As I mentioned this morning, it's not necessary to give any extended review when one has a captive audience, and I hardly know how to preach without reviewing. I find I have to exercise great discipline in just moving into fresh material when it's so necessary, and I hope that you will never forget this, regardless of what the homileticians have said, that one sermon should never carry over into another. We see evidence in the life of our Lord, in his teaching, the prophets, the apostles, and the great preachers of the past that they were not afraid to repeat themselves in order to press home basic, necessary truths to the people of God. We have been attempting to give a broad overview of Calvinism or Reformed thinking, particularly as it relates to the subject of God's saving work, the theologically termed field of soteriology. This morning, we considered the implications in one's personal life of this view of the majesty and sovereignty of God, and then something of the implications on one's own personal life when he embraces the biblical teaching concerning the truth that God saves sinners. This afternoon, the field of our study will focus upon the implications of Reformed or Calvinistic thinking upon the Christian ministry. Again, let me repeat, I am not in any way boxing up a man's life and his ministry into two exclusive categories. The life of the ministry is the life of the minister, and these two are interrelated, but for the sake of study and understanding, these matters, we must separate them in our thinking even though they overlap in practical experience. Now as we come to consider this matter, may we look to God in prayer for his help upon our study together. Our Father, we come that once again we might consciously recognize our utter dependence upon Thee. We confess that we are so slow to learn what it is to truly trust Thee and to constantly repudiate the arm of flesh, and we would in this moment acknowledge that apart from the assistance of Thy Spirit both in proclamation and in reception, the time we spend together will be in vain. For without Thee we can do nothing, and we acknowledge this and consciously turn to Thee that Thou wilt be our help. We plead Thy promise before Thee. Blessed is the man whose trust is in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is. O Lord, Thou art our hope in this hour. Meet our waiting hearts as we commit our minds unto Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. the implications of Calvinism in the Christian ministry. I mentioned last night that one's ministry is but the extension into life and practice of his theology. And I want to emphasize that at the very outset of our study this afternoon, that theology is the backbone to the flesh and blood of one's actual ministry, and one's true theology is reflected in his methodology. There are some who seem to be able to hold positions theoretically which are completely denied in their methodology. Well, in reality, then, their real theology is that which shapes and molds and determines their methodology. The other theology may be called their shelf theology, but their real practical, blood-and-guts is the thing that shapes the methodology of the man or woman when considered as ministering and serving. Will you consider with me the implications, then, of Calvinistic thinking in one's life and ministry in terms of the message that is preached, the methods that are employed, and the motives which drive us in the proclamation of that message and as we use certain methods. So much for where we hope to go. Let's consider those matters in that order. What are the implications of Calvinism for the Christian ministry as it touches the matter of our message? First of all, as to the content or substance of the message, and then secondly, as to the manner in which we deliver that message. And I'd like to state at the outset that there is nothing more vital in the Christian ministry, not only for pastors and preachers and evangelists and missionaries, but for mothers, Sunday school teachers, and all who minister in one way or another, than the content of the message communicated in a day that focuses much attention upon methods and forms and techniques We need to remind ourselves that the content of the message is the all-important issue. And generally, where there is failure in the method and form and means of communication, it is because there has been an erosion in the realm of the content of the message. And so often we deal with symptoms instead of causes, and where there is weak preaching and ineffective teaching, we so often focus upon methods to help shore up the teaching and preaching as far as the actual art of communication, when the real problem lies in the fact that people have failed to come to grips with the content of divine truth, which has an inbuilt power to produce a natural eloquence and authority. In 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 4, we have the apostle's concept of the message of God coming to him as a trust from the living God. The first chapter of 1 Thessalonians is Paul's paragraph of praise to God for his mighty work in converting sinners at Thessalonica and then in establishing them into a virile, useful local church. Chapter 2, the first twelve verses, the Apostle vindicates his ministry and the ministry of his associates, and in so doing gives us the marks of a true minister and of a God-owned ministry. Notice his concept of the content of his message in verse 4. But as we were allowed, or better translated, approved of God to be put in trust with the Even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who trieth our hearts." He said, God approved us, that he might entrust us with the gospel. In other words, there is a body of truth which God himself has shaped and molded, and he commits that body of truth to me as an apostle, Paul says. that I might preserve that body of truth and that I might proclaim it. He says in another place, I am set for the defense and the proclamation of the gospel. And so vital is that gospel in its content that he brings before us in his letter to the Church of Galatia the most scathing denunciation of anyone who would in any way tamper with that content. For he says in those verses, though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. He reaches into the grab bag of Greek vocabulary and drags out the strongest word he can use, let him be anathema. And it's as though someone said, now, Paul, you've just been a little bit heated, and your rational powers have been suspended. under the pressure of emotion. You really didn't mean that, did you? And he says, as I said before, so say I again. If anyone preach any other gospel, let him be anathema. Let him be accursed. And in the context to which he is speaking this, These people didn't deny any essential element of the Gospel. It was just the plot sign that they put after the Gospel and added a little bit. And the Apostle says, if anyone takes this Gospel and puts a lump of the putty of human thinking on it, let him be accursed. Or if he takes the knife of human rational philosophy and thinking and just whacks a little piece off of it, if he touches the form of that gospel in any way, in addition or subtraction, let him be accursed. Why? Because the gospel is truth compounded by God with all its saving benefits when it is received as it comes from God. But when it's tampered with, it becomes poison to the souls of men. And so the apostles' primary concern as an apostle and a missionary was to discharge this trust from God, the gospel as it came to him, and deliver it in its proper content as one who would be held accountable to God for the preservation of that trust. And so I submit to you that those things that have been nicknamed Calvinism, the biblical truth concerning the true plight of man, the biblical truth concerning the true position of God as the enthroned One, sovereign in every realm of nature and of grace. These are not contraband goods to be hidden away in the back shelves and under the counter, only to be sneaked out upon request. Like the literature in some of our stores, the right people know where it is, and when they request it, it's sneaked. That's the way I'm surprised some people I know say they espouse these things. I was talking to someone on the steps after the morning session, and they talked with a well-known evangelical leader about these concepts of biblical truth, and he said, I believe all of that, but that's for the study. When it comes to the grassroots of the ministry, we must not touch upon such high themes, lest we upset and disturb just common, ordinary Christians. Oh, no. Oh, no. of Reformed or Calvinistic thinking as touching our message, very clear that these elements of truth come as a trust from God, not to be hidden away as contraband goods, but to be set out as front-window display goods. In Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 9, we have this command, a wonderful command to every true minister of Jesus Christ. where God says to the prophet to get into a place, into a position where he can be well heard, get thee up unto a high mountain and say unto the cities of Judah what? Behold your God. O Zion that bringest good tidings, get thee up to the high mountain. O Jerusalem that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. And then the prophet launches into that eloquent description of God, both in his transcended majesty and in his condescension. The God who will come is judged. The God who holds the tender lambs in his bosom. So I submit to you that the implication as far as the content of our message is, that we will proclaim these things in an unembarrassed, positive, loud, and clear way, that men might know the mind of God concerning their salvation and concerning his truth. Charles Spurgeon said, concerning this matter, I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified unless we preach what is nowadays called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism. Calvinism is the gospel and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace, nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah. Nor do I think we can preach the gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people. which Christ wrought out upon the cross, nor can I comprehend the gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called. Therefore, if we are to administer this trust to right, we must dare to stand in our generation and preach and teach in an unembarrassed way the doctrine of an offended God. preach the holy law of God so that men view sin not in terms of felt need primarily or psychological terminology, but they see sin as Scripture sets it before us, anarchy against a sovereign God. so that we don't come to men, as is so popular in our day, with a preachment of the general love of God and tell men as a first truth God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives. No, we tell them God made you, and you were made to live to His praise, and you have wickedly offended Him, and He could dispose of you justly and cast you into the pit of burning, and you couldn't twitch a pinky to accuse Him of injustice. Let us dare to proclaim the rights of God and an offended God. Let us dare to proclaim an impotent creature who, by his own sin, has brought himself to a state of bondage, where he has not only forfeited all claims to God's favor, but he has enmeshed himself in the tentacles of sin in such a way that he is helpless to deliver himself. Let us dare to proclaim distinguishing grace, that God set his heart upon a people to save Let us dare to quote with equal force the first part of John 6, 37, as well as the last. Most of us were brought up in circles where we heard from childhood, him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. The first two parts of the verse are these, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. Spiritually dishonest to preach the sure offer of mercy without saying, all that the Father giveth me there is in electing love. They shall come to me. There is an efficacious grace. And coming, they shall be kept. Why? Not because you've paved an Arminian door to the—an Arminian path to the door and then shut yourself in and had God put a Calvinistic padlock. That's the concept in our day. Free will gets you through the path and into the door, but then free grace shuts the door and locks you in. Oh, no. If you want an Arminian path to the door, you've got to stick with a door that has no padlock on it. The only reason why free grace locks a man in is because free grace paved the pathway. Grace, grace, all the grace. All that the Father giveth me in electing love shall come to me by the efficacious call, and coming they shall be received and they shall be kept." What a glorious gospel to preach. May I say from a pastoral standpoint, if I didn't believe that gospel, I'd have left where I am now a long time ago. I've looked into the faces of some men and women and fellows and girls for six and a half years, have preached the most searching, wooing, frightening truths that I know in Scripture, sought to warn them with the threats and woo them with the promises, and by God's grace sometimes have pled with them with tears, and there they sit like bumps on a log, unmoved, callous and hard as stones. If my hope was in somehow coercing their will to get them to decide for Jesus, I'd quit. I've tried everything. But I can go into that pulpit Sunday morning in all the expectation that this might be the day when the Lord Jesus will please to call them. And if He calls them, all that deadness and indifference will be shaken up, and they'll embrace the Savior and be trophies of His grace. You tell me that Calvinism is a mere theoretical flight? No, no, that's as practical as whether or not I go into that pulpit with expectancy or run from it in discouragement. Is that practical? And when these truths are woven into the warp and woof of your message, not as the contraband goods, but storefront goods, then there'll be a power and an authority that otherwise will not be there. And such a message, shaped and molded and framed by these biblical concepts, will be like the cool breath of celestial wind amidst the arid air of humanism and the man-centeredness of our day will be done without a little pea-shooting sermonizing delivered by young theologues who tremble lest they might say something which doesn't sound relevant. I get calls sometimes from inner-varsity groups to come and speak at a retreat. And then they say, I say, now, you have any idea what you'd like for a theme? And they say, well, Mr. Martin, just so you have something relevant, And you know, I've had to consciously resist the itch to say something like this. Well, you know, it's a shame you said that, because you know what I was hoping you'd let me speak on? I've been doing a little research, and I want to speak on what the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal about King Josiah's reasons for using olive oil in his foot baths. I've had to resist the temptation. Or to say, I'm very interested in the Puritans, and I've just discovered why Jonathan Edwards wore a wig. Well, I hope that good laugh has helped us digest our food. Now I hope it's prepared us to help digest the principle. You know what's behind that fear of many of these students? It's that they've been brought up in a gospel that has so little inherent weight and glory and power that the only way they feel they'll get a hearing is to talk about the latest theme that is the contemporary cause of concern, or the cause of contemporary concern. When your heart becomes pregnant with these glorious truths of an enthroned God, of an almighty and an all-conquering Savior, of a mighty Spirit, of an atonement that atones and a salvation that saves, you will no longer tremble in your gray flannels, lest you're not going to sound contemporary. Long after Vietnam is an issue of the past, and one will be thought an obscurantist to even introduce it into a sermon, the glorious truths of a Savior who saves with mighty power, and a God who rules and reigns with an unshakable sovereignty, those truths will continue to be meat and drink to the saints of God, and the powerful message of mercy to sinners. This is why the sermons of Whitefield and Spurgeon and even Calvin and Edwards and McShane are read with profit and delight to this day. The little pea-shooting sermons that feel they've got to be so contemporaneous that they're shot through with a mere parroting of all the garbage that floats around in the sea of our own generation. They won't be worth anything ten months from now if they're worth anything now. But you can pick up McShane and Edwards and Calvin and Spurgeon and read them with tremendous profit. Why? Their message had this substantial content of these glorious truths permeating the wharf and whoop of the entire preaching. You see, it's these truths that make a man to experience what Jeremiah knew when he said in Jeremiah 23, verse 29, I'm sorry, I believe it's in Jeremiah 20, thy word was in my heart as a fire shut up within my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. Job 32, we have that picture of Elihu, the young man who having listened to the counsel of the older men said, and I'm paraphrasing, I stood aside while you older gents talked, for I figured it's only good sense for young men to be quiet when old men speak, and that is good sense, in spite of the opinion of our present generation. This whole idea that because we've got two years of college under our belt, we're warranted to talk down anybody who's over thirty is part of the whole spirit of anarchy, and I trust you're not infected with it. The scripture warrants us to listen to the hoary head and its rebellion against the precepts of God if we do not give the benefit of the doubt to the hoary head. I'm concerned that this spirit has worked its way over into our Christian service. Somebody who's been down the road a little bit further than you and I just may know a few things we don't know. God and sin were around long before the twentieth century. and long before 1968. So Elihu recognized this, and so his first reaction when he listened to the counsel of these men is, they're older, I'd better shut up and listen. And so he listened, and he analyzed, but he didn't listen in an unthinking way. He evaluated. And then he came to the place where he said, gentlemen, if I may not be impudent in speaking, I can't be silent any longer. He said, my heart is like a wineskin into which new wine has been poured, and it's about to burst. I've got to speak." That's the picture of a man who, without any kind of brassy disrespect for the problems that cause old men to weep and think, listens to their answers. He hears everyone who comes with his assessment of what the great need in Christendom is. And he listens and he evaluates, and when his soul has been fed upon these glorious truths of Scripture, he says, my heart is like wineskin about to burst. I must speak. I must speak. And when these truths form the content, sure we'll seek to keep in touch with our own generation. That's why I go through the agony of reading Time magazine from cover to cover and another regular newsweek periodical every week. Try it. Why? I want to know what my own generation is thinking about certain things. I've tried to plow through the newspaper. I'm not talking about being an obscurantist, but I'm saying that the implication of reformed thinking to the message of the ministry is that this will be the dominating, shaping influence And though there may be reference and analogy and application to contemporary situations, you will not feel that you have got to be always speaking on the wavelength of the latest thought that is drifting across the scene of history. Long after that thought has gone into oblivion, those into whose hearts you have been an instrument to plant these fruits will shine as monuments to the grace of God for time and for eternity. Well, secondly, these truths will affect not only the content of your message, but the manner of its delivery. And now I urge particularly you young men who feel God's hand may be upon you for the ministry to listen carefully to what I say. I don't ask you to swallow it all, but I ask you to listen and evaluate it in the light of Scripture. As good Protestants, we believe that Scripture is a sufficient as well as the only rule of faith and practice, and I believe it has something to say about training men to the ministry. It gives the principles. And I would say in the first place that these truths will have a practical effect as to the manner of our delivery in that they will give a natural eloquence to the man who loves them and has received them as warm living truth by the power of the Spirit. For there is a natural eloquence expressed by a man whose heart and mind are pregnant with an overpowering truth." May I repeat that? There is a natural eloquence expressed by a man whose heart and mind are pregnant with an overpowering truth. Turn to Jeremiah for a moment. this passage that has so often helped me in seeking to be brought into a proper frame of mind to preach. The Lord came to Jeremiah and assured him in Jeremiah 1 verse 5 that before he was formed he was known of God. God had set his affection upon him, foreknowledge in its rich biblical sense. of to be known of God with distinguishing affection and purpose. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah retorts, Ha, Lord, the old I can't speak. I'm a child. Lord, I don't have the experience. I don't, perhaps, maybe he's even saying I don't have the gifts. God, you've got the wrong fellow. Now, how does the Lord answer? Does he say, well, Jeremiah, I realize that you are a child inexperienced, but I've formed a school which after four years, influencing you by all the present arts of communication and the science of how to traffic in words, Jeremiah, I'll make quite an effective man out of you, so don't let your inexperience or your immaturity trouble you. I've got just the school that will make a real preacher out of you. That isn't how God answered. What did God do? He swept aside his objection. He said, Jeremiah, you've missed the point. I'm not primarily looking for a man of unusual gifts or of great experience. Jeremiah, if you're to be my prophet, here's the basic issue. Notice. The Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak, Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord." What is God saying to his prophet precisely this? Jeremiah, the issue is not whether or not you've got the know-how to preach. The issue is this. If in obedience to my call, you stand in the place of my appointment, with the word of my choosing, in the consciousness of my presence, you'll be a prophet. to this generation. Say not, I am a child, for wherever I send thee, go, stand in the place of my appointment. Whatsoever I command thee, speak with the word of my choosing, and I am with thee to deliver thee. I submit to you, gentlemen, that this is what makes preachers. When men get sensitive to this whole matter of wanting with all their hearts to be in the place of God's appointment, having their spirits marinated in the Word that He has given, until it becomes not well-arranged mental furniture, but the living substance of the inner life, My words were pout, I eat them, I absorb them, assimilated them, they became part of the fingernails of spiritual existence, part of the flesh and blood. And then let that man stand in the consciousness that God has called him, and he has the word of God, and he speaks his pauses as in the sight of God. And I say that there you have a man who will preach. Now, granted, no one believes more firmly than I. that the matter of discovering your gifts should come to light in the community of the saints of God. I believe it so strongly that I've encouraged the Church to take the action which it recently took in calling a young man on an apprenticeship basis to cultivate his gifts and to more clearly discern what they are, that before he goes out into the ministry and blesses or curses a church, he might have a church with its eldership that recognized his call. I agree in that wholeheartedly. I am not talking about an I, me, and nobody else subjectivism that if I feel called to preach, all you lucky people, here I come. I am not speaking of that. Granted, the whole aspect of the gift coming to light in the midst of the community and all of these aspects which Mr. Clowney deals so thoroughly within his book, the call to the ministry. If you don't have it, please get it and read it. I give it out to all the young men that I have a privilege, any privilege, to work with in this area. But having said all of that, and putting it in that context, I still submit that the principles upon which God dealt with Jeremiah are the principles upon which God still makes preachers. In the place of God's appointment, with the word of His choosing and the consciousness of His presence, it is this that will give a natural eloquence to any man. I have never yet seen a person standing in a strategic place who was alert to impending danger, who did not find it in his heart to have a natural eloquence to plead with loved ones to escape the burning house. or to move away from the oncoming train. Why? Because they stood in a place of danger, confident that they perceived danger, and words came and words flowed. This whole idea that we import all of the latest insights of the stage and of the arts of communication and impose them upon young men While this aspect has not been learned, where the truth of God has not been burned into the spirit, and where they are not encouraged again and again to cultivate the consciousness of the presence of God as they preach, I say it makes something less than true, preachers. There is the natural eloquence that comes when these great weighty truths of Scripture are burned into the heart. Now, if a man has a problem with digging wax out of his ear while he's preaching, you ought to tell him. And if he's got nervous habits, you ought to correct them. Sure, we need help in some of these things, but I can submit and stick by the principle that we will not see preachers produced in our generation until these grand, glorious truths begin to make hearts that are full like bursting wineskins. And then, in the manner of delivery, these tools will not only produce a natural eloquence, but they will also produce a natural directness. When a man is set upon doing good to his hearers, he's not going to be content to shoot over their heads. He's going to want to aim straight at their hearts. Let a man be convinced that the people before him must see that they are depraved. Or they will never flee to Christ, and then he's going to roll up his sleeves and go to work to see how, under God, with the Scriptures and the enablement of the Spirit, he can convince his hearers they are depraved. That depravity is not just a theological term. It's a stark, naked reality. And he'll go to work. Let a man be convinced that men must see the supremacy of God, and he will go at it with analogy and simile and metaphor, anecdote and illustration, until his end is realized. Hence, the whole matter of application in preaching is natural to the man who is consumed with a passion to do people good. And what greater good can be done than to convey to men these glorious truths of who God is on His throne, who Christ is, the victorious Savior, what salvation is, the mighty exertion of the power of God to rescue sinners. I submit to you that these truths will produce not only a natural eloquence, but a natural He'll want to know that he's not merely saying good things in the hearing of people, but he's saying necessary things to the hearts of people. Read the sermons of McShane, read the sermons of Whitfield, read the sermons of Edwards, read the sermons of the great Calvinistic creatures of the past, and they have this in common without exception, a directness Reading them three hundred years after they were written, or two hundred years, you feel that somehow that message is leaping out of the page and nailing you to the wall. Don't you get this when you read them? You don't just read them because they weren't that nice. You knew that they were aiming at the hearts. Why? Because they had great truths which they knew must be conveyed concerning the great God and the great Savior. And then in third place, as far as the manner of delivery, believing this view of God will produce what I'm calling a natural attempt at some order and symmetry. Did God make men's minds so that it operates in a progression of thoughts? Yes. Well, then I'll not deny the God of creation by trying to give them one big glob of truth and hoping to hang it on the end of their nose like a Christmas ball. I'll order it and structure it and give pegs to hang it upon. I submit that if your sermon looks good for publication, it isn't worth preaching to a popular audience. If the sermon you preach, just as you delivered it, would look good for publication, it isn't fit for a popular audience. A message from the Word of God to the hearts of men, seeking to sense, be sensitive to whether or not there's that interaction and perception. You will deliberately repeat yourself. You'll pick up the theme, and when you move to one heading, go back over the other, recognizing that the human mind is so constructive that it can't retain all that is said. But by repetition, certain main thoughts can be driven home. And you won't deny the God of creation by forgetting that. When you preach, you'll honor him. And you believe that the God who has ordained the end has ordained the means. And though men are born again by the word of truth according to the sovereign purpose of God, James 1.18, that sovereign purpose does not bypass the natural laws of the mind. And you will find again that the great Calvinistic preachers of the past recognize this principle, and their sermons have order and structure, and again and again are shot through with questions that force the hearers to reckon with the truth they were communicating. Well, so much, then, for how these truths in the general way will affect the message, both to its content and manner of delivery. Now I want to get into the area of method. What will the doctrine of an enthroned God and an almighty Savior do to our methods? At this point, I again remind you that the regulative principle of the Reformation is its state, that the Word of God is the only and sufficient rule of faith and of practice. Not only does the Bible describe the wagon and the goods in it, but it tells you the kind of horse that ought to draw the wagon. There are many in our day who say, well, if you've got the wagon of right theology and the right goods of Christian doctrine, it doesn't matter what wagon, what horse you hook up to. I submit that God says both wagon and horse and the goods in the wagon ought to be scriptural goods, and scriptural wagon and scriptural horse. May I suggest that the basic method by which these glorious truths are to be communicated according to the Word of God are, one, church-based, church-directed activity, and number two, within the framework of the Church, preaching and praying will have absolute prominence. Number one, church-based, church-directed activity. In 1 Timothy chapter 3, the Apostle Paul, having given some specific direction with regard to the function of a local assembly with properly constituted office-bearers, elders and deacons, women in their place, men in their place. He concludes by saying in chapter 3 and verse 15, But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. Now, is he talking about the Church of God in the sense of the church universal? No. In its context, he is obviously referring to local churches, with deacons and elders, with men who pray, with women who adorn themselves in modesty that they might reflect their gospel profession, all of the things he's been dealing with in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. And he says, now the reason I've given this instruction is that if I cannot come, and enact some of the things that ought to be enacted, that you there, by my direction, may know how to behave yourself in the church of the living God, those local assemblies duly constituted with office bearers. And that church, he says, is the pillar and the ground of the truth. It is both the foundation and the lolly collars. Now, if I go to your home, and I break up the foundation, the slab upon which your house is built, and I knock out all the lolly columns, those metal columns that go and support the main structural beams, your house crumbles. Now, the truth in this figure is supported by the Church, for the Church is called the pillar and the ground of the truth. This gives no place to the lie of Rome that she is the mother of the Bible and the mother of truth, and can therefore shape and mold and discipline truth, for that very Church is structured according to the word of truth. It stands under the judgment of truth, but in this aspect, the truth is supported by the Church. Now, the institutional church has come into great disrepute in our day, and some of you young men have gotten rather disgusted. You see those old saints acrifying in the pews week by week, and you wonder when in the world they're going to get up and do something. Your pastor just seems to be the perfect picture of a man who's just not with it. He doesn't seem to be relevant. He's not contemporary, and you hear what's going on in little group movements and faith in action and all the rest, and you're tempted to say, well, maybe the answer's out there. I submit the answer isn't. If a sovereign God upon the throne, in the administration of His purposes through Jesus Christ, has constituted the Church as the pillar and ground of the truth, you and I better settle it. that if we are to find a scriptural expression of these glorious truths of our Reformed heritage, biblical truths, it must be from a church-based, church-directed standpoint. We will not get enmeshed in extra-church methods and means of communicating the message at the expense of building strong local churches. which are God's instrument to confront this generation with the truth and to bless unborn generations with the truth. And then, within that framework of the truth of the Church, within the Church, preaching and praying will take the prominent place. What methods should be used? We read in Acts chapter 6, that passage which sets the framework of what we would call the paid ministry. The Apostles are not to be encumbered even with serving the tables of widows, for they must give themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. They that live of the Gospel, they that preach the Gospel, should live of the Gospel, and they are the elders, according to 1 Timothy 5.17, who labor in the Word and in doctrine. And again, we fall into the day when preaching has come under a terrible attack, as though preaching is passé. Who's going to come and listen to someone spill out his thoughts for twenty minutes or half an hour, Sunday by Sunday? And we live in a day that despises the office of a preacher and the ministry of preaching. May I remind you of several passages in the Book of the Acts to show the supremacy of preaching and the saving purposes of God. In Acts chapter 15, we have the record of that council at Jerusalem. Acts 15. Peter stands to give his contribution to the controversy, and in verse 7 we have a very interesting observation. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. Now notice, he didn't say that the Gentiles by my hands should see the gospel demonstrated in active social concern and be one to Christ. He did not say that by my life men might see an adornment of the gospel and have their appetites wedded to be saved. He said God made choice that by this instrument of verbal communication His eternal saving purposes as extending to the Gentiles might be realized. He made choice that by my mouth Now, no one is more emphatic than I in insisting that your life better amen your mouth, and your hand better amen your mouth. To say to a man that God is concerned about him, and not to demonstrate it where necessary, is a contradiction. To say the gospel is a powerful gospel, and not to demonstrate the power in life is a contradiction. Agree, but notice the primacy of preaching. God made choice that by my mouth. He didn't live around Corneas and his household for ten weeks till they could see his testimony. He didn't come in and see what was lacking in terms of their physical setting. He went in and he preached, and the Holy Ghost fell and the Gentiles were incorporated into the body of Jesus Christ. And I submit to you that within the framework of church-based, church-directed activity, there is the primacy of preaching. Notice Paul's understanding of this in the 16th of Acts. In the first chance I get to get back in the liberal setting, I think this is the passage I want to preach on. Paul is on his missionary journey, and he's come down to the city of Troas, Acts 16, verse 8. In passing by Mysia they came to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. Now notice what the vision was. There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. Now notice, he didn't say, Come over and preach to us. Come over and help us in this problem or that. Just come over and help us. Here's the vision. A man probably standing with arms outstretched, and for some reason Paul recognized him as a Macedonian, and out of his mouth came the words, Come help us. Now what would you conclude from that kind of a vision? Well, notice the conclusion of Paul and his companion. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. Now, sure, Macedonia probably had great social needs. Remember, this was the day of the Roman Empire. Probably a lot of slaves being treated in ways they shouldn't be. Probably a lot of social and economic problems. But what did they conclude when they saw a man saying, come and help us? That God had called them to exercise this primary ministry, preaching the gospel, preaching verbal communication of a message which comes as a trust from God. So in evangelism, there's the primacy of preaching. How shall they call on him whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher? Paul says in Acts 20, 21, he testified to Jews in grief, repentance toward God, faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, you say that's obvious, but now when it comes to the building up of the saints, Preaching isn't to have the primacy, but it's to be interpersonal relationships. It's to be group therapy. It's to be this or it's to be that. I object. The teaching of Scripture is that preaching is to have the primary place in the building up of the saints. When we read in Ephesians 4 the particular gifts of the ascended Christ, apostles, prophets, Evangelists, pastors, and teachers forward the professing of the saints. What do they all have in common? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, communication of the message. They are men distinctly qualified and set apart. to communicate a message for the perfecting of the saints, and further on in that fourth chapter he says, but speaking the truth in love may grow up unto him in all things who is the head. The apostle Paul has given clear direction as to some of the things that the saints there in Asia Minor need to know, and then he tells Timothy, having given the content, he says in 1 Timothy 4.11, These things command and teach." He didn't say, sit down and draw them out by the non-directed method. Beloved, there's a place of counseling. I spend hours in it. But I fear, again, of an emphasis that says, preaching can't solve particular problems. It's only an overview and a generality. That is not true. It's not true at all. Preaching that is thoroughly biblical and closely applicatory will be solving a hundred problems that will never need to come to the counseling bench or the counseling couch or chair. This has been the testimony that God has affirmed again and again in our own situations. Sure, some situations need counseling granted. Many pastor knows this, but I'm speaking now of the primacy of the place of preaching, both in evangelism and in the building up of the saints of God. And then I said in the second place, within the Church, not only preaching, but praying. Praying. A man who believes that only God can give life is the man who will be found on his knees pleading with that God to grant life. You see, if an Arminian doesn't pray, he's only being consistent with his theology. He'll do everything in his power to put enough pressure so there will be moral suasion to get the man to make a decision, right? He must, as it were, vote for Christ before Christ will save him. So anything you can do to put pressure, psychological, emotional, anything, get him over that hump to where he raises his hand for Jesus, and he breathes, he's done. But we say, no, no amount of psychological pressure, moral suasion will bring a man over the hump. God must bring him over the hump. But if we really believe that, what are we going to do? We're going to give him the seed of divine truth, never going to be found pleading with that God that he might be pleased to make the seed germinate and bring it to life. So the apostle says, we must give, said, we must give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Listen to the words of Charles Bridges as he touches this very matter of the minister as a preaching praying man. The highest style of a preacher, therefore, is that he gives himself to prayer. On this account, some inferior brethren are more honored than others of more talented brethren. For sermons obtained cheaply by meditation and prayer are weighty and powerful, while those of a far higher intellectual character, by the neglect of prayer, are unblessed. It is therefore upon good grounds that the most eminent servants of God, have given the preeminence to this part of pulpit preparation. Massalon says, the minister who does not habituate himself to devout prayer will speak only to the ears of his people, because the Spirit of God, who alone knows how to speak to the heart, and who, through this neglect of prayer, not having taken up his abode within him, will not speak by his mouth. And then he goes on to say, we must not forget the work of subsequent as well as preparatory prayer. You see, prayer before the sermon may be mixed with many kinds of impure motives. I don't want to fail. I don't want to be a flop. But the real proof of my conviction that only God can quicken sinners and edify the saints is that after I've delivered my soul, I go back to the closet and ask God to bless that seed. What farmer ever took his vacation in the springtime after he plowed and sowed his seed? Never. There come the long hours of cultivating, of further fertilization, watching over the crop, and then after the harvest is in, he might take a week or two, if someone will come and milk his cows, to go down to Florida. And so if we as God's servants are found praying up a storm prior to our preaching, but not pleading with God subsequently, do we really believe that God alone can bring the light to the dead? Dr. Owen reminds us, quoting from John Owen, to preach the Word and not to follow it with prayer constantly and frequently is to believe its use, neglect its end, and cast away all the of the gospel at random. So I submit that with applications that extend in many directions, the basic method that God has ordained is church-based, church-directed activity in which preaching and teaching of the Word of God holds the primary place both in evangelism and in the edification of the saints. Now, in the last place, I'd like to touch on how these truths will affect the ministry in the realm of motivation. You see, if man is at the center of your thinking, his happiness, his needs, then you become a slave to man's reactions to your message. Follow? If man is at the center of your theology, his needs, his happiness, then you will become a slave to his reactions. But, if God is at the center of your message, then the motivation will be, I have a trust from God to deliver on behalf of God, and I will do so as a man or woman accountable to God. Therefore, God at the center of the thinking in theology means that God is at the center in the realm of one's motive. Turn back to 1 Thessalonians 2 for a beautiful example of how this works out in practical experience in the life of a preacher. Having stated, as we read earlier, that his concept was that he received the gospel as a trust from God, will you notice carefully how he enlarges on this in the latter part of verse 4 and on into verses 5 and 6. 1 Thessalonians 2. Even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who trieth our hearts. Four. Now he's amplifying this thought. We didn't speak as men-pleasers, but as God-pleasers. Four. Neither at any time use we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness, nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles He gives these three negatives. He said, we spoke as those who are seeking to please God, not as men who use flattery. Now, when you flatter someone, why do you flatter them? Well, you have an ulterior motive. You heap insincere or excessive praise upon a man to get something from him. You want his approval or his money or something else. Now, false is a cloak of covetousness. Our motive in the ministry was not using the pulpit or the platform of preachment as a means to gain things, verse 6, nor of men sought we glory. We weren't seeking the praise of men. Now, what is the common denominator in all of these three things? Flattery, covetousness, and vainglory. Well, in all three, the man who ministers in a way that is governed by those motives He is looking at people as a means to his own end. He looks upon them in such a way that he wants to get something from them by flattery, some goods from them through this covetous spirit, or their praise, vainglory. Paul says, no. We were so absorbed in this consciousness that we have a message as a trust from God, and must deliver it as men accountable to God. that we were only delivered from these impure motives. And I submit to you that this is one of the greatest elements of powerful preaching in the biblical sense. When a man is freed from the praise, the goods, and the adulation of those to whom he's ministering, he is God's free man to speak the message of God to them. You're never free to be a blessing to men unless you're free from the frowns and smiles of men. As long as the frowns will tighten your lips or the smiles will open them, you're in bondage to your people. You see, when one preaches, there are only two eyes that really matter. There may be ten thousand eyes looking here, but there are only two eyes that matter. Isn't that what he says here? Even so, we speak not as regarding the ten thousand eyes that look at us, but as pleasing God who triumphed our hearts. And so the natural tendency of a God-centered theology should be to make us God-centered in our motivation, and that has tremendous practical implications. We'll never pare down the message for apparent success. If God isn't pleased to bless the preachment of grace that is sovereign and grace that is applied with power, we're not going to preach a cheap grace. We're not going to, as it were, drag our Lord from the throne and huckster Him off on something other than biblical terms, no. Our confidence is that the God of grace and power will yet rise up and vindicate the cause of His truth and the cause of His dear Son. And so our motivation will not be in terms of what we can get from men, but what we must deliver to men in the name of God, as those accountable to God. And in the midst of all of that, by God's grace there will be stability, and the grace given to stick with it come hell or high water. I close with a passage of Scripture. from the 18th chapter of the Book of Acts. Here the apostle is experiencing tremendous pressure. I often think of the contrast when I read some of the religious periodicals that such and such evangelist came to the city and the mayor met him and gave him the key of the city. The only keys Paul ever saw were the keys to the local huskau, and he was usually on the wrong side of those keys. And so he's been booted out of Philippi and got his feet down in Thessalonica and booted out of Thessalonica. Terrible treatment from place to place, and after a while this gets to a man. So he comes to Corinth and he experiences some opposition there, and God wants to encourage him. And so the Lord comes to him in a vision by the night, Acts 18 and verse 9. Visions don't fit in to the theology of some, but Paul had them. I've never had any. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them. How did God comfort his servant? He comforted him by giving him a refresher course in the doctrines of grace. He said, Paul, I've got much people. They're mine by eternal purpose. They're some of those other sheep I already have that I must bring. And, Paul, I'm going to bring them as you stick by the simple method that I've ordained, preaching? Pray. Stick with it. And so it says that he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. And what stabilized him? This deconviction! God is upon his throne, and that God is with me. He's promised and pledged his presence. That God has purposed to save a people. He's told me that he has them. He's commissioned me to preach the gospel in the confidence that he will call them. and He will keep them and at last bring them home to glory, I can afford to face my adversaries unafraid. The purposes of my God cannot fail." That's just how practical the doctrines of grace are in the life and ministry of the servant of Christ. I do trust that this has at least been some measure of encouragement to some of you who perhaps have wondered, is it possible to go out in the man-centered age and preach these pure doctrines of Scripture and have a hearing? Is it possible to stem the tide? I'm convinced that God is bringing upon His Church a better day. All across this country and places I've been privileged to go and I found the same thing in the British Isles. The Lord is resurrecting these glorious truths of scripture out of the rubble of neglect and suspicion and misunderstanding. God is raising up a generation of young men. Most of the pastors' conferences that I've preached at in the past year and a half, the mean age has been in the early thirties. Of young men into whose heart the truths of a sovereign God. and a Savior who saves, these truths are confirmed with power. May God grant that He shall add to the ranks from you young men, and you wives and aspiring wives, don't think that this is non-essential for you, for as you understand the theology that's gripped your husband, you'll be able to prayerfully and at times tearfully stand with him in seeking by the grace of God to serve this generation and leave a heritage to an unborn generation of the truth that God is on His throne. Still Waters Revival Books is now located at PuritanDownloads.com It's your worldwide online Reformation home for the very best in free and discounted classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books, mp3s and videos. For much more information on the Puritans and Reformers, including the best free and discounted classic and contemporary books, mp3s, digital downloads and videos, please visit Still Waters Revival Books at PuritanDownloads.com Stillwater's Revival Books also publishes the Puritan Hard Drive, the most powerful and practical Christian study tool ever produced. All thanks and glory be to the mercy, grace, and love of the Lord Jesus Christ for this remarkable and wonderful new Christian study tool. The Puritan hard drive contains over 12,500 of the best Reformation books, MP3s, and videos ever gathered onto one portable Christian study tool. An extraordinary collection of Puritan, Protestant, Calvinistic, Presbyterian, Covenanter, and Reformed Baptist resources. It's fully upgradable and it's small enough to fit in your pocket. The Puritan Hard Drive combines an embedded database containing many millions of records with the most amazing and extraordinary custom Christian search and research software ever created. The Puritan Hard Drive has been produced to assist you in the fascinating and exhilarating spiritual, intellectual, familial, ecclesiastical, and societal adventure that is living the Christian life. It has been specifically designed so that you might more faithfully know, serve, and love the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as to help you to do all you can to bring glory to His great name. If you want to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, then the Puritan hard drive is for you. Visit PuritanDownloads.com today for much more information on the Puritan hard drive and to take advantage of all the free and discounted Reformation and Puritan books, mp3s and videos that we offer at Still Waters Revival Books.