Ministry of the Word of God, Part 1

Introduction: The Efficacy of God's Word and the Perseverance of the Saints

0:01 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, June 13, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Before we seek God's blessing on the ministry of the Word, I want to read two verses of His own Word in your hearing. 1. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth, and bud, and gives seed to the sower, and bread to the eater,

0:50 2. So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it. Let us plead that God will fulfill that word that He has given in causing His Word to prosper. Let us pray.

1:20 Holy Father, as we come to this time when we take our Bibles into our hands and set its truth to our ears, we do come in the consciousness that it is Your Word, that we are not trafficking in the notions of fellow mortals whose breath is in their nostrils, but that we are bringing our minds and our ears and hearts into Christ. Holy Father, in Your contact with that to which You have committed Your own word of promise that it shall not return to You void, O Lord, accomplish Your own sovereign designs in the preaching and teaching of the Word of God this morning. O, may it carry before it all prejudice, all human pride, all of the silly notions of our own human thought. O, may Your Word...

2:25 come and as a rushing tide of heavenly power sweep before it all of the refuse of human thought and opinion oh lord come and bring every thought captive to the obedience of christ we ask in his name amen in our meditation upon the word of god this morning we continue our studies in the vital biblical doctrine of the perseverance of the people of god now during the course of six lord's day mornings we examined approximately 30 key texts from the gospel of matthew to the book of the revelation all of which set forth one basic truth namely that those who believe on the lord jesus christ unto the remission of their sins must continue in the way of faith holiness and obedience unto the end if they would be saved in the last day now we as a congregation and i personally

3:48 as a christian and a preacher am not at all embarrassed to confess my and our conviction that the bible clearly teaches that salvation is all of grace that god in free sovereign love chose in eternity a people for himself and that in time jesus christ came and died for that people and that in the life history of each one of them the holy spirit efficaciously and powerfully draws them to repentance and faith and upon believing they are justified furthermore we believe in the language of romans eight that every single one whom god justifies he will certainly and infallibly glorified and we are not at all embarrassed therefore to confess our conviction with respect to the grand doctrines of god's grace free sovereign election definite efficacious atonement effectual conquering calling and the preservation of god's grace of all who are thus chosen redeemed called and justified now i don't think i can make our confession any plainer than that

5:11 but the same bible which brings us to that conviction and confession teaches that all who are truly justified upon faith are those who will indeed persevere in the way of faith and in its fruits of holiness and obedience unto the end so that the language of our lord jesus is indeed the great keynote of this subject he that endureth to the end the same shall be saved now we know that all who are saved will endure but all who are saved must endure and therefore we have examined these texts which set forth the necessity of our perseverance in faith and holiness and obedience unto the end the last lord's day we began the second major division of our subject having considered the necessity of perseverance we began an introductory study on the means of our perseverance and as we took up this subject what i did was simply to lay before you the precise and importance of these means, and I did so by a negative and a positive statement.

The Means of Perseverance: Not Saviors, but Divinely Appointed Activities

6:36 These means are not our saviors. Christ alone is our savior. These means are not automatically effective, but positively stated, these means of perseverance are the divinely appointed spiritual activities which, by the blessing of God, are made effectual to keep us in the way of faith, holiness, and obedience. And I use the extended analogy, or rather an allegory or extended metaphor, they are God's appointed stations of refreshment and nourishment along the path that leads into his immediate presence. And therefore to trust in these means is to be guilty of idolatry. They are not our saviors. They have no automatic power to keep us in the way.

7:34 But to despise them is to be guilty of presumption. We have no promise from God that we shall be kept in the way apart from these means. And to claim a great confidence in God's keeping power while despising the very means ordained to keep us is to be guilty of terrible presumption. And then we saw in conclusion that to use them apart from being on the way by true conversion, apart from being united to Christ, is an exercise in futility.

8:09 Well, now we move on this morning from having considered this introductory perspective on the means of perseverance to consider the identity of these means. Having examined their precise function and importance, we now progress in our thinking, and I trust the progression is clear to all of you, to consider the identity of these means. We've established that we must persevere. Having established that, we've asked the question, by what means do we persevere?

8:47 And the answer is only those means appointed by God, and blessed by Him. Well, then the next natural question is, what then are the means appointed by God, which by His blessing will indeed be effectual to keeping us in the way of faith, holiness, and obedience? And it is that question that will occupy our minds and our attention over the next few Lord's Days. And as I have sought to find an organizing principle for these means, I have chosen to ask the question, I have chosen to divide them into two basic categories.

Categorizing the Means: Private vs. Public/Corporate

9:25 Those means which I will call the private or individually exercised means, such as the one underscored by our Lord in Matthew 6.6, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and shut thy door. Now that's obviously an emphasis upon a private or individually exercised means of perseverance in the way of faith, holiness, and obedience, the means of private prayer. But then there is another category of means, which I'm going to designate as the public or corporately exercised means.

10:07 And these are the means which God has set in the midst of His church in biblically structured activities and relationships. Let me repeat that. These are the means, which God has set in the midst of His church in its biblically structured activities and relationships. For example, Hebrews 10.25, And forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. And as we shall see in a subsequent study, the very setting of that exhortation is the doctrine of perseverance. And with respect to that, there are means which God has established and set within a biblically structured church. And although there will obviously be some overlapping, that two-fold category is a valid one, and I trust it will be a helpful framework within which to consider the biblical materials.

11:14 Granted, there will be overlapping, there will be interpenetration, but there is a... a valid category of the privately or individually exercised means of perseverance and the category of the public or the corporately exercised means.

The Primary Corporate Means: Ministry of the Word by God-Given Overseers

11:34 Now we begin this morning the latter, the corporately exercised means of perseverance. And why do I begin with them? For the simple reason that the primary emphasis of the word of God falls upon them. Now in our culture, crassly individualized society, in our do-your-own-thing-ism mentality, be-your-own-man, be-your-own-woman context, it may sound strange to us to hear that the primary emphasis in the word of God with respect to the means ordained of God for our perseverance falls not upon individual or private exercises, but it falls upon the corporate or the public exercises that God has deposited in His church. And first in rank among all of them is what we will examine this morning, the ministry of the word of God by your God-given overseers. What means has God given us by which we will be enabled, able to persevere in the way of faith,

12:57 holiness, and obedience unto the end? We have seen from many scriptures that we must persevere. We have seen that the means in and of themselves have no power to enable us, but neither will we persevere without them. Well, as we concentrate upon those means and block off the first category of means, those public or corporately exercised, means of perseverance, what is the first one in rank and in importance?

13:31 Well, as we examine the word of God, we see that it is precisely this, the ministry of the word of God by your God-given overseers. And in opening up this avenue of our subject, I want to establish, first of all, the fact that God has appointed some men, not all men in his church, for special ministry and oversight to secure the perseverance of his people. We want to establish the fact that God has appointed not all men, but some men in his church for special ministry and oversight in order to secure the perseverance of his people. Open your Bibles, please, to the first of three critical passages that we will examine today. Let's examine under this heading. Ephesians chapter 4.

Fact 1: God Appoints Men for Special Ministry and Oversight (Ephesians 4)

14:29 Ephesians chapter 4.

14:37 The apostle has given an appeal, an exhortation to Christian unity in the church at Ephesus. And now he's instructing the church with respect to the fact that that unity is carried out in a very specific context of Christ's gracious provision for his people. Verse 8. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.

15:11 Now this, he ascended, what is it but that he descended also into the lowest parts of the earth? He that descended is the same that ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. And this, of course, is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And he, that is the ascended Lord who went down into the depths of the experience of death and in the language of Philippians 2 as the reward of his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross.

15:46 God has highly exalted him, given him the name which is above every name. This ascended Christ has engaged in a very specific activity according to verse 11. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering unto the building up of the body of Christ till we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a full-grown man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Pause.

16:29 In order that we may be no longer children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine by the slight of men in craftiness after the wiles of error but speaking truth in love may grow up in all things unto him who is the head. Now I do not purpose to give a detailed exposition of the passage but simply to underscore and highlight its relevance for the subject in hand this morning. Remember the issue that is before us. One concern with which we are wrestling.

17:11 Convinced that we must persevere in faith, holiness, and obedience and recognizing that almighty God has appointed certain means by which under his blessing we shall be enabled to persevere in faith, holiness, and obedience the preacher has asserted that among those means particularly the public or corporately exercised means supreme among them is the preaching of the word by God appointed overseers. And where does he get such a notion? Well look at this passage. The ascended Christ has given gifts to men.

17:52 And what are those gifts? The gifts are men equipped and appointed to special ministerial functions. Do you see it in verse 11? And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.

18:13 Now what do they all have in common? Well they have this in common. These gifts of Christ are not gifts in abstraction. It is not the apostolic office in abstraction.

18:27 It is not the prophetic office in abstraction. It is not the evangelistic office or function in abstraction. Nor is it the shepherding teaching office in abstraction. Your Bibles tell you as they tell me that it is these offices in the concrete expression of specific men who are equipped for them recognized in the office and function in terms of that office.

18:58 He gave some apostles and some prophets and evangelists, pastors and teachers. So the ascended Christ gives gifts to men. The gifts are men equipped and appointed to special ministerial function. But now notice in the third place the purpose for which they are given is verse 12 for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering.

19:29 They are given for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering. And then a second major category of purpose is given to us in verse 14. In order that we may be no longer children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine by the slight of men. So these gifts who are men equipped and appointed to special ministerial function are given that the saints might be perfected that the saints might not be tossed to and fro and battered about by all of the winds of doctrine that float about but that they might hold steadily to their course and make it to their heavenly haven upon which they have set themselves towards the work of ministry. In the words which they have set their compass and in the hope of which they have raised their sails and taken hold of the rudder. And therefore if we would attain to that haven we must attain in the way of our Lord's appointment by the constant impingement of the ministry of those whom Christ has given for this very purpose.

20:59 Now Christ never gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to become objects of idolatrous attachment, of blind trust, of sinful, maudlin, sentimental or superstitious relationship. But he did give them for your perfecting and for your stabilization in faith.

21:31 Now he could have chosen another method but he didn't. He chose to take some redeemed sinners out of the mass of redeemed sinners and peculiarly equip them, appoint them and deposit them in his church in order that his people might what? Persevere in faith, in holiness and obedience that his redemptive purposes might be realized in his own people. Now then turn to Acts chapter 20.

Fact 1 Continued: God Appoints Men for Special Ministry and Oversight (Acts 20)

22:08 All we're doing is establishing the fact that God has indeed appointed some men in his church for special ministry and oversight to secure the perseverance of his people. In Acts 20 Paul is speaking not to the church in general but to a special class of men within the church. Verse 17 of Acts 20 And from my church Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church, the overseers, the pastors, the shepherds of the church. And when they were come to him he said unto them and everything that follows the middle of verse 18 down to the end of verse 35 is said in the hearing of the elders the overseers of the church at Ephesus. Now note that. And as he then gives a review of his own ministry amongst them he turns and begins to charge them with their responsibility in verse 28. He says to the elders the shepherds the pastors and teachers of that flock take heed pay close attention unto yourselves and to the elders

23:37 and to all of the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops or overseers literally to shepherd to feed is a poor and limited translation. It's the verb form of the noun a shepherd shepherds his sheep just as you have in the English so you have in the Greek a shepherd shepherds his sheep. The noun shepherd shepherds verb. Well you have the same thing here.

24:08 They are charged to shepherd the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood. Now why does he charge a specific group of men to shepherd the flock of God or the church of God which was purchased with the blood of God? What is his peculiar concern in charging a certain class of men to care for another class of men? Shepherds elders bishops overseers are to shepherd the church the people of God.

24:45 Certain men have a divinely appointed task with respect to fellow men. Certain redeemed sinners have an awesome responsibility with respect to other redeemed sinners.

25:00 And why is that charge laid upon them? Well just read the next verses and you'll see. I know I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you not sparing the flock. You see the contrast?

25:19 You're to shepherd the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood. His blood bought flock of sheep. Guard them. Watch over them.

25:31 Take the role of shepherds to those sheep. Why? Because there are those who will act like grievous wolves who will not spare the flock. And from among your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

25:51 Wherefore watch ye. Now do you see why he has given shepherds to watch over his flock? Because the flock is vulnerable and those who are the true people of God must be must continue in faith in holiness and obedience. They must hold to the truth as the truth is in Jesus.

26:15 We've looked at text after text which teaches that. Well how are they to be kept in the way? This passage teaches us they are to be kept in the way by the ministry of God-equipped and God-appointed men who are specifically charged to be the instruments of the preservation of the people of God through the ministry of oversight.

26:46 They are to shepherd the church in the light of the tragic reality of grievous wolves that would devour the flock and perverse men who would rise up and confuse the flock. Then there is a third passage that we turn to establishing now. Remember one thing we're driving at one point only. That point is that God has set some men in his church for special ministry and oversight to secure the perseverance of his own people.

Fact 1 Concluded: God Appoints Men for Special Ministry and Oversight (Hebrews 13)

27:23 Ephesians 4 teaches that. Acts 20 and now turn to Hebrews 13.

27:32 Hebrews 13 verse 17 The charge is given to the people of God in general obey them that is a distinct class of people that have the rule over you and submit to them.

27:57 Now who are they? Who are these people that exercise the rule over them to whom they are to submit? Well verse 7 earlier in the chapter helps us to identify them. Remember them that had the rule over you men that spoke unto you the word of God.

28:17 You see those who have the rule over you , over them are their God-given overseers who speak to them the word of God in their official capacity and office as the shepherds of their souls. Now we all have a responsibility to speak the word of God to one another. Colossians 3.16 Speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

28:43 As we shall see in a subsequent message we all have the responsibility to exhort one another. Hebrews 3.13 But there is a peculiar sense in which a certain class of men speak to us the word of God that is qualitatively different from the speaking of the word of God of our ordinary fellow believers. And brethren this is not tooting my ministerial horn.

29:07 I would to God this arrangement were not taught in the Bible. For I would run from this awesome place if I could and maintain a good conscience.

29:20 It is God's notion that certain men should be given peculiar responsibility and authority to speak the word of God to their fellow redeemed sinners.

29:35 And now they do so in what light? Look at the latter part of verse 17. For they watch in behalf of your souls as they that shall give account that they may do this with joy and not with grief. For this were unprofitable for you.

29:57 Do you see what God says about this class of men? They are given a peculiar responsibility and accountability to watch for your souls. What does it mean to watch for them? To see that having been placed upon the way to the celestial city, as long as they have life and sustain the relationship to you as your overseers, those who have the rule over you, who speak to you the word of God as your appointed pastors and teachers, they are watching your soul with what end in view.

30:32 Not as idle observers, not like the person who gets a grant from the National Geographic and goes to some tribe to observe the patterns of a primitive people, not to observe like the geologist studies the rocks, but they watch with what end in view. That having placed your feet on the path that leads to the celestial city, they will be jealous to guard you all along the way, to warn you of the dangers, to reach out with the crook of loving rebuke and exhortation if you begin to turn aside into a path that can only lead to death and to destruction. They watch as those who shall give an account. Now granted, we are all our brothers keepers in a general sense, but there is a peculiar sense in which the God-appointed overseers of any body of God's people will give an account that is qualitatively different from that account which the ordinary believers will give concerning one another.

31:45 And that notion was not spawned by a wicked ambitious tradition that emerged early in the church. It is embedded in the very words of Holy Scripture.

Fact 2: Overseers Exercise Ministry Publicly and Privately for Perseverance

32:03 There is a class of people, a group of men who are distinctly charged with the responsibility of seeking to secure the perseverance of God's people by means of the ministry of the Word. Now I trust I've established that fact to any rational mind present this morning. Now I want to establish a second fact, very briefly, before I bring this home to the realm of application. Having established the fact that God appoints some men in His church for special ministry and oversight in order to secure the perseverance of the people of God, consider secondly the fact that these men are to exercise their ministry to the people of God publicly and privately with a view to their perseverance. These men are to exercise their ministry to the people of God publicly and privately with a view to their perseverance. Acts 2 and verse 42 is the classic example of how the apostles exercised this ministry publicly. And every true servant of God seeks to stand not in the apostolic office but in the apostolic spirit in this regard.

33:27 Acts 2 and verse 42 concerning that initial group of Christians, they continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching and the fellowship and in the breaking of bread and the prayers. They continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching. And how did they do so? Well, at the appointed places and times when the apostles taught they were there.

33:56 Not by fits and starts, not on the basis of whims or subjective inclinations. They didn't sit around in their individual tents and homes waiting for the Holy Ghost to give them a revelation that they ought to go hear the apostles. When the apostles as their God-given spiritual overseers appointed by the head of the church for the preservation of his people when they said, Solomon's porch, three o'clock in the afternoon, we will be giving instruction. The 3,121 were present on Solomon's porch at three o'clock in the afternoon and they did this with steadfastness.

34:37 Classic example of the fact that these whom God appoints are to carry out this ministry both publicly and as we shall see privately as well. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 the great apostle Paul sets forth the classic example of the individual dimensions of this work of oversight seeking to secure the perseverance of God's people. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 11. As you know how we dealt now notice the individual emphasis with each one of you as a father with his own children exhorting you encouraging you and testifying to the end that you should walk worthily of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. You see what he says? As a father with his children now those of us who are fathers should be able to understand something of the imagery. There are times when with our wives we shake our heads and say how in the world could the two of us bear children who are so completely different in so many areas.

36:03 And it's a mystifying thing to us as parents. Is it not? We scratch our heads and at times we wonder did they mix up one of them in the nursery at the hospital.

36:14 How in the world temperaments natural weaknesses and strengths as diverse as night and day. So what do we have to do as fathers? We must give individual attention. We don't have blanket directions.

36:30 Now there are some directions in which we gather the whole household together and tell them here the house rules live by them or else. But then there are a lot of things in which we must take each of our children aside. They have emotional needs, psychological needs, areas where they need to be corrected and encouraged and instructed that are peculiar to each one. And Paul says as a spiritual shepherd, I was like a wise father dealing with each one of his children.

36:59 But now the point is this. When he came down from the pulpit, of course they didn't have pulpits as we have them, but assuming for the sake of trying to make the thing live that they did, though they didn't. When he came down from the pulpit there at Thessalonica and went into the home of Brother Jones and took him aside and began to deal with him about some area of his life, did he cease to deal with him as an apostle and as a universal elder, which all the apostles were? Because he was out of his pulpit, was he out of his office?

37:37 Yes or no?

37:39 No. And if that man had any biblical intelligence when the apostles spoke to him in the privacy of his own den or his own living room, he should have recognized in that admonition just as much authority as if the apostle were standing before the whole church and thundering out the word of God.

38:05 Because he spoke to him admonishing, encouraging, and charging him in his office as an apostle and a universal elder with a view that he might see them brought safely to that to which God has called them, even his own glory and consummate kingdom. So do you see the emphasis, and we could bring many other passages, I only lift these out as specimen passages to establish the fact that not only has God appointed some men in his church for special ministry of oversight to secure the perseverance of his people, but these men are to exercise that ministry to the people of God publicly and privately with a view to their perseverance. Now in the light of that teaching, what does that say to us if we are dead in earnest about making it to the end of the road? And for those of you who are not dead in earnest, I have no word this morning, but for those of you who have been convinced in these recent weeks, yes, I to the end shall endure, but I to the end must endure.

Application 1: Prize This God-Ordained Means Greatly

39:24 What does this say to you? Well, it says, first of all, that you ought to learn to prize greatly this God-ordained means of your perseverance. You ought to learn to prize greatly this God-ordained means of your perseverance. What means?

39:48 This means of God-equipped men given to the church to bring the word of God to bear upon your mind and conscience publicly and privately with a view to seeing you make it safely to the end.

40:11 Do you prize? Do you prize greatly this God-ordained means? Listen to the language of Paul to the Thessalonians in chapter 5, verse 12. We beseech you, brethren.

40:27 We plead with you. We entreat you, brethren. Know them that labor among you and are over you in the Lord. That class of men, Paul assumes they would know who they were.

40:43 know them that labor among you are over you in the Lord and admonish you not just as brothers, but as your appointed shepherds and overseers, your pastors and teachers. And notice what he says you're to do with respect to them. And resent continually their intrusion upon your private life.

41:15 That they rub your consciences to make you sensitive to sin.

41:22 What he says is, esteem them exceeding highly in love. Not for their personality's sake. Their personality may rub the wrong way with you. I have no silly illusions that all of you feel equally comfortable with my personality.

41:43 I can't help what God made me.

41:46 I try to work on the rough edges. My wife says, at least a few places, some of the rough edges have gone off over the years.

41:57 It doesn't say esteem them very highly for their personality's sake, for their charisma or lack of charisma's sake. It says, esteem them highly in love for one thing alone, for their work's sake. And what is their work? It's a work of laboring to get you to heaven.

42:23 It's their work, laboring to protect you from the wolves without and the perverse men within and your own house devil. Your indwelling sin. They labor in the word and in doctrine. They study and pray and weep that they might know how to preach themselves into your understanding and into your consciences, into your affections.

42:48 Why do they do this?

42:52 Why? Because they want you in heaven with them. That's why to resent someone who labors to get you to heaven is the height of spirit ritual insanity.

43:14 And yet there are some of you that resent your elders.

43:21 And I think there are few more telltale signs of a heart that is moving to apostasy than one that resents the primary means God has deposited in grace to prevent apostasy and take you to heaven.

43:46 Learn to prize greatly this God ordained means of your perseverance. Proverbs 6 and verse 23 says, I want you to turn to it for a moment. Proverbs 6 and verse 23.

44:08 For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. Oh, do you hear it? Reproofs of instruction. You know, it's not just bald, empty, hot air declamations.

44:29 But reproofs of instruction. Reproofs that are born of the truth of God's word that grow out of and consist in bringing the instruction of God to your conscience. They are the very way of life. They are the path of perseverance.

44:48 Therefore, in the light of Proverbs 13, 13 and 14, whoso despises the word brings destruction upon himself. But he that fears the commandment shall be rewarded. When you treat lightly this provision of your gracious God and your exalted Savior, you despise the very means he has ordained to preserve you. Oh, dear people, learn to prize greatly with ever increasing spiritual intelligence and hearty inward delight this God-ordained means of your perseverance.

Application 2: Beware of Undermining Influences

45:30 Then I have a second word of exhortation and it's this. Flows very naturally out of the first. Beware of any person, notion, or influence. Beware of any person, I've chosen my words carefully, any person, any notion, or any influence which undermines your appreciation for this means of perseverance.

45:58 Beware of any person, any notion, any influence, which undermines your appreciation of this means of perseverance.

46:11 Remember what Paul said to the Galatians? Turn to it in Galatians 5 and verse 8. He had come preaching salvation by grace alone apart from the works of the law. Along came some other teachers who said, well, Paul was good as far as he went, but he didn't go far enough.

46:31 And we tell you that faith in Christ is fine, but you need to put a plus sign I after faith in Christ. And what you need is faith in Christ plus circumcision and keeping the mosaic rituals. Now, as Paul deals with that problem of their believing this, notice what he says in chapter 5 and verse 8. Back up to verse 7.

46:53 You were running well. Who hindered you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion does not come from him who calls you.

47:04 See what he's saying to them? You Galatians, the God who in grace drew you to himself in the effectual call of the gospel, he called you to abandon all confidence in your own works, in your own performance, in your circumcision, in all the mosaic rituals. He called you to turn your back upon everything that would stand between you and the naked embrace of faith in a crucified Savior when God called you to faith in Christ. He did not call you by his spirit to trust Christ plus something else.

47:43 Therefore, if now you are trusting Christ plus circumcision, Christ plus keeping holy days, Christ plus ceremonies, he said this persuasion does not come from the God who initially called you. Would God call you on the threshold to forsake all ritual and ceremony and mosaic trappings and then later on tell you to go back to them? You see his argument? Well, in the same way, if you're a Christian, it is most likely that the vast majority of you were made Christians when God brought a true preacher across your path, even in the form of a book or of a living witness or of someone speaking more formally and officially as I am this morning. And when God called you to himself, what was the context in which he called you, in which you felt a great sense of indebtedness to the one whom he had put in your path to bring the word of God to bear upon your conscience? Well, therefore, beware of any person, any influence, any notion which in any way undermines your appreciation of this means of your perseverance. Would a physician discover a remedy that was answerable to the need of a vast multitude of dying people, and then go forth and get them to despise

49:12 the very remedy he had discovered?

49:15 Well, you see, if Jesus Christ in his love for the church in order to enable his people to persevere has given pastors and teachers, if he's given shepherds to watch for their souls as those that shall give an account and charge them publicly and privately to bring the word of God to bear upon the consciences of his people that they might be kept in the way of holiness, faith, and obedience, would he do all of that and then lead his people to treat lightly his very gift?

49:49 So when people say, oh, Christ has given such an abundance of the spirit that all of us are prophets, we don't need overseers. We don't need elders to watch for us. It sounds very much like the language that was used back in Israel. Are we not all the people of God?

50:08 Moses and Aaron, you take, too much upon yourselves. We're all sanctified. We're all God's people. God says, oh, you think so.

50:16 I'll show you. You remember what God did? God brought frightening judgment even upon Miriam. Even upon Miriam.

50:28 And so, dear people, as we stand beneath the scrutiny of the word of God, I would ask you the question this morning. Are you opening yourself to the influence of any person, any notion, any

50:46 belief, any belief that is undermining your appreciation of this means of grace? If so, beware of it. It may be. It may be.

50:55 The first nudging is in the direction of apostasy. That's why disaffection to your overseers is a dangerous thing. And I do not say this as a self-serving man, and I therefore can say it with a good conscience. I am not afraid of disaffection.

51:14 I've lived with it from the moment I was saved. It started in my childhood, as Jesus promised. But I also know this. Once people push their overseers out of their heart's affection, they no longer heed the word of God from their lips.

51:31 And that's why disaffection for your overseers is a dangerous spiritual malady. Is there anything right now, any person, any notion, that is causing you to appreciate less this God-given gift? If so, be prepared. If not, be prepared.

51:53 If not, be prepared. If not, be prepared. Listen to the words of a servant of God from another generation who saw this in his own day. He writes, He could not have commended the ministry of the word more highly than by ascribing this effect to it.

52:11 He's commenting on the Ephesians 4 passage. What is more excellent than to form the true church of Christ that it may be established in its right and perfect soundness? By this work so admirable and divine, the apostle declares to be accomplished by the external ministry of the word. From this it is plain that those who neglect this means and yet hope to become perfect in Christ are mad.

52:37 See what he says? Those who neglect this means and yet hope to become perfect in Christ are mad. Such are the fanatics who invent secret revelations of the Spirit for themselves and the proud who think that for them the private reading of the Scriptures is enough and that they have no need of the common ministry of the church. If the church is built up by Christ alone, it is also for him to prescribe the way in which it shall be built.

53:05 But Paul clearly states that according to the command of Christ, we are not properly united or perfected but by the outward preaching, when we allow ourselves to be ruled and taught by men. This is a universal rule which covers the highest and the lowest. The church is the common mother of all the godliness of the world. It is the common mother of all the godly which bears, nourishes, and governs in the Lord both kings and commoners.

53:33 And this is done by the ministry of the Word. Those who neglect or despise this institution desire to be wiser than Christ. Woe to their pride! We do not deny that we can be perfected by the power of God alone without human assistance.

53:51 This commentator acknowledges in certain circumstances that the knowledge in certain situations where men are cut off from that means that God will still nourish his own. But we are now dealing with that which is the will of God and the appointment of Christ, and not with what the power of God can do in exceptional circumstances. In employing men's work for accomplishing their salvation, God has conferred on men no ordinary honor. And the best way to promote unity is to assemble to the common teacher as to the standard of a God-appointed leader.

Application 3: Deal Ruthlessly with Neutralizing Factors

54:29 Beware of anything which undermines your appreciation of this means of your perseverance. And finally, deal ruthlessly with anything which neutralizes the profit of this means of perseverance. Deal ruthlessly with anything which neutralizes the profit of this means of perseverance. And the most important thing is to never let anyone else take the advantage of it.

54:58 Because that's such a vital subject, I don't think I want to even address it this morning, but perhaps open it up in an entire sermon. It's so vital. Suffice it to say in closing, one has very astutely observed that when we hear the word, only with a view to its immediate pleasantness, we have ceased to treat the word as food and meat, and have begun to treat it as music. A musical performance is the immediate aesthetic delight that it brings to us.

55:36 The purpose of the word of God is likened unto food. It is to be masticated, chewed, assimilated, eaten, become part and parcel of our very being. Oh, deal ruthlessly with anything that keeps you from eating the word of God, drinking the milk of God, or eating the milk of God, you have no place in the world of the world of God, and you have no place in the world of God. You have no place in the world of God, and you have no place in the world of God, even

56:51 in the world of God, written in the Bible and written in 16 and 17 stories Wear a irk understanding and into your consciences god knows that it's because he's taken natively self-centered hearts that wouldn't give a hoot about anyone's salvation and in those hearts he's placed at least a measure of his own desire to see you make it all the way to the end and it's our determination to take you with us that makes us concerned publicly and privately to bring this blessed word to bear upon your conscience don't despise it don't despise us as we seek to fulfill our task let us pray our father we tremble at the very thought that upon mere mortals mere weak sinful human beings would be conferred such awesome responsibilities we thank you that you have kept us true to our thought that upon mere mortals mere weak sinful human beings

58:19 In that felt sense of weakness. We are in the companionship of your servant Paul. Who could declare who is sufficient for these things. We have this treasure in earthen vessels.

58:34 Lord help this people. To understand clearly. Why you have appointed fellow sinners. Redeemed by grace.

58:45 To shepherd them. To rule over them. In union with your son. And may your gift to them.

58:53 Be prized. May everything that would neutralize. It's full. Orbed.

59:00 Effectual influence. Be dealt with ruthlessly and brutally. That we by your grace. Know what it is.

59:10 To be preserved in faith and holiness and obedience. By the instrumentality. That you. Have deposited in your church.

59:20 We pray oh God for those. Who have never been put into the way. That you will sober them. And as they have listened to the exhortations to your people.

59:32 That they may have no rest nor peace. Until they too are in the way. That leads unto life. Hear our prayer and seal the word to our hearts.

59:42 We pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.