Hold the Rope — Paul Washer

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Well, it's again a great privilege for me to be here with you. Tremendous privilege. People always laugh. They say every time you get up to preach, you say it's a privilege. That's because it is a great privilege.

It cannot compare with the privilege of knowing Him. It cannot compare with the privilege of being conformed to His image. But it is nonetheless a great privilege. As I was listening to the dear missionaries share about Poland, I was wondering, are you praying?

Holding the Rope for Gospel Missions

As you saw the need, are you asking yourself, Lord, what shall I do? What shall I do? Missions is actually not that complicated. It's really not. There's only two ministries in missions. You either go down into the well or you hold the rope for those who are going down.

Either way, there will be scars on your hands. Show me your scars. I don't need rhetoric. There's no time for rhetoric. The world's going to hell. Show me your scars. What has the Great Commission cost you?

These missionaries who are on furlough or those who are on deputation, seeking to have enough funds to go and preach the gospel, the cost they are going to experience is far more than what they now know if they've never been on the field.

Nothing will prepare them for what they will go through. The attacks of the enemy, doubts. They could each of them write a pilgrim's progress. The battle that will rage against them. It will cost them something.

But what will it cost you to hold the rope? What will it cost you? Do you realize that apart from the great commandments to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love your neighbors yourself, you really have only one task.

Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Go into all the world and preach the gospel. So are you going? Or are you holding the rope for those who will go?

Humanity’s Creation and Calling to Dominion

Now, this lesson tonight is going to be somewhat unusual. I will try to keep it shorter than this morning. I think we got out at one o 'clock or something. But I want us to go to Genesis chapter one. This sermon tonight is for all of us, but primarily it is for men.

Men. Something that we do not find in large quantity today. Men. In Genesis chapter one, verse 26, Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the ground.

God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them. God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

Now go with me for a moment to Genesis chapter two, verse 18. Then the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Father, tonight we are gathered here and we call upon your name. Lord, can these bones live? Can something good come out of all this movement, all this activity? Lord, you know the hearts of those who have set this thing up, that they desire, oh God, that it would bring you glory, that it would be useful to you, to your kingdom, to missions.

I pray that you would honor that. I pray that there would be an impact upon eternity because of what is done here this week. Father, I am too tired to just go through the motions. And I would rather have you shut this whole thing down than to be a part of something of which you are not a part.

But Lord, I trust that you are here. And I trust that the intentions of those who are here are true, that you would do something to us, that you would deepen our relationship with you, that you would raise our eyes to the fields, that you would even turn our eyes inward, even if it means exposing the vanities of our lives, the temporal nature of our decisions, our selfishness, that you would grant us repentance and turn our eyes toward the will of God, the doing of that will, the glory of Christ, and the salvation of a people.

For you have said, Father, that they will be your people and you will be their God. Father, help us today that in all our running we miss not the important things, that we be sure-footed, walk circumspectly, not as unwise, but as wise, that we would do the simple, small things.

Living for God Rather Than Self

Father, help us. In Jesus' name, Amen. In the very order of creation, we can see something about man, and particularly those men who walk in a correct relationship with God. That is that you, sir, were made for Him.

You were made for Him. You were not made for you. You were not made even for your spouse. You were not made for your children. You were not made for hobbies and the delights of this world. You were made for Him.

Every breath, every beat of your heart is on loan. It is from Him. It is to be returned to Him. One of the reasons that men, especially in their 30s, 40s, 50s, begin to become so shaken up about their lives and so distraught, it's because they have spent themselves for that which is not bread, that which can not feed them.

They have drank deeply from the fountain of this world and it's turned into nothing more than rot in their belly. We are a generation of people who are self-absorbed. And we as men are often times so self-absorbed and we think that the entire universe revolves around us.

And everyone in a relationship with us is merely an extension of us. That it's all about us. But it's not about us at all. It's about Him. It's about Him. You will not find peace. You will not find contentment until you surrender your life to Him.

And until you begin to grow daily in greater and greater conformity to His image and greater and greater conformity to His purpose for all men, which is the glory of God. Now we see here in our text that Adam and Eve were not created simply to frolic about in the garden.

This was never intended to just be a utopia, a Disneyland. A place where just everything went right. No, we see that they were also created with purpose. And that purpose was not hedonism. Isn't it amazing?

They are placed in a perfect universe. Yet the goal of it is not mere pleasure. And it is not finding their best life now either. The purpose is service to God. They were to rule over the earth. They were to take dominion.

They were to work hard at it. They were to find purpose in it. They were created to go forth. To accomplish. To champion a cause. To move boundaries. To expand in ever increasing measure the kingdom of God.

Dominion Through the Gospel, Not Prosperity or Politics

Now there are many people today who suppose that in Christianity we ought to take dominion. For some, especially the TV preachers, often times it means nothing more than becoming more prosperous. More healthy.

And that's absurd. But then there's another group out there that think that we can take dominion politically. That we ought to get involved politically. To work with politics. To deal in social justice.

To change the laws. And there is merit in that. Although know this, you can labor for several generations to create good laws. And with one sweep of a pen, a president can annihilate them all. When I speak tonight about taking dominion.

About living for a reason. I am not talking about politics. And I am not talking about some prosperity gospel to line your coffers. I am talking about men who are dedicated to one thing. The doing of God's will.

And the expanding of God's kingdom. Not through politics. But through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through intercessory prayer. And through sacrificial service. Men. Men. Where are the men?

Rejecting Adolescence and the American Dream

Now, let's just look at our culture for a moment. To give you a great idea. Their movie came out a few years ago. Maybe several years ago now. Called Master and Commander. The amazing thing about that movie is the British are chasing after French privateers throughout all the seven seas.

And the British bring their warship alongside a French privateer. And the ropes are lashed. The cables are strung. The two ships are brought together. And now the British must charge. The amazing thing about that film is its historical integrity.

Because the ones leading the charge in that film seem to be around 14 years old. Now, what's my point? We have grown up in a generation of adolescence which is not a biblical term and is extremely dangerous.

I do not use that term. Because what it basically is, is this. In most cultures throughout all of history what do we have? We have either boys or men. Now, if I walk up to a group of 15 year old boys and say, hey boys, come here.

They're going to get very angry with me. They don't want to be called boys. But my question is, what are they? What are they? Well, they're adolescents. No, they're not. You're either a man or a boy. Adolescence is simply this.

It is allowing a young man who is not a man to participate in the things of manhood without being willing or able to assume the responsibilities thereof. That's adolescence. And the problem is, because of our society, because of culture, the way things are structured, most young men stay adolescents until their mid-thirties.

I mean, look at us. I see boys in college and all they can care about is playing Xbox. What is that? When their ancestors and their ancestors' ancestors were fighting wars, were killing dragons, were living for something.

Not entertainment, not make-believe, not a video reality, but living for something. My God, man, don't you understand? You were created for something. You weren't created for cars. You weren't created for houses.

You weren't created for fancy clothing. You weren't created for insurance and comfort. You were created for Him. To rise up and live for Him, fight for Him, and die for Him. For that reason, you were created.

And the reason why you are not happy, and I intended to use that word, happy, is because you bought into the American dream instead of the kingdom of heaven. Some of my dear friends, as they say in the hood of Chicago, gave me a button the last time I was up there, and it said, Jesus saves.

Okay. Then I looked closer at the button, and it said this, Jesus saves from the American dream. I remember one time a little boy asked me, he was much younger, Daddy, what do you do? I said, son, do you really want to know?

He said, what do you do, Dad? I said, are you brave enough to understand? What do you do? Son, I fight dragons, conquer nations, take on enemies. You know, there is a sense in which the films about Harry Potter are a rebuke to Christianity.

And I'll tell you why. I watched a couple to see what all the fuss was about. You know why they're a rebuke to modern day American Christianity? Because when you watch them, you see this. They have something to live for.

Something to die for. There's heroics. There's risk. There's sacrifice. There's loyalty. There's do or die. There's throwing yourself in the mouth of the lion. They're alive! And then your children come to church.

They see our Christianity. No war. No battles. No sacrifice. No daddy coming home wounded. Nothing of the sort. One of the best things that ever happened to my boys was I was preaching last year and some men became extremely angry with me.

Extremely angry. And they were in my face and they were saying things and my little boys are standing there. And then they walked away. I could see, especially my son Ian, he goes, Daddy, why are they so mad at you?

I said, because I'm standing for Christ. He said, Daddy, they hate you. I'm standing for Christ. This is what you were created for. You were created to watch football players beat themselves to death on the football field.

Or watch ball games. Or tailgate parties. You were meant for Him. To find your place in His ranks. And to advance His kingdom. Advance His kingdom. Some of you young people, you have no spiritual eyes.

You'll see this throughout the week. You'll see these little missionaries come up here with their little families. There's nothing cool about them. They wear no labels on their clothing. There's just nothing there in the eyes of the world.

But you can't see the way heaven sees. The way those who are filled with the Spirit of God see. They see champions. Yes, lambs sent out in the midst of wolves. That's true. No power in themselves. But champions.

Who's going to risk it all? Walk away from this. Walk away from family. Walk away from security. Walk away from everything. For the sake of Him. For the sake of Him. For the sake of Him. For the sake of Him.

You say, well, I'm not called to be a missionary. That I can agree with. But you are called to the Great Commission with the same dedication as any missionary that goes into Indonesia tomorrow. And if the ones hanging on the rope have scars on their hands, the ones holding the rope will have scars to an equal degree.

Where are your scars? After a while, this world can only give you so much. It's sort of like, you know, I'm amazed. I go into a lot of cities and a lot of times I see billboards. This city has more restaurants per capita than any city in the southeast.

You're boasting about that. But if you're like me and you travel a lot and you eat out so much, you don't want to ever eat out again because everything tastes exactly the same. You can't get excited about anything.

It's the same way. You feed at the world's trough. You feed at the world's trough. You chase the American dream. Pretty soon it's just rot in your gut. And you find that although you do love the Lord, you have forgotten so much and you've become so lost.

So much of your time is given to things that do not matter. So much of your money is given to things that's not eternal. So much of the strength of your youth is wasted when you were called to do what?

To take dominion. And how are we to do that? Again, let me iterate in this day when there are so many religious fanatics doing so many political things. We are not a people that should frighten any magistrate.

We do not go out as wolves. We do not go out as lions. We go out as lambs. And we out-love our enemies. We out-die our enemies. We out-think our enemies and we out-preach our enemies. Now I want to talk for a moment about leadership.

Christlike Leadership in Marriage

Women, dear women, the Bible says, the Bible commands that you are to be subject to your husband. Whether feminism likes that or not doesn't matter to me a whole lot. That's what it says. And to be honest with you, when I look at what the Bible has commanded me, I think you women got off quite easily.

Because I'm required to die for mine. But now men, I want you to think about something. Here is a woman, a godly woman, or a woman who is new in the faith, but a woman who sincerely wants to do what the Bible says, subject herself to this man whom she has married.

And she looks over as she hears that command from our God, from our Father, and she looks over at you and she becomes angry and bitter, almost to the point of rage. It just doesn't seem fair that she ought to have to subject herself to a man who is all about himself.

His work, it's about him. The decisions he makes at work are about him and his job. His free time, it's about him. His hobbies, his boats, his bows, his guns, his golf clubs, free time, everything, it's about him.

And she thinks to herself, I've got to subject myself to that. To a man who makes his decisions based upon the adolescent needs of a little boy, or wants of a little boy. Women can become so embittered when they look at the vision of their husband, when they look at the purpose of their husband, when they look at the things their husband is living for.

Now let's look at the difference. Jesus said when he was asked with regard to praying. Well, let's just go there. Go with me to Matthew chapter 6 for a moment. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus said, pray then in this way, in verse 9 of Matthew 6.

Pray then in this way. Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now what is the difference? When a woman looks over, looks into the face of her husband, and what she sees is this.

A man who is supremely dedicated to what Jesus just prayed. She looks in the face of her husband and this is what she sees. Hallowed be his name, his kingdom come, his will be done, no matter what. That's what I live for.

And a truly Christian woman looks over there and says, yeah, I can subject myself to a man like that. Because he is not making decisions based on what he wants out of life, based on his individualistic and selfish, self-centered desires.

He is not making decisions based upon the culture, the whims and fads of our society. He is making his decisions for himself, for this family, for the sake, the honor, the glory of God and the advancement of his kingdom.

Selflessly. Selflessly. When we look at this prayer, it is, in my opinion, a perfect reflection, perfect example of the way Adam was to be. His life, the focus, every beat of his heart, every thought of his mind was to be focused on this.

Hallowed be thy name. Now what does that mean? Holy be thy name. Maybe a wonderful way to put it, for us to truly understand it, would be unique, special, one of a kind, be your name. That the passion that drove Christ was this.

His greatest desire was that God's name would be honored supremely, esteemed as having a value above all other things in heaven and earth. His desire was that this would be the attitude of every inhabitant on the planet.

And so you, you get up in the morning. I, I get up in the morning. The focus of our lives should be this, gentlemen. Hallowed be His name. That when someone looks at me, they know that to me He is holy.

He is supreme. He is above all things. And His value is infinitely greater than the combined worth of all the universe. Him. Hallowed be His name. That's part of what it means to be holy. Did you know that?

If not, what it means to be holy? So many people equate holiness with sinless perfection, as though they were one in the same. For example, I'll ask someone, what does it mean that God's holy? And they'll say, well, He's without sin.

Then I'll say, well, what does it mean that God's righteous? Well, He's without sin. Well, which is it? Are they synonyms? No. Two distinct things. What does it mean to be holy? To be holy means separate.

You know there's greater difference between one and two than there is between two and six million. Because one is one. Once you move out of that category, you've got the multiplicity. More than one. You've got common.

One is unique. Holy. To say that God is holy means that there is no one in His category. There is no one like Him. There is no one wholly like the Lord. Let me just give you a quick theological question.

Which of these two creatures is more like God? The great archangel or the cherubim that stand in His presence? Or the worm that floats around in the sewer? Which one is more like God? The answer is neither.

God's not like us, just bigger and badder. He's not like anything. You can't put Him in a category. Do you see that? It's impossible. You don't put Him in a category. You can put everything else in a category, but not God.

That's why when Moses says, Who are you? He says, I am who I am. I mean, if a Martian or something came down into Detroit, and I understand there are a lot of them already here. If an alien came down...

I'm in Alabama. There's a lot of them there. But if an alien came down and looked at me and said, Who are you? I could say, well, I am like Him. And in some ways, I'm like her. And I'm like Him. And I could point to about seven billion people and say, I'm like them.

I can use them as an example. You ask God who He is. I am who I am. There's no one outside of Himself to which He can point to give us an example. Until, of course, 2 ,000 years ago when someone asked God, Who are you?

And He pointed down to Jesus of Nazareth and said, I am Him. But the point is that holiness means that He is completely and utterly separate. He's not to be compared. That's why this idea of God and country and so on and so forth is absurd.

You do not put God in a conjunctive relationship with anyone or anything. It's always God alone. God alone. Now, for a man to be holy, it doesn't mean that he just has a whole bunch of things he does not do.

But it means he is a man who is given over to this God, who has separated himself unto this God, who esteems this God above all the worth of the universe. Do your children see that in you? Would any of them ever wake up at 2 in the morning to go downstairs to get a drink of water and find the light on in their father's study and peek in to see him laying on his face worshiping God?

Leonard Ravenhill used to say this, everybody's wanting to give a new definition for Christianity. What we need is a new demonstration thereof. The attitude of a Joshua. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Not in some legalistic, life-destroying way, but just a man on fire. A man on fire. Imperfect, all his flaws, everything about him, but nonetheless on fire. Nonetheless the first one to battle. Nonetheless the first to go down with the ship if it is necessary.

That's the type of men our wives should see. A wife will forgive a lot of failures in her husband. I am a great illustration of that. Not only if she is merciful, but if she knows he really is about him.

He will do anything if he sees it for him. Thy kingdom come. You know in mission conferences all over the world, we hear about the needs and they are great. There is no way to overemphasize the needs.

Not at all. And the needs need to be displayed before us all the time. The needs of Poland, of England, of Utah, of all the places that are here. Africa. They need to be shown to us. But I want to go to a higher motive.

I want to appeal to a higher motive. Yes, you should be sitting there saying we need to do missions. We need to do this because there are people who have not heard. But let me give you a higher motive.

We must go because there are places on this earth where God is not worshipped. And I can't rest because of it. There are places where His glory is being given to idols and I cannot bear it. I must go, not primarily because of them, but I must go primarily because of Him.

Because of Him. An old word that used to be used with more frequency, besought. God besought. He is just saturated with it. And He cannot rest until what was given to Adam and what was displayed in Christ has come to pass that the gospel is being preached in every nation and the kingdom of heaven is being advanced.

I know that's the intent of the men and the women who have worked so hard for this conference. I know it. It's the intent. But men, it has to begin here and it has to begin with the men. We have to lead.

Us. We have to burn. We must. We must. Or go the way of all flesh. I started preaching when I was 21. I'm 48. In some ways, it seems like it's been a very, very long time. In some ways, it seems like it was yesterday it all began.

Young men, I have not regretted pouring out my life for Jesus Christ. I have regretted pouring out so little. I have never met a missionary who regretted the price he paid on the field. But I have met every missionary who only carried one regret that they didn't pay a higher price.

Think about the things you've never heard regretted by a dying man. You've heard dying men say, I wish I hadn't worked so hard to make so much money. You hear a dying man say, I wish I hadn't neglected my family.

Have you ever heard a man say, Man, I've come to the end of my life and I really have such regrets. I loved my wife and my children too much. I served my God too hard. I gave too much to the kingdom. No, but you've heard countless times men and women lamenting the fact that they felt at the end of their days as though they had given nothing.

How should you live? You should live in a way that will be very comforting to you on the day that you die. And that must be Christ-centered, Christ-saturated, involved in doing Christ's work. Now, am I saying that everyone should be a missionary?

Absolutely not. Everyone in here is to be in the very center of God's will. Some of you are to be missionaries on the foreign field. Others of you are to stay at home and be salt and light in your communities, in your churches.

But you're always to be aware the primary commission is to preach the gospel where it's not being preached. You can't say simply, I'm taking care of my family. You cannot say simply, I'm a light in my community.

You have got to be burdened with the fact that there are places where His kingdom has not come and His will is not being done. Some of you teach your children idolatry. You know that, don't you? That's why they've got pictures of famous football players in their room and not pictures of some of the missionaries that are going to be sent out here.

What is a football player to a missionary? You see how we teach them? We school them in worldliness and then wonder why they're worldly. Now, I want to get to that point. When pastor's wives hear me preaching this, they get a little scared.

Why? Well, is my husband going to... I know my husband, they say to themselves. I know him. He's going to hear this message. He's going to give more time to ministry. He's going to be farther away from the home now.

He's not going to pay even... He's going to pay less attention to us in his quest to see the gospel preached. That's not what I'm talking about. And I want to cut that dragon's head off right now. You do not fulfill your job in the kingdom.

You do not advance the kingdom simply by doing a bunch of ministry. Because much of the ministry we do turns to nothing more than rot. We advance the kingdom by being men passionate about Christ, passionate about His gospel, passionate about His kingdom.

Men who have renewed their mind in the word of God and find themselves in the center of the will of God. Now let me explain that. There was a time when I was a single missionary. I was. Single, footloose, and fancy free.

I was going to be the Apostle Paul to the Andes Mountains. That was my desire. I was never going to marry. Nothing. I was going to die in the Andes Mountains preaching the gospel. And you know what? I had all the freedom in the world to do ministry 18 hours a day.

I did. Why? There were a whole bunch of commands in the scriptures that had absolutely nothing to do with me. That's why. All those commands about a wife? No problem. Didn't even need to study them. All those commandments about raising children?

Don't have to worry about that. 18 hours a day, preaching in villages and getting chased out of them by the evening. Pray all night. Then God gave me a wife. God gave me a wife. See that? So at that moment, something had to change.

Why? Because ministry is not my idol. It can't be. The will of God has to be my focus. So what does that mean? There's a whole bunch of commands in scripture that now are placed upon me. I was free from them as a single man, but now they are placed upon me.

So if I am to be obedient, I must not only do the work of the kingdom outside of my home, I must do kingdom work in my home. And according to the requirements of an elder, which we can apply to other ministers if I'm not carrying out the duties of my home, I don't even qualify as someone who can minister outside of the home.

And then came children. Lots and lots of children. Not too many. There's never too many. But three little children. And guess what? A whole bunch of commandments that my wife and I never had to deal with because we were just a couple of missionaries.

We could do whatever we wanted. I didn't have to change diapers, bottles, buy shoes every five days because the kid's feet's growing like... We didn't have to do any of that. We were free. But then they arrived and everything changed.

Family Discipleship as the First Sphere of Mission

Now, after that, this is what I want to teach you. Many of you have come here to talk about foreign missions, but you're in direct rebellion against God even now as I speak. And there's no sense you thinking any further than what I'm about to say.

Men, when I talk about being totally dedicated to the kingdom, given over to the things of Christ, and I'm talking about men with families, what does that mean? It means you do the will of God in concentric circles.

And what is that? First of all, the first circle of God's will with regard to expanding His kingdom is your growth in godliness. Your wife, her greatest need, my wife's greatest need is that her husband be conformed to the image of Christ.

That is their greatest need. Every problem in your marriage comes back to not being conformed to the image of Christ. There's so many men that run around doing all sorts of things. Their family's a disaster and their wife is constantly doubting their integrity.

Why? Because they've not made this a principal matter. My wife's greatest need is for a husband more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And it should be my daily task to seek greater and greater sanctification, greater and greater death to self, greater and greater manifestations of love, greater and greater manifestations to service.

That's what she needs. So the first thing that I must deal with is conformity to Christ. I don't want to know about when we support a missionary, I don't want to know all kinds of stuff. I don't even care about where he graduated from necessarily.

I want to know about his godliness, Christ-likeness, devotional disciplines, what kind of man is he? You can teach him anything, but what kind of man is he? So in the advancement of missions throughout the world, sir, our greatest need is godly men.

One of the things that most hurts Christianity in the West are all these wicked men in the ministry. All these wolves in sheep's clothing. We need men to dedicate themselves to godliness. You understand that in 1 Timothy, Paul is speaking about all throughout the letters of Paul to Timothy.

Think about this. He's basically saying, okay, Timothy, the world is going to hell in a handbag. Wickedness is rampant. In latter days, they will even depart further following doctrines of demons and everything else.

Now, Timothy, here's what I want you to do. Start an evangelistic association. It's not what he says. New mission organization. No. He says this. Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. Tozer said this one time.

He said, all these young men running around saying, oh, I just want God to use me. Why won't God use me? Tozer said, I have discovered that if a man will make himself usable, God will wear him out. It is character.

It's godliness. Then, if you're a married man, your family, your family, your family, I'm not going to be able to go out and do a lot of things tomorrow. The activities. They're great activities. He said, yes, brother Paul, the reason for that is you've got to prepare the message.

Well, I've actually got to home school an eight-year-old. Yeah, but the ministry. Now, I don't talk in terms of ministry. I don't like that terminology. I'd rather talk in terms of the will of God. In the will of God, your next concern.

You stand there first of all and you say, God, with regard to me, hallowed be your name, that holiness grow in me. May I be more conformed to the image of Christ. Your kingdom come in me. Your will be done in me.

I want to be more and more submissive to every one of your desires and commands. And then, your next step is, and this is where we fail. So often, it's where I must struggle, not with my children, with my wife.

He has given me a wife. So the next step is what? Oh, God, that she grow in sanctification. That the kingdom come in her. That the will of God be done in her. A man said something a couple weeks ago and it convicted me.

And I'm not saying convicted because I tried to appear humble. I was convicted because I should have been convicted. This is what he said. Draw a line on a chalkboard. He said, all right, let's just use the number 10.