lord would not back down nor not keep his covenantal promises to his son Jesus Christ that would be the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of time That he would have the reward of his suffering and also that he would have a special and precious bride that would come out of all the church And this bride would be those who have been true, righteous, and faithful to God in living their lives in awe and reverent and obedient fear of him whom they love with all that is within them. and now today we see where recently there are pastors and leaders who have fallen into great and horrendous sins of idolatry in the form of lust perversion and mammon and these sins have evidenced themselves in the outward manifestations the word of God calls adultery and fornication the Bible dictionary defines an adulterer as a man who has illicit intercourse with a married or betrothed woman, and such a woman is also called an adulteress. Both have consented to participate in this horrible act against the law of God. Intercourse between a married man and unmarried woman is a willful agreement between both parties and is considered fornication. Intercourse outside marriage between two unmarried people is considered fornication as well. And both are regarded as great sin in the eyes of God and are also to be considered as a great social wrong. Sex sins have always been hated the most by God because once this kind of perversion takes place and less repented of, hated and loathed by the individual, the perversion just becomes greater and more intense, finally spilling over into all kinds of compromise and presumption where greater error is increased in almost every aspect of that church or ministry. The church at Corinth was warned in Paul's epistle in the book of 1 Corinthians 5 that the deceitfulness of sin would infect them all if they did not deal with the immorality in their midst. the church at Thyatira was told by Apostle John that they would lose their authority and influence because they tolerated false teachings that led to immorality a number of years ago a lady we knew belonged to a church where the pastor had an affair with a woman who was not his wife but he stayed at the pulpit and he preached as though nothing had happened and it didn't take long until many of the church members began to have marital problems and one by one they began to divorce. And just as Paul had advised and taught in the Word that the deceitfulness of sin would infect them all if they did not deal with the immorality in their midst. You see, God is looking for sexual purity in his church and especially in his leadership since they set the example and model the Holy Scriptures teachings and God's biblical order in the way she is to conduct God's business in his house. Can I tell you, dear church, God is saying to many true saints in the church today who are heart-sickened by all the compromise and presumption that has been taking place in the church, and he is saying to them, what do you see? and just like prophet Amos in verse 7 of our scripture they are saying Lord we see your plumb line and the Lord says behold I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people and I will not pass by them anymore the high places called the altars built by man but are defiled and impure shall become desolate and the impure sanctuaries of the obscene lewd and greedy leaders shall soon be laid to waste. I will raise up my sword against the houses which have defiled my name, says the Lord. And just to give you an example of the same kind of hardness of heart as there was in our example of King Jeroboam and his idolatrous priest Amaziah, there is a pastor of a congregation of 10,000 members in Baltimore who has been in the news and was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock. And his wife filed for divorce on the grounds of adultery and cruel treatment. And this pastor preached a now famous sermon in his church in which he used King David's story of adultery with Bathsheba to defend himself. And he stood at the pulpit and shouted, I am still the man. And the people jumped to their feet and cheered. And he said, the anointing on my life is greater than any mistake I have made. And he made it clear to his congregation that he had no intention of being defrocked or disciplined. This man is mistakenly and dangerously in great air, thinking that the anointing is greater than God's holy word that declares that we must become like his son Jesus Christ in his nature and his character. There is no greater qualification for any Christian regardless if they are in leadership or not. And we are speaking about character here, church. Character, the work of the Holy Spirit in the newly redeemed life, is to mold and shape the individual into the very nature and character of our Lord Jesus Christ. With his godly and holy life being obvious with the fruit and evidence of obedience, purity, sincerity, and righteousness. Every individual who is under the influence of the Holy Spirit's leading and teaching and guidance must be convinced and voluntarily accept that his inspiring and controlling principles of these holy qualities belonging to him by nature, and he is graciously imparting them to each one who is teachable and trainable as he builds and molds and shapes the nature and character of Christ in us. If this does not happen, the natural man remains and his character then is his own nature or carnal character. This regeneration, though it requires active faith on the part of the individual, is nevertheless the work of God. And therefore this building of character is truly a divine work of God, lest any man should boast. Godly Christian character demands the whole heart to be changed, dear one. Scripture says, for out of the heart are the issues of life. And the ruling temperament of a man's heart forms the whole essence of his character. In other words, with Apostle Paul, he teaches character is the man. The holy character is the new man. And the corrupt character is the old man. Can I tell you that without this work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will be subject to the devil's rule of satisfying every fleshly appetite that he tempts us with? And this is what we are talking about in this horrendous crime of sexual sins and apostate teachings that are taking place at the altars in many churches and ministries today. Dear church, we are in a time of testing and crisis, not only in our present economy, our nation's government, but also in the church. And God is definitely concerned about all three. But can I tell you, more responsibility is given to the church as she stands as a sentinel or watchman over the others. God has a commanding view of his church and he stands upon the wall high up so that nothing escapes the view of his vision and every part of her comes within his glance as he observes. He takes notice and sees her activity as good or bad, and he watches to see if her conduct is pure as the light is shown on it, or if it is occultic in activity with darkness as it shrouds and evil with its secret motives and intentions. He watches her influence to see if it is valuable and fruitful, or if it is noxious and detrimental. In Solomon's writings, he wrote that God's eye is on us all in all of our activities and that even the most secret act does not escape his glance or notice. As the Lord stands upon the wall, he tests the character of the wall. He holds the plumb line in his hand and just as the mason uses the plumb line to determine the straightness of the wall, So does God use the plumb line to test the character of all yours and my actions, our deeds, our words and our thoughts. The plumb line is God's use and way of measuring every human conscience. And by this, he tries all men, which means this includes even unbelievers, heathens and God haters. God's law is the plumb line as written in his holy word and by this he tries all who possess the revelation to his word the ten commandments for example have been hung on the walls of the White House the Senate and every other hall of justice in the United States of America but in the last several decades God haters and atheists have been successful in having God's commands removed from these walls and halls of justice. And it was by these commandments and precepts of Holy Scripture on which our nation was founded, the Christian Judeoethics and moral principles which come from God's holy book of life was the reason and cause of this nation being blessed and prosperous for many years until her walls began to crumble, to bulge, to become twisted and perverted by corruption, by changing godly standards of righteousness for kinky desires with beast-like mentality which have lowered moral character and standards. Our society's perverted values have taken permissiveness to the extreme and continues at this present time to spiral downward. My father, who just recently passed away, was a few months away from being 94 years of age. A few years before he died, I asked him if he had ever in all of his years ever seen our nation in such a terrible mess. He said, No, this is undoubtedly the worst of times in all of my life that I have ever seen the declining morals and values of the people in our nation. And he said, It is heartbreaking to see the young people treat parents and their elders with such little respect. They are rude and seem to have no direction or correction, he said, and honesty seems to be a thing of the past. Proverbs 28, verse 2 declares, When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily, but with honest, sensible leaders there is stability. in Isaiah 28 verse 17 God declares I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level and this is saying the church being grounded on Christ will be formed and reformed by God's holy word and the standing upright rule of his justice and righteousness judgment will return unto righteousness and those who do not conform will be thrown into the fire like the branch that was purged from the vine because it did not bear fruit. The plumb line of God is also embodied in Jesus Christ. By this, God tries all who have the gospel. He measures the degree to which they have been growing in His righteousness, His grace, His love, and His mercy. For instance, we see in the book Revelation 3, Verse 7, where the Lord commends the Philadelphian church above all other churches for their fruitfulness. Read with me, please, as we investigate why these people received the Lord's approval. Revelation 3, verse 7. And to the angel messenger of the assembly church in Philadelphia write, These are the words of the Holy One, the true one. He who has the key of David Who opens and no one shall shut Who shuts and no one shall open Verse 8 I know the record of works and what you are doing See I have set before you a door wide open Which no one is able to shut I know that you have but a little power And yet you have kept my word and guarded my message And have not renounced or denied my name The Philadelphian church was not great, it is thought, in number. So in power it did not compare to the others who had more in number. But they were humble and did not rely on their own strength. But they were strong in the faith. These saints were commended for their faithfulness and they did not deny Christ's name. They were likened to the little sea creature, the little mollusk, who clung tightly to the rock and when the stormy waves hit it it would only cling all the more tightly to the rock Well what was it that these dear believers had done that the angel of the Lord should praise and esteem them so highly for? The Lord said, you have kept and guarded my message and have not renounced or denied my name. Found again in verse 8. this means at first that they had received the word of God because if they had not heard it first and held it then they could not have kept it the word was theirs they read it they searched for it they ate it they made it their very own you see it is no small thing or privilege to be taught of the Holy Spirit and to have tasted the word and to hold a deep attachment to the truth in God's word. God said, I know your works and I see what you are doing. God noticed these people and their dedication and faithfulness to him and to his precepts. And we see that these people also loved the word of God. They had an explosive and profound delight in it. They appreciated the Lord's word. They stored it up like bees store up honey and they were ready to defend this truth as bees are when they guard over their storehouses. Have you ever approached a beehive? If you have, you know that you didn't hang around there too long since the bees started swarming around you in the effort to drive you off far from their storehouse. Well, the people in the Philadelphian church meditated upon the word and they worked diligently to understand it in its depths. They were good stewards of God's word. And this means that they believed it, and most importantly, they kept it and practiced it. God said, I know your works, and I see what you are doing, and you have kept my word and obeyed me. The wonderful example in these scriptures show us a people whom God commends for their reverent obedience to him, and also saying, in effect, you are building the type and kind of character that I am looking for and that I will use to minister to my future generations. You have the quality of leadership that I am looking for and the metal of steadfastness and ability that will not bend or lose its uprightness. Please notice in these few verses that we have just read that God is saying to them in effect, You have been faithful, therefore I will use you. You have been steadfast, therefore I will put you to work. And I have put before you a wide and open door that no one is able to shut. These people demonstrated the kind of character that God is looking for in ministry today. They did not compromise his word and twist it to form a doctrine of their own. They were jealous to present the gospel in all of its purity. This is why the Lord said in verse 8, You have kept my word and guarded my message and have not renounced or denied my name. They had guarded the truth in the word to prosper the kingdom of God, not to tear it down. They were trustworthy with the truth. So this is why God will open the door up to them and they pass God's inspection he knows who can bear the temptation of success and who cannot he knows whether or not people are ready to be promoted and he will permit them to be tried in different ways until he sees that they are found faithful and then and only then will he open up the door and give them opportunity of bearing witness for him he says you have been faithful therefore I will use you You have been steadfast, therefore I will put you to work for my name's sake. As was mentioned, there are definite qualifications of leadership in God's house. And this is what we are not seeing in many sectors of the church today. Please understand, I am not saying this is carte blanche in all churches. There is definitely a large segment of leaders who make up their own rules as they go. and as a result of their lack of biblical order, they end up causing a great scandal in the news and cause a blemish on the church's credibility and integrity. We heard a pastor say just recently that he was embarrassed to say that he was a pastor because of what was happening in the news with the exposure of many fallen leaders. Dear saints, this should not be so. Apostle Paul makes it very clear in his epistle in 1 Timothy 3.2 that there are certain qualifications for Christian leadership. 1 Timothy 3. Let's begin in verse 2. A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach. Verse 3. Not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous one who rules his own house well having his children in submission with all reverence verse 5 for if a man does not know how to rule his own house how will he take care of the church of God not a novice lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil verse 7 moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil summarizing then the New Testament leadership in the New Testament church is to be number one above reproach that is he must be blameless that is mature and sincere second point he must be the husband of one wife many Bible teachers believe that the New Testament way of saying this is that a leader must not be an adulterer nor can he be polygamous Christian leaders are to walk in sexual purity and they must abide by the biblical definition of marriage and stay true to its teachings. Third point, for the qualifications of Christian leadership, the Christian leader must be temperate. This means he must not be an abuser of alcohol or other substances. Number four, he must be prudent, which means good judgment and common sense. Number five, he must be respectful. 6. He must be hospitable. 7. He must be able to teach. 8. He must be a good manager of his own family. 9. He must be respected in the community. 10. He must not be a new convert. Apostle Paul wrote a letter to Titus and listed further qualifications including, A leader must not be self-willed. and the 12th point that was 11 and 12 he must not be pugnacious or belligerent which means contentious or quarrelsome and 13 and lastly he must not be fond of sword or greedy and covetous gain please notice that Paul is speaking about character in these points character is the key to remaining faithful to God's requirements his divine order and his justice. And you may have noticed that only one of these qualifications which was able to teach would require one to have the anointing of the Holy Spirit on their lives. And the anointing is the approval of God for his particular work or service. In the Old Testament, God called his servants, the Lord's anointed, God's anointed, my anointed. Your anointed and his anointed. And it is still the same today. Those who are in Christ are set apart and commissioned for his service. And the anointing belongs to the Lord. And it is for his work and his service. And it is to be administered to his people for the purpose of maturing the saints. It is only then that anyone will be prepared to teach God's word. and will not pervert it in order to make God an end to their means. Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 4 says in referring to the anointing when he was teaching, 1 Corinthians 2, 4 My language and my message were not set forth in persuasive, enticing, plausible words of wisdom, but they were in a demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power, a proof by the spirit and power of God operating on me and stirring in the minds of my hearers and most holy emotions and thus persuading them so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of man in human philosophy but in the power of God. You see, some people strut around like roosters pleased as punch about their anointing. And we do not read in God's word where he says my anointing as referring to his servants. Pride is the opposite of humility and only the truly humble will be used of God for his service and his glory. And the pastor has committed adultery and used the account of David and Bathsheba to justify his sin and then stood at the apopah and shouted, I'm still the man. While the people jumped to their feet and cheered and he says further, the anointing on my life is greater than any mistake that I have made. You know, Paul did not say one thing about leaders' ability to prophesy, heal the sick, raise the dead, having dreams and visions, speaking to angels, singing, fundraising, or having the ability to sway audiences with charismatic personality in order to influence them into giving great sums of money. those who do not meet God's ordained Christian leadership qualifications that Apostle Paul demanded of his leaders then it should be the standard by which everyone who does not comply with these should step down and take their seat in the congregation where they may grow in understanding so that they too may mature in godly character in God's righteousness, His understanding, wisdom and purity remembering our account when the angel of the Lord spoke to the Philadelphian church in Revelation 3.8 and said you have kept my word and guarded my message and have not renounced or denied my name you see they kept the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ true and pure they guarded it and watched over it and taught it in its purity and integrity undefiled, void of man's vain philosophies and worldly input these people were but a little flock small in number poor in worldly goods and small in the eyes of human beings around them but God had nothing against them and what can we learn of these people and why did God approve them and commend them? again, they held fast to God's word They were patient in waiting for his promises and blessings to come to pass. They were an exceptional and rare band of believers joined by cords of brotherly love for one another. They were the only one of the seven churches with which the angel of the Lord found no fault. Rather, he promised an open door to them so that they could take his gospel forth in the preservation for future generations, with the purpose of building the kingdom of God in the hearts and lives of Jesus Christ's future inheritance. Dear ones, it is no small thing or privilege to be taught of the Holy Spirit and to have tasted the word and hold a deep attachment to the truth in God's word. God said to the people, I know your works and I see what you are doing. Well, God is noticing today and taking note the people who are dedicated and faithful to him and to his precepts. And he is paying attention and watching each one of us individually to see how highly we esteem his word and his love to us. He observes and takes notice to see if his truth burns deeply in your heart. and if you take delight in it and store it up in your heart. The proof of this is that you are living in absolute obedience to what His Word demands of you as His child. And the proof of your Christianity is your reverent and obedient fear and love of your Lord and God, Jesus Christ. The proof of your love and obedience is that God's righteousness is being established in your life and His rules of upright living are the present standard and pattern of your now way of living. For those who love the righteousness of God found only in Jesus Christ, they too will hear, just like our brothers and sisters in the Philadelphian church heard, You have kept my words and guarded my message and have not renounced or denied my name. Therefore, I am now setting before you a wide open door, and you shall take my gospel and proclaim it to the nations because I can trust you with it and you will not pervert it nor twist it to make gain for yourself But for those who are in opposition to God ordained and definite qualifications for Christian leadership, and he is saying, behold, I will not pass by you anymore because the days of my mercy have passed and the door is being shut. this means that God is ready to display his strict justice on those who would not heed the words of warning that God had sent into their midst to tell them of their sins and iniquities and to repent and turn around God's judgment is designed to bring repentance and change but many people have ignored the warnings that God has sent them and they did not heed and dear church God allows them to walk in their lusts and passions for a season and a time. Romans 1, 22. Paul writes, professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Verse 24. Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their body among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and preserved the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Verse 26. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also, the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another. men committing what is shameful and in receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. Verse 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting being filled with all unrighteousness sexual immorality wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, and so on. Since every scripture is God-breathed, given by his inspiration, and profitable for instruction, conviction of sin, correction of error, and discipline in obedience, then Paul's words to define the definite qualifications of Christian leadership ought to be a warning that these are mandatory and not optional. If Paul demanded this character of his leaders, then it stands to be an example and reason that those who fail in any of these areas should be removed from office. They should sit down, at least until they regain the character attributes and integrity of God's righteous commands in his precepts. When leaders fell or failed, Paul demanded that they be firmly rebuked in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. Their sin was never petted, never shuffled behind a door, swept under a rug, excused or made to be a small thing. In 1 Timothy 5, verse 20, Paul says, As for those who are guilty and persist in sin, rebuke and admonish them in the presence of all, so that the rest may be warned and stand in wholesome awe and fear. Verse 21. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the chosen angels that you guard and keep these rules without personal prejudice or favor, doing nothing from partiality. as we see this strict approach was not optional you see in verse 21 where Paul warned Timothy about the temptation to be partial or show favor he told Timothy maintain these principles without bias or personal prejudice and to be careless with God's biblical principles of discipline then will be the downfall of the church and it must be known and stated that it is not right to remove one pastor who has fallen into adultery or perversion of the gospel and then treat another with favor or partiality because he might have a big church or a big name or just because he's a friend or well liked gross sin is not cute in God's sight he gives the command to all of us you who love the Lord hate evil removal must be done according to biblical standards in order to maintain and preserve the fear of the Lord and God's holy standard of righteousness the church will not prosper or flourish if discipline of leadership is ignored Paul gives his son Timothy stern warning in 1 Timothy 5.22 saying do not be in a hurry in the laying on of hands, giving the sanction of the church too hastily in re-estating expelled offenders or in the ordination of questionable cases, nor share or participate in another man's sin, keep yourself pure. One of the reasons Paul gives this stout warning to Timothy about ordaining any church leader hastily or prematurely is because he would share in the guilt and responsibility for the sins of others. And this is saying that leaders will actually become liable or subject to the strict judgment of God if they ordain a leader who does not meet the biblical qualifications for leadership. If ordaining and sanctioning the ordination and approving of those who are unfit to become leaders becomes the custom, then the church will grow into deep and horrendous corruption which will eventually in time invoke the judgment and justice of God's plumb line being dropped into their midst. Paul warned the people at the church in Thyatira that the deceitfulness of sin would infect them all if they did not deal with the immorality of their church. It is time for the church to wake up and come back to God's holy and pure standards of righteousness according to scripture. We have pastors who have been caught in their bizarre cover-up and secrecy where the pastor and staff were involved in wife-swapping. We have whole denominations of churches who are allowing ordinations of homosexual leadership to be preachers and pastors. We have a pastor who teaches the inclusion doctrines that say that Jesus Christ is not the only way to eternal life and is invited into many and various churches who are interested in hearing something new. How dangerous and how deadly. And I say it again, that God is saying to many true saints in the church today who are heartsickened by all the compromise and presumption, the twisting and perversion that has been taking place in his precious church and he is saying, What do you see? And just like Prophet Amos, in his book of Amos chapter 7, these people are saying, Lord, we see your plumb line. And the Lord says, Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people, and I will not pass by them anymore. The high place is called the altar is built by man, but are defiled and impure. shall become desolate and the impure sanctuaries of obscene, lewd and greedy leaders shall be laid waste and I will raise up my sword against the houses which have defiled my name says the Lord. And I believe I can say this with prophetic unction from the Lord. Church, behold, the days and time is coming soon where many of the Lord's houses will fall and not be raised back up again. The doors of mercy and grace are being shut, and the Lord is uncovering and exposing the atrocities and abominations that are taking place in the church in the name of the Lord. But because they have defiled His name and have not upheld the integrity of His word, nor would receive the warnings that have come to them that were meant to turn them around, and because of these the plumb line of righteousness has been lowered and we will begin to see the demise of many leaders who would not conform to God's holy standards and qualifications for church leadership. And it is our prayer that the fear of the Lord will seize our hearts today until we will all come to the place where we will humble ourselves before the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to shine his light of truth in our hearts, to see how we measure up in the righteousness of God found in Jesus Christ alone. Where do you stand today, dear one? Are you biblically based and grounded in God's word and live in the biblical patterns of the word? In other words, are you a living testimony and epistle of the letters of Holy Scripture? The Gospel of Matthew 5, verse 6, Jesus declares Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled If you are truly one who is hungry for the Lord and His righteousness you have the promise that He will fill you But you must pursue Him, dear one You must chase after Him and He will be found by you Amos 8, verse 11 declares Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord when I will send famine in the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but a famine for hearing the words of the Lord and the people shall wander from sea to sea and from north to even the east and they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord inquiring for and requiring it as one requires food but they shall not find it The days are coming and are just ahead of us where the door of mercy and grace will close to those who did not take these words serious and so on to themselves seeds of righteousness. The famine of the word of God is sure to be a fact to many who did not care enough about this Christian way of life and became careless with actually living it according to biblical order. You might think this word is harsh and negative but please allow me to say to you that we live in serious times today. We live in times where your religious freedoms stand to be stripped from you. And if you cannot live this godly pattern now, how do you think that you will be able to stand up against the battles that lie just ahead? The Philadelphian church was commended for their upright standing and keeping and living the word of God in all of its integrity, in the midst of adversity and persecution that was all around them. They were the only church that remained that would not experience the plumb line of God's justice being dropped into their midst. When King David said, As the heart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for you, O God. My inner self thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? And David also said O God, you are my God Earnestly will I seek you My inner self thirsts for you My flesh longs and is faint for you In a dry and weary land Where there is no water Or when he cried out to the Lord My soul yearns, yes, even pines And is homesick for the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh cry out and sing for joy to the living God Dear one I am here to tell you that David was crying out to God because he desired and yearned with all that was within him to know and live in God's righteousness He longed for righteousness to be firmly established in his life and he knew that if God would fill him his thirst and hunger would be quenched at least for that season. And Jesus tells us too in Matthew 6.33 But seek, aim at and strive after first of all his kingdom and his righteousness. His way of doing and being right. And then all these things taken together will be given you besides. For those of you who are hungry and thirsty keep on reaching ahead for the truth and righteousness found only in Jesus Christ and you will receive every blessing his word promises that you will inherit and when you know the truth the truth will set you free guard it with all of your heart and cherish the one who made all things possible for you to inherit eternal life Thank you.