The Ancient Landmark Prov. 22:28 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Prov 22:28 says, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set”. The ancient landmark establishes the border of land; it establishes ownership and prevents land disputes. The ancient landmark is also a memorial that commemorates a place or an event that successive generations should never forget.
The trouble in Christianity is that some of the ancient landmarks that our fathers had set have been removed. Christianity is drifting into apostasy and it is partly because there are fewer and fewer ancient landmarks to remind us of our heritage. Here are some of the ancient landmarks that men have removed.
The Ancient Landmark Of:
Preaching on Sin – Rom 14:23; 1 Jn 3:4; 1 Jn 5:17; Prov 24:9; Jas 4:17; Jas 2:9. Preachers have relegated sin to the realms of old-fashioned preaching. It’s what our “fathers” preached. Preaching on sin may have gone out of vogue, but sinning hasn’t. And if there was ever a time when we need hard preaching on sin, now is the time.
Preaching on Repentance – Acts 20:21; Acts 26:20; 2 Cor 7;10; Rom 2:4. Salvation experiences today are about feelings and deliverance. They are not about repentance from dead works to serve the living God. They are not about turning away from sin and becoming righteous in Jesus Christ. You can’t tell a bit of change in most people who “invite Jesus into their heart” today. That’s due in part to the fact that there is no admonition in the Bible to invite Jesus into your heart. But there are a lot of imperatives to repent [Lk 13:3, 5]. And if you would truly repent, eventually you would change.
Preaching on Hell – Mk 9:43, 45, 47; Lk 16:23-24; Matt 23:33. Hell is just as real today as it has always been. And preachers today are scared to death to say anything about it. The reason is that hell is not popular although most people are going there. And because hell is not popular, preachers who are trying to win popularity contests don’t want to mention it. Talking about hell might taint their image and cost them precious revenue. Those bunch of hypocrites are sending more people to hell than they are saving from hell [Matt 23:15].
Preaching on the Cross – Gal 6:14; Gal 5:11-12; 1 Cor 2:2. Preaching is about emotions, feelings, relationships, and so forth. In short, it is about us, not about the cross of Christ. Gal 2:20 is where we belong. Living a crucified life would solve most of your interpersonal problems. You’d get over yourself and get back to Jesus. Bless the Lord, if bold preachers would preach Jesus and him crucified, we might truly see some souls saved!!
Don’t Remove a Single Ancient Landmark
Whatever you do, don’t remove these ancient landmarks. As they have gone, so have the hymns, and so have the evening services on Sunday and Wednesday. You give a little ground on these landmarks and soon you won’t recognize anything done in church today as having any similarity at all to what our fathers did!!