Manifested in Our Corporate Life

Introduction: The Life Out of Death Principle and Philip Henry

0:05 It was delivered on Sunday, December 15th, 1991, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montclair.

0:13 May I encourage you to turn with me in your Bibles to Paul's second letter to the Corinthian Church, the book of 2 Corinthians, and follow as I read in your hearing the first 12 verses of chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and having read this portion, we shall then again seek the help of God's Holy Spirit in the ministry of the Word, that He would be to us the Spirit of illumination, giving us the enablement not only to hear in the outer vestibule of the ear, it must start there, and therefore we must give concentrated attention to the preaching of the Word, but also to the Word of God, and to the Word of God. Thank you. Not only God can open the ears of the heart, and for that we must seek His aid. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 1 through 12.

1:11 Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ. Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. Seeing it is God that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2:24 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God. We are pressed on every side, yet not straitened, perplexed, yet not unto despair, pursued, yet not forsaken, smitten down, yet not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. 2. For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then, death worketh in us, but life in you. Now let us plead with God for the aid of his Holy Spirit as we study his word together. 1.

3:34 2. We have confessed in the hymn we have just sung the painful consciousness of our proneness to wander, our proneness to leave you, the very God whom we love. And we would confess with equal shame our native dullness before the light of your truth. We would confess that our minds will lie shrouded in mists of darkness.

4:05 We would confess that we are not devoid of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, unless we come together and, by your gracious power, consume the mist, open the eyes of our understanding, and enable us to see, to feel, and to yield to the pressure of your word upon our enlightened minds and our quickened affections. 1. 2. 2.

4:31 3. 4. 5. 6.

4:35 we sit before him who is our true prophet, even the Lord Jesus, that he may take his own instituted means of preaching and exercise his prophetic office with power and with grace in all of our hearts. Hear us, we plead, in his worthy name. Amen. Now, to many of you sitting here this morning, the name of Matthew Henry is a household name.

5:15 Even though he lived and labored nearly 300 years ago, most of us are acquainted with him in reference to his immortal commentary on the Bible. However, the name of Philip Henry is not so well known. Yet it was Philip Henry, Matthew Henry's...

5:35 father, who in the hands of God was the most powerful instrument in molding the Matthew Henry, the fruit of that molding which is found in his commentary, which is found in many of our own homes. And that molding influence was exerted by example and by precept. And if I've whetted your appetite, you can get the details by obtaining from the library. Or purchasing in the book room, the biography of Philip and Matthew Henry.

6:12 And while Philip Henry was a minister, he made it a matter of conscience for many years to take at least a tenth of his income and to set it aside and mark it for benevolence to the poor. And as he sought to keep his own conscience sensitive to that biblical duty and privilege, and to hone the consciences of others to that duty and privilege, his biographer writes of Philip Henry as follows. To encourage himself and others to works of benevolence, he would say He is no fool who parts with that which he cannot keep when he is sure to be recompensed with that which he cannot lose. He is no fool who parks with that which he cannot keep, when he is sure to be recompensed with that which he cannot lose. Now, while Philip Henry was no doubt thinking of the biblical precept to lay up treasures in heaven by giving to the work of God and showing benevolence in Christ's name, yet in these words he captured a much larger and broader principle that is operative in the realm of

7:39 the Spirit, namely that principle that out of our death or loss comes life or our gain. And it is just this principle that we are presently expounding as we continue to focus our attention on those biblical issues which have constituted the heart of the world. The heart and soul, the very nerve centers of our life together as a church for nearly 25 years. Those things which must, in addition to further light God will give us from the scriptures, continue to lie at the nerve centers of this congregation of God's people if we are to know the blessing of God upon us in years to come. In this series of studies. entitled The Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church, we are in the midst of considering the eighth affirmation or tenet of the manifesto. I stated it last Lord's Day in this way, or two Lord's Days ago.

8:48 We are determined to validate in our corporate experience the life out of death. That's a hyphenated term in quotation marks. That's the life out of death principle essential to real Christianity. In seeking to demonstrate the biblical basis of this principle, we examined first of all what I called the foundational text that embodies this principle in John 12, 20 through 25, the heart of which is the statement of the Lord Jesus, except a kernel fall into the ground and die.

9:31 It abideth by itself alone, but if it die, it bears much fruit. He that saveth his life shall lose it, but he that hateth his life in this world shall save it. And then last week we considered three supportive texts which clearly embody this principle. Matthew 10.39, Mark 8.31.

10:01 Mark 8.35 and Luke 17.33. And we discovered in our study of those texts that each one comes in a radically different context, a different setting of spiritual dynamics, and yet in those differing settings our Lord enunciates the pervasiveness of this principle.

10:24 He that would save his life shall lose it. He that will lose his life for my sake. For my sake. For my sake and the gospels, the same shall save it.

The Concluding Text: 2 Corinthians 4:1-12 and Its Setting

10:35 Now this morning we shall examine what I will call our concluding text, and then I will seek, time permitting, to underscore those specific manifestations of the outworking of this death out of life, this life out of death principle as it has come to expression in our congregational days. So having looked at the foundational text, John 12, the three supportive texts, our concluding text is here in the passage read in your hearing, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and I refer especially to verses 10 through 12.

11:22 Speaking of himself and his companions, the apostle says, Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then, death worketh in us, but life in you. Now as we seek to labor, behold of the teaching of this text, consider with me first of all the setting of these words. In what setting and with reference to what spiritual realities did the apostle write these words which clearly embody this life out of death principle? Well, the general subject is Paul's perspectives on the Christian ministry. Notice chapter 4 and verse 1.

12:32 Therefore, Therefore, Therefore, Therefore, Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we obtained mercy, we faint not. And if you were to read the previous chapter, you would see that he's speaking particularly of the unique glory of the new covenant ministry. He's contrasting the ministry of the new covenant, the ministry, this side of the coming of Christ, the death and resurrection of Christ, and the descent of the Spirit with the ministry of Moses, in the administration of the Old Covenant. And with reference to this new covenant ministry, he states these four very vital things in the preceding context of our text in verses 10 to 12. He first of all states in verse 2 that that ministry is carried on with scrupulous personal integrity. Look at his words. We have renounced the hidden things of shame.

13:37 That is, hidden things which if people knew would cause us to wallow in shame. We've renounced, he says, as a conscious, deliberate, spiritual choice, anything which, if known, would cause us shame. We've renounced all such things. Not walking in craftiness.

14:03 Nor handling the word of God deceitfully. But by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. That's the first characteristic of this ministry. It is carried on with scrupulous personal integrity.

14:23 Integrity of life before God. Integrity of motive. Integrity in manner of handling and walking. So that all that he is, as man and minister, he commends to every man's conscience in the very presence of God that he's for real.

14:44 The second characteristic, he said, of this ministry, it's not only carried on with scrupulous personal integrity, but it's carried on in the midst of insidious satanic power. Verses 3 and 4. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that are perishing. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.

15:18 Paul is very conscious that this new covenant ministry is carried on in the midst of insidious satanic power. Though the truth is openly displayed, it is as though men still have a veil over their spiritual eyes. And he says behind that veil is the operation of a personal, malicious, spiritual, powerful being called the God of this world. A reference to the devil himself.

15:53 And so the ministry is no lark, because it must be carried on in the midst of this insidious satanic power. But then the third thing he says about his ministry is that it is carried on by the proclamation of Christ out of a servant's disposition in the mighty creative power of God. Against the backdrop of insidious satanic power, there is this proclamation of Christ out of a servant's heart in the mighty creative power of God. Verses 3 and 4.

16:32 5 and 6. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake, seeing it is God that said, Light shall shine out of darkness. A reference to the creation of light in the original creation account in Genesis 1. This God, he says, of creative power has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

17:06 Then the fourth thing he says about this ministry which forms the bridge into our text is found in verse 7. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. Not only is this ministry carried on with scrupulous personal integrity, verse 2, in the midst of insidious satanic power, verses 3 and 4, by the proclamation of Christ out of a servant's disposition in the mighty creative power of God, verses 5 and 6, but it is carried on by weak vessels to the end that it may be abundantly evident that all of its success is due to the exceeding greatness of God's power. We have this treasure in earthen vessels in order that, here's the end, the goal in view, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, in reality it may be of God, and that it may be perceived to be of God and not from ourselves. Now what is involved in this image, this mystery,

The Treasure in Earthen Vessels: An Illustration of God's Power

18:33 of we have the treasure in earthen vessels? Well I believe perhaps the most helpful answer to that question is given to us by Mr. Hughes in his commentary on 2 Corinthians in which he writes, in Roman triumphal procession it was customary for gold and silver to be carried in inexpensive earthen vessels or clay pots. Thus Plutarch describes how at the celebration of the Macedonian victory, of Aemilius Paulus in 167 BC, 3000 men followed the wagons carrying silver coin in 750 earthen vessels, each containing three talents of silver and gold and carried by four men. Paul has already shown his fondness for graphic similes taken from the spectacle of a Roman triumph. Right here in 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 14 he says God always leads us in the triumphal procession of Christ. And it was very possibly his intention here to suggest a picture of the victorious Christ entrusting his riches to the poor earthen vessels of his human followers.

19:54 This marvelous treasury of gospel ministry, certain fundamental facets of which Paul has described for us in verses 1 to 6, he says this amazing treasure of gospel ministry through which satanic blindness is overcome when humble men with a servant's heart proclaim Christ in the creative power of the living God, that treasure is housed in clay pots so that the excellency of the power, the superabundance of the power may be all of God in reality and it may be seen to be such. Let me try to illustrate what is embodied in that text, in that verse. Suppose we were on a large throughway, perhaps one of the large arteries around one of our major cities. And as we were driving along we saw the blinking lights and realized that there was some kind of a stoppage or accident.

21:08 And as we drew nearer we saw there along the side of the road a tragic sight. There obviously had been some kind of an accident in which not only were cars banged against one another but pedestrians were involved. And lying under the crushed front of a car was an individual pinned from the waist down by the collapsed front end of that car, lying there writhing in his or her pain. And as we draw near and we are stopped and cannot move we suddenly see car doors open of a car and out come two men that they obviously must be local professional football players on their way home from practice or going out somewhere together.

21:51 One of them is six foot four, 285 pounds. The other one six foot seven, 310 pounds. And they come in that size now. And they got legs like telephone poles and arms like tree trunks and necks like bulls.

22:06 And these two guys stride over and they grab the bumper and straining every muscle and sinew we see it slowly rise and we see someone who is there from the paramedics gently pull the person out and we breathe a sigh of relief and we say what a wonderful providence that those two giants with all of their accumulated strength came by right at that time. What a display of human power. But now reconstruct the scene and this time we are looking at exactly the same set of circumstances. And out of a car hops a little twelve year old kid four foot seven, 78 pounds. And he goes over, looks at the situation, grabs the bumper and with one hand holding it with just two fingers we would say what in the world has come upon that skinny little kid? What kind of angelic supernatural power has been infused into him? Look at him.

23:11 Why the kid isn't even five feet tall? Soaking wet he wouldn't pop ninety pounds. How in the world? There must be some power external to his natural might that's causing the hundreds of pounds that are there pressing upon the body of that trapped person.

23:32 And pinning into the earth there is something outside of and in addition to the native strength of that little kid that's lifting that car. And that would not only be true, in fact it would be manifested to everyone who looks at it. Now this is what Paul says. He's taking this gospel treasure and what has he deposited?

23:54 Not in six foot seven, 285 pound offensive linemen. So that when they deliver their goods, you're amazed at their inherent strength. But as he put it in little 78 pound four foot ten inch kids, that when there is that operation which literally bashes and destroys the power and the influence of the prince and the god of this world, the devil himself, delivering men from their native blindness and spiritual impotence, it may be evident to all that the exceeding greatness of the power does not reside in the instrument, but it is the very power of the living God. And so he says, we have this treasure in fragile clay. That's how Paul describes himself and his fellow workers. Fragile clay.

25:05 That the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not of ourselves. Then in verses eight and nine, he strings together for you Greek students four sets of contrasting participles. And you'll notice in the old 1901 the we are is in italics. It's not there in the original.

25:26 And he strings them together as evidences of this principle that the treasure is in earthen vessels, but the power is of God. There's the fragile clay pot pressed on every side, hemmed in, and yet never so hemmed in that it can't turn about and move. Trapped, yet not trapped. It's play on words.

25:50 He says perplexed, but not unto despair. Pursued, yet not forsaken. Smitten down, yet not destroyed. The first part of each couplet points to the fragile clay pot.

26:09 The last part of each couplet to the mighty power of God that keeps that particular thing from accomplishing its natural end, which would be the utter casting down and destruction of the poor clay pot in which the treasure is held. Lenski, the Lutheran commentator, has captured the sense of it very succinctly when he writes, notice the gradation and the picture of a mortal chase and a flight. Hard pressed, at a loss which way to flee, chased, caught, and thrown down. Ever carrying around this hostile action of being put to death.

26:52 Why do they not at once receive the fatal blow? Not because Paul and his helpers are able to ward it off. It is because the Lord has said, Lo, I am with you always. This explains all of the negations.

27:07 There are four, the usual number employed by good writers when they wish to sketch completeness. Number one, pressed on every side, but not hemmed in, the Lord makes a way of escape. Being at a loss what to do, but not having lost out, the Lord helped us out. Thirdly, persecuted and chased, but not abandoned, certainly not abandoned by the Lord.

27:34 And fourth, actually getting caught and thrown down, but not perishing and done in. Paul is describing the experience which he and his assistants constantly undergo, and not the end of it all. What that will eventually be, he does not need to say. This will happen in the Lord's time and He will make it plain.

The Life Out of Death Principle in Ministry: 2 Corinthians 4:10-12

28:00 So what we have in verses 8 and 9 are these very few very practical manifestations of the truth established in verse 7, that the vessel is indeed a clay pot, it is vulnerable, it is weak, but the fact that the treasure continues to be contained in it, and the treasure continues to be active in the proclamation of the gospel is due solely to the mighty power of God. Now, that's the setting leading up to this statement of the life out of death out of death principle. And I've taken more time than usual to sketch it in because it's crucial to a proper understanding of the text. Now let's come to the words of verses 10 through 12. Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. Here he says, there is the constant experience of the servants of God. Their constant experience, what is it?

29:09 It is always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus. Carrying about the putting to death of Jesus, which in the context means always on the verge of death, always persecuted, always tracked down for the sake of Jesus in the path of obedience to Jesus, in the ministry of the proclamation of Christ Jesus as Lord. Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus. Now that does not refer to some kind of mystical participation in the once for all bloodletting of the Son of God on behalf of sinners. That work was accomplished by the Savior. He said it is finished. But when Paul says bearing about the dying of Jesus, he is saying, I and my companions are marked men.

30:11 Every morning we wake up, it is as though we have a death sentence issued. We never know what will happen to us in the course of our fidelity to Christ. This is our constant experience carrying about the putting to death of Jesus, but, he says in order that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. As surely as we are constantly carrying about the putting to death of Jesus, we are always manifesting the life of Jesus in our bodies.

30:49 That is, we are kept alive by the power of Christ, even His resurrection power. And in the case of the Apostle Paul, that came to an almost literal experience one time when they stoned him and left him for dead. And when the disciples gathered around him, the next thing we know, Paul rises up, shakes the dust off, and goes off to preach again. This was their constant experience.

31:15 Then we read in the next verse the explicit purpose of this experience as it relates to God's servants. If God's servants are always carrying about in their bodies the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in those bodies, what's the purpose of this? Verse 11, For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. God has so ordered it that we will be constantly handed over to death, be reckoned as good as good, and as good as dead.

31:59 Why? That the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. That we clay pots, so vulnerable, so fragile, balanced and pieces, and utterly wiped off the face of the earth as many wish we were. There's only one explanation.

32:25 Jesus Christ who died, rose again, and in us, resurrection power, and resurrection energy. The very life of Jesus is operative in our human experience. And having pointed to the constant experience of the servants of God in verse 10, the explicit purpose of this experience in verse 11, now what's the inevitable result of this experience in the servants of God as it relates to those to whom they minister? Verse 12, So then, so then, here's the conclusion of it, death is constantly at work in us, but life in you. Now you see he takes this very reality that he and his companions are being continually handed over to death and yet they do not die, they live by the power of Christ, under the protection of Christ, in the grace of Christ, and the treasure is indeed to be seen, not housed in interior lying men, so that we ooh and aah at this, but in the weak clay pots that they continue to exist in spite of what happens and therefore we must be amazed and astounded

33:49 not at the clay pot, but at the God who keeps it intact, the God who puts in a thousand pieces, utterly ground to powder, utterly scour them off the face of the earth, and he says, in that process a marvelous thing happens, death is constantly working in us as we selflessly give ourselves a life of obedience to the will of God, as we determine that we shall not promote ourselves, preach ourselves, pursue our own ambitions, pursue our own goals, as we give ourselves to Christ, to be obedient, obedient to Christ, and to the commission of Christ, and to the proclamation of Christ, as crucified men, we preach a crucified Savior, and we live as those who each morning receive their sentence to go to the place of death, as that whole complex of death works in us, he says the result is this, life works in you. Out of our death comes your life. And if you want living proof of that for your meditations this afternoon, you read the 18th chapter of Acts, and see how that Paul, ministering right there at Corinth,

35:19 this man of tremendous moral courage, who at several places in the book of Acts amazes us when that angry mob is gathered there in the arena, and Paul is chomping at the bit, let me get in there and get out, and then his friends are grabbing and saying, they'll tear you from limb to limb, don't do it! But that man got scared at Corinth. He himself says, I was with you with weakness and fear and much trembling, and God sent his angel to come to him at night and said, don't be afraid, I have much people in this city. There the earthiness of the vessel is seen, but as death was at work in him, in all of his vulnerability, in all of his felt weakness, and yet in that vulnerability and in that weakness, determined to give him life, he shelt to the work he had been called to do. He said, as death worked in us, so life worked in you. Why is there a church at Corinth? Because the life out of death principle was operative in the apostle and his companions.

36:21 Why was there spiritual life at Corinth? Why was there a living temple? Why was there something more than the multiplicity of heathen temples with all of their heathen deities and their immoral practices of heathen temple prostitutes and all of the rest? Why was there a living temple of living stones culled out of former liars and drunkards and perverts and adulterers?

36:51 Such were some of you, but you have been washed, sanctified and justified. Why? Because death had worked in the presence of God and life had worked in the people at Corinth. Death works in us, but life in you.

Spiritual Martyrdom and Its Corporate Application

37:09 Now in the setting granted, the primary emphasis is upon the literal exposure and danger of martyrdom which Paul and his companions faced at that period in the history of the church. You remember in reading through the book of Acts how his steps were dogged again and again by the Jews that would come from this place and that and would seek to stir up the crowd and in other places, people turned against him in anger and sought his life. And though the primary reference in this immediate context of being delivered unto death and speaking of death working in us is to the literal martyrdom, the great principle is this. No one intelligently and joyfully exposes himself to literal martyrdom who has not undergone a previous deep spiritual martyrdom. Until a man is said no to self, taken up his cross and begun to follow Christ, he's not going to be prepared joyfully to follow him to a place of execution as a martyr. Physical martyrdom is the fruit of the inward spiritual martyrdom and therefore it is right that we should see in this text an embodiment of that principle

38:35 that if we would see life working in others through this assembly, we'll see it in direct proportion to death working in us. Do we want to say to our children? Do we want to say to another generation? Do we want to say to pockets of people throughout this country and the world, life is at work in you?

39:02 Spiritual life wrought by the mighty power of God. Then we'll be able to say it only to the extent that we can say that the apostle and his companions' death worketh in us. If we refuse the death, we'll not know the joy of seeing life come to others, for except the kernel of wheat fall into the ground, it abideth by itself alone. But if it die, it beareth much fruit.

39:34 Dear people, this passage obviously has reference unlike the others, to the service of God. Whereas the other texts had reference to the manner in which Jesus would procure our salvation, he had to die. The manner in which we are unable to embrace that salvation, we must die hating our life in this world, John 12, 25. And the other text referred to the impact of the gospel upon the most inner circle of human ties, father, mother, brother, sister, and we must be prepared to lose that domestic life to everyone's acceptance and praise and approval and commendation.

40:17 And as in the setting in Mark, it had to do with the whole matter of the fundamental issues of discipleship. In Luke, it had to do with preparedness for the Lord's return. So here we find the life out of death principle embedded in a passage dealing with the work of ministry, with the service of the servants of God, and by implication of the church of Christ, so that this principle touches wherever we turn any major dimension of Christian experience, we find the life out of death principle staring us in the face as of the very essence of real Christianity. Having, I trust, convinced your judgment from these five key texts that the life out of death principle is indeed essential to real Christianity, now in the time that remains this morning, how has this principle shaped our corporate life over the years? And I want to make it very plain at the very outset as I tried to collate these matters and reflected upon them, I was conscious afresh of how many sins, how many failures, how many shortcomings, how much blindness and dullness in the midst of it. But I would be less than taking Paul's posture of commending our life to you in the presence of God

Manifesting the Principle in Gospel Proclamation

41:44 and to your conscience did I not say that this principle has indeed been part of the nerve center of the life and ministry of this assembly for twenty-five years. Where and how? Well, let me set before you three simple categories. Number one, in our proclamation of the gospel, as this principle is supremely enforced and illustrated in the manner in which Christ gathers his people, John 12, except I, the Colonel, fall into the ground and die, I will abide alone.

42:19 Do the Greeks want to see me? They must eventually see me as the crucified one. And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all unto me. And if we are to have this life out of death principle operative in our life and ministry as a church, the fundamental principle building block of an ongoing ministry will be the centrality of Christ crucified in all of the preaching of this place.

42:50 That's why Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 2, 2, when coming to the Corinthians, I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him as crucified. And as he went preaching in an immolated Savior, that which he knew was a stumbling block to the Jew and foolishness to the Greek, and he died to the acceptance of the religious crowd and the philosophical and rhetorical crowd. He had no expectations and he pledged an offensive but beautifully attractive, immolated, incarnate God in the midst of Corinth. And what happened? As he died to the acceptance of Jew and Greek, to the professional religionist and the professional philosopher, he died to those things willing to seal his testimony with his own blood. What happened as he died preaching Christ crucified in a hostile context, life worked in the Corinthians. And dear people, the day Trinity Church ceases to have not as an ancillary, secondary, or oblique emphasis Christ and Him crucified,

44:19 then, when that day comes, we will be in some way saving our life, and in saving it, we'll lose it. Do we have a biblical world in life view? Yes! Central proclamation!

44:36 Do we believe Reformed doctrine? Preach Reformed doctrine? Do we seek to respond to men's felt needs? Yes!

44:48 But that's not our primary concern. Do we seek to address the critical issues of the day, such as abortion, pornography, AIDS, etc.? Yes!

44:58 But that is not our central concern. Our central concern to this generation and every generation until Christ returns is to dare to believe that we plant crucified in the muck and in the society, believing that by the power of God can be transformed through the proclamation of God's answer to human sin in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And we have, by God's grace, died to the acceptance of the smug Reformed ones who said, ah, you're not quite all the way. You don't have a pervasive world and life view. You are pietistic. You're constantly emphasizing the gospel and a new heart and personal holiness.

46:01 Some of you don't know what I'm talking about. Some of you do. I had to die to being accepted and credentialed by the great ones in the Reformed community because of my pietism. So be it.

46:22 And may God grant that you will have the discernment as a people if anyone begins to occupy this pulpit and flavor it with any other and be crucified. Take the proper channels to see to it he's removed. Otherwise, you'll lose your life. It's only as death works in the servants of God, death to ambition to be somebody, to be accepted, to have a new wrinkle, to have something that's acceptable in the religious world or in the philosophical world, it's when those wicked things begin to be the pursuits of anyone in a place of official proclamation that there will be a deviation from Christ and Him crucified. And by the grace of God, albeit imperfectly and needing His blood to make it in any way acceptable to God, the life out of death principle has been operative in this place and I call upon you to make sure that it continues to be till Christ comes. Second area in which we've manifested it is in our call to discipleship. While we've jealously guarded the freeness of God's grace, the total objectivity of God's justifying righteousness, that is, we are accepted before God in the court of heaven

Manifesting the Principle in the Call to Discipleship

47:50 solely, exclusively on the grounds of the obedience of Christ and the death of Christ and we take second place to no one in affirming our confidence that God justifies the ungodly who believes on Christ. We have refused, we have refused to set up a dichotomy between John 3.16 and John 12.25.

48:15 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 12.25, He that hateth his life, he that loveth his life loseth it and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. This is no contradiction He that believeth hath everlasting life.

48:41 He that hates his life in this world shall have everlasting life. That's not two different promises. They both include the other. In every true exercise of that faith which is the gift of God there is not only a resting upon Christ alone for pardon and acceptance and a perfect righteousness but there is a going out of the heart to Christ in the resolute rejection of self as the central core of life.

49:16 There is a saying no to self, a taking up of the cross and a joyful commitment to follow Him. We have not preached cheap grace or cheap believism. We have not preached the horrible heresy you can be saved but not surrendered. You can have Christ as Savior but not as Lord.

49:36 You can be a believer but not a disciple. You can be on your way to heaven while living like you are a child of hell. We have refused to teach that because that is a denigration of the very purpose for which the Son of God died. He died to bring us to a personal death as we view the glory of His death.

49:59 And that's why John Owen could say if the death of Christ for sin has not brought about your death to sin you are yet dead in your sin. If the death of Christ for sin has not brought about your death to sin you are yet dead in your sins. What was he saying? He was saying in other words this great life out of death principle.

Manifesting the Principle in Ministry Priorities: Church Planting and Education

50:29 And we have sought by God's grace to maintain it not only in our proclamation of the gospel of Christ and Him crucified in our call to discipleship in which we refuse to separate attachment to Christ on His terms and faith in Christ for justifying righteousness but then thirdly in the priorities of our ministries as a church. And this is where some of you will just have to take our word for it who have been around from the beginning. Time after time after time when issues were being thrashed out the text that was brought into the theater of our discussion was he that would save his life shall lose it. But he that will lose his life for my sake in the gospels the same shall save it. Not only true of the individual but true of our corporate life. You say what are you talking about pastor? Well I'll give you some examples.

51:22 Number one investing money and personnel to plant churches in other places while we did not yet have our own church building. We were not constituted a church more than a year and a half when we heard of a group of people 120 miles west of us here in Pennsylvania who were praying God would raise up a reformed Baptist church. There was a young man who had come to us before we even broke with the denomination who attended a local Bible college. We knew he was available for ministry and subsequently gone to seminary.

51:54 To make a long story short we laid hands upon that young man. Didn't know much about church planning then no little bit more now. And we commissioned him and sent him out there and underwrote the rest of his support that would not be coming from that group of people. And God brought a church to birth and we were pouring in thousands of dollars to build a building when we didn't have a dime in a building fund of our own.

52:17 And people said what are you doing? Here you are you don't have a building fund. There was no prospect of any land before us. There was no prospect of a building.

52:26 And we said no the scripture says withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thy hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbor go and tomorrow I will give it when you have it by you. And I can remember saying in discussions brethren God will not be debtors to us. If we lose our economic life we'll find it down the road somewhere in God's time when it's time for us to have land and a building God will fulfill his promise.

52:52 You sit today in an unindebted property why? Not because we had wealthy people laying out tens of thousands but because this life out of death principle is true and this is the living truth. Amen. We are living witness of it.

53:13 Some years later 1975 still meeting in schools the co-pastor by the name of Pastor Ashiel Blaze was burdened to go back to East London and start a church. And after we wrestled and prayed and believed it was the will of God we laid hands upon him committed ourselves to support him send him back. Still had no building fund still no prospect of any land still no prospect of a building. What in the world are you doing spending thousands of dollars to plant a church in East London?

53:43 You don't have your own building yet. He that finds his life shall lose it but he that will lose his life for my sake and the gospel's the same shall save it. On the threshold of our largest expenditure phase two remember the commissioning of the Hoffmeyers? It didn't take place in here it took place over there.

54:02 Remember that night when they left we all lined up what a stupid thing to do take on a missionary and his family commission them and send them and give yourself pledge that you will underwrite their support and care for them and you're on the threshold of a 1.23 million dollar building program. What in the world kind of stupidity is that? He that would lose his life shall find it.

54:31 There are people behind those policies was not a capricious flip a coin see what we do disposition it was a commitment to this principle. He that would save his congregational life hoarding up his money here hoarding up his money here that's the quickest way to lose it. You want to find churches where death smells in every single pew and reeks out of the mortar in the joints of the stones outside find the churches that are endowed for years to come and everything's set yes just as set as a graveyard. Secondary in the priorities of our ministry not only investing money in personnel when our own needs were great but investing money in personnel to equip men to serve in other places investing money in personnel to equip men to serve in other places when we started the academy in 1978 not unilaterally we had the encouragement and counsel of many brethren outside of our own assembly we had experienced pressure for years and convinced that the time had come phase one was just a dream hadn't been built yet

55:56 I mean you don't hire a man full time to teach when you're going to have to go into a major building program we had the land then but we didn't have any building on it you don't do that who says you don't the cry was coming from so many places where are we going to get men for these groups that God is raising up hungry for the truth and there were indications that we had a peculiar stewardship to do something and we did what the world would say is foolish but you as God's people were willing and congregational consent was sought and secured to invest your money and relinquish personnel pastors whose time would otherwise be spent with you in areas where they'd love to spend it would now be spent teaching and preparing lessons to prepare men for what not to turn them back in upon ourselves but that we might as it were amen our prayers to the Lord of the harvest that he send forth laborers into his harvest field so that now probably about a tenth of your annual giving the annual budget when you figure the time of the men who are supported by the church going into the academy and benevolences at least that much goes into what losing our life that we might find it in little groups of people who will bless God now and in the day of judgment that you people cared enough

Manifesting the Principle in Ministry Priorities: Universal Church and Pastoral Relinquishment

57:23 to see beyond the end of your own nose and help to prepare men in the context of a viable church and furnish them with the tools needed to be able ministers of the new covenant losing our life we find it and when one of those graduates can write us ten years later in the work where his laboring is flourishing people are being saved and saints are walking in unity and joy I've never had anyone come to me and say Pastor you know I really think the price was too high we find our life in the joy of spiritual fulfillment in this way another area investing money and personnel to help the church universal what is Trinity Pulpit what is the Trinity Book Service oh yes we get some benefits from them but we could get all those benefits in about one tenth of time and energy and personnel and money if we were just thinking of ourselves we could have a nice extensive book service for ourselves a tape service for ourselves but what is it God has given us and God has given you people a heart for Church universal for where there are no churches and hungry sheep look up and are not fed and God has helped you to get the vision that we must be willing to lose our life our life is in our labors our labors express in the remuneration when you put that offering on the plate and you know that it is going for these ministries to strengthen the Church universal

58:53 you are losing a part of your life but in losing it we find it But in losing it, we find it.

59:02 Relinquishing claims over your own pastors and deacons to help other churches. You're like the people in Acts 13. When the Holy Spirit said, I want the two choice men there at Antioch. Saul and Barnabas.

59:16 They didn't say, wait a minute, Lord, you go take our men away. Take the guys that are down on the list of potential usefulness. God said, no, I'm going to take the best. The church didn't grumble.

59:27 The church didn't complain. They held them with an open hand. And you as a congregation have held many of us over the years with an open hand. When it has been decided in the eldership that a call to go here or there for one of your elders or your deacons in an assistance ministry of other churches, not seeking to extend a Trinity empire, we're not asked to go.

59:49 God said, will you come and help us? You have gladly died and relinquished us with an open hand. I've heard your prayers. Lord, thank you for the privilege of sharing our pastor.

60:02 With others in other places, the privilege of sharing the insight and the experience of our deacons with others when they've gone to conduct seminars, etc. That's been losing your.

60:16 Sure, you'd love to have me come over the hours spent on a plane going to Australia could have a lot of two and three hour lovely visits sitting and chatting about old times. We'd all enjoy it. But life is short. And while I trust none of you can ever say you cried for help.

60:34 And all you. Got was busy signals. And I believe I can say no one ever cried for help and was told I'm too busy to give it. It does mean that many of those areas were just out of sheer love for one another.

60:48 We'd enjoy just some nice, relaxed fellowship that you've been willing to die. And some of us have been willing to die not only to that, but the times with our wives and families and the comforts of our own bed and the comfort of a routine schedule. And go into the disruption of radical time changes and food and all the rest. Why?

61:11 We're not martyrs. No. But we have faced the issue. Save your life, man, and you'll lose it.

61:18 Lose it for my sake in the Gospels and you'll save it.

61:22 Take it easy. You're going to burn yourself out. Well, I don't know what God will do. But I find for the most part I can run circles around most men two years from their 60th birthday.

61:33 I don't take credit for it. But I believe in some little measure. It's this principle. You lose your life, you'll save it.

61:41 I covet for anyone the kind of marriage God has given to my wife and me. And the weeks and months, and it probably totals I don't know how much over the years that we've been apart. Rather than fracture our relationship, there's only made us love one another more and appreciate one another more. And losing our marriage, we've saved it.

62:03 If we'd built a lovely little dream-like, idealistic castle around it. We would have cursed it with death. The way some of you are cursing your marriage with death because you're wrapped up in yourselves. You're not losing your lives for Christ and for His Gospel and for others.

Manifesting the Principle in Corporate Prayer and Other Decisions

62:25 In the priorities of our corporate prayer, we've determined that Gospel concerns, according to 1 Timothy 2, 1 to 5, shall dominate our corporate prayers.

62:38 We lose our life. All kinds of things. All kinds of things we'd all like to pray about. But God says, I will first of all that prayers, supplication, intercession, giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and rulers, those in authority that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in godliness and gravity.

62:55 This is well pleasing to God who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. It is the cause of the Gospel that is to dominate the corporate prayers of God's people. And that means you've got to lose your life. All the gimme things you'd like to bring to God.

63:12 God says, no, lose your life and in losing it, you'll find it in the priorities of personal careers and monetary decisions. There are people sitting here who've lost their career life.

63:26 You've been dead ended career wise. Why? Because you've been committed to the Gospel concerns connected with this assembly in the priorities of the use of this building. I didn't see anybody going out saying, oh my.

63:42 If we. Let the Christian school use the building, we'll mess up the walls and scruff up the carpets. Big deal.

63:51 You did unanimously, as far as I know, without grudging, when the request came to use these facilities five days a week, nine months a year. You didn't say, oh, it's our nice building.

64:06 You held it with an open hand. Well, dear people, I hope these are enough specifics to convince your judgment that indeed, that life is a living thing. That life out of death principle has been operative in our life together. And I'm saying in this affirmation of the manifesto, we are determined.

Call to Personal Application and Concluding Prayer

64:26 We are determined to manifest in our ongoing life that we are committed to that principle.

64:35 But we cannot do that in our corporate decisions as a church, in our corporate perspectives as a church, in our corporate use of funds. And joyful use of personnel, unless the principle is operative in your own heart. And the moment you begin to think in terms of how does it influence me, how does it affect me, and when you begin to be the center, mark it well, you'll find a hundred things around here that grind your socks. And rather than go to a place called Calvary and see that the root of the grinding of the socks is your own unmortified self-life, you'll begin to come up with.

65:17 There are all kinds of specious reasonings as to why your sock-grinding state is legitimate and justifiable. I've seen them come and go.

65:30 Remember, I'm no novice in this business.

65:35 And there may be some of you sitting right here now. Your socks begin to grind.

65:42 You feel the sand. Because you just don't like the dimension of otherness outgoing worldwide. The gospel-ness of the vision and burden and principles of this assembly.

66:01 Thank God self-centered people feel uncomfortable around here. And the day that ceases to be so, we've lost our life. For he that would save his life, individually or corporately, shall lose it. But he that will lose it for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

66:23 Is that the commitment of your heart?

66:27 Is that the commitment of your heart? If not, I pray, God, that you'll have dealings with the Lord until it is. And may it live in the life and soul of this congregation till Jesus returns. Let us pray.

66:43 Our Father, we confess that we know so little of your ways.

66:58 We acknowledge that so much of what we are and what we do is regulated by those areas of our lives. We acknowledge that so much of what we are and what we do is regulated by those areas of our lives. We pray that you would help us to understand and to experience at a level we have never known before what it is with our Lord Jesus to be those kernels that fall into the earth and die. That in dying, we shall come to life and bear much fruit.

67:30 O Lord, forgive the many areas where as a congregation, knowingly or unknowingly, we are still serving ourselves, deliver us more and more from anything that could legitimately be called the saving of our lives. O Lord, work this great principle into the texture of every soul of every member. And for those who are yet in their sins, we pray that you would call them out of their sins, away from their self-centered rebellion against you. Amen.

68:05 Amen. Amen. Amen. And into union with Christ crucified, seal your word to our hearts, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.