Jackals Among Ruins

Today an even more sinister and quiet killer lurks in the most conspicuous places in our nation: in the pulpits of our land. In our day, many ministers of the gospel, and many Christians in general, have fallen. Most have fallen from sexual sin. Some have fallen due to a love of money. But a tragically innumerable sum, along with those who hear them, will fall due to this quiet killer of ministry. The One who would rid us of it and heal us from its effects reveals this killer for us in His Word.

Turn with me to the inerrant and infallible Word of the living God for the diagnosis of this urgent situation and the divine treatment offered.

Ezekiel 13:1-4

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The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the LORD!’ Thus says the Lord GOD, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel.”

1 Timothy 4:4-16

If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever (1 Pet. 1:24,25, ESV).

On this Convocation 2008, I want to bring a message of warning and of hope for our seminary community, which I am entitling, “Jackals Among Ruins.”

Introduction to the Sermon

The quiet killer of the prophets of old who were judged by God was, according to Ezekiel, their choice of curriculum. They taught what was in their own spirit. Thus the people were being fed ideas and being given images that were formed not from the mind of God but from that place that Calvin called the “factory of idols,” the mind of man without God. Thus they were, according to Ezekiel, jackals among ruins. These were the figures of dog-like creatures, alone, separated from the blessing of God and His Word, and laughing and barking and foaming at the mouth over the carcass of a kingdom which was no more. Like savage beasts, they ripped the last vestiges of men’s souls through teachings that came not from heaven but from earth. This is a devastating image of the false prophets. Thus Calvin would write of this episode in Israel’s history, referring to the jackals also as foxes: “But when the Israelites were wandering exiles, and attention to the law no longer flourished among them, it came to pass that foxes, meaning their false prophets, easily entered.”