THE FALL OF GOD’S MAN
David C. Bennett, D. Min.
This paper is not being written by one who does not continue to need to
heed the truth of 1Corinthians 10:12 "Wherefore let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall." This verse is as true today as it was
when written. The fact of this verse and the humanity of this writer make
it even more humbling in writing this paper.
Recently I read a newspaper headline from the city in the USA
concerning the college I graduated from. The newspaper stated; College
Official Arrested In Sting Resigns. The article told how the fifty
four year old executive vice president of the Baptist College had resigned
his position following his arrest in a prostitution sting. This man’s act
could cost him a fine of $500 and up to 6 months in jail. The newspaper
article stated the sting targeted escort services using the Internet to
advertise. The Internet is a very useful avenue for the ministry but the
unguarded heart is too often lured toward disobedience to God and
unfaithfulness to one’s spouse by its improper use.
Sadly the sin of this college official is not an isolated case among
Baptist preachers. In my thirty years of ministry I have seen many
preachers fall. Some you could see it was going to happen and others you
were shocked at when it happened. It has been said the two enemies in
Satan’s armoury used most against the gospel preacher is either another
woman not his wife or money. Without doubt one of these two enemies will
destroy another preacher's ministry before this year is over. Why does the
man of God succumb to one of these two enemies to the ruin of his
ministry? The simple answer is sin in the heart. As Jeremiah said "The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know
it?!" The preacher who falls has deviated from God’s Way and is in open
disobedience to God’s Will! He has allowed the battlements around his mind
and heart to fall into disrepair and has allowed openings for impure
thoughts to enter his mind and then the act to be produced into his life.
How true are the words of Octavius Winslow when he wrote "The heart is the
natural and fertile soil of every noxious weed of sin. As soon as one sin
is cut down, another springs up. Yes, the same root appears again above
the surface, with new life and vigor. It requires a ceaseless care and
vigilance, a perpetual mortification of sin in the body, until we throw
off this cumbrous clay, and go where sin is known no more."
The college official according to the newspaper said "It wasn't the
school's fault," and that he took "full responsibility for it." Now I do
not desire to be harsh but who else is to blame for the situation in which
this man found himself? He personally logged on to the Internet site which
advertised this Escort service. HE personally arranged to meet the woman.
All those bad choices leading to his arrest were his and no one else’s!
His decision to do what he did had a beginning. I do not know when it
actually began in his heart and mind but when he logged on to the Internet
and began to peruse sites with that intent, he was on his way to a fall.
The progress toward that wrong choice could have been stopped before the
fall, if the preacher would have listened to the Spirit of God dwelling
within him.
If you have been to Bible College or seminary nothing I am going to say
will be new to you but, perchance your memory may need to be refreshed.
Also this article may be read at just this time when a preacher is heading
for his fall. It should be our desire as a preacher of the gospel to be
able to say "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have
kept the faith" and as the Psalmist said "Now also when I am old and
grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto
this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come."
I. The man of God and physical adultery.
1 Timothy 3:1,3,7 "This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of
a bishop, he desireth a good work. 2 A bishop then must be...., the
husband of one wife, vigilant; 3 ....not greedy of filthy lucre...not
covetous; 7...lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."
The man of God’s enemy of another woman is seen here in this First
Timothy passage giving forth the qualifications for the bishop. When God
says the preacher is to be "the husband of one wife." He means the
preacher is to be a one woman man! This first enemy is that of the
physical, the lust of the flesh.
1. The man of God is to be a one woman man.
Too many men in the ministry have a wandering eye. The preacher with a
wandering eye (he knows if he has one) should make a covenant with his
eyes as Job did. Job 31:1 "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then
should I think upon a maid?" Job had no mistress, concubine, for he knew
God's will was one man and one woman! Today we also have the advantage
from God's completed Word to know that the man's love and care for his
wife is a picture of Christ's love and care for His church. Sadly too many
men in the ministry have set aside God's command for a husband to love his
wife "even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it." to
satisfy his lust. God later in 1 Timothy tells the preacher to "keep
thyself pure." When God says a man cannot take fire in his bosom, and his
clothes not be burned is applicable to the preacher's wandering eye. Let
there be no mistake about it that not only will he get burnt but those
near him will get burnt.
The second thing is:
2. The man of God is to be vigilant. Oh, how preachers of the Word of
God must be vigilant in guarding their hearts and minds against the
intrusions of all sorts of sexual advances the world throws at them. Of
the word vigilant Strong's Greek Lexicon says "vigilant--literally,
"sober"; ever on the watch, as sober men alone can be; keenly
alive, so as to foresee what ought to be done (1Th 5:6-8)."
Albert Barnes says that the word translated vigilant in First Timothy
3:2 "occurs only here and in 1Timothy 3:11; Titus 2:2. It means, properly,
sober, temperate, abstinent, especially in respect to wine; then
sober-minded, watchful, circumspect." He states further that "A
minister should have a watchful care over his own conduct. He should be on
his guard against sin in any form."
Too many men of God have let the guard down in their vigilance against
the attacks of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Too often the man of
God is slack in keeping his thoughts pure. Today the preacher through the
Internet has allowed his eyes to peruse objectionable areas in the privacy
of their own study to their demise. Sadly not much as changed since those
days when the Scriptures said that God saw man's "imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Oh, how we as men of God
should daily cry "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my
thoughts!" Sin will have a harder time in finding a lodging place in the
heart and mind of the man of God when the Creator does inventory. William
Arnot's words are applicable to the man of God whose vocation is to not
only study and preach the Word but to practice the Word. Arnot wrote "What
fearful dilemma have we here? The Holiest changeth not, when he comes a
visitant to a human heart. He is the same there that he is in the highest
heaven. He cannot look upon sin; and how can a human heart welcome him
into its secret chambers? How can the blazing fire welcome the quenching
water? It is easy to commit to memory the seemly prayer of an ancient
penitent, Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my
thoughts. The dead letters, worn smooth by frequent use, may drop freely
from callous lips, leaving no sense of scalding on the conscience; and
yet, truth of God though they are, they may be turned into a lie in the
act of utterance. The prayer is not true, although it is borrowed from the
Bible, if the suppliant invite the All seeing in, and yet would give a
thousand worlds, if he had them, to keep him out for ever." William Arnot
(--1875), "Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth." as quoted by Spurgeon in
the Treasury of David.
II. The man of God and spiritual adultery.
The second enemy is found in First Timothy 3: 3 where God says the man
of God is not to be "greedy of filthy lucre" and "not covetous". No one
denies the necessity of money but the ruin of a man and his ministry is
when he is greedy and covetous for mammon. Spurgeon tells the story that
"One said to a minister who preached a sermon, after which there was to be
a collection, "You should preach to our hearts, and then you would get
some money." The minister replied, "Yes, I think that is very likely, for
that is where you keep your money." The fact is that all too often the
want of money has also found shelter in the man of God's heart. Paul later
wrote to Timothy that "the love of money is the root of all evil: which
while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows." The messenger of God then one verse
later writes "But thou, O man of God, flee these things." Do not stand and
fight BUT flee, run away! Rather than fleeing too often the preacher is
eagerly pursuing the ungodly gain of worldly mammon. His heart is set on
having more and more of the "stuff" Egypt has to offer. He forgets when he
leaves Egypt (this world) none of the "stuff" he has acquired below will
go with him. Peter speaks on the same subject in his first epistle chapter
five and verse two. "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking
the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for
filthy lucre, but of a ready mind." God's preacher takes the oversight
of God's flock willingly and not for any specified amount of money. Now
this doesn't mean the flock should not take care of the preacher when they
have the ability to do so but it means he will do the job God has called
him to regardless of how much or how little mammon is given.
I knew a pastor some years ago who was stealing money from a church
fund over which he had personal oversight. After stealing many thousands
of dollars over several years he was found out. Only then did he confess
his sin. His reason for doing such was to give his wife a good lifestyle.
1 Timothy 6: 10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which
while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows." Jeremiah 17: 11 "As the partridge
sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not
by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall
be a fool." Octavius Winslow was a contemporary of Spurgeon's and he wrote
"What means this.... eager pursuit of wealth, this love of display, this
extravagance of living, this conformity to the world in a hundred
different ways, so conspicuous and so increasing among Christian
professors?" Times and hearts have not changed!
The world may get by with calling adultery an affair, stealing a
disease but not so with the preacher. Martin Luther said "The defects of a
preacher are soon spied." How blind is a preacher who believes he is
immune to committing the same sins as other saints? If he believes this it
will not be long until he knows better. It is so true that "The world
looks at ministers out of the pulpit to know what they mean when in it."
I have heard preachers confess they only read the Bible for preparation
for preaching a sermon and of course that sermon was for the people and
not himself. Since I have heard them say it I take it to be truth. It is
no wonder then that we see preachers falling into sin. Too often the
preacher's love for Christ has grown cold and the preacher's real love is
now for the very thing John states not to love in his first epistle
chapter two, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world." The next statement of John's is very sobering for he says "If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." You can discuss
the exegesis of this statement until death do us part preacher but you are
on dangerous ground if you are playing around with the sins of adultery or
greediness of filthy lucre. Spurgeon said when he preached he read the
text then ran to the cross. That is what we need to do each day. There is
not a preacher that does not sin (1 John 1:8) but when we do sin we need
to go to the cross and confess the sin (1 John 1:9).
The preacher must be in the Word meditating and digesting it
personally. A cook will soon starve to death if all he does is prepare
meals for others and never partake himself. This is true as well of the
preacher. The preacher who neglects his feeding on the Word is neglecting
his spiritual sustenance, his Saviour, and his own soul. He may fake it
for awhile but his lack of communion with the Lord will become apparent.
It may be sadly but safely said the fallen preacher has spent more time
at the table of devils than the table of God. A daily eating and
meditating at God’s table is essential for the preacher’s spiritual health
and stability. Spurgeon said "The Bible is a harbour where I can drop down
my anchor, feeling certain that it will hold. Here is a place where I can
find sure footing; and, by the grace of God, from this confidence I shall
never be moved." Cast your anchor therein preacher, set a Bible battlement
around your mind and heart. God says in Deuteronomy 22:8 "When thou
buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that
thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence." Let
the worldly Christian call me a legalist but I must erect some spiritual
battlements around my heart and mind to keep me faithful and from falling
and to help those who God has set under my charge. Woe, to the preacher
who neglects to build battlements around his heart and mind or arrogantly
ignores the battlements he has built there for he will surely have a great
fall.
In closing I believe Spurgeon’s reading for 26 June from MORNING AND
EVENING is worth repeating here. Preacher, "Wherefore let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
"Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." --2
Peter 1:4
Vanish for ever all thought of indulging the flesh if you would live in
the power of your risen Lord. It were ill that a man who is alive in
Christ should dwell in the corruption of sin. "Why seek ye the living
among the dead?" said the angel to Magdalene. Should the living dwell in
the sepulchre? Should divine life be immured in the charnel house of
fleshly lust? How can we partake of the cup of the Lord and yet drink the
cup of Belial? Surely, believer, from open lusts and sins you are
delivered: have you also escaped from the more secret and delusive
lime-twigs of the Satanic fowler? Have you come forth from the lust of
pride? Have you escaped from slothfulness? Have you clean escaped from
carnal security? Are you seeking day by day to live above worldliness, the
pride of life, and the ensnaring vice of avarice? Remember, it is for this
that you have been enriched with the treasures of God. If you be indeed
the chosen of God, and beloved by Him, do not suffer all the lavish
treasure of grace to be wasted upon you. Follow after holiness; it is the
Christian's crown and glory. An unholy church! it is useless to the world,
and of no esteem among men. It is an abomination, hell's laughter,
heaven's abhorrence. The worst evils which have ever come upon the world
have been brought upon her by an unholy church. O Christian, the vows of
God are upon you. You are God's priest: act as such. You are God's king:
reign over your lusts. You are God's chosen: do not associate with Belial.
Heaven is your portion: live like a heavenly spirit, so shall you prove
that you have true faith in Jesus, for there cannot be faith in the heart
unless there be holiness in the life.
"Lord, I desire to live as one Who bears a blood-bought name, As one
who fears but grieving Thee, And knows no other shame."
