Wouldn't it be wonderful if we
heard the trumpet today? What a blessing. What a blessed
time that will be for God's people. If you will, let's turn back
again to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And I want to read verse 6, who also hath made us able ministers
of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit.
For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. For the last
two weeks, we have looked at several contrasts between the
Old Covenant and the New Covenant, between what we see here is the
letter and the spirit, the law and the gospel of the grace of
God. But this morning I want us to
look especially at these words of the Apostle Paul in verse
6, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament. Who hath made us able ministers
of the New Testament or the New Covenant. And I want to make
three statements about New Testament ministers. The last couple of
weeks, we've actually looked at the ministry, but I want us
to look at the men this morning, ministers, who hath made us able
ministers of the New Testament. Three statements. First, New
Testament ministers are first made servants of Jesus Christ. New Testament ministers are first
made servants of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul wrote, Paul
and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ. I mention this
because before God makes a minister of the new covenant, he first
makes him a servant of Jesus Christ. God makes him first a
new creature in Christ Jesus. If you look with me into the
letter of Titus, Titus chapter three, the apostle wrote, Put them in
mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates,
to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be
no brawlers but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For
we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving, serving divers lust and pleasures, living in malice
and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy,
he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of
the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. I emphasize the word serving
in verse three. We all, and again, you see the
apostle Paul includes himself We all, by nature, we're serving. When we come into this world,
we are servants. And that word servants actually
means slaves. Literally, it means slaves. And
every person who is born into this world, born of man, is born
a slave, a servant. You may be here this morning,
and if the Lord has not saved you, you are still a servant
a slave of sin, first of all, a servant of sin, of Satan, of
the world, and of self. We come into this world in bondage,
serving the apostle Paul said, serving divers lust and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. What I'm saying is before God
makes a man a minister of the New Testament, he first of all
makes him a servant of Jesus Christ. How does he do that? Well, the apostle tells us here,
doesn't he? Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. That's a common fallacy, that's
a common lie, the mistake that most people live under, and yes,
even die under. that we're going to make ourselves
somehow right with God by what we do. That's not going to happen. Never has, and it never will.
No, it's not by works of righteousness which we do. Man may donate all
of his goods, the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13. He may give his body to be burned. He may do all of these things,
self-sacrifice and the many things that the flesh can do, but he
cannot give himself a new nature. He cannot make himself a servant
of Christ. Only God can do that. Not by
works of righteousness, which we have done, Paul says here,
but according to his mercy. According to His mercy, He has
saved us. We're mercy, someone prayed this
morning, Gary did, mercy beggars. That's what God's people are.
We're mercy beggars. We're made to realize, by the
Spirit of God, we're made to realize what I need. I don't
need more money. That's what most people think.
No! What I need is mercy. Why? Because I'm a sinner. Because I'm in slavery to sin,
to Satan, to the world, and to self. I need a Savior. According to His mercy, God has
provided the Savior. There's only one. His mercy. We see His mercy in sending His
Son. Doesn't that show the mercy of
God? Those of us here who are parents,
we wouldn't give one of our children, not one. I remember reading years
ago about a German family. This is back in, I guess, the
1800s. Spurgeon talked about it, but
they had four children, and they were reduced to such extreme
poverty. They had nothing to eat. And
they said, the only thing I can think of we can do is sell one
of our children. And they started looking at him.
The first one, the oldest one, was spitting image of his father.
Can't sell him. The second one was a girl, and
she just favored her mother exactly. Can't save her. And they came
to the third one, and eventually to the fourth one, and you know
what they came down to? They couldn't sell one of them. Why? Because they loved their
children. God the Father so loved his son. We talk about God so loving the
world, but he loved his son from all eternity. Yes. But yet, he gave his only begotten
son. That's mercy. We didn't deserve
it. Man, as it were, took his fist
and shook it in the face of God, God, this is Adam, God, I will
not have your rule. I'm in charge. And in spite of
that, God gave his son to redeem fallen men and women. That's
mercy, isn't it? He sent his son to redeem us. And then he sent his son in regenerating
us, giving us a new life. As the Apostle Paul here, I said
he included himself. Here he was, a self-righteous
Pharisee, just knowing if anyone goes to heaven, I'm going. That's
the way he thought. And he was doing everything he
could to stamp out the name of Jesus Christ, to persecute his
followers, the followers of Christ. And God, in mercy, reached down
and saved him. Mercy in sending his son. Mercy in calling us, regenerating
us. Mercy in translating us from
a kingdom of darkness. We come into this world And spiritually
speaking, we are in darkness. We can't see the things of God. We can't comprehend. Our Lord
said, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
heaven, the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's foolishness to a lost man. Mercy, mercy. What I'm saying
is before God makes a man a minister of the new covenant, he makes
him, first of all, a servant of Jesus Christ. He translated
us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear
son. I think it is the son of his
love. He translated us from a kingdom of darkness. And you know who
the prince of darkness is, don't you? That's Satan. And we were living in his kingdom.
And he was our ruler. And we were taken captive by
him, the scripture says, at his will. And God in mercy reached
down. He makes the man first. He makes
every believer. Let me point that out to us.
Not just those he's going to make preachers. ministers of
the New Testament, but every child of God is first of all
made a servant of Jesus Christ. If you are not a servant this
morning of Jesus Christ, you're not saved. You say, preacher,
show me that in the Bible. Okay, look with me in Romans
chapter six. Romans chapter six and verse 17, we begin here. But God be thanked, amen. Amen, right? Let's just say amen
to that. God be thanked, amen, and amen. God be thanked that you were
the servants, there it is, you were the servants, the slaves
of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
which was delivered unto you. That form of doctrine is the
gospel of Jesus Christ, and you have obeyed that form of doctrine
by believing the gospel. Paul told the jailer who asked
how to be saved, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved. Being then, that form of doctrine
which was delivered you, someone brought it to you, Someone brought
the gospel to you, some man most likely, some woman maybe a witness
to you, your mother, your father, the preacher, somebody delivered
this gospel message to you and you obeyed. From the heart, with
the heart man believeth under righteousness, with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. Being then made free, here it
is. Being then made free from sin.
You didn't make yourself free from sin. I remember some stories when
I was a little child and one story was, I think this person
was called Tar Baby. Does that ring a bell with any
of you? Tar Baby. And when you touched him, touched
the tar baby, it was tar, you were stuck. You were stuck to
tar baby. You couldn't get loose. And that's
the way all of us were. As sinners, we were stuck to
sin. And we couldn't free ourselves. Being then made free from sin,
how? By the blood of Jesus Christ. You became the servants of righteousness. Same word. You were servants
of sin. Now you have become servants
of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men
because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you have yielded
your member servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity,
that is, that's the way you live, just yielding yourself unto sinful
actions and pleasures because you were under the dominion of
Satan, even so now yield your member servants to righteousness
unto holiness. For when you were the servants
of sin, You remember that? I do. I do. When you were the servants of
sin, you remember it with shame, don't you? I do. You were free from righteousness.
What fruit had you then? What fruit had you then in those
things where you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is
death. But now, now being made free from sin and become servants
to God, you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting
life. So every child of God is a servant
of Jesus Christ But then God makes some to be ministers of
the new covenant. Back in our text in 2 Corinthians
3, verse 6. Who, notice the text, who also
hath made us able ministers of the New Testament. Who, of course,
refers back to God. God made us New Testament ministers. Now, Paul includes Timothy here
with himself. who hath made us able ministers
of the New Testament. Now, this is one of just several
places where the Apostle Paul confesses that he didn't make
himself a minister of the New Covenant, that it was God who
made him a minister. For instance, in Ephesians 3
and verse 7, he wrote, whereof I was made a minister. I was
made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God
given unto me by the effectual working of his power. I was made
a minister who hath made us able ministers of the new covenant.
And I want you to look in Acts chapter 26. The verses we're looking at here
in Acts chapter 26, beginning with verse 13, is Paul standing
before King Agrippa, and he's giving his testimony as to how
he became a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. How he became,
first of all, a servant of Jesus Christ, and second, how he became
a minister of the new covenant. At midday, verse 13, at midday,
O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness
of the sun shining round about me and them which journeyed with
me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice
speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? Let me remind us, Jesus is in
heaven speaking to Saul on the earth. But he asked, why persecutest
thou me? You see the union? Do you see
the union? The head of the body is in heaven. The body, believers, members
are here upon the earth and Saul was persecuting men and women,
but in doing that, he was persecuting the Lord. Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. Men fight against God. I've said
this many times before. I'll say it one more time. That's
a battle you're not going to win. You may be here this morning
and you may be fighting against God. God's speaking to you in
some way, showing you something that you need to do or not do,
and you're just bowed up, your neck and your back, and not so,
not so. You're not going to win that
battle. That's just not going to happen. Why persecutest thou
me? It's hard for thee, Saul, to
kick against the pricks. You know, when they hook up an
oxen to a plow or to a wagon and they had those pricks behind
him and he didn't want to go and he'd kick, try to kick the
wagon, he'd kick one of those pricks. And that's the picture
here. It's hard for you to kick against
the pricks. By nature, without the grace
of God, that's a picture of every one of us, isn't it? Fighting
against God. Not gonna win that battle. And I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet,
For I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, now watch it,
to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou
hast seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto
thee. Delivering thee from the people,
that is from the Jews and the Gentiles unto whom I now send
thee, to open their eyes. Here's what a New Testament minister
does. in preaching through his ministry. Eyes are opened. Men turn from
darkness to light. Men are delivered from the power
of Satan unto God. And men receive the forgiveness
of their sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified
by faith, which is in me. Seminaries, Bible colleges, churches
cannot make a New Testament minister. Those places no doubt may help,
but a person for the ministry, a New Testament minister, can
only be made by God. Who, Paul says, who God hath
made us able ministers of the New Testament. In verse 5, he
confesses that men are not sufficient in themselves. He tells us here
something, we're not sufficient even to think a right thought
in ourselves. Verse 5 of chapter 3, 2 Corinthians,
not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as
of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. He, God, makes men
able ministers of the new covenant. Our sufficiency is of God. Now I said that what he said
of Timothy includes all New Testament ministers. I want you to, I know
I'm asking you to turn to several places, but that's okay. I want you to turn out Ephesians.
We're talking about a New Testament minister. Ephesians chapter four. I want to read verse 8 and then
skip over the parentheses down to verse 11. Wherefore he saith,
when he ascended up on high, that is the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he ascended up on high, he led captivity, a multitude
of captives, and gave gifts unto men. And he gave some apostles
and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now, this passage
here calls for a message all by itself. But the one thing
I want to point out, the reason I had us turn here, we've got
these various offices, prophets, apostles, Evangelists, pastors,
and teachers. But notice, different offices,
that's true. But all, A-L-L, all given for
the same end. For the same end. What is that
end? For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now the body of Christ,
of course, represents the church, his mystical body. In chapter
five of Ephesians, remember he tells, husbands love your wives
even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. And
let me just throw this in. We know from the word of God
that when Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus about qualifications
for pastors, he wrote in one place that a bishop, that's a
preacher, a bishop, an overseer, that's what the word means, to
be the husband of one wife. A woman cannot be the husband
of a wife. Isn't that obvious? Didn't we have a display of that
this past week in our country? God never called a woman, God
never made a woman a new covenant minister. He just doesn't, the
word is so clear, so clear. In another place he wrote, But
I suffer not a woman to teach nor usurp authority over the
man." We live in a day when people think, well, that's not politically
correct. Well, it's God correct. Whether
it's politically correct or not doesn't mean that men do not
love and respect women. In fact, women from history at
least have been advanced so much by the gospel. Before the gospel
was proclaimed throughout the world, women were mainly considered
like cattle or obsessions of men. The gospel has brought freedom
to women and respect and should be. Husbands, love your wives
even as Christ loved the church. How did he love his church? You
love your wife like that. That's a pretty tall order, isn't
it? I think it is. Well, I said I was just going
to throw that in. But I believe it's important.
Because I've watched in my lifetime, I believe, maybe a little longer
than I've lived on this earth, but I've watched so-called Christian
denominations. Number one, we don't believe
the word of God is the inspired word anymore. We just choose
what we want and what we don't want. Number two, we ordain women
to be pastors. And number three, we accept homosexuality
as just another way of living. And what's happened to those
groups? They're called mainline denominations,
aren't they? And for the most part, they have
suffered immensely. People don't want to hear that
trash. Not God's people. God's people, no. This book is
the inspired, infallible word of God. And we don't pick and
choose what part we're going to believe and what part we're
not going to believe. Well, here's my third statement.
New Testament ministers might learn from Ezekiel. I want you
to look back to the book of Ezekiel with me. Ezekiel chapter 1. I want to
point three things out that I see here that God did with Ezekiel
in making him a prophet. A prophet. First of all, in chapter
1 of Ezekiel and verse 26. And above the firmament that
was over their heads was the likeness of a throne as the appearance
of a sapphire stone, and upon the likeness of the throne was
the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. When God makes a man a New Testament
minister, it's important that we see and know that the Lord
Jesus Christ is sitting today upon a throne. He's not wanting
to be ruler, he is ruler. Ezekiel saw God's glory here
and we know that that glory is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. And a man should know and a man
should see this and be persuaded of this. that he is a representative,
an ambassador. When God puts him into the ministry,
he is an ambassador of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I went back and checked this
this morning again, but William Carey, most people recognize
William Carey was the father of so-called modern missions.
He lived in the latter part of the 1800s. He was a shoe cobbler. He was a shoe cobbler. God called
him to take the gospel to India. And we know he went down to India,
went to India and served there for many years. But his son,
by the name of Felix, later, had surrendered to become a missionary
to Burma. And then the queen, Queen Victoria,
asked his son if he would become her ambassador to Burma. And this is what William Carey
wrote to his friend. Pray for Felix. He has degenerated
into an ambassador of the British government when he should be
serving the King of Kings. Yes, a man needs to see that
he is an ambassador of Christ who sits upon the throne, who
got there by way of his bloody cross. Number two, look in chapter
two. Here's the second thing that's
important for a minister to recognize. In verse one of chapter two,
of chapter two, and he said unto me, son of man, stand upon thy
feet, and I will speak unto thee. And the spirit, the spirit entered
into me when he spake unto me and set me upon my feet, that
I heard him that spake unto me. The second thing a minister must
know, first of all, he serves the Lord God who is upon the
throne. Number two, that his work is
tonally Totally dependent upon God, the Holy Spirit's blessing. Even Paul, in that passage we
read, he said, we are a saver of life unto some and a saver
of death unto others. And then he asked this question,
who's sufficient for such things? Who is? No man is. A man who's
made a New Testament minister, he must recognize that he is
dependent upon God, God's help, God's blessing, God's power,
if his ministry is to be effectual in the least degree, in any degree.
Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.
And number three, look in chapter three of Ezekiel, it's important
to see that Ezekiel would minister by the power of the Holy Spirit,
but what he was to eat. Moreover, he said unto me, son
of man, eat that thou findest, eat this roll, and go speak unto
the house of Israel. The roll that he was to eat,
of course, was symbolic of the word of God. And a new covenant
minister must be a man of one book. It doesn't mean he has
other books. to read, but he must be a man
of this book, that is the book of God. This is what he is to feed the
people. It's what he's to feed himself
upon, the word of God. This is what he is to preach.
Paul told Timothy, preach the word, be instant in season and
out of season. And what will a man do if he
preaches the word? you preach Christ, right? Remember our Lord told some man,
he said, search the scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life, but what? They are they which testify of
me. When a man preaches the word,
he preaches Christ, preaches the word of God. The Word of God testifies to
his person that he is God and man. Proclaim that. Preach that. The Word of God
declares that he is that prophet that Moses said would come, that
a man must hear or die in his sins. Preach the word that he is a
priest that is made a priest after the order of Melchizedek.
In other words, his priesthood is unending. And by his one sacrifice
as priest, he has put away the sins of his people. Preach the
word that he is a king, that he's living today, that he's
on his throne to give eternal life to as many as the Father
hath given him. Preach the word. Preach that
name. And when we read of the name,
it means the person. There's none other name, none
other person under heaven among men, given among men, whereby
we must be saved. Preach. Christ and his unsearchable
riches. I pray that the Lord would raise
up other men, put other men into the ministry. I'm thankful that we have men
in this church that are able to preach and do preach. But not all that are able to
preach and be a help and a blessing to the church does God put into
the ministry, the pastoring. I pray that he would call others,
send others. Pray with me. Let's bow our heads
in prayer.