The Soldiers Are Watching
Exodus 17:8-16
Vol. IX, No. 9, October 1996
by Dr. Bailey E. Smith
[This is the somewhat condensed text of an outstanding sermon given by Dr. Bailey Smith at the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans, June 1996.]
I will never forget when Ed Young was president of the pastor's conference. We met that year in New Orleans. At that time I was president of the Southern Baptist Convention and Ed had me to preach that Sunday night on the podium with George Bush and Billy Graham. George Bush, then Vice President of the United States was on the program. He read a letter from President Reagan that said, “We are proud of Southern Baptists because their conservative resurgence has also affected national policy.” I was amazed that someone had been watching what had been going on in our denomination from the White House and the Congress. But they are watching even on a smaller level. ...
A lady took her son into a pastor's office in Dallas, Texas. She had to push him into the office in a wheelchair because of his crippled condition. She said to her pastor, "Pastor, my teenage boy had been a very healthy athletic young man until one day he saw you with a cocktail in your hand at a party and he thought, if my minister can drink so can I. He and some young men got some beer, had a horrible accident, and today my boy is a quadriplegic. Pastor, you really did not know how closely my son was watching."
My brothers and sisters, the soldiers of the cross are certainly watching to see what we do. There is a remarkable passage in Exodus 17, verses 8-16. I've often wondered why the soldiers were encouraged when the hands of Moses went up with the rod of God. The reason is, of course, they were watching. I'm convinced that millions around this world are looking at the men of God and the people of God to see how we respond to this decadent difficult generation. ... The soldiers are watching to see:
I. THE MAN OF GOD STANDING UP
When the soldiers looked up to the mountain, no doubt about it, they saw Moses standing up. ... He was proud to be there trying to be an encouragement to the soldiers in the battle.... They did want to see the man of God standing up. Moses was not only present he was prominent.
I believe today we have a crisis in the ministry. Occasionally, somebody will say to me, "Brother Smith, that man believes like you do. He just won't take a stand." I say that's not true. A man who believes like I do WILL take a stand. Friend, you stand on whatever you believe. Everything else is just religious talk. If you've got convictions, you will have courage to stand on those convictions. God, give us men of God that don't try to hide what they say they believe, but they are willing to take a strong stand on the issues that are so important in this compromising generation. In a recent survey of James Dobson and George Barna, some disturbing results were seen as over 5000 pastors were surveyed across America.
90% said they were just in a survival mode.
40% said they had seriously considered quitting the ministry in the last three months.
Only 47% (now this is sad) believe that Jesus Christ is relevant to today.
Only 28% of church members believe their pastor is relevant to their life.
80% believe the ministry has had a negative impact on their family.
50% of them felt they really could not do the job.
40% of the ministers interviewed said they had a serious conflict with a parishioner at
least once a month.
37% said they had had inappropriate sexual behavior with at least one of their church
members.
On my, what a crisis we have among the men of God today. I believe all of that can be somehow settled when the man of God starts standing up for the things of God. Years ago I memorized the word of Josiah Gilbert Holland when he said, "God, give us men a time like this demands, strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands. Men whom the lust of office does not kill. Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy. Men who possess opinions and a will. Men who have honor. Who will not lie. Men who can stand before a demagogue and damn his treacherous flatteries without winking." ...
Years ago when the great founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, was standing so strong on his convictions, it bothered some of the more formal and lifeless ministers. They brought him before a ministerial tribunal. They were doing everything they could to put pressure on him to change his convictions .... From the balcony where his little wife was, he constantly heard her pleading voice every time they said for him to back up, to compromise, to apologize for preaching the strong Word of God. Her voice would say, "Say no, William! Say no! Say no, William!" I want to say to every pastor who is listening to me right now, to a world that wants you to back up on the Word of God, wants you to back up on the things of morality, wants you to back up on a high standard of commitment, say “no” to the world and say “yes” to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life that will make you stand on the mountain of God's promises and encourage the soldiers below. ..
Men, may I encourage you when it seems everyone else around you is falling. When they are approving of sins you know the Word of God stands against, I encourage you to dig in, hang on to God's mountain of strength until, through your influence and your determination, the ministers around you will find themselves climbing up God's mountain. I believe the soldiers are watching not only to see the man of God stand up.
II. THEY ALSO WANT TO SEE THE WORD OF GOD HELD UP.
You see, the rod of God was very important in that day. It was, indeed, as much a
representative of the power of God as the Bible is to us today. ... They had seen the rod of God and they knew what it could do, and it meant so very much to them. Think of all the rod had meant to these soldiers during many trials, challenges, and tragedies. I mean, think about it, they are fighting in the war ravaged valley below and were looking up to the mountain top hoping to catch a glimpse of the rod of God that had been used so mightily in their past. Moses didn't say, "Oh, I believe in the rod but I don't want to offend anybody with it. I'll just put it under my robe. After all, Jehovah knows my heart." Oh, no, ... They knew the rod of God could turn into a serpent of destruction. They knew that it was the rod of God that Moses held up in order that the people of God could walk across the sea on dry ground.
So here the soldiers are ... looking up to see once again if they could spot the rod of God. Because if they could, it would encourage them to fight harder, to claim victory, to endure sacrifice ... My friend, how true it is today that the soldiers of the cross are still waiting to see the Word of God held up. Sixty-five percent of the people of America interviewed today said they believe America is going in the wrong direction. I believe that too. The only thing that would change America is the unadulterated, unmitigated, unvarnished, uncompromising preaching of the Word of God. For a nation that has more divorces than marriages, we have a book that keeps families together. For a nation of murderers, we have a book that elevates life to the highest level that one could possibly imagine. For a nation of declining denominations and diminishing faith, we have a book when preached, not by a preacherette with a sermonette to create christianettes, but when preached by a man of God full of the Holy Ghost, it will revive a dead church, and a valley of dry bones in the sanctuary will become a mighty army.
I cannot believe what we are doing with our rod that the soldiers of the cross want to see lifted up. We are debating it, diluting it, questioning it, and trivializing it. ... It would be like our approaching people dying of thirst in a desert and we have in our possession large amounts of ice cold water and as they make their way to us we pour salt into the water, or like taking a crutch to a cripple man and right before you give it to him you break it over your knee. That is exactly what we are doing with the Word of God that could help a crippled man to walk, indeed, enable a thirsty man to find water and a hungry man to find food. But through our lack of respect for the Word of God, we are diminishing it right before the people that need it. ...
Occasionally, somebody will say to me, "Brother Smith, don't we need to make the Bible relevant to today?" Oh, no. We need to make today relevant to the Bible. The Bible is always relevant. I remember once in those years at Del City, visiting a sweet young housewife and her husband many times. She was one of the unfortunate women that had taken a medicine that now is no longer on the market that caused her to develop cancer. She was only thirty-eight years of age and it was so sad to watch her deteriorate. I remember one Saturday morning getting a call from the husband who said, "Brother Bailey, My wife just died. Could you get over here quickly? Our little boy spent the night next door and I want you to be here when he comes back home." I made my way to that home. She was lying there on the couch, covered in her robe. Her husband holding her lifeless hand with tears coming down his face. About that time the little boy came in went over to his mother got her by the lapels of that robe and said, "Mommy, wake up! Wake up, mommy! Brother Bailey, make momma wake up!" I said, "Son, I can't make your mother wake up, but according to the Bible, God has promised that you will see her again." That little fellow looked at me with tears flowing down those cheeks of eight years and said, "Brother Bailey, God always keeps His promise, doesn't He. God always keeps His promises." I said, "Yes, son. God always keeps his promises, and one day you will get to see momma again." Oh listen, friends, we have a book that is worth holding up. What do the soldiers of the cross need to see out there? They need to see a man of God standing up. They need to see the Word of God held up. The soldiers are watching to see:
Ill. THE PEOPLE OF GOD FIRED UP.
Can you note how seeing the man of God stand up, the Word of God held up, got the people of God fired up? Aaron and Hur were fired up enough to get under the left arm and the right arm of Moses to help him hold up the rod so the soldiers would be encouraged, fired up and stiffened, and ultimately victorious in battle. ... Oh, friends, there was no magic here. There was no miracle here. The fact is, when the soldiers in the valley looked up and saw the man of God holding up the Word of God and saw the associates holding up the arms of the man of God they became infused with a new surge of godly adrenalin.
I promise you in this generation we need to see the people of God fired up. God is tired of cold, lifeless, lazy, uninvolved, unconcerned church members who think they have done God a favor by showing up only on Sunday morning. The soldiers are watching you to see if we mean business for Him.
I believe when you look at the national scene and what is happening in our government there is reason for us to be fired up. ... Let me remind you, a Christian doesn't vote as a Republican. We don't vote as a Democrat. We vote as a Christian. God, give us revival in Washington. Help us to be fired up.
You know, not only are people watching in the valley and people watching out across the foreign mission field, but the soldiers are watching even in heaven. God says we are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Years ago while in a little south Texas community called Snow Lake we were having one of those unusual visitations of God in Holy Ghost revival. The pastor and I had gone out to see a man, trying to win him to Christ while he worked on his bulldozer. He was one of those men the community had prayed for for years but he just would not get saved. His godly mother who had passed away a few years before had wept many time for the salvation of her son but to no avail. He did come to the revival meeting that night but was totally disinterested it seemed to me as I preached. All of a sudden the Holy Spirit of God moved in and during the invitation that man walked the isle while we were singing "Oh Why Not Tonight." He gave his heart and life to Jesus Christ. I remember as people were weeping around him and people were shouting all of a sudden I heard him say, "Shhh, Everybody be quiet. Listen. Listen." The whole church got deathly still. They looked at him, and they said, "What is it Raymond? What is it Raymond?" "Oh listen, I think I just heard momma shout from heaven." Oh, listen, friend, when the people of God hold up the Word of God and when the people of God get fired up and stirred up, they even get excited in Heaven. There is, indeed, rejoicing in the presence of the angels.
Well, not only are the soldiers watching to see the man of God stand up, the Word of God held up, and the people of God fired up. I believe the soldiers of God are watching to see:
IV. THE ENEMIES OF GOD BACKED UP
Isn't it great to see in this passage as these soldiers fight so hard for the Lord God of Israel that the enemy is backed up? ... I'm convinced that there are some enemies across this land that need to back up as we stand for the cross of Christ. First of all, to the feline of liberalism with its nine lives, I want to say to you: back up. I'm grateful to see in our seminaries in a revival of teaching the whole, infallible, inerrant Word of God. I'm grateful that now we have presidents like Dr. Paige Patterson, Al Mohler, and Mark Coppenger and the others. I want to say to the liberal enemy of the cross, "Back up, cat." Secondly, there is the enemy of the Hollywood philosophy. Hollywood with its bloody hands trying to destroy the very moral fiber of a once very God-fearing nation. Don't you find it interesting that the name Jesus is the favorite curse word for the Hollywood crowd. Why is that? Because he is the only one whose life and teaching are a threat to their garbage. Buddha with his concave naval is no problem. The Hindu religion with its millions of gods fits right into the New Age philosophy. Islam and its tenets of terror is a friend to the violent screen, but Jesus is, indeed, seen as their enemy because of the strength of His truth and His sterling character. I say to the Hollywood crowd and their support of everything perverted -- back up. The enemy of God has got to back up. Thirdly, I think probably our greatest enemy is a conservatism without conviction and courage, with belief but no backbone, bright minds with weak hearts, style with no substance. We need to say to these groups back up.
I must say to you from the depth of my soul that I think it is very strange that years ago those who would not stand with the conservative resurgence named themselves denominational loyalists. Isn't it strange the ones that call themselves denominational loyalists are not the ones attending the denominational schools. They are trying to steal denominational mission dollars, denominational literature dollars. They are trying to take denominational seminary students, and under the guise of their “denominational loyalism” they call themselves now something other than SBC. They call themselves the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Cooperative - isn't that interesting? You know what CBF stands for: CAN'T BEAT THE FUNDAMENTALISTS. Oh listen, my friend, I wish the state editors would be as concerned about the division that has been brought on by these as they were about the conservative movement that stayed within the parameters of the Southern Baptist Convention and tried to be loyal Southern Baptists. Never did those who stand for the conservative resurgence try to cause a split. Its time our state editors and state papers get fair and honest and practice fair play. I'm saying we don't just need to believe; we need to stand tall and take a stand for Christ as never before. I'm telling you the soldiers are watching. ...
Recently I read an article in the CBF magazine, an article by Mr. Pat Anderson called “Facing Fundamentalism.” He said, “Many of those who fought the good fight to stave off the takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention have chosen to build a new thing rather than wallow in the agony of defeat. That defeat came at the hands of fundamentalism, a well organized political machine which gained momentum by stimulating hate, fear and exclusion.” Now Brother Anderson, we do hate; we hate sin. Yes sir, we do fear; we fear failing the Father, And we are for excluding anything that destroys the witness of the world’s greatest denomination.”
Please listen, precious pastors and friends, there are some of you who right now are hurting but I want to tell you not only are the soldiers watching and not only are the saints in glory watching, but there is the great Warrior of the cross who has won the battle of redemption, who is watching from heaven. And when He sees you struggling, when He sees you hurting, I promise you He will come down and get His life, His strength, His ability under you. Southern Baptists, I know it's a struggle. Conservatives, I know the battle is far from over. May I remind you God did not bring us here to quit. He brought us here to finish, but we will not finish alone.