This sermon, now somewhat abbreviated, and the two addresses which follow were delivered in Edinburgh on the evening of Friday, 18th June, 1991, at the Induction of the late Rev. D.B. MacLeod to the pastoral charge of the Edinburgh Congregation.
THE apostle, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is in these words setting before the church in Corinth the office of the ministry. He says at the beginning of this chapter, “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.”
In the previous chapter he describes this ministry as more glorious than the ministry of Moses, because the ministry of the gospel compared to the ministry of the law is a glory that excels. It is an excellent glory. Therefore those who are engaged in this ministry are engaged in a glorious work. How eminent and faithful Moses was as a servant in God’s house; yet we read in the third chapter, “Shall not the ministration of the Spirit rather be glorious; for if the ministration of condemnation be glory much more shall the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.” The revelation given under the gospel ministry exceeds, in glory, every other revelation that God has given of Himself.
Now the apostle makes it plain that this ministry was given to him. “We have this ministry.” It was not the ministry which he obtained by any abilities or talents of his own but which was given to him. “Unto me,” he said, “who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” This glorious work of preaching the gospel, which has effects that stretch into the eternal world, is altogether honourable; therefore it is true of the Lord’s servants, as was true of Moses: “that no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.”
Now we shall notice, first, that the gospel which is preached is described as the “manifestation of the truth”, (verse 2); secondly, that the preaching of the gospel is a work to which men are called; and thirdly, that those who preach the gospel are “servants for Jesus’ sake”.
First, the gospel which is preached is described here as a manifestation of the truth.
By the truth we are not to understand the discoveries which men may make. The truth referred to here is a revelation from God; a revelation that is as good news from a far country; that is as cold water to the thirsty soul because it is a manifestation of God’s love to lost sinners.
If this gospel is hid, it is hid to those who are lost. There is no hope for anyone apart from the gospel. No philosophies or ideas of men are of any value with regard to the lost condition of man.
The truth of God is that the whole human race is in a lost condition. Men are sinners; they are without God; they are under the sentence of eternal death. That is the truth, but how often is it heard from the pulpits of this land? There are so-called gospels being preached which are destitute of this teaching that the whole human family is lost and under the sentence of eternal death; that men are utterly unable, and indeed have no desire, to deliver themselves out of that awful and solemn condition. But the gospel reveals the love of God, from eternity, going out to a number that no man can number of the human family — going out to embrace them and purposing that they will be saved with an everlasting salvation.
The truth also reveals that the person appointed to be the Saviour is the person referred to here as “Christ Jesus the Lord,” — Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of the Father in truth and love; the great object of the Father’s love; the Son of His love who was set apart from eternity to be the Saviour. In order that He might be a Saviour He descended to the condition in which He was given the name Jesus. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins.” That name was given to Him when He who was, is, and ever shall be the eternal Son of God became the Son of man by taking into union with His divine person a holy humanity, conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin. So this is the Saviour: Christ Jesus the Lord.
But more was needed. Wonderful though it was (angels desire to look into this great mystery of the Son of God becoming the Son of man), more was required. What was required was that He would bear the guilt of the sins of His people in His own body upon the tree of Calvary; that He would die, willingly and lovingly, in their place, and that His blood would be shed for the remission of their sins.
This also is the truth: that Christ Jesus is the only Saviour. The modern idea of multifaith religion, and that all the religions are just different ways to God, is a delusion. It is a lie! It is not the truth! There is only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, the One who died and who rose again and is alive for evermore, the One who is able to save to the uttermost all those who come unto God by Him. Therefore, those who trust in the Virgin Mary, those who trust in Buddha, those who trust in Mohammed, those who trust in the gods of the Hindu, are trusting in a lie. It needs to be emphasised in our day and generation that the truth is this: that there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved but the name Jesus.
The truth is described here as “the word of God,” (verse 2). This revelation is given in the form of the word of God. This revelation that God gave down through the ages was written, and it was written by a special exercise of the power of the Holy Ghost; that is to say, the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of inspiration, carried and guided the writers of the Scriptures to record the truth in the words which He chose. So all Scripture, without exception, is given by inspiration of God; by the breath of God the Holy Ghost, the third person of the Godhead. In the word of God from Genesis to Revelation we have the truth without error of any kind, and it is futile for people to stand up in the pulpit and find fault with the Bible and to think that they are preaching the truth. They are not! They are doing exactly what the apostle did not do. He did not handle the word of God deceitfully, nor walk in craftiness (verse 2).
Now, we must be clear on the point that we have, in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the truth which we can trust our souls to. In doing so we shall not be put to shame when we come to die, and when we stand before the great white throne and before the eyes of Him whose eyes are as flaming fire and whose voice is as the thunder of many waters. You who have the truth as the ground of your hope will not be put to shame.
Secondly, that the preaching of the gospel is a work to which men are called.
The apostle was called to preach the gospel. Now, when one is called to preach the gospel, he must know the gospel and be convinced of the truth of it. If this was understood by those who ascend pulpits in this and other cities and do not preach the truth, then they would understand that the pulpit is not the place for them.
With regard to this calling the apostle declares, “It pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles.” These words, “reveal his Son in me”, make it crystal clear that no one can preach Christ unless he knows Him, understands experimentally in the faculties of his soul that He is the Saviour, and is brought into saving union with Him. One cannot preach “Christ Jesus the Lord” by just mentioning His name and thinking that this will have an effect on people. There must be an experimental knowledge on the part of the preacher.
In connection with this experimental and saving knowledge of Christ, the apostle says as we see in the verse following our text, “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” This is a description of spiritual conversion, not a description of people going forward to make decisions and of such trifling with souls. This is reality, divine reality, the reality that comes from the love of God, the reality that comes through the gracious power of the Holy Ghost. God was the One who in the first creation commanded the light to shine out of darkness, and He is the One who in the new creation (and let us remember that conversion is a new creation) has shined in the heart.
What is meant by the light shining in the heart? Well, it means two things, as is clearly taught by the experience of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. They were in darkness with regard to the redeeming work of the Messiah. “We thought it was he who was to have redeemed Israel,” they said. Then the Saviour drew near and began to open up the Scriptures to them (and they themselves testified that His speaking to them was an opening of the Scriptures to them). In the light that came into their souls through the Scriptures being opened to them they saw that it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to enter into His glory, (and that is why it is part of the work of the ministry, in preaching the gospel, to give expositions of Scripture and to open up and to unfold the word of God to the hearers in order that by the blessing of God they will get spiritual light).
Now, the apostle defines what spiritual light is. It certainly has nothing to do with the lighting of candles in a cathedral and that kind of thing. It has to do with reality. It has to do with light coming into the soul through the word of God. It means this: “Whatsoever maketh manifest is light.” The word of God is pure light, and when it shines into the soul it makes manifest the sinfulness, the guilt, the corruption and the depravity that are within the soul. It is light which brings the sinner to see his need of the Saviour who is presented in the everlasting gospel, and so we read here that it is “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” That excels every other manifestation of the glory of God. It is the glory that excelleth, and it is “in the face of Jesus Christ,” (and by “the face of Jesus Christ” we are to understand the person and work of Christ).
In connection with this shining of light, the believing soul has come to see that not only is scripture opened up to the soul by the Holy Spirit, but also the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of the understanding so that they behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. They behold, in the gospel, God glorified in the eternal salvation of the lost through Jesus Christ. They see what the church was speaking of when she said of Christ, “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.” This was the place where she found pardon of sin and peace with God; this was the place where she found rejoicing in this salvation in which God’s glory is declared to be very great.
Now, no man can be a minister of the gospel who has not had a savoury experience of this. The man who has had this gracious experience is the man who sees the glory of Christ; that is the man, who being called to the ministry, can preach about the glory of Christ; that is the man who can speak about the mercy of God in Christ; that is the man who as an ambassador for Christ can offer Christ freely to lost souls, and plead with them, “We pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
Of course, all the people of God know “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”, but not all the people of God are called to be ministers. The apostle said with regard to himself that he was “separated unto the gospel of God”. He was separated unto the gospel of God by being called by Christ, through the Holy Spirit and the word of God, to the work of the ministry. When a man is thus called, the door is closed on him with regard to whatever secular employment he may have had before. He is called by God to engage in the work of the ministry fully, with his whole heart, with all his talents, all his abilities, all his time and all his labours.
Now, because of his spiritual experience of the gospel and of receiving spiritual light, the minister of the gospel is dependent upon getting light for the sermons and teaching that he gives to his congregation. Therefore he prays, “O send out thy light and thy truth.” He is just as dependent upon that light now as he was at the beginning so that he may preach not himself, but Christ Jesus the Lord.
In preaching Christ Jesus the Lord he renounces the hidden things of dishonesty (verse 2) and does not handle the word of God deceitfully. He handles the word of God by the inward teaching of the Holy Spirit, who, as the Spirit of illumination, reveals to him the doctrines of divine truth in their proper relationship to one another. So he handles the word of God carefully and faithfully. It is required in a steward that he be faithful. The minister of the gospel, in dispensing the riches of Christ at the gospel table, is to do so faithfully.
The minister of Christ is not like those who work craftily by trying to get people to believe they are Christians when they are not, and trying to get them to become communicants when they ought not to be. Far from it! When he is preaching Christ Jesus the Lord to his congregation, he is addressing their consciences, not their feelings but their consciences. That is what the apostle says here, “By manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God,” (verse 2). He is addressing their consciences — guilty consciences but consciences that feel that this is the truth of God.
Why does he do so? He preaches to the conscience because the sinner needs to be convinced of his need of Christ Jesus as the balm to the conscience. The blood of Christ is the only balm for the conscience. Paul in writing to the Hebrews says, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your consciences from dead works” (that is, from the guilt of sin) “to serve the living God?” What need there is for consciences to be addressed.
Now, the ministers of the gospel have times when they faint, or when they are tempted to faint. The apostle says here, “As we have received mercy, we faint not”, meaning, he did not faint although faced with great opposition. The minister of the gospel meets with the opposition of the human heart — an evil heart of unbelief that goes astray from the living God. He also meets with the opposition of the god of this world, for as the verse before our text says, “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” How concerned we ought to be in Scotland lest we grieve away the Holy Spirit and provoke Him to take the gospel from our land because of leaders of churches mingling with the superstition and gross darkness of Popery and trying to bring the people back into this gross darkness. The people of this country had better watch and heed the warning that if the gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
So, as we have received mercy, we faint not, for we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus our Lord, for we know that this is the preaching which the Holy Spirit blesses to souls. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He does not bless false gospels, and He does not bless people who preach themselves. It is through the preaching of the gospel that the Holy Spirit comes to souls. It is through the preaching of the gospel that the Holy Spirit will return once more to Scotland. There is no other way. The ecumenical movement and various ideas of that kind are futile. Therefore, it is “the glorious gospel of Christ” which the servants of Christ preach, and persevere in preaching. “As we have received mercy, we faint not.”
Thirdly, that those who preach the gospel are servants for Jesus’ sake.
The minister of Christ, being called by Christ, is not only the servant of Christ, but also of the church of Christ, for it says here, “Ourselves your servants for Jesus sake.” He serves the church of Christ in expounding the truth so that the church may be edified. He labours in the service of the church, preaching the gospel to sinners and prayerfully seeking that the Holy Spirit would begin a good work in them; that Christ would be made precious to them; that they would be raised up to be living witnesses on the side of Christ. That is one thing.
The other thing is this: that it is “for Jesus’ sake” they are servants. They get such views of the glory of Christ as the Saviour that they cannot but preach. They must say, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!”, because of the views they get of the glory of Christ as the One who is able to save to the very uttermost all those who come unto God by Him. It is for Jesus’ sake that they are servants because He is the head of the Church, and the Alpha and Omega in the Church. They are servants for Jesus’ sake because the views they receive of the glory of Christ makes the cause of Christ precious to them. They see that His glory is bound up with His cause, and that his glory as a Saviour is made known through His cause.
They are called to serve the Church, not only in preaching the gospel but also in exercising rule in the Church. Scripture exhorts us, “Obey them which have the rule over you.” The servants of Christ are engaged in the rule of the Church. Our belief, based on the word of God, is that scriptural church rule is the presbyterian form of rule; that is, the Church is ruled by church courts in which ministers and elders or presbyters are equals when it comes to the exercise of rule. This is most important. The maintaining of rule and discipline in the church of Christ is part of the work of the servants of Christ, and they are to do it with a singleness of eye to Christ’s glory, and to the glory and wellbeing of His Church.
Now, of course, we live in an age when people are in such spiritual darkness that they do not even understand the scriptural nature of church discipline. We as a church have suffered a great deal because we hold to the doctrine of scriptural church discipline and are prepared to practice it. We do so because we are sure that the glory of Christ is bound up with His cause and with its wellbeing.
And so His servants continue labouring, and this is what they say to their congregations, “We preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord.” Then they themselves come to the fore in this way: “Ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” The Lord will bless such a ministry, and He will strengthen such a minister in his fainting times when he meets with powerful and crafty opposition in engaging in this great and glorious work.
Being servants for Jesus’ sake they must also say, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us,” (verse 7). They are content that the conversion of a sinner is by the power of God — not by any power of theirs, or any skill of theirs, or any knowledge of theirs, but entirely by the power of God. God teaches all His servants that the excellency of the power must be of God and not of them. They are content that while Paul may plant and Apollos may water, God gives the increase, and that He will have the glory with regard to the salvation of souls.
So they continue as servants for Jesus’ sake, speaking the truth of the gospel, although “troubled on every side” (verse 8). The apostle goes on to say here, “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.” When a professed minister cannot say this because he is an unbeliever at heart, then he cannot speak and preach the gospel, and that is pathetically obvious.
Let us hold to this view of the office of the ministry: that it is a most honourable office. It is an office greatly superior in honour to the great offices that men may hold in the world. Certain men have the high honour of being ambassadors for Britain in various countries, but being an ambassador for Christ is a far more honourable office. This generation does not believe this, but that is because of their spiritual darkness. There is another day coming when things will appear in a very different light, as we see here, (verses 15 and 16), “Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many rebound to the glory of God.”