Let's turn back to Acts chapter
6. I've entitled this message, The
Ministry of the Word. The Ministry of the Word. And in those days when the number
of the disciples was multiplied, There arose a murmuring of the
Greeks against the Hebrews because the widows of the Greeks were
neglected in the daily ministration." Wherever you got people, you
got problems, don't you? And there's going to be people treating
other people unfairly. That's what was going on here.
And there was a murmuring. And what I thought of when I
thought of this verse of scripture, if you find the perfect church,
don't join it. You'd ruin it. I'd ruin it. Such we have here. Then, verse two, Twelve called
the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, it's not
reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
We shouldn't have to be dealing with this. We've got other things
we need to deal with. Wherefore, brethren, look ye
out among you seven men, and I love this description of these
men, men of honest report. full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom
whom we may appoint over this business to make sure everyone
is treated fairly, but we will give ourselves continually to
prayer and the ministry of the Word. Prayer is mentioned first because
the ministry of the Word is wholly supernatural and cannot be done
unless God is the one doing it. That's why he mentions prayer
first, to speak of the ministry of the Word without giving yourself
to prayer is a demonstration that you have no idea what the
ministry of the Word is in the first place. If someone has not
given themselves to prayer, seeking the Lord's blessing, the Lord's
help, the Lord's grace, the Lord's favor, if someone has not given
themselves to prayer, they have not given themselves to the ministry
of the Word. These two things go hand in hand. You can't have one without the
other. The ministry of the Word. In the beginning was the Word. You know, when I was thinking
about quoting these verses of Scripture and trying to talk
about them, I thought, oh, I wish I could have the proper fear
and reverence in dealing with this. In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, a distinct, separate person. The Word was with God. And the
Word was God. The same was, eternally was in
the beginning with God. Now, a beginning without a beginning, that's talking about eternity.
A beginning without a beginning in eternity was the Word. The same was eternally with God. I think of that scripture. He's
talking about the ministry of the word. I think of the scripture
in Hebrews chapter four, verse 12, the word of God is quick. Living is what that word means.
Powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. Turn to Revelation
19 for just a moment. The ministry, whatever the ministry
is, is the ministry of the word. You know, it kind of bothers
me when preachers talk about my ministry, my ministry, my
ministry. There's the ministry of the word,
and that's the only ministry. I hope I never use language like
that. My ministry, my ministry. Look in verse 11, Revelation
19. And I saw heaven opened and behold
a white horse. And he that sat upon him was
called faithful and true. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire
and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood and his name is called. The Word of God. That is the ministry of the Word. And what an awesome transcendent
name for the Son of God. The Word. The Word. The Logos. It's where we get the word logic
from. You could call Him the logic of God. I don't know what
that means, but it sure sounds good, doesn't it? Let me give
you some ways this word is translated in the New Testament. In the
beginning was the account. Same word, logos. In the beginning
was the cause. In the beginning was the communication. In the beginning was the doctrine. In the beginning was the fame.
In the beginning was the intent. In the beginning was the matter. In the beginning was the mouth. In the beginning was the preaching. In the beginning was the question. In the beginning was the reason. In the beginning was the reckoning.
In the beginning was the saying. In the beginning was the speaker. In the beginning was the speech.
In the beginning was the talk. In the beginning was the thing.
In the beginning was the tidings. In the beginning was the treatise. In the beginning was the utterance. In the beginning was the word.
In the beginning was the word. ministers of the word. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
one. Look at this description of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is verse 15, speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the image of the invisible God. All you're ever
going to see of God is Jesus Christ. He's the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things,
whatever it is, he came before it. And by him, all things consist. They're all held together. And
he's the head of the body, the church who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead that in all things, he might have
the preeminence for it pleased the father that in him should
all fullness dwell. Now, how many times have you
heard preachers say, won't you ask him into your heart? That's not in the Bible. And he's way too big for that. We would be far wiser to ask
him to give us a new heart to receive it. In the beginning
was the Word. Now the Word of God is the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're ministers of the Word.
The Word of God is the scriptures that are living and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword. This Word is going to
do its work. It lives. It's the Word of God. 2 Timothy 3.16 says all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. It's God-breathed, all Scripture. This book is written by God Himself. It's without error. It's inspired
by God. Peter said, holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. This book we're looking
at right now, God wrote it. God wrote it. This is the word
of God. Somebody says, how do you expect
me to believe that? Well, I expect you to believe
it the same way I expect you to believe God created the universe. He
had no help. He simply spake the world into
existence. It wasn't hard for him to do.
And it's not hard for him to inspire men to write a book verbally
inspired by him. True, he used different men,
different personalities, no doubt about that. But all these men
were inspired by God and he's able to preserve this book through
the centuries. You expect me to believe that?
Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I realize a lot of people don't
believe it's the inspired word of God, but I know it is. If he has the power to create
the universe, he has the power to inspire this book. Isaiah said to the law and to
the testimony, speaking of God's written word, to the law and
the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, they
have no life in them. Ministers of the word. But listen to this, you can say
things about the living word and you can pull them out of
the written word and never preach the word. The word is the gospel
message. You can say things about the
living word and pull them out of the written word and never
preach the word. Timothy Preach the word. There is no spiritual life without
this. Of his own will began he us with
the word of truth. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. Now, the word, ministers of the
word. That's what I want to be, that's
what you want to be. A minister of the Word is someone who preaches
the Word, the message, from the Word that reveals the Word. Ministers of the Word. We're to give ourselves to prayer
knowing that this is totally impossible. It's above the strength
and energy of this flesh and we're asking the Lord to bless
this. If the only words we hear are
the words of this man, it's been no benefit at all. As a matter
of fact, it's been damning. It's been terrible. Oh, I want
to hear the Word of God, ministers of the Word. Is it any wonder
Paul said, who is sufficient for these things? Now, what is
the ministry of the Word? Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
3. Verse 5, Paul says, not that
we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. I know what he means. I'm utterly
without power, without life apart from him. I can't come up with
anything. And that's what Paul says. He says, We're not sufficient
of ourselves to think of anything as of ourselves that came from
us, our own understanding, our own strength, our own intelligence. We're not sufficient for these
things, but our sufficiency is of God who has also made us able
ministers. There's that word, able ministers
of the New Testament. Now the ministry of the word.
is the ministry of the New Testament. Now most folks when they think
about the New Testament they think of Matthew through Revelation,
they call that the New Testament, and Genesis through Malachi is
called the Old Testament. Now that's okay but that's not
what the New Testament is and that's not what the Old Testament
is. What is the Old Testament? The Old Testament was made in
time. It began with the command to Adam in the garden. This is
the Old Testament. Don't eat of that fruit. If you
eat of that fruit, or actually he didn't say if you do, he said
when you do. When you do. And I think that is so significant.
When you do. Not if you do. There wasn't any
question as to what was going to happen. This was all a part
of God's sovereign purpose and for his own glory. The point
is, It's up to you as to whether
or not you'll continue to live in this old covenant. It's up
to whether you eat or do not eat. Salvation is ultimately
dependent. Your eternal life is ultimately
dependent upon what you do. Now that's the covenant of works. That's the Old Testament. Salvation
ultimately dependent upon something you do. God might do 99 percent
of it, but you've got to completed. Salvation by what you do. That's
the Old Testament. It was made in time. Now, the
New Testament was made before time. And this is the Testament
that God made with Christ. And the salvation of His people
was not dependent upon anything they do, but totally dependent
upon what He does. My salvation And oh, I love it
being this way. My acceptance with God is completely
dependent upon what Christ does and not at all dependent upon
what I do. Somebody says, aren't you going
to take any personal responsibility for anything? No, no, I don't
want to. I love being saved by what He
does. That's all I care about is being
found in Him. Now that's the New Testament. And what about when the Lord
said, when He was establishing the Lord's table, He said, this
is the New Testament in my blood. Remember he's the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And the Old Testament was there
simply so the New Testament might take place. He came in time having
been the lamb slain from the foundation of the world came
in time to put away the sins of his people. The New Testament
my blood. Now I love thinking about this.
The scripture says who his own self bear our sins in his own
body on the tree. And here's what's, there's a
lot of things that are glorious about that, but if he bore them,
I don't. Sin can't be two places at once.
If He bore them, I do not bear them. Right now, I stand before
God without sin, because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He put those away by bearing
them in His own body, making complete satisfaction for them,
and now they're gone. Now, what is the ministry of
the Word? It's the ministry of the New
Testament. Oh, every time we preach, every
time we meet together, it better be around the New Testament.
The beautiful, glorious covenant of grace. Now, with regard to
what I said, there are only two possible responses. If you believe that your salvation
is in some way dependent upon what you do, you'll reject this. You won't receive it. You won't
believe the gospel. If you believe that there's nothing
you have to bring to the table and the only way you can be saved
is if He does it all, you'll rejoice in this and you'll believe
this. The New Testament. Now you're there in this chapter,
look in verse eight. He says in 2 Corinthians 3 verse
8, How shall not the ministration or the ministry of the Spirit
be rather glorious? Now, the ministry of the Word,
the ministry of the New Testament is the ministry of the Spirit. That's talking about the third
person of the Blessed Trinity, the Spirit of God. Now, Why is it that some reject
the New Testament and prefer the Old Testament? And some want
to have nothing to do with the Old Testament and glory only
in the New Testament. Why is that? Because of the Spirit
of God. You see, the ones who reject
it are dead in sins. And the evidence of being dead
in sins is you don't know it. That's a surefire evidence of
being dead in sins. You believe there are things
you can do to please God. You believe you can refrain from
sin and be holy. You can always find people who
you think you're better than. You can find people who are not
up to snuff as far as you. You might be some people that
are better than you, but you're better than others too. And you
really believe that God owes you something. That's being dead
in sins. But when God gives somebody spiritual
life, you know what they find out? They find out they're sinners.
They find out they're sinners. It's only by the Spirit of God
that they know this. And beloved, if you know you're
a sinner, it's because God birthed you into His kingdom and gave
you spiritual life. And this is the ministry of God,
the Holy Spirit. He regenerates, he quickens,
he takes the gospel message and he creates spiritual life, being
born of the Spirit. I love that scripture in John
1, 12 and 13, but as many as received him to them gave you
the right to become the children of God, sons of God, even to
them which believe on his name, which were born, which were birthed,
not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will
of man, but of God. Now the work of the Spirit of
God in the ministry of the Word is just as essential as the work
of the Father in election and the work of the Son in redemption. It's the ministry of the Spirit. And look in verse 9 of this same
chapter. For if the ministration of condemnation
be glory. Now that's talking about the
law and it's called the ministry of condemnation. That's all it
can do. All it can do is condemn you. Now it was glorious. You
remember when the thunder and lightning around the mountain
and Not even a beast was able to touch the mountain or be thrust
through the dark and it was so glorious. And Moses said, ah,
exceeding fear and quake, looking at what was going on. It's the
ministry of condemnation. But look what he says, much more
does the ministration or the ministry of righteousness, the
ministry of righteousness exceed in glory. Now, the ministry of
the word. is the ministry of righteousness. Now, in Romans chapter 1, verses
16 and 17, once again, these are familiar scriptures, but
I pray the Lord will give us the grace to enter into the glory
and the power of them. But Paul said in Romans 1, 16
and 17, he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. You
know what? I'm not either. By the grace
of God, I'm proud of the gospel. It glorifies God. It gives him
all the honor and all the glory. And I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
I love the gospel. By his grace, I know I'd be ashamed
apart from his grace. I know I'd cave into the fear
of man apart from your grace. I realize that. I'm not trying
to put any kind of emphasis on my not being ashamed. But I'm
not ashamed of the gospel, just like Paul said. I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. For therein, in this gospel that
I'm not ashamed of, therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Now this is the ministry of the
word, the ministry of righteousness. This is one of the key words
in the gospel. Paul already read this for us
in Romans 10, but let me quote it to you. Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For I bear them record. They have a zeal for God, the
God of the Bible. They read the same scriptures
you and I read. They have a zeal for God. They're very religious
and they want to promote their religion. They have a zeal for
God. They're very sincere. They have a zeal for God, but
not according to knowledge. for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness." Now that means all of these go together. God's
righteous, holy character. If you believe that you can please
God by anything you do, you're completely ignorant of God's
righteousness. You just don't understand his
character. You wouldn't think that way if
you had any idea of who he is. These people are ignorant of
God's righteousness in their damnation. Now, don't leave this. This is important. You know,
people always find fault with God electing some and passing
by others in Christ, dying for some and not dying for everybody,
and they say, this is not right, this is not fair. You're ignorant
of God's righteousness in your personal damnation if you say
something like that. If God sent me to hell, this
whole universe would clap their hands in approval of the righteous
judgment of God, because God is righteous. But here's what else they're
ignorant of. God's righteousness in salvation. You see, I am saved. by the righteousness of Jesus
Christ being my personal righteousness before God, just as truly, and
I don't understand this, I can just quote it and believe it
and I can't, just as truly as Christ was made sin. And nobody in here understands
that. I don't understand it. Christ, whatever sin is, he was
made to be, and just as truly as he was made to be sin, I made
the very righteousness of God in him. This is the ministry
of righteousness. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. And this is how I can have boldness
on the day of judgment, because as he is, so am I in this world. Is he righteous? So am I. I have
the very righteousness of Christ. And this ministry is the ministry
of righteousness, the ministry of the Word. Turn with me for
a moment to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Before I read this scripture,
Hebrews 5.13 speaks of the Word of Righteousness. This whole
book is the Word of Righteousness. I look here in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, beginning in verse 17. Therefore, if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creation. That's something that wasn't
there before. Old things are passed away, my old relationship
with the law. Behold, all things are become
new. I'm a new creation. I'm something
that was not there before. I've heard preachers use this
verse and say, my old sinful desires and my old habits have
all passed away. Everything's new. You're lying. That's all that
is, is a lie. And that's not what that passage
of scripture is saying. It's saying, I'm a new creature, a
new creation. That's the creative act of God.
Now look what he says in verse 18. And all things are of God. Particularly,
all things are of God. All things are of God. But particularly
in the context of what he's talking about, he's talking about in
the new creation. All things are of God. The faith you have,
He gave it to you. The life you have, He created
it. The righteousness you have is His given to you. All things
are of God. The fact that you're preserved,
it's of God. The fact that you love Christ, it's of God. The
fact that you see the beauty of the gospel, it's of God. All things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. I love the way he doesn't
just say he's reconciled us to himself. He says he's done it
by Jesus Christ. Christ always gets all the glory
and honor in all things and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation. And here's what the ministry
of the word is. It's the ministry of reconciliation. Well, what's
that mean? What's that mean? Well, he tells
us to wit, namely verse 19, that God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. Well, how'd he do that? By not
imputing their trespasses unto them. Now, how is it that he
didn't impute my trespasses to me? Because Christ bore them. and put them away, and there's
nothing to impute to me." Isn't that great? That's the gospel,
the gospel of reconciliation, the ministry of reconciliation,
to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
to us the word of reconciliation. Now, this is what the ministry
of the word is. It's the word of reconciliation. Now then,
we are ambassadors for Christ. And if anybody can tell me what
this means, I'd appreciate it. As though God did beseech you
by us. I think that's so amazing. I just look at it and I see God
beseeching the sinner. Yes. Does God do that? Yes. Do I understand
that? No. Do I believe it with all
my heart? God, we're ambassadors for Christ
as though God, listen, let's go on reading. Now then we are
ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We
pray you in Christ's stead, you'd be reconciled to God. Quit being
mad at God. Surrender, throw down your weapons. You'd be reconciled. You be reconciled. Quit finding fault with God.
Quit getting mad. Be reconciled because of this
glorious truth. Four, he hath made him to be
sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. What reason do you have to be
mad? You be reconciled. You come boldly into His presence
through the reconciling work of Christ on the cross. Be ye
reconciled to God. Acts 20. Verse 22. And now, behold, I go down in
the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every
city, saying that bonds and afflictions, they're waiting on me. I know
wherever I'm going to go, I'm either going to get whipped or
I'm going to get thrown in jail. That's just waiting on me. Can
you imagine knowing that that's your history for tomorrow? Well,
I'm going to go preach somewhere and after that, they're going
to tie me up to a post and beat me with a cat of nine tails.
I'm going to get thrown into a prison. I'm going to have all
my goods confiscated. I'm going to have to stay outside
in the cold. I'm going to just on and on and on. He knew this
is what's waiting on him. Now, what did it do to him? Verse 24, but None of these things move me. Neither count I my life dear
unto myself. My life is of no consequence,
so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which
I've received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the
grace of God. Now there's the ministry of the
word. It's the ministry to testify and this word testify here is
a word that is not generally used. It carries with it the
idea of protest protest. Not only am I going to preach
grace I'm going to protest at anything that's contrary to grace. This is the testimony. This is
the ministry of the Word. It's the ministry of the grace
of God. Salvation by the grace of God.
I've got a lot of things in my notes I can say about this, but
I've been preaching all night, so I'm not knowing. Grace means you're
saved by grace. It means it doesn't have anything
to do with your works. Grace is always utterly free. Grace is always saving and grace
is always sovereign, the grace of God. And the ministry of the
word is the ministry of the grace of God. Now I'd like to close
in Romans 10 once again. I was glad Paul read this scripture,
Romans 10. The ministry of the word is what
Paul calls the word of faith. Verse eight, last phrase, the
word of faith, which we preach. Now this is what's going on in
the ministry of the word. Verse five, for Moses described
it, the righteousness, which is of the law that the man, which
do with those things shall live by them. Now that's the work.
That's the message of the law do and live. That's simple. do and live. But the righteousness which is
of faith speaketh on this wise. First, I think it's interesting.
It tells us what not to say. You know, I always need to be
told really first what not to say, what not to believe. Well, that's the way the word
of faith works. Say, not in your heart. Who shall ascend into heaven?
That is to bring Christ down from above. Don't say, what can
I do to get him to come down here and save me? Just forget
that thinking. Don't let it come across in your
heart. It's wrong as it can be. And then he says in verse 7,
or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring up Christ
again from the dead. Don't say in your heart, what
can I do to make his blood and his death work for me? Don't
say that in your heart. And that is so quick in my heart. It comes up every day. What can
I do to get him to come down here for me? What can I do to
make what he did work for me? Think it all the time. Well,
you've been preaching all these years and you still think stuff
like that? Yes. I've got what's called the flesh.
I'm just as self-righteous and pharisaical and judgmental as
I've ever been. Don't say that in your heart. But what sayeth it? Verse 8. The Word. Ministers of the Word. This Word. This word from the word that
reveals the word. The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith, which
we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, I'm saved. No, the Lord Jesus. And what you confess with your
mouth comes from what you believe in your heart. Thou shalt believe in thine heart
that God raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. Saved by God. Saved from your
sin. Saved to spend eternity in heaven. Saved to be preserved while you're
on earth. Saved to be enabled to have communion
with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Saved to rest. Saved to trust. Save to follow
the Lord Jesus Christ and walk with Him. Oh, what a term that
is saved! If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised
Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart,
the intellect, the affections, the will, with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness. You really believe that the only
righteousness you have is the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
don't you? You believe that. You believe it with your understanding,
you love it, and that's the way you want it to be. That is the
word of faith which we preach. And with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth
on him. You believe on him? I'm not asking
you what you believe about yourself. You believe him. Whosoever believeth
in him shall not be ashamed, won't be put to shame, and they
won't be ashamed. For there's no difference between
the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. ministry of the word. One other statement, the Lord
said in John chapter 8 verse 31, if you continue in my word,
what you've been hearing tonight, the gospel, if you continue,
if you don't quit, if you don't get off and go somewhere else,
if you continue in my word, then Are you my disciples? Indeed. I pray that God will make us
truly give ourselves to prayer. The Lord doesn't work apart from
the prayers of his people. Nobody's saved apart from the
prayers of his people. There's no growing in grace apart
from the prayers of his people. were to give ourselves to prayer
and to the ministry of the word. Let's pray.