A Minister of the Gospel

Take your Bibles, if you would please, and turn to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 3, verses 7 and 8 are where we are today. And the title for today's message is "A Minister of the Gospel." A minister of the gospel. Ministers are of the gospel. They already have their purpose. They need no other identity than in Christ and Christ alone, in the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross, in the place of those who would repent and believe, and we're to spread the gospel. The gospel is central to the message of Christ, and here we see the Apostle Paul in the book of Ephesians explain a little bit about the gospel.

So read with me in Ephesians 3:7–8, if you would. The Bible says in Ephesians 3:7, "Of which I was made a minister," and you might ask of yourself, of what? Of which? The gospel there in verse 6. "Of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace." And so God's grace — by God's grace, He has bestowed upon the Apostle Paul a gift, and that is to be a minister of the gospel. And so according to the gift of God's grace, which he was given to me according to the working of His power, so it wasn't Paul's power, it was God's power upon him. And then in verse 8, "To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ."

Let's pause for just a moment of prayer. Lord, thank you for these two verses, and I pray, Lord, it would help me to preach Your word, to encourage this dear congregation, to encourage my soul as well, and to rightly divide Your word, and to rightly represent what it is to be a minister of the gospel. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen.

You know, the ministry of the gospel is a serious thing. It's not a light thing at all. Today we see it being made light, to where most preachers today would tell you funny jokes and try and warm up to you and befriend you and then dish out something serious. It needs no introduction. The gospel is sufficient for its own. The word of God is sufficient of its own. It doesn't need to befriend you. It just needs your adherence and the comprehension. And so in a day where most are seeming to remove pulpits and to reduce the dressing of what it would be to be representing God in the best possible attire, to represent the office of a minister in a respectable way that brings reverence to the office of preacher and preaching, we live in a day where Christianity is being diluted in all areas — not just a word, but in worship, not just these two areas, but ecclesiology in church all over the place. And so as Christianity is being diluted and reduced in all areas of life, we even see crosses being removed from worship centers. And so they're no longer sanctuaries and worship centers. They're just buildings. And in every way, shape, and form it is being diluted.

But the seriousness of the gospel is something that I hope to portray to you today because Paul felt that way. And by the way, he said in Romans chapter 1 and verse 15, "I'm eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome." And that word eager means that he's ready and willing. He's ready. He's been called to preach the gospel. Not only has he been saved, but he's also been called to preach. And so Paul is a minister who's been called to preach the gospel. And then as well, he is eager and willing. He's willing to suffer for the sake of Christ. He's willing to endure whatever persecutions may come his way. He's willing to endure whatever the cost is to spread the gospel and make disciples. And he wants to preach. This word preach means to announce, to herald, to bring glad tidings to those who do not have glad tidings, to bring the richness of Christ to those who are poor — those who are poor, or those who are without Christ. They're poor in spirit, as Jesus said in His first sermon.

And so, "I am eager to preach to you the gospel, to you who are in Rome." And those who were in Rome were just pagans. And those who were in Rome were given to the pursuit of prosperity or position and power. Nothing has changed. And the same exists in all the countries today, where so many times when evangelists or missionaries go, they're faced with the cultural norms. And as Paul was willing to combat the cultural norms, so should preachers be willing to not befriend the world, but to expose the world and bring the brightness of Christ, to illuminate Christ, to make the holiness of God as pure and holy as possible. In Isaiah 6:3, it says, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, and the earth is full of His glory." And so we want to glorify and magnify the Lord. We want to make sure that He is bright and appealing and known. We don't want to compromise ourselves and act like the world, dress like the world, sing like the world, entertain through humorous talks rather than preaching like the world. We don't want to reduce the preaching of the gospel to a point where it's palatable.

And essentially, you want the gospel to be as offensive as it needs to be, to assault the conscience, to assault the heart, to reprimand the mind. You see, the sinner loves their sin, right? And they're trapped in their sin. It takes the life-saving gospel to penetrate the heart. The word is able to do that. In Hebrews 4:12, the Bible says that the word of God is able to penetrate all the way to the heart and soul and even down to separating the marrow inside of the bones. The word of God can do that. And you need not to dilute the word of God. You need to express all of the ideas of God's word so that it does assault. You need not to be offensive, but the word of God is in itself offensive. That's the reason why the first step under salvation is repentance. You repent of your sin. When you see your sin, you repent of that and you confess that and then believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're not, according to James when he said in James chapter 4:4, we're not to be friends of the world because that's hostility toward God. And that same word hostility means enmity. And so if you are trying to reduce Christianity, reduce preaching, reduce worship, reduce how I do church, reduce all of these things in the word of God in order to befriend the world, you're actually hostile toward God.

It is like throwing something that is nasty inside of something that's pure. You don't want to eat that. You don't want to portray that. You don't want nothing to do with that. And so Paul was eager to preach the life-saving, pure gospel in the sin-saturated city of Rome. And so we too are ones who are willing to go into the sin-saturated areas and preach the life-saving gospel.

You know, Isaiah was a minister of the gospel as well. His preaching was prophesying of the cross. And at the same time, Isaiah also followed in Christ's footsteps. Turn to me, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 53. And let's look just at some of the ministry of Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 53, the prophesying of the cross is what we'll read. But I want you to know that Isaiah's call, Isaiah chapter 53, is where we're turning — Isaiah's call into ministry is recorded in chapter 9:6, which says, "Go and tell the people." And so God commanded Isaiah to go and tell. Go and tell the life-saving gospel to a rebellious people. And so his job was not easy because the Israelites were saturated in their religiosity. And they loved their traditions. So much so that they would stone anyone who came against their traditions. And so Isaiah's call in the ministry is to go tell these people about these things. And he knew that it was going to be tough, but he continued to do it.

In Isaiah chapter 53:3, he says, "He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one whom men hid their face, he was despised. And we did not esteem him. Surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried. And yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening of our well-being fell upon him. And by his scourging we are healed. And all of us like sheep have gone astray, and each of us has turned his own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him."

And so Isaiah is preaching the gospel here. Flip over to Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah 55:1, as he continues to preach the gospel to Israel, who are lost. They're near to God, but they're far away from salvation. In Isaiah 55, "Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost." Here this is the invitation for those who are lost to pursue Christ, to pursue the one who was prophesied about in Isaiah chapter 53, the one who was smitten for you, who took on all of the humiliation for you, who died on the cross for you. Come, depart from where you are, and come to Christ, and you who have no money, you're okay. Come and be rich in Christ, buy and eat. Come, believe in the Messiah to come. Though they might not have known the name Jesus, perhaps they knew Yeshua, they would know of the Messiah to come, the one who would fulfill these things.

And so he continues to preach the gospel in verse 3. Isaiah chapter 55:3, "Incline your ear, and come to me. Listen, that you may live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you according to the faithful mercy shown to David." And so this invitation to come to Christ, come to me — and in this translation, the New American Standard, for which I'm preaching from today, the word me is capitalized. And so that capitalized pronoun is talking about God and that Jesus is God. "Incline your ear, turn, listen to the gospel, and come to Christ." Not only in verse 3, but also in verses 6 and 7, "Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near." This is encouraging people to reach for Christ. And then in verse 7, "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord." And this is repentance. Repent of your sin. Return to Christ. Believe in His substitutionary death for your sin. And then it says, "Return to the Lord and He will have compassion upon you and to our God, and He will abundantly pardon you."

Boy, we need to be pardoned, don't we? So redemption is here. We can be pardoned. And then in verse 8, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." So whatever religion that man can conjure up, God's thoughts are so much higher than any form of worship that we can conjure up. In every type of form of reconciliation with a holy deity, God's thoughts are higher than these things. And we must tell the lost, the lost people — our thoughts are nothing in comparison to God's thoughts. You cannot rationalize this thing. You cannot work your way to salvation. Anything that you think is like an ant's thoughts in comparison to God. We are nothing, nobodies. Our thoughts are nothing in comparison to the Lord. And so do not stew and try and rationalize and think your way. Believe in the life-saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe in the sufficiency of the word of God.

If there's one thing that I know that ministers must lean upon, especially in this day, it is the sufficiency of Scripture. It's the sufficiency of Scripture. I'll be going on vacation here in a couple of months and Elder David Colson has chosen the subject of the sufficiency of Scripture to teach on, and you'll get to enjoy that. So I'll let him do all the hard work of explaining what it is to believe in the sufficiency of Scripture. But I'm just telling you, you lean upon the word of God and do what it says by faith. You lean upon it. You do it. You deny yourself. Whatever your feeble thoughts might be, you say, "Well, I'm a nothing. I'm a nobody without Christ. Apart from Christ, I'm wretched. I'm horrible. I can't accomplish anything. I can do nothing apart from Christ. Whatever the Bible says, I believe, and I'm going to do it by faith." And that is what it is to believe and to act and force yourself to do what the Scriptures say by faith. It has a lot to do with how we share the gospel and depend upon the gospel to transform lives, the power of God. It has a lot to do with how we worship and how we preach and how we do church — depending upon these things. He will pardon you.

You know, John the Baptist was also set apart and called from birth in Luke chapter 1:76. We see that not only John the Baptist, but also Jeremiah. In Jeremiah chapter 1:5, we predominantly think about Jeremiah 1:5 in regards to combating abortion. And yes, that is a good case study, a good verse to quote in that. But actually what that is, is God setting Jeremiah apart and claiming him as a prophet before he was even born. And Jeremiah's call in Jeremiah 1:5 — the Bible says, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I set you apart. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." And so before Jeremiah was even conceived, he was set apart to be a preacher. God had one Son and He made Him a preacher, like Stephen Lawson says. Preaching the gospel is the highest calling in the land. And any preacher who would step down to be the president of the United States would reduce himself by a long distance. The preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the highest calling in the land. There is no higher office.

And today, ministers must properly know God's word. "For lack of knowledge, my people are destroyed," Hosea 4:6 says. And from the shallow preaching of the word of God, sheep have been malnourished. Sheep have been fooled by philosophies in this world. And the Bible says that it's your job, by the way, as sheep not to be fooled by these things. In Colossians chapter 2:8, it says not to. And so these philosophies are prevalent. Now you might think to yourself, well, the Apostle Paul was combating Rome, paganism, humanism, those types of things. Yeah, and we've got all kinds of heresies today. You can't even put them in a notebook if you were to go down the list. Catholicism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventism — it goes on and on and on and on. But guess what? People are all saved the same way, just like we talked about last week. Repent and believe the gospel: that Jesus and His death and burial and resurrection is a substitute for you and your payment for sin. So today's ministers need to properly know the word of God and not be fooled by the world and by worldly philosophies.

So many are capitulating and reducing the preaching of the word of God to storytelling, to making themselves the heroes of their own stories. Seriously, they will put pictures of themselves up on the screen and how big a bass they caught. And yes, that is very strategic as an illustration because you need to know what preaching the word is versus self-exaltation.

We preachers are nobody. In fact, we're the least of all. We should be the ones who are the lowest of all servants. And so capitulators, they're not only arrogant, but they're ignorant as well in giving God's people the word of God. So I say to you, don't be fooled. Around here we capitalize upon Bible study and exegetical preaching and teaching. So verse by verse, teaching and preaching of the word of God — so that you will know God's word — and you need to know how to study the Bible for yourselves. Fathers, listen to me. You need to teach your wives and your children how to study the Bible for themselves so that there's no division among you and your own families. Your wife and your children must be able to take their own Bible and read it for themselves to be able to see what truth really is.

There are so many sneaky philosophies out there in this world today that are designed to cause divisions among the brethren, to separate churches, the unity in the church, to separate families, the unity in the families. They are strategic, so strategic that I can't even put them all into one sermon, but I'll give you just an ounce of what's out there. The founder of eBay has invested $400,000 into a think tank group who can take Christianity and pervert it and use it for liberal means. And it's working. It's working.

These false ideologies and these philosophies have been creeping into Christendom. And basically it's just this: they have used Christian words, biblical words, like justice, and put a prefix before it like social, which makes it no justice at all. They have taken good words and used them against you by changing the end goal. As if you were to pursue righteousness and justice, and then they define the end. And if they can change the goal of Christianity and fool you or your children, then all of a sudden they've got you at the very core of your being. And you are serving and advocating and longing for something other than Christ, other than what the Bible says. And so be not fooled. Don't be a fool. Don't be fooled by these worldly philosophies. They are so slick and so, so, so subtle.

But if you would know the gospel and know God's word, then you won't be fooled. Ministers today, they must not only be preachers of the word of God and of the gospel, but they also must be discerners — to be able to discern the times and know the truth. And they must educate and preach and persuade and teach God's word. Hey, listen — while we have a president that is unfortunately being used in his mental state, of course perhaps dementia, we're responsible to share the gospel.

While we have a vice president who is endlessly creating all of these deplorable atrocities and then smiling about them and making up word salad sentences, and perhaps babysitting our president, we have to share the life-saving gospel. The gospel is the answer. That is the truth. That is the only thing that will change the heart. And then while Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, comes to America and gets Biden to commit to perhaps what could potentially be something like World War III — what we're seeing before our very eyes are huge, historical, monumental tragedies that could end up in something that changes our lives for the rest of our lives. 2024 could look very different from 2025 because of the things that are happening. But my friends and my fellow flock, be not afraid. Be not fooled. What we stick to is the life-changing gospel. And be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The Bible says this in 1 Corinthians 15:58.

While the founder of eBay, a billionaire, one of the richest men in the world, is strategically partnering with men like George Soros to infect and change churches — this is facts. We must stick to the gospel. And we must simply encourage the preaching of the gospel.

And the preachers that are preaching the gospel are coming under tremendous pressure, tremendous fire. You must encourage the preachers that you know who are preaching the word of God, because it's ultimately the word of God that's coming under attack, the sufficiency of the word of God. It's ultimately Christ, because the word of God is Christ. Christ is His word. It's an attack upon Jesus. And we're just a bunch of pawns in the liberal schemes of things. And so we must stick to the gospel. Nothing has changed. The Bible says in the book of Acts that there will be deceivers that not only come from outside but also inside. And so as we stick together in this world until Christ comes again, we must truly focus on Christ and His word. I'm telling you, this is so important to be of the gospel.

Here in Ephesians chapter 3:7 it says, "of which?" And you should say in your Bible study time, of what? Of which? Of what? Well, read the preceding verse. In verse 6, "To be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel." That's it right there, the gospel of which. So it's of the gospel. But here's the thing.

This message that Paul was preaching in verse 6 is no easy message at all. In fact, it's probably the hardest message that you could ever preach. It's to try and get Jews and Gentiles to get along in the same building, much less worship together. They come from two diametrically opposed cultures. And now they have been regenerated. It's like being married — to becoming one. As you become more and more like Christ, there's more and more unity. But Paul is preaching a message that is far beyond unpopular. This message that he is preaching, Jew and Gentile unity in Christ, is not just unpopular. It'll get him stoned, and it did.

Persecuted at the worst levels. I mean physically, emotionally, spiritually — in all directions he would be persecuted for this. Read the book of Acts. And as he is preaching this very unpopular message, I'm telling you today, nothing has ever changed. I was encouraged by someone here recently. He said, "Wouldn't you be worried, Casey, if you were preaching a popular message?" I'm like, "Yeah, because the message of the Bible is not popular, and in fact it'll get you persecuted." And so this is verification. If you are proclaiming that which is unpopular, you're on the narrow road, and you're climbing up, and you're getting some pushback within your own family.

"Of which" refers to the gospel, and the gospel is summarized best in 1 Corinthians 15:1–4, which is basically the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here in Ephesians chapter 3:7, it says, "Of which I was made a minister." "Made" means a change of position. He was made — of which he was made a minister. This particular word "minister" is "diakonos" in the Greek, and this is interesting because it further explains how humble Paul truly is. He is a servant of the gospel of God. He has subjected himself to a different mission other than his own. So "diakonos" is one who executes the commands of another — a basic servant, one who executes the commands of another, a servant, an attendant, a minister. Paul is a minister. He is ministering the gospel of God. And so Paul was made into a gospel minister, hence the title of today's message, a minister of the gospel. In Colossians 1:23 it says, "I, Paul, was made a minister." In Colossians 1:25, "Of this church I was made a minister."

Now ministers then preach the gospel. Ministers are made into preachers. Ministers are servants on behalf of God. The why, the how, and the who are summarized. I like what Isaiah said in Isaiah 50:7, "For the Lord God helps me." That's the how, that's the who, that's the what. It's God. He originated the call upon men to preach the gospel. He selected the apostles and He selects preachers and sets them aside. But this call to preach the gospel goes beyond just preachers who were called to set their life aside.

I personally was called while I was reading the call of Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, and I'll read that to you. Genesis chapter 12:1–4 is the call of Abraham. "Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house.'" And it just so happens that at 5:30 in the morning when I was studying the Bible as a teenager, this verse came alive to me in such a way that I felt like I would be being disobedient if I did not follow through with what the Lord had opened up for me. The Lord had opened up for me to be able to sell my business and go to Bible college. And that was made very clear, and inwardly I would have felt disobedient to the Lord if I had not left and followed what He had opened for me. "'And go to the land which I will show you and I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great and so you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.' And so Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him." And so when you see the call of Abraham and the Scriptures being alive and well and God using His holy word to call a man into full-time ministry, that which applies to Abraham applies to Abraham, and to the extent it applied to my life, then I simply follow Christ, and whatever God deems fit to apply and utilize in my life I simply do. And so inwardly the call to preach the gospel was made clear to me, and I surrendered to the call of the gospel to preach the gospel, and Lord willing I'll be able to finish this world being faithful to the call to preach the gospel — 27 years into it now. Go figure. 27 years preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I pray for another 50 or 60 or 70 or 80, right? Amen.

I want to continue to be faithful to Christ, but I want you to see not only how God calls men to preach the gospel — I want you to see how you are involved to proclaim the gospel as we continue to unravel the text. And so Paul was made a minister of the gospel. Now it is according to a gift in Ephesians again in chapter 3:7b. It is according to the gift of God's grace, and this gift is from God. So being made into a minister is a gift. It is something that God has gifted unto these men, these ministers. God obviously possessing all things, invisible and visible — Psalm 24:1 says the earth is the Lord's and all it contains. Anything that you can think of, God owns it. He not only designed it but He controls it. And so that comes down all the way down to ideas, especially the calling upon a man to preach the gospel. So He created everything, and that includes everything like love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and gentleness and faithfulness and self-control. But it also includes the gifts.

And so thinking of the world and all it contains, think of the gift of God upon a man to preach the gospel. It is a free gift. It is nothing that can be purchased. In Romans chapter 12:6 it says, "Since we have these gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly, according to the proportion of his faith." And so now you have not only eldership and preachers and teachers, we also have deacons in the church. We also have ministers such as yourselves, servants such as yourselves who continue to minister the gospel, to teach the word of God, to share, to evangelize, to disciple, to do all that you can while you can everywhere you can. And so now to the extent that God has gifted you and given you the responsibility to obey Him, do that accordingly. Romans chapter 12:6 — it's a free gift that emphasizes the giver, and that is God. And so what God has given you, when you exercise your gift and you employ those things, you honor God.

So it also includes things like this: when Peter corrected the false convert Simon for wanting to purchase the gift of God. In Acts chapter 8:20 it says, "May your silver perish with you because you thought that you could obtain the gift of God with money." And there are a lot of people out there who have self-interest in mind and will pay any money for a prophecy about them in their life that is prosperous, or they'll pay any amount of money to get power. They'll pay any amount of money to influence churches and people and pastors. There are a lot of wickedness, a lot of wicked things going on out there in this world that will pay for you to be distracted from the gift of God. And just think about all the things that we can do here in America, in Central Florida — the gospel. You could fill your life up with good things every day all day and be distracted from God and the gospel.

And so God's power is a gift. The power to be empowered is a gift. His salvation is a gift. Not only is it a gift, but it's given to you. The faith is given to you in Ephesians chapter 2:8–9, "For by grace are you saved through faith." It is a gift. And so the faith that you have is a gift and it's by God's grace. So by God's grace He has gifted Paul to preach the gospel, and by God's grace He has gifted faith to believers, and that is how it works its way through.

In verse 7 and chapter 3 again in Ephesians, "Of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power." This word working, "energeia," means power. It's God's power that is working through you. It's not your own power. It's not your own intellect and strength. We submit to the Lord and it's His energy that comes through us. It's His power. Turn if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I want you to see the first five verses on how Paul gives credit to God for this power.

1 Corinthians chapter 2:1–5, and you're going to see this word power, "dunamis," meaning action and ability. The ability that you have to share the gospel and make disciples. The power that preachers have to preach the gospel — it's not them. It's not their power. Whatever is effective is God. It's none of them. It is the power of God. Paul gives credit to God for this. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter 2:1–5. "And when I came to you brethren, I did not come to you with superiority of speech or of wisdom proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear." How transparent is this? "And in much trembling — in my message, in my preaching — not in persuasive words of wisdom but in the demonstration of the Spirit of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God." This is Paul being transparent about how weak he is in the flesh and how dependent he is upon the power of God. And so as Paul would go to preach in the cities, he was trembling before he stood up to preach. Before Paul would step up to speak, he was filled with the understanding that if God doesn't help me, then it's going to be a disaster. If God doesn't speak through me, if God doesn't help bring to the forefront of my mind the way He has, I will be able to speak all over myself. And he knows that it's not the persuasive power of philosophy or human wisdom that will accomplish anything, as he said in the text. It's all dependent upon the power of God.

In Acts chapter 5, turn there with me if you would — even a rabbi, Gamaliel, recognized that if he opposed the power of God in the apostles, it would be a disaster. And he gave orders to hold back. In Acts chapter 5:28 and following, it says, "We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. But Peter and the apostles answered, 'We must obey God rather than men.'"

And now in verse 38–39, "So in the present case I say to you" — this is Gamaliel — "stay away from these men and let them alone. For if this plan or action — this power that they have — is of men, it will be overthrown. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them, or else you may even be against God." Who wants to fight against the power of God? And it's the power of God unto salvation. It's the power of God through preaching that reaches the lost, through proclaiming the gospel. And so the force and the strength of God through men empowers men. It's endowed upon a person to execute God's will through human gifts. And so the giftedness that God by His grace gives to certain believers, according to the gift that He's given you, exercise that gift.

And even while you are working in the power of God, it's a fearful thing, because you fear being in control and God not being in control. You fear, rightfully, the fact that I could really mess up on behalf of God. I don't want to do that. And so it's a trepidatious thing to even handle the holy word of God. You want to rightly divide it. You want to execute it humbly. You want to do it right. And even someone like Gamaliel recognized they may be working against the power of God, and he gave instructions to hold back.

Did you know that Ezekiel knew when God's power was upon him? In Ezekiel 37:1, it says, "The hand of the Lord was upon me." Ezekiel 37:1: "The hand of the Lord was upon me and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and He set me down in the middle of the valley." The valley that was full of bones. Here what I want to point out to you is that the hand of God was upon Ezekiel and he knew it. He knew that the power of God was upon him. The hand is figuratively speaking of power and strength. Do your own word work if you want to, but I'm telling you, that's what the hand means. The hand of God — God's right hand upon a man to preach the word — and Ezekiel needed that.

He really needed that more than I can explain to you. Imagine an entire nation against one man, it felt like. The only other prophet in the distance, some far away with Jeremiah — a lone gunman out there trying to preach the word of God, with everybody being against everything that he said. How in the world could a preacher of the gospel — a preacher like Ezekiel of the word of God, a preacher like Isaiah and Jeremiah — how could these guys stand in the midst of such opposition? How could they stand faithfully day after day and preach the gospel with such scrutiny? How could their families withstand the scrutiny, the accusations, the divisions, everything that seems to want to crush Christ and the gospel, especially God's people? How could they stand?

I'm going to show it to you and I hope that you'll see it as well. Isaiah chapter 50:7 — turn there with me. And because this is the same for Ezekiel as well, you can just turn to Ezekiel 3 while you're here. Let's go to Ezekiel chapter 3, because this phrase that I want to show you was something that Ezekiel and Isaiah shared.

In Ezekiel 3:8–11, there's a phrase here that I want you to be able to take home today as a truth for you in your life, because it's true not only for Christians who will be faced with persecution, but it is so true for pastors and preachers.

In Ezekiel chapter 3:8 it says, "Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. Like emery, harder than flint, I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house. Moreover, He said to me, son of man, take unto your heart all of my words which I will speak to you and listen closely. Go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them whether they listen or not." And so this command to preach, to warn — if you look on through the chapter, warn is mentioned in verses 16, 18, 19, 21, and 22. Ezekiel was to warn them with the gospel, warn them to repent and believe.

How was he to do that? Well, this phrase that was described of both Isaiah and Ezekiel is, "Set your face like flint." Set your face like flint. And that is also found in Isaiah chapter 50:7. "For the Lord your God helps me, therefore I am not disgraced, therefore I have set my face like flint." Here's the cool part about this phrase: it's not just for Ezekiel, and it's not just for Isaiah, to set their face like flint to preach the gospel and to be faithful to God. But this is prophetic of Christ, who would also set His face like flint to stand during the scrutiny, during the scourging, during the opposition, during the crucifixion. And Jesus had an unwavering determination to be faithful in compelling the Father's will and completing the Father's will. And so Christ endured humiliation, asphyxiation, and suffocation on the cross, and Jesus set His face like flint. And He did not shrink back. He did not get detoured or distracted.

And so Jesus here is being foretold as one who would set His face like flint to be uncompromisingly God. And so like Christ, Isaiah and Ezekiel set their face like flint. What does it mean to set your face like flint? To be empowered by God, to be able to fulfill what God's will is for you and your life through the giftedness that He has bestowed upon you by His grace. What does it mean to set your face like flint? Well, first of all I want you to know that you need not only God's grace, but coupled with that the determination to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. To set your face like flint means to put on Christ, like Colossians chapter 3 talks about. Put on Christ in every way. It means to separate yourself from worldly distractions. It means to be disciplined and loyal to God's plan, to set your gaze, to set your face like flint. You are hard-pressed to do what God's will is for your life. It means to follow in Christ's footsteps. What does it mean to take up the cross and follow Me? When He asks you to take up your cross and follow Me — it means just like Christ would be determined to fulfill God's will in His life, you too have to be focused, to determine within yourselves to follow Him. Don't be dismayed.

And if you would set your face like flint to be able to allow the fiery darts of the evil one to bounce off of your forehead and not cause you confusion, if you would put on the breastplate of righteousness and not allow a fiery dart from the evil one to penetrate your emotions and cause you to lose hours and hours and days and days and weeks and weeks and months and months to an evil dart, an evil accusation, if you would set your face like flint, then you would not be dismayed by the shaming that Christ experienced as well. You would not be dismayed by the accusing that Christ experienced, that Ezekiel and Isaiah experienced. You would not be dismayed by the mocking, by the reviling, by the persecuting.

In Matthew chapter 27:27, the Bible says, "And the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around him and they stripped him. And they put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and a reed in his right hand, and they knelt down before him and they mocked him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews.' And they spat on him and they took the reed and began to beat him on the head. And after they had mocked him, they took the scarlet robe off him."

Let's pause there for a moment. Have any of you been stripped naked, beaten and mocked publicly?

Man.

"And they put his own garments back on him and led him away to crucify him." Jesus endured this because He set His face like flint. When all of these abuses were at Him — like, "Save yourself if you're the Son of God, come down from the cross" — they continued to mock Him all the way through. Can you imagine the disruption in Jesus's own family members that He had to endure — the mother and the brothers and sisters? I cannot imagine this. I'm telling you today, we are living in a day where severe persecution could be within our own lifetime. Where it could be next year.

Do you think that in this next election, if the wrong party gets the power, that they'll ever let loose of it again? Do you think if they implement communistic laws and policies that they will ever relinquish it again? I don't know.

But I know one thing's for sure. God doesn't need a government that acknowledges Christianity. And you and me, we'd better read the New Testament. We'd better read the Old Testament and see what it is like to live in a day with a rogue government. We'd better prepare ourselves. Let's not be those ones who are squealing like a pig and crying like babies. We'd better truly see what it is to be faithful to the gospel in the midst of a community and a country that hates it.

We'd better get used to our own Christians being fooled by these worldly philosophies and turning on us and thinking that we are the bad ones. And so, ministers, fellow ministers, we must be filled with inner fortitude and strength and grit. If there's one thing that has been a continuous testimony that I have heard over and over and over again, it is that incoming ones to the military lack grit. None of the military branches are meeting their quota. And they're lowering the bar just to get people in. They're just not strong. They're just not able to withstand the strain and the scrutiny. They're weak. And so our next generation — and I'm saying this stereotypically — the next generation is weaker, even by way of the requirements to get into the military. And knowing that our country is getting weaker, but faiths like Islam are getting stronger, who are training their young ones from a young age to run up to a dummy with a knife and slit the throat from the back — this training, this inner strengthening of other faiths — do you see the toppling happening? And so it would be foolish of us not to prepare ourselves to be strong ministers who, at the very least, are able to endure what Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Paul, and Jesus went through as an example for us to be able to learn from. And so we need this inner fortitude. We need inner strength. We need to be able to work while wounded.

Oh, that's a new one. Right?

We need to be able to encourage the deflated while we're deflated. We need to be able to preach the gospel when we've taken an arrow to the heart or are confused in the mind. We need to be able to set a resolve inside of our being that I will be faithful no matter what. We need to labor and to be able to do this to the point of exhaustion. Colossians chapter 1:29 says that Paul labored to the point of exhaustion. And the wonderful part about laboring in gospel ministry to the point of pouring yourself out to exhaustion is that God specializes in filling you back up and making you as happy in Christ as you possibly can be.

For preachers who have been called to preach, there are some very specific metaphors the Bible gives about how we must be. We must be farmers and athletes and soldiers, teachers, vessels, workers, and servants and prayer warriors. And what that indicates is that we must be willing to work hard and be patient at the same time, like a farmer. We must be training ourselves and competing for a prize — such as soul winning and discipling and preaching the gospel. That's a win. What's a win in your life? What do you gauge as success? Are you striving in those areas like an athlete? What it means to be a soldier in Christ is to be one who is warring for the faith and willing to work while wounded, and knowing that you're going to take some hits. No soldier goes into battle thinking they're never going to get shot at. You're willing to be shot at. You're willing to take on the persecution. To be a soldier in Christ, and then as well to teach, to publicly instruct, to be a vessel, to simply be a pipe, to be a conduit, to be a clean conduit, a clean vessel. What is a pipe? What is a vessel? What is an instrument? It's nothing. It's the one who holds the instrument who has the value. And so as we are doing these things, we realize within ourselves that we are just simply workers and ministers who are working and serving and praying. And so set your face like flint. That's what it means to do these things.

And so verse 8 in Ephesians gives the clear indication that we need to be humble. "To me, the very least of all the saints" — the very least of all the saints — "this grace was given to me." John 3:30 says, "He must increase and I must decrease." An intentional perspective of that. Christ is way more valuable than I. John the Baptist had it and he displayed it and it was wonderful. And so "to me, the very least" — these two words coupled together are what's called a superlative, and that expresses to the extreme degree and to the extremest degree of being low. That's Paul. He's the very least, not just of the apostles, but of all of the saints.

And so if you were to line up all the Christians of the day, Paul would be the one who got picked last for the team. He's not the tallest and he's not the brightest and he's not the most capable man. He'd be the last one picked — that is what he is saying. So Paul acknowledges that he's the last one to be selected for anything, but it's only about the grace of God, who gifted him this gift to preach the gospel, that he's able to do anything. And so this transparency of powerlessness that Paul has is significant, because we realize too that we are incapable without God, even invaluable without God, even detestable without God in who we are. And so in one sense, Paul was the greatest because he thought he was the least.

Our problem is that we think too much of ourselves. Our problem is that we think too much of ourselves. We think we deserve what we have and that we are able. Once we realize, like Paul, that we are unable without Christ — Paul felt like when he was humiliated that Christ was humiliated way more than he. Paul felt like when he was persecuted, shipwrecked, whatever, that Christ went through far more than what he went through. Every time he went through something, he replied to himself, Christ went through more. So for Paul, this high office of preacher was conferred upon him who was a high-minded Pharisee and has now been made into a humble preacher of the gospel.

So I have three quick take-home truths for you who will stick with me for a few more minutes. Number one, ministry is a gift. Whatever ministry God has given you, it's a gift by God's grace. What an honor to have received a ministry from the Lord. What ministry has God gifted you with? The ministry of encouragement, the ministry of evangelism, the ministry of helping the homeless, the ministry of teaching, the ministry of parenting. What ministry? The ministry of preaching and teaching, the ministry of encouraging and loving, meeting needs — the ministries and the gifts seem to be endless.

God gave that to Paul, He gave it to you, and you're to utilize these gifts according to the extent of your faith and the extent of the gift. Number two, while you're ministering, you need to set your face like flint. Set your face like flint. There are hardships to be endured in ministry. Don't think that it's easy. If it's too easy, beware.

Ministry is very difficult and there is an evil one who opposes the effective ministry of God through you. And so beware of gossippers. Remember, gossip stops when you stop listening. Don't listen to gossip. Remember, set your face like flint to be an encourager even when you don't feel encouraged — to minister when you feel empty.

Set your face like flint to be dedicated to the ministry that God has given you, despite the persecution, the opposition, the confusion. Just be faithful. Paul had his face set like flint to finish God's mission. Philippians 3:12–14 and Acts 20:24.

Charles Spurgeon said something about this that is worth repeating. He preached that believers should imitate Christ's determination at the Metropolitan Tabernacle pulpit in London, England. And I quote, "My great objective is to lead you to love him who so loved you that he set his face like flint." That's Charles Spurgeon speaking of Christ, who set His face like flint in His determination to save you. "O ye redeemed ones, on whose behalf this strong resolve was made, ye who have been brought by the precious blood of this steadfast, resolute Redeemer, come think awhile of him that your hearts may burn within you and that your faces may be set like flint to live, to die, and to him who lived and died for you."

And so point number three, as I close: God's power flows through the humble. God's power flows through the humble. Paul declared openly that he was the least deserving of any ministry. By all earthly, unsaved, prideful standards, Paul topped the charts with his accomplishments — they were as dung and rubbish before Christ, compared to knowing Christ and making Him known. So if you'd be used of the Lord and see His power to save the lost and flow through your heart and lips and to exercise your gift effectively for God's glory, then you'd forget about yourself and your accomplishments and you'd walk humbly, considering others better than yourself. Consider what others have to say, over making them endure what you have to say. Meet the needs of others and humbly do that, and forgive others right away because God has forgiven you, and give of yourselves unreservedly, and be grateful no matter what. You remember that Jesus was meek and He was mild.

And all that we are is by the grace of God. And so reflection upon this will produce a profound wonder of God and a tremendous humility that is usable. And so if you would simply say, "Yep, all that I am, God gave it to me freely. All that I have, God gave it to me. And all that I do, God gives it to me. I just want to be faithful." Then you too can be a faithful minister of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember, the "diakonos" in the Bible is a gender-neutral term. So both men and women are ministers of the gospel to the extent for which He has gifted and called you to be. You minister the gospel. Mothers, minister the gospel to your children. Women, minister the gospel to your friends and your neighbors. Teach all that you can about Jesus. And men, if He calls you to preach full time, rise up to the task. Be trained. Learn how to rightly divide the word of God and preach the word. Endure hardship as a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ, as 2 Timothy 2:3 says. All of this is going to come. It's going to be something that is going to make you come alive inside. When you exercise the gift that God has given you by His grace, there is nothing greater that could happen to you. Somebody could give you a million dollars. And then the next day, God works through you by His grace, and you'll be more happy about what God did through you than you could be with anything in this world. I promise you, you know that is true for those of you who are walking in the Lord.

Let's pray together. Lord, thank you so much for today. And I pray that You would help ministers of the gospel who come under extreme scrutiny to stand unwavering. God, may You make it so that the false prophets in this nation would be exposed, and the true pastors, the humble preachers all across this wonderful land, would gain an ear of the people. And the people would love sound doctrine. You would grant this nation mass repentance, revitalize us. Dear Jesus, we pray. Hey, God, this is a big prayer for us, but a little task for You. You've done it through Jonah with Nineveh before. God, we doubt not Your power. One thing that we do know is that it starts with us in our own communities, in our own churches, in our own families, and in our own heart and mind. And so, Father, I pray that You would help us today to resolve, to be unwavering, to set our face like flint, and to execute the gift that You have given to us — not to hide it underneath a bushel, not to have a dim light in Christ, but to live out loud. Lord, whatever that looks like — to hand out gospel tracts, to put signs in our front yard, to wear tassels like they did in the Old Testament. Help us not to be empty religious ones, but help us to be alive and well, to proclaim Your bright gospel loudly.

Help us not to shrink back from any type of fear of persecution or comments. Help us to put on the armor of God. Help us to set our face like flint. Help us to be Your warriors, Your soldiers, Your proclaimers, Your ministers. God, I pray that You'd utilize us to see the lost come to faith in Christ, to be saved, to come to this dear church, to be baptized, and to belong here, to learn how to study the Bible, and then go forth and do likewise and make disciples. God, we ask this in Christ's name. Amen.