If you will, turn with me in
your Bibles to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4, look with me at
verse 1. Paul said, therefore seeing,
we have this ministry. Paul said, we have this ministry.
Now he's writing to a particular church in the city of Corinth.
He said, we have this ministry. He didn't say, I have this ministry.
He said, we have this ministry. A ministry is more than just
the man speaking. It's the people congregated together
to worship God. We have this ministry. What was
the Apostle Paul's ministry? He said in 1 Timothy 1 12, I
thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me for that
he counted me faithful. He made him faithful, putting
me into the ministry. There's just one. ministry. There is only one true ministry
and that's what I hope to talk to you about tonight. The true
ministry. Now I pray that through this
message God will make it abundantly clear to each one of us whether
or not we have this one true ministry. Alright? Now we know
there are many false ministries There's the true ministry, and
then there are false ministries. Now, a false ministry is a man-made
ministry. The one true ministry is of God. It's from God. It's His ministry. We know there is one Lord, just
one Lord. There's just one faith. One faith. You know, people can say, oh,
well, they believe this, we believe that, and they over here, they
believe that, but we're all just spokes on the same wheel. God's
Word says differently. There's one Lord, one faith,
one baptism. There's only one hope. One hope
of salvation. Just one. There's one way. One way to God. One way of salvation. There's just one truth. we can't
all be right. There's one truth and there's
one life. There's just one true God-given
ministry. Now the true ministry, it's the
same ministry Moses had. Moses and Aaron, they had a ministry.
It's the same ministry Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel, all the
prophets, it's the same ministry they had. It's the same ministry
our Lord's apostles and disciples had. It's the same ministry our
Lord had as he walked this earth. Turn with me to Acts chapter
six. Acts chapter six. Look with me at verse four. Paul had just told the brethren
to gather some people to take care of the widows. And here's
what he said concerning himself in verse four. He said, but we
will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry
of the word. A man called of God to his ministry
and the church called to God's ministry. has one sole object,
one thing that they gather around, that their ministry is centered
around every time they gather. That's the Word. Paul said, we
will give ourselves to prayer, and we must. We're not here on
our own strength. We need God to enable us, as
Paul said. It's His ministry. We give ourselves
continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. The
true ministry is the ministry of the Word of God, nothing else. I was gonna have us turn there,
but Paul told Timothy, preach the Word. He said, time's coming
when they're not gonna endure sound doctrine. They're gonna
have tickling ears, desiring to hear what they wanna hear.
He said, don't cave into that, preach the Word. We're commanded
to preach God's Word, nothing else. While you're here in Acts,
turn with me to chapter 20. Acts chapter 20, verse 24. Paul was writing to the church
at Ephesus, and he told them, my time of departure is at hand.
You're going to see my face no more. He said, the next time
you see me, we'll be in glory. Well, here's what he said in
verse 24 of Acts chapter 20. He said, all the trials and afflictions
that he endured and that he was going to endure. None of these
things moved me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so
that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which
I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the
grace of God." What was the ministry Paul had been given? Notice he
received it. He didn't put himself in the ministry. In fact, he
did put himself in a ministry. And God took him out of that
and put him into the ministry. God must put a man in the ministry.
He must call us to his ministry. But he said, my message was this,
to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And that's the
message of this book. There's one message of this book,
the grace of God. We heard about it so well this
morning. The God of all grace, God's free, it's his gift. Sovereign,
he gives it to whomsoever he will. Unmerited, we could never
earn it. Grace, God's grace. Now by nature, man by his works
tries to earn God's salvation. We try to earn our salvation,
work our way to heaven, right? By nature, that's what we all
do. But God in his grace has given us salvation. It's finished, it's done, it's
a gift. The gospel of God's ministry
is the gospel of God's grace. We sang it earlier, grace that
is greater than all my sin. That's the only kind of grace
that will help me because I'm a sinner. I need grace that's
greater than I am evil. Grace that is able to save me.
God's grace is saving grace. It doesn't try to save, it saves.
It's amazing grace. I love singing about God's amazing
grace. Amazing grace that saved a wretch
like me. Look back in our text in 2 Corinthians chapter four,
verse one again. Therefore seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. The gospel of grace is the gospel
of mercy. And I got to thinking about this
and it blessed my heart. You cannot have grace and not
have mercy. They're a package deal. You have
one, you have the other. And praise God, he's been pleased
to give them both. So thankful for that. Praise God for mercy.
I had a song we sang, but we just sang it. Mercy has saved
me, or else I must die. And that's the truth. Fear had
alarmed me, fear in God's face. When we see God's face, when
we see who he is through his word, who he says he is, I'm
God, there's none else. I'm holy and just and will punish
all sin. And that's all we are. That puts
the fear of God in us when God shows us that, when he teaches
us who he is and who we are. But now, since God taught me
that, since He revealed that to me, I'm a sinner saved by
grace, only a sinner saved by grace. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. That's our hope. That's why we
faint not His mercy, which is new every morning for the child
of God. You wake up, I do it all the
time, wake up so frustrated, flustered, Mind is not in the
right place. Oh, if we would just consider
His mercy. His mercy new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. The
message of the one true ministry is mercy and grace. And that
mercy and grace is gonna be found in one place, and that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our brother read it. I determine
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Back in our text, Verse one again. There's one
true ministry, and the true ministry, here's what it does. It declares the truth of God
in the word of God and exposes the lies, the lies of man, the
lies of religion. We cannot faithfully preach this
book, the truth of God, without making a clear distinction between
truth and error. Now our calling is to rightly
divide the word of truth. I was thinking about that and
I thought, What a responsibility. Rightly divide this book, the
holy inspired word of God. I thought, how in the world does
one do that? And then it hit me. Here's how.
Look for Christ in it. Is he not the singular message
of this book? You want to rightly divide the
word of God, you want to see truth and error, look for Christ
in this book. From Genesis 1 to Revelation
22, look for Christ. He said, search the scriptures,
they all speak of me. All the scriptures point to Christ. If we ever see him, all the lies
be flushed away. Won't believe a lie anymore if
we believe on him. Verse two again says, but we've
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,
not here to trick you, nor handling the word of God deceitfully. That's a fearful, it's a fearful
thing to stand here. It's a fearful thing to stand,
whether you can see it or not, I'm terrified every time I stand
here. Because I'm preaching to you, but I'm preaching before
God. I don't want to handle His Word
deceitfully. I do not want to handle God's Word deceitfully.
What does it mean to do that? What does it mean to handle His
Word deceitfully? Here's what it means. To preach
anything other than Christ. It means to preach works, to
preach man, to preach something that we must do to be saved,
to preach something other than the glory of God, the finished
redemptive work of Christ alone. To handle this word deceitfully
is to make it say what you want it to say, right? It's to make
your own interpretation of it. We're told there's one interpretation
of it. That's in light of Christ. No
private interpretation. It all speaks of Christ. We're
not to take it and say, well, I think it means this. Well,
my opinion is, well, let me tell you my two cents. No. Preach
the word. Preach Christ. Paul said, I'm
not walking in craftiness. I'm not trying to trick anybody. I'll tell you, I was never in
a false church, but I've heard some things, okay? I hear people
talk, I see things online. That's what religion is all about.
Craftiness, trickery, well, how can we get people in? How can we keep them? How can
we build this thing up? How can we do God's work? Paul
warned us from that. He said, beware of craftiness.
He said, I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety. He lied. He's a liar and the
father of it. He took God's word, he twisted
it to his own destruction, and that's what religion does. Paul
said, I fear that for you. I fear that as the serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. I tell you, this gospel,
it's impossible for us to believe. With man, this is impossible,
but it's a simple message. I'm so thankful for that. Brother Red, he said, I came
not to you with excellency of speech or enticing words of man's
wisdom. He said, I came in great plainness
of speech, preaching Christ, the simplicity in Christ. Back
in verse two, the second part there, it says, but by manifestation
of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in
the sight of God. I just told you, I want to be
honest with you. I want to handle this word honestly. I want to preach the word of
God as it is. That's my goal. That's my desire. But not only
is that what I want to do, I have to do this. I must preach the
gospel. The end of verse two said, this
is in the sight of God. A verse says, all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. This preaching,
it's a serious business. That's why you're thinking about
the one true ministry. I'm not here to brag. We have
the ministry. I want God to reveal to us whether or not we have
the ministry. I need to know, do I believe
the truth? If we receive not the love of the truth, we shall
not be saved. This is life and death. I need
to know. Paul said, necessity is laid
upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. I must give an account for the
message I preach, just as we must give an account for the
hope we bring before God. We either bring our works or
His. I don't want to preach lies.
I said, I'm preaching to you, but this is to God. I'm not seeking
to please men, but God. Paul said in Acts 20 verse 26,
I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood
of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel
of God. People will leave out a verse
here or a couple chapters here. We're to preach the whole word
of God. Christ is in the whole word of God from start to finish. We ought to take this seriously.
Woe is me if I preach not the gospel. Look back a page in 2
Corinthians 2, verse 14. Now thanks be unto God, which
always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest
the savor of his knowledge by us in every place, for we are
unto God a sweet savor of Christ. in them that are saved and in
them that perish. To the one, we are the saver
of death unto death, and to the other, the saver of life unto
life. And who is sufficient for these
things?" What he's saying is, we go preaching the gospel of
Christ to those who God gives faith to believe it. We're a
saver of life unto life. It's a sweet-smelling saver here
in the gospel of Christ. Tell me again. I want to hear
it again. Tell me more about him. But to the unbeliever, to
the unregenerate soul, the unbelieving heart, in one ear, out the other ear.
It doesn't take effect in the heart. It means nothing to us.
And it takes God to reveal it to us. It takes God to bless
the heart with it. But he said, whether it's a sweet savor to
you or not, the preaching of Christ is always a sweet smelling
savor to God. See, Christ, God the Father is
well pleased in him. Now look here at verse 17. He
said, for we are not as many which corrupt My margin says,
God forbid any of us stand here and corrupt this word, deal deceitfully
with it. It's not to be taken lightly. We're to preach the truth in
Christ. Paul said, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bear me witness
in the Holy Ghost. I pray every time a man stands
here or anywhere where God's established his gospel, Lord,
cause us to handle your word honestly, to preach your God
in sincerity and truth, preaching Christ alone. I look back in
our text, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. Now, I'm gonna tell you the truth
about us, and then the truth about Christ, okay? The truth
about us is simple, we're lost. We're lost. We're born into this
world spiritually dead, dead in trespasses and in sins, separated
from God because of our sin. We've rejected Him. We rejected
His Word. We rejected Christ when He walked
this earth. That's where we are, all right?
Now turn with me back to 1 Corinthians 2. I'm gonna show you this verse,
1 Corinthians 2, 14. First Corinthians 2.14 says,
but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. Naturally, as we are in the flesh,
we will not hear God's word that where it says, receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, it means won't give ear to. We
don't want to hear it. We hear the gospel preach say,
oh, that's foolishness. That's a hard saying. I'm not interested in
that. Tell me something good about me, right? We will not
hear God's word. We reject it. But not only that,
he went on to say neither can he know them. We don't have the
ability to understand God's word. We don't have the ability to
to know God, to know Christ, which is life eternal. We don't
have the ability. We're void of all spiritual understanding,
all spiritual ability. We can't hear God's word until
God give us an ear, a heart, to hear it. We will not believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ until God give us faith to see him,
look to him, rest in him. He said, you shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free. What is the truth? Went on to say, if the Son, capital
S-O-N, shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. We must
know Christ. We must know Christ. And that's
the problem with religion. It doesn't matter how much religion
a person has. I'm looking at what things Paul
has written. Paul was, he was more religious than anybody.
He told us that. He told us, he said, I had all
the religion in the world. Full of myself, that's what it
is. Self-righteous, despising others, despising God. And here's
what he said. He said, I count all that dumb
since I know Christ. Ever since He spoke to me, revealed
Himself to me, all of that, throwing it out. God took it away from
me. He caused me to throw it out.
I thought about the religious folks who constantly confronted
our Lord. They'd say, oh, well, you did
this on the Sabbath. How dare you? They never rejoiced
in the fact that He healed a man. They only had a problem with
the fact that He, oh, well, it appears He broke the law. He
didn't. He fulfilled every jot and every tittle of that law.
He established the law. He perfected it. But the point
is, so many people came to our Lord who, in their own eyes and
in the eyes of others, were saved. They were believers, or so they
thought. But the fact of the matter is,
not once did they come to our Lord with a need. They said,
oh, you opened the eyes of this blind man on the Sabbath day? Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And to be lost, what it is, is
to not have any idea you're lost. And that's the scary thing about
this is everybody thinks they're saved. I need to know if I'm
saved. I need to know according to God's
word, what does God say? Those men, they had a problem
that the Lord healed that man, gave him sight. The Lord told
him, he said, for judgment I'm coming to the world that those
which see not might see, and those which see might be made
blind. And they said, are we blind also? Are you saying that
we're blind, we're lost? And he told him, he said, well,
you say we see, therefore your sin remaineth. If you were blind,
you should have no sin. If you knew what you were and
who God is, that's salvation, knowing Him. May God reveal the
truth to us. People have religion and here's
what Christ said about them. He said, verily I say unto you,
they have their reward. They have all the praise of men
they could ever want. They have their reward. I thought
of the megachurches in our day. These so-called preachers that
have these millions of people's followings and private jets and
all that stuff. God says they have their reward.
And the sad thing is, that's the worst reward you could possibly
have. I mean that. What a sad place to be. If you
have all these things and money and fame but you don't have Christ,
I can't think of a worse place to be, honestly. What does the
scripture say? He that hath the Son hath life. You have Him, you have everything.
He told Abraham, he said, Abraham,
I'm your exceeding great reward. Oh, to have Christ. Now, the
truth about us, we're lost, don't know God, and we're not interested
in God, all right? And what about the truth about
Christ? Back in our text, verse four here, it says Christ is the image of God.
That means you want to get a glimpse of who God is, look to Christ. He said, you've seen me, you've
seen God. You've seen the Father. He's the brightness of God's
glory. He is the glory of God. He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, He is God, He's God's glory, Christ is everything. The glorious gospel that the
true ministry declares is the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. I mentioned it a minute ago,
the Father's well pleased in Him, and here's the good news
for you and me. God chose in His grace and mercy
to save a people in Christ. And we know that, and we say
it all the time, but I pray that it will always be good, glorious
news to us. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And by the grace of God, Paul
said, of whom I'm chief. Oh, may God convince us of that.
What a blessing God, in His kindness, condescended and did what He
did in making sinners one with Himself. I'm so thankful for
that. Look here a couple verses with
me in 2 Corinthians 1, chapter 5, verse 21. 2 Corinthians 5, 21. It says,
for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ did that
for unworthy, wicked, vile, hell-deserving sinners. Traded places with substitution,
traded places with us. Amazing, amazing grace, glorious
news. Look over in 2 Corinthians 8,
verse 9. He said, For ye know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be
rich. He gave everything. A song we sing says he emptied
himself of all but love. He had nothing but love for his
people, for his people who had nothing but hate for him. We didn't deserve it. We didn't
deserve it one bit. He gave himself. He humbled himself. He took upon him the form of
a servant. He came in the likeness of sinful
flesh. He bore our sins in his own body.
He died the just for the unjust. He reconciled us to God by the
death of himself. Amazing love, how can it be that
thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love, amazing grace. We could never deserve it, we
never even wanted it. But God freely gave, freely gave
himself. That's the glorious gospel of
Christ. I pray that causes us to rejoice. Oh, what rejoicing. I thought of a verse that religion
likes to have a problem with. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. Why, that's just not fair. What
did Jacob do to deserve God's love? Nothing. just like Noah
did nothing to merit God's grace. God was gracious to whom he was
gracious, merciful to whom he'll be merciful. The fact of the
matter is God had every right to hate Jacob and Esau. That's
what they both deserved. That's what we all deserve. But
God, according to his election of grace, that his purpose from
eternity might stand, he chose to save Jacob. He chose Jacob. Sovereign electing mercy. He
chose Jacob. He loved Jacob. Christ came and
gave himself for Jacob, traded places with Jacob, thou worm
Jacob. He said, I've redeemed you. I've redeemed you, my soul, but
God. God, who is rich in mercy for
his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were dead
in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, one with Christ. By grace, you're saved. Back
in our text. There's one true ministry. The
true ministry declares the truth and exposes the lies. And God
uses his ministry to save His people, to call out His people. Verse 5, 2 Corinthians 4, 5,
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. We preach Christ, determined
to know nothing but Christ. That's our one message. We preach
ourselves to be sinners in the hands of a sovereign, holy God. Fearful place to be. That's where
we're at. Sinners at the mercy of God,
whether we like it or not, whether we know it or not. And we preach
Christ alone to be the only hope for sinners in the hands of a
sovereign holy God. One hope. And that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look with me at 1 Corinthians
1. Go ahead and keep a bookmark here. We'll go here and come
back. 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 23, Paul said, but we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God and the wisdom of God. We preach his person,
we preach his work, and we preach his glory, nothing else. He's
the power, and we don't preach a pathetic savior. We don't preach
a begging savior, we preach a mighty God. He shall be called the mighty
God. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
that gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it's
the power of God. God uses this message to save
his people. Power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believe it. Keep a finger here and look back
in our text. Verse five again, for we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants for
Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. God uses the
preaching of the gospel of Christ and Him crucified to call His
elect out of spiritual darkness into the marvelous light of His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why this is so serious.
That's why just any old ministry ain't gonna do it. We have to
have God's ministry. We have to have the truth. We
have to have the gospel of Christ. That's why Paul said, preach
the word, only preach the word. Faith comes by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. With Christ, the truth. Back
in 1 Corinthians 1 again, verse 18. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved,
it's the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching To save them that
believe. That's why we have this ministry.
God doesn't know it to us to save anybody. He doesn't know
it to us to save us. But the reason that there is
this gospel church here in Kingsport, here's the reason for that. God
has a people here who he said he's gonna call out of darkness. John 3, we're told, light is
coming to the world and men loved darkness rather than light. Christ
came to call his people out of that darkness and into his marvelous
light. And if God's purpose to save
someone here they're gonna hear. They're gonna walk through those
doors, they're gonna hear the gospel preached, and for the
first time in their life, they're gonna believe it. Not because
of anything in them, because God purposed for them to believe
it. God gave them an ear to hear, a heart to believe it, and they
will be saved. He said, I'm not gonna lose a
single one the Father gave to me. We're one, and they're gonna
be with me in glory where I am. Now lastly, look back in our
text, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 7. Paul said, but we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. Christ is the believer's treasure.
He's our reward. He's our treasure. He's our all-in-all.
But the treasure in earthen vessels that Paul's talking about here
is the ministry of God's gospel of Christ that He's graciously
given us. It's a treasure, isn't it? Oh, I'm so thankful we have
this ministry. I'm so thankful God hasn't left
us alone, first of all. Has He not used the ministry
of the preaching of the gospel to save you? It's what He says
He's been pleased to do. So my prayer for us is let's
not take it for granted. Our pastor's away right now,
and I'm so thankful for that. I'd love to have him here, but
that man needs some rest every now and then. And if we're able
to give him some, then let's give it. I pray that God will
cause us to not take this for granted. He's given us light
in a dark, dark world. Let's be thankful for it, and
let's not take it for granted. There's a verse that religion
loves to quote, let your light so shine before men. Well, I'm
quoting it because this is the light. This is light in a dark
place. We ought to be thankful for it.
I mean that. Let's not take this for granted. Let's not take this
lightly. We were just here this morning and heard wonderful gospel
messages. Why in the world would we even have to come back? Our
Lord deserves to be worshiped at all times. We go home, I'm
so guilty of this. Let's, you know, we go home and
everything's about me and us and if we just give a minute
or two to think on our Lord, Oh, we'd be so blessed. I pray
God would do that for us. Help us to not only be thankful,
but to give our all to this ministry. We're members of the body of
Christ. We all have different offices. We all have different
responsibilities. Somebody put that water here, and I'm so thankful.
Do what you can. Do it with your heart unto the
Lord, not unto men. Not like the Pharisees, to be
seen of men. Verse seven, one more time. He
said, we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. What he's saying is,
this one true ministry is God's ministry. He didn't have to give
it to us, but he did. Because our God is a gracious,
merciful, loving, kind God. And praise his holy name. I wanna read you one more verse.
You can turn if you want to, 1 Peter chapter two. 1 Peter 2 verse 9, he said, Now
does that not make you want to shout his praise? Here in a second, we're gonna
sing a song of praise and may it, like we just heard last week,
may God enable us to sing to our Lord with grace in our hearts.
Praise God for the one true ministry of Jesus Christ, amen.