Take Heed Lest You Fall - Charles R. Swindoll

just prostrate I hold in my hand this morning a very sad letter of resignation from one of my closest colleagues in ministry where he admits to inappropriate involvement with a female member of our church and therefore has disqualified himself for further ministry and he submits his resignation effective immediately he expressed his deep sorrow for his actions for the shame brought against our fine Church in its ministry his deep sorrow and disappointment having betrayed us so profoundly we who loved him and his family generously and with all our hearts he says my wife and daughters and son-in-law and grandson desperately need your prayers I don't feel I can ask anything of you for myself but I do very contritely ask for your prayers on their behalf this letter will find a place in my journal and will be a reminder of what I might call my own personal day of infamy in our ministry it at our church I've been through this before as have most if not all of those who sit on this platform or meetings some of you I will never ever know quite how to handle it or address it and on occasion I feel that I'm maybe a little obsessed with addressing this problem because I'd do it through the year with our staff now I realize I don't think you can address it too much I certainly can't address it too much to those of us in the family of Dallas seminary my desk calendar is sort of frozen open to the 26th of April 2006 the day that this discovery was made and the confrontation followed the enemy really brought a dual attack disastrous effect on us not fatal but the woman in question is my wife's personal executive assistant at insight for living her husband actually does our programming every day our two most trusted people in the sense of working closely with them and the enemy could not have picked two more significant targets at Stone Brock Community Church aside from the senior pastor himself and insightful living aside from the woman who serves as the president what do I have to say to you today that will keep you from ever having to write this letter what can I possibly say so you will never forget the second of May 2006 when a white-haired aging pastor with a broken heart pled with you to carry out your calling as you promised to do when you're ordained and as you surrendered to do when you came to this school what must I say what can possibly be driven home so that you will never forget it no matter where your Minister how old you become or how powerful your word may be or how simple and quiet your ministry may be doesn't matter someday you will be away from these cloistered homes unfortunately you won't be able to do as I have done come back when nobody's around and just walk down these hallways and look at the skyline of Dallas out through those wonderful arches that seemed to frame it and I sort of returned to my days simple but also difficult days of training when dr. Richard Sumi would stand and just plead with us to walk in purity dr. Walvoord would drive home the importance of being men of God dr. Pentecost and dr. Hendrix and dr. Robinson and on and on we were we were told again and again and again and again and some of those men have fallen what is it going to take to develop a godly band of women and men who carried with them the Dallas seminary mark to be people of their word when around the crowds that applauded and far more dangerously when alone where nobody is looking what is it going to take maybe today it will maybe take this day and you'll get it please remember remember this day forget me don't ever forget what I'm going to read and teach don't ever forget this warning you're going to need it because the enemy is after you every day of your life and you are vulnerable I want to have you look at a simple but easily forgotten warning first Corinthians chapter 10 please turn to 1st Corinthians 10 we all could quote verse 13 by heart no temptation has overtaken you chapter 10 verse 13 no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man God is faithful God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able but with the temptation will provide the way of escape so that you will be able to endure it comes on the heels of a whole series of events surrounding the historical setting of the Hebrews of the past who had all of these benefits who followed these grand models in what we would call today in ministry Moses miracle-working God who did everything for them and around them and sustained them still they failed him so on the heels of that verse 12 says therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall a simple little observation sandwiched between standing and falling is taking heed between the standing or at least thinking we stand and the falling the potential of falling is take heed that's what we're doing today we're taking heed taking heed we're allowing the Spirit of God to drill into our brains the importance of taking heed let's be follow this man and his female companion another man's wife have fallen their homes are shambles the people who were around them in the circle of ministry are disillusioned some absolutely don't know what to do so we who serve the body are doing everything we know to do to help get them back on their feet help them through this mess about which we knew nothing before the 26th of April 2006 nothing not even their mates the enemy is so clever he could give you creative ways to secretly practice your sins all the while destroying you down inside while you go through the perfunctory motions of ministry even the Sunday before the audacity of the man to lay his hands on four men being ordained into ministry on the heels of six months of adultery it's easy to sit here and shake our heads and cluck our tongues and and and even maybe even weep but if you don't take heed you also can fall and quite likely will and I as well I remember when we dealt with an elder who had molested children in a former ministry and ultimately there were about 67 families affected by the man's godless activities all done in secret the last man in the lineup I would have ever thought would have been guilty of that of course that's part of the plan when you're that respected everybody trusts you they'll even trust their children to you I remember being so disillusioned and saying to my our limited ministries the lady wonderful wisdom and a lot of years of experience and I said to her Betty good night I mean a man's in his late 70s she said I'll Chuck they'll molest from a wheelchair we'll never forget that line senior pastors will get involved in stuff like this go right on preaching Church are sort of secretly deal with it and then you'll go on to another church and do it there and the stories are there just everywhere let him who thinks he stands take heed take heed that he does not fall please please take heed do whatever you have to do now the process you go through is humiliating first Timothy chapter 5 gives us the process don't have time to do the passage justice but you're bright enough to to fill in the blanks first Timothy first Timothy chapter 5 verse 19 do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses so understand we're not to have a suspicious spirit we're not to go by hunches we are not to listen to hearsay we're not running a Gestapo with a cross on top it's a church it's a family it's a body it's brothers and sisters in Christ and so there will be occasions when accusations will be made don't believe it just because somebody says it you have to check it out you have to get the facts you have to investigate you have to do nasty dirty stuff yet to get into the details you do as the leader you have to do that you have no training $1.00 seminary and doing that people can't train you for that but you have to be discerning you have to know who to listen to you have to make sure that the people are credible who are telling you otherwise they might just be trying to get back at a pastor they don't like so he makes it very clear that you must you must not go by hunches and speculations and suspicions and it hearts back to Moses words in Deuteronomy so he says you need two or three witnesses more is even better less than two is not so you got to get your stuff together you got to get the hard cold evidence now then what do you do with it let's say it's true those who continue in sin watch closely those who continue in sin rebuke in the presence of all so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning rare is the church that does that most of us in this room have been in and certainly all of us have heard of churches that haven't done that life we don't want to humiliate the family I've had the wife of a guilty person begged me not to expose it and you know what years and years ago when I was younger and and wanted to please people more than I should have I listened to her and she she told me no one else will know this was just brief and I want to take him back and I love him and our boys will be heard if you say anything about it please just let us leave quietly and and I did I'm ashamed to tell you that I did that that man is now living with her left his wife left his boys he's a Dallas seminary graduate just a year or two or three behind me in school he lied to me and and I covered for his wife I didn't obey verse 20 obey it do it if the person is continuing in sin and you catch them that's continuing and sin to the moment you catch them to the time they're there they're brought in for confrontation then you need to rebuke them it means exactly what it says now use the word when I confront the person is guilty I rebuke you in the name of Jesus Christ how dare you take advantage of the body how dare you betray this staff how dare you deny the Lord your God with your action of sinfulness over the months of time you had during which I spoke more than a few times on the subject of the of personal purity and then it says to rebuke in the presence of all I take this to me not every single person in the body is the rebuke to happen otherwise who would the rest of the sentence refer to who would be the rest I take the all to mean a reference to those who have need to know immediately would be the board it would be the staff would it be the colleagues in ministry those we were touched most deeply and directly by the person's work that person is to be exposed ultimately it's to be made public do it publicly quit worrying about a lawsuit lawsuits will scare that scare you to death you'll you'll get mute Kent Hughes good friend pastoring up in Wheaton says though we must be cautious and accusing if the charge is substantiated we must have the courage to rebuke this may sound cold and unloving but it must be done for the sake of the church so that others may take warning listen carefully this is where today's church has lost its nerve leaders sin with impunity that means without punishment leaders sin without punishment and then move on to other churches to do the same thing we must determine not to fall to such a loss of courage but rather lovingly confront those who were doing wrong a lack of fortitude is not loving but unloving unloving of Christ a loving of the church and on loving of the offender amen I agree with him and we expressed our love i wiII you 'he's the word love more than any other word we used with our sending brother and sister they know their love that's why it's so baffling they've never not known what love is our staff and family in church and we got people so in love with them they just want us to just know ok we've done this now let's just all our arms around him wait a minute wait a minute this didn't happen in a sudden surge of passion this is plan timed carried out in secrecy this was a strategy of sinning kept secret from those of us who could have helped them and worked with them and would have so you don't just suddenly take the heat off in fact if you wonder how serious this is look at the solemn charge in 21 I solemnly charge you presence of God and of Christ Jesus and the elect angels that's a rare one for Paul to amass such a body of people around him that's that's a long index finger poking into your sternum listen to this listen to this Timothy pay attention to these words young man take note of what I'm telling you Timothy I say it before God and Christ and the elect angels maintain these principles without bias doing nothing in a spirit of partiality as another factor you can't play favorites what if it's a pastor everybody loves can't play favorites what if it's a young pastor can't play favorite what if it's senior pastor can't play favorites what if it's a music minister who has loved us and led us and helped us in giving our praise to God can't play favorites I mean it's really clear isn't it maintain the principles without bias doing nothing in a spirit of partiality no prejudging no exceptions Homer can't rights in his work on the pastoral to past epistles a public disciplining is especially appropriate if the sin was of a public nature people will then have a respect for the church and will search their own lives when they see that even leaders are not exempt from discipline for sin the term prejudice is a word referring to prejudgment or arrived yet before the facts are properly considered partiality is an inclination toward someone when disciplining of leaders is called for it should be done with all fairness and with the absence of personal like or dislike he's right the very end of verse 22 really puts it on the line keep yourself from sin now finally and I really mean that I'm weary of the subject Titus chapter 3 explains how a person can do with this man and what other men and women have done I'll show you it's a little shocking he's referring to a factious man when you get to verse 10 of chapter 3 of Titus reject a factious man by the way reject means have nothing to do with let it say what it says check it in any any reference you wish have nothing to do with a person who spreads corruption a person who has an evil influence a person in this case who is a factious man after a first and second warning and our men and women are warned again and again and again it's obvious that there has been the warning knowing now here's how it happens knowing that such a man is perverted look closely at extra fo perverted only it's a hoppity gamma not that this is a unique use of the term and extra foe has reference to doing something inside out or turning something inside out it is rendered warped twisted distorted Bauer's lexicon defines the term to cause to turn aside from what is considered true or morally proper to turn aside to pervert go the wrong way stop right such a man has warped having a distorted mind you're dealing with a distorted mind one who could hide it for months and keep doing pious work is a distorted mind it's the ability to sublimate and put out of one's mind and to live in two worlds as the man said to me in the midst of the confrontation Who am I Who am I I said I thought I knew I don't know you I do not know you I certainly don't know the dark part of you that is now emerging and I did this kind of motion I said you have a world that's known to all of us and you're charming and you're gifted and you on you just disarmed us and we are just at your what we are just all over this that you're doing because you're so good at it but there's a dark side here and here's my word that is distorted keep reading and is sinning present tense that Bible says you know that such a man is twisted by sin and is conscious of it in unison and its conscious of it himself I said did you know do you know there's a line that moves from appropriateness to interpret yes I do did you know when you cross the line from appropriateness to enter / yes I did did you know every time when you cross the line I'm just trying to figure out how you can do it how can you do this kind of thing he said yeah I knew that I said you tell me please why you went over that line over that line time and time and time again just tell me I don't know every hard question is answered with I don't know I know he is perverted and the act of sinning dulls the conscience there is nothing like willful deliberate repeated sinfulness when it comes to hurting the sacred and holy work of God don't ever ever forget that in a few hours really a few days some of you are going to be given a degree you've earned it it's been a tough course that's good tough is good ministry is tough it's all about discipline every day of my life I'm disciplining myself in some area some time in several it's about that you'll be you'll be receiving a degree with our name on it it is our endorsement that you have done the work it proves nothing about your character your life will prove that check in with me in 15 20 years let's check back together let's see how you do it you say you're not going to be around in 15 or 20 years I know what you're thinking let me tell you something if I'm not here I'm haunting you I'm here I'm here this voice is in the woodwork of this place has been around since 59 in this place and I'm not going anywhere I will still be walking with Jesus for the grace of God and I want you to be walking with him too I want you to keep your word I don't want you to get ordained if you can't keep your word don't take that endorsements not right and if you're ordained and you fall give that endorsement back send our degree back to us please and I hope to receive none these men and women that invested their hours and lives and years in ministry and and now some of it in you are endorsing you with their presence at your commencement whatever year it is and when I stand there in single songs at the top of my voice I am endorsing you don't make me ashamed of you in the midst of one of our tough moments with the man our staff was facing him with their feelings and there's a lot of anger appropriately now I'll never forget it a couple of you in here were there I'll never forget when one of the young men stood up and looked at the man and said to him and his wife sitting at the other end of the table heart broken and this man said Ava shame on you shame on you just like that and I thought say on say it say it so it rings through these walls and it gets into my head in a way that I'll never forget it I'll never forget the way that was I hope you will never hear those words that him or her who thinks you stand take heed lest you fall please for the sake of Christ and for the glory of God were soldiers of the cross were followers of the land get into ranks stand tall fight the enemy and cooperate with it Lord today we we feel the The Passion of the Spirit of God in and around us and we all need this warning i I need it I need it as much as any single individual or married individual older or younger faculty or student in this place I need to hear this personally I've been through this a minute times Lord I just I just want to scream I just pray about your grace that somehow you will you will rip it these words in our minds may we never forget this exhortation may we spend our lives taking heed because you are holy and your work is sacred in the name of Jesus we pray every once

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

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Keywords: correction, immorality, humility, leadership, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Charles Swindoll

Id: zb2ADrbPsjQ

Length: 31min 35sec (1895 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 20 2012