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Bear with me a moment while I 
remove the... Good evening to everyone. It's 
a joy to be with all of you for the worship of our great God 
this evening. What a joy it is to have the Surrey Church with 
us as we worship God this afternoon slash evening. You can turn in 
your Bibles with me to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4, I'm going to read 
from verse 1 to verse 15, and then the focus of the sermon 
will be verses 5 to 7. So this is 2 Corinthians 4, beginning 
at verse 1. Therefore, since we have this 
ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden 
things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the 
word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, 
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight 
of God. But even if our gospel is veiled, 
it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God 
of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light 
of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, 
should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, 
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for 
Jesus' sake. For it is the God who commanded 
light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to 
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face 
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in 
earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and 
not of us. We are hard-pressed on every 
side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed but not in despair, 
persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, 
always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, 
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For 
we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that 
the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, 
but life in you. And since we have the same spirit 
of faith according to what is written, I believed and therefore 
I spoke, we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that 
he who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus 
and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes 
that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving 
to abound to the glory of God. Amen. Well, let's pray. Heavenly 
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for what we 
read here from the Apostle Paul in the New Testament concerning 
the glory of Christ and the proclamation that gospel ministers are to 
give with respect to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank you 
as it speaks to the the power in creation employed in the power 
of the new creation and bringing forth sinners from deadness to 
life in Christ. And we pray that we would glory 
in our triune God. We pray that we would glory in 
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we do pray again, Lord God, 
as we continue in worship, that all that is done in worship would 
be done to the praise of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to 
the praise of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in 
his name we pray, amen. Well, as is often the case, the 
Apostle Paul is dealing here in 2 Corinthians with oppositions 
to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In many of his 14 epistles, 
he's dealing with those who are the opponents of the proper proclamation. of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 
And in the context here, he's dealing with false apostles who 
were not preaching Christ, but were twisting the Word of God 
for their own ill-gotten gains, for their own acclaim, ultimately. And so the apostle Paul is defending 
the authenticity of his apostleship against the false apostles. He's 
dealing with, he's defending the authority of his apostleship 
against those false apostles. And so when we get to verses 
5 through 7, Paul highlights the proper posture of the gospel 
minister. The gospel minister is not to 
be about himself. He's not to preach his acclaim. but he is to preach the acclaim 
of Christ. He's not to preach his hobby 
horses and the things of his own preferences and proclivities, 
but he is to preach the Lord Jesus Christ. We see the blessed 
simplicity of gospel ministry. Gospel ministry is difficult 
in word and deed and in much suffering. There is struggle 
and there is hardship, but there is a blessed simplicity for gospel 
ministry, and that is that the gospel minister is to preach. 
the Lord Jesus Christ. And here, we want to focus on 
verses 5 through 7, and we're going to look at four things 
in doing that. And I make the preacher's promise 
as well that we won't be too long, and that we'll get to our 
wonderful food in due time. But four things that we're going 
to look at here, and those four things are first, the gospel 
minister's obscurity. Secondly, the gospel minister's 
service. Thirdly, the gospel minister's 
illumination. And then, fourthly, the gospel 
minister's humility as bearer of the divine message. And so, 
first off, let's look at the gospel minister's obscurity in 
2 Corinthians 4 in verse 5a and b. Notice the language here. 
For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. We see here first, by virtue 
of a negative statement, the gospel minister's obscurity. 
For we do not preach ourselves. What was going on in Corinth 
was that there were some who were preaching themselves. In 
fact, if we read elsewhere in the book, both before and after, 
and maybe specifically as he's targeting them in chapters 10 
through 13, there were some who were not preaching Christ, but 
rather were preaching their own acclaim, their own so-called 
signs, miracles, and wonders, and the greatness of their person 
rather than the greatness of the person of Christ and the 
greatness of Christ's works. And so Paul, in essence setting 
forth the Gospel minister's obscurity by highlighting Christ's preeminence, 
says, or writes, for we do not preach ourselves. So it is the 
gospel minister's careful responsibility to ensure that the proclamation 
that comes from the pulpit is not about him, but it is about 
his God, and it is about his Christ. Spurgeon wrote this, 
or preached this, so many years ago on this topic, there is no 
temptation so insidious as the desire to display oneself. The minister becomes an actor 
upon the stage, with the pulpit as his platform and the congregation 
as his admiring audience. Such men may draw great crowds, 
but what have they truly accomplished? They have preached themselves. 
They have not fed the flock, but have dazzled the sheep, leaving 
them starved and weakened. When a man preaches himself, 
the people go away saying, what a brilliant preacher he is. But 
when he preaches Christ, they leave saying, what a glorious 
savior. Oh, that all who handle the word 
would be overshadowed by him who is the word incarnate. And this is both on the part 
of the preacher and on the part of the hearer a very vital and 
important responsibility. I think in our own day, and not 
that it wasn't occurring before our own day, but in our own day 
there is a cult of personality, a cult of the celebrity pastor. 
I was listening to an interview. It's it's I think it's around 
10 years old But an interview a panel of people speaking about 
the the celebrity pastor Vibe that's going on in today's church 
and one man said that it grieves him in in instructing in a seminary 
first off that over half of the men that come in to learn theology 
have their favorite preacher as someone who is not the pastor 
in their local church. And secondly, that more than 
half, I think of them, it was close to that, engage in ministerial 
burnout because they do not arrive at the aspirational position 
that they thought that they would arrive at, that they would have 
their own website, CameronPorterMinistries.edu. you know, that they would have 
an assistant, that they would have maybe multiple assistants 
who would hold their drinks and wash their cars and all these 
sorts of things, that there would be a prominence, that they would 
have a position of prominence in the modern church. I believe 
we ought to, every gospel minister ought to echo Spurgeon. Oh, that 
all who handle the word would be overshadowed by him who is 
the word incarnate. The man is to disappear. and 
Christ is to be held forth. And so we see that gospel minister's 
obscurity in this blessed positive statement, for we do not preach 
ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord. That blessed positive statement 
comes in opposition to what these super apostles, these false apostles, 
were doing, not preaching Christ. What is the evidence of authentic 
apostleship? What is the evidence of authoritative 
apostleship? It is the preaching, not of self, 
but of Christ Jesus the Lord. That is an evidence, and so we 
extend that same argument into our modern era, since there are 
no apostles in our modern era. What is the test of authentic 
gospel ministry? What is the test of authentic 
and authoritative gospel ministry? from pulpits, it is if the preachers 
are preaching Christ Jesus and Him crucified. God forbid that 
we should boast in ourselves. Paul says, God forbid that I 
should boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The 
gospel minister's obscurity is to be found negatively in that 
he is not to preach himself and positively that he is to preach. Christ Jesus the Lord and that 
is the the wisdom or we could say as God uses the language 
the foolishness By which Christianity goes forth you can turn back 
to 1st Corinthians in chapter 1 just to see what gospel ministry 
is all about. And we've seen it here in our 
church under the faithful proclamation of Pastor Butler preaching the 
foolishness of the cross. Notice in 1 Corinthians 1 beginning 
at verse 18, For the message of the cross is foolishness to 
those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it 
is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy 
the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding 
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the 
scribe? Where is the disputer of this 
age? Has not God made foolish the 
wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God 
the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God 
through the foolishness of the message preached to save those 
who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks 
seek after wisdom. but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block, 
and to the Greeks, foolishness, but to those who are called both 
Jews and Greeks, the power of God, Christ, the power of God, 
and the wisdom of God. You know, that encapsulates the 
gospel minister's mission in this lower world in preaching 
to congregations, in preaching to the church. The church should 
not want to hear about the minister. The church should want to hear 
about the Christ of the minister, our blessed Savior, the King 
of kings and Lord of lords. So what does it mean? What does 
it mean getting back to 2 Corinthians 4? What does it mean to preach Christ? 
What does it mean to preach Christ? Well, first, I believe that it 
means that the gospel minister is to show forth first from the 
Old Testament that Christ is the one central to Old Testament 
proclamation. When we look at the Old Testament, 
we see that narratively, proverbially, Poetically, musically, prophetically, 
and by promise and type, that Christ is the subject matter 
of that revelation. We don't get far in the narrative 
of the book of Genesis until we find the hero born of woman 
who will crush the serpent with his heel. So does he disappear 
at that point and there is just this parenthetical exposition 
of only the life and times of the nation of Israel? Or is everything 
following that promise inside, packaged within a curse of Genesis 
3.15, is everything that follows the explication of the promise 
that there is a hero born of a woman who is coming who will 
crush the head of the serpent? It is that, we have Christ promised 
in the old, and then the gospel minister's task is to also open 
up the new and show that the promised one has come. To call 
the congregation to glory in that Christ, to worship that 
Savior, to rest alone upon Him. So the gospel minister's task, 
the preaching of Christ is seen in the exposition of the word 
of God and showing forth that Christ is the subject of the 
Old Testament, and of course the promised one who has come 
in the New Testament announcements. It is then also to open up his 
person, his offices, and his work. When we preach Jesus Christ, 
we don't preach a Christ that cannot be gripped onto with the 
mind and the hardiness of Christian contemplation. In other words, 
we don't just preach a vague and unreachable Christ without 
the blessed substance of who he is, what he has taken on, 
and what he has done. The preaching of Christ is, And 
if we just stop for a moment and think about what these false 
apostles were doing, I guess it shouldn't surprise us because 
sin is sin and unbelief is unbelief. But imagine, on the one hand, 
I'm going to preach myself, sinner, fallen. On the other hand, I 
have the option to preach the glorious one, Jesus Christ, very 
God and very man, yet one mediator between God and man. I'm going 
to preach myself. What a horrible thing for a Christian 
minister to engage in any measure with the exaltation of himself, 
whether in whole or in part, when in view should be the explicit 
exaltation of Christ from pulpit proclamation. And so preaching 
Christ means preaching his person, his offices, and his work. We 
preach a Christ who is very God and very man. That one who came 
in the fullness of the times and took upon himself our nature. 
You know, that's creedal language that's repeated a lot, and it 
should never cause eyes to roll, because what a glorious thing 
that we have in God who assumed flesh. Remember that the early 
church were such, and I've mentioned this before, who engaged in marveling 
in Christ. that they would often, it seemed 
like, when they were writing, and this wasn't the early church, 
this is true of the reformers as well, and the medievals. So 
good men in church history have reflected this way. It's almost 
when they're writing theology that they'll pause for a moment 
and engage in this doxological reflection of the Christ Jesus 
who is to be preached. The infinite one took on finitude 
without casting off his infinity. The immutable one took on mutability 
without casting off his immutability. The one who is judge of all the 
earth was judged upon the cross. The one who gave birth to humanity 
by the word of his power is the one who took upon himself that 
very humanity in order to redeem it. They would go on and wax 
page upon page to reflect upon the fact and to set forth the 
fact that the theologian, the gospel minister, the man of God, 
does not preach himself, but he preaches Christ Jesus the 
Lord. There's an excellent sermon by C. H. Spurgeon where he talks 
about Christians, rightly, spend a lot of time reflecting upon 
the death of the Savior, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. 
So, rightly speaking, we spend a lot of time on the cross as 
that message of foolishness, so-called, that confounds the 
wise and the scribe, as that which is the wisdom and power 
of God. We spend a lot of time upon his death. the preaching 
of Christ and the Christian reflection upon our Savior, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, as Spurgeon would say, let us not forget his life. As 
we rehearse the Christ who is preached, we of course launch 
before creation with him being the Son of God, the second of 
the blessed triune, and when we land our minds upon the history 
of the Savior, what a glorious thing we see, a babe wrapped 
in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger, A child competing with 
the doctors of the law at the age of 12. One who is creator 
of all things, who is a creator of wooden things as a carpenter 
with his father. One who goes into the waters 
of baptism, and it's there where Spurgeon, remarking after the 
creator of water, entering into the Jordan at the hands of John 
the Baptist, he says, we have reason to suspect that the conscious 
water trembled at the thought that it contained the deity. 
We have the incarnate one immersed fully in the Jordan, being baptized 
not for sins, but for the fact that he is testifying to his 
mission as the one who is the Lord our righteousness. We have 
that champion immediately going off into the desert, the lion 
of the tribe of Judah against the lion of the pit, battling 
according to truth and according to the perfection. of the Word 
of God. There is much to be preached 
in preaching Christ. There is nothing to be preached 
in preaching self. There's a good Calvin Maxim that 
I think not only can all Christians live by, but Christian ministers 
certainly. Since then, the Son of God descended 
from so great a height, how unreasonable that we who are nothing should 
be lifted up with pride. We do not preach ourselves but 
Christ Jesus, the Lord. And secondly, we see the gospel 
minister's service. Notice in verse 5c, continuing 
though from the beginning of verse 5, for we do not preach 
ourselves but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your bondservants, 
for Jesus' sake. You know, this rubs against a 
culture Well, the Gentile culture, as Jesus would call it, of lordship, 
lordship rule over subservience, it is not to be so in the church 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ministers of the gospel, we do 
not lord ourselves over the church, but rather, as Paul puts it, 
we are your bondservants For Jesus' sake, the ministers of 
the gospel are to serve the members of the church with a sacrificial 
and self-denying spirit. And I think this, perhaps, I 
don't know if it is rising up in your minds, but you can turn 
with me to Hebrews 13 for a moment. Because perhaps a question arises, 
okay, I see Paul saying that, but Paul also writes in Hebrews 
13 something else. Notice in Hebrews 13, at verse 
17, So, we have on the one hand, Paul saying that ministers of 
the gospel, in his context, apostles, are bondservants, to the people, and also that 
those people are to be submissive and to obey. There is not a contradiction, 
but there is a healthy balance between these two things. John 
Owen remarks that on the part of bondservants for Jesus' sake, 
we have the fact that the bondservice of gospel ministers is not one 
of subjection to human authority, It's not an abdication of spiritual 
dignity, but a reflection of the humble service of Christ, 
the king and head of the church. So the gospel minister is following 
Christ at this particular point. What does Christ say in Matthew 
20 and in Mark chapter 10? That the Son of God did not come 
into the world to be served, but to serve and to give his 
life a ransom for many. And so the gospel minister, the 
exercise of the office of a gospel minister is rooted and grounded 
in the very ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. As he takes upon 
himself humanity, he doesn't descend and live in a Jerusalem 
just on the outskirts or in a mansion just on the outskirts of Jerusalem 
and call upon Jerusalemites to serve him, but rather he comes 
and he is the one who serves giving his life a ransom for 
many. And so the gospel minister follows his master. And with 
respect to the Hebrews 13, 17 passage, this obedience and subjection 
is not in respect to the person, the gospel minister, but because 
they labor in the doctrine of Christ and administer his ordinances. And so there is this submission 
not to the person for the person's sake, but to the order of the 
church for Christ's sake. And these things operate in a 
blessed harmony. And with regards to the proclamation 
of this one who is to be preached, Christ Jesus the Lord, we are 
ourselves your bondservants, and it is for Jesus' sake. We also have this language, Or 
we would want to say here, why is it, or ask the question, at 
the point of for Jesus' sake, why is it that gospel ministers 
actively engage in word and deed, and often through many hardships? Because being a gospel minister, 
and I can't speak from experience as Jim can speak from many years 
of experience, but I would think that it's much easier to be a 
Skittles salesman than it is to be a pastor in Christ's church. Why? Because for the Skittles 
salesman, well, hey, they might have some difficulties competing 
with M&Ms and Smarties or something like that. But with the Skittles 
salesman, he doesn't have an assailing devil. He doesn't have 
an opposing world. And he doesn't have a lusting 
flesh dealing with his immediate workspace and the people that 
he comes into contact with. He's just selling candy. not 
to belittle a skittle salesman. If you are one, talk to me afterwards, 
and if you've endured hardship for your cause, let me know. 
But why is it that gospel ministers actively engage in word and deed, 
often through many hardships? It's for Christ's sake. It's 
for the proclamation of Jesus Christ. And if it is for Christ's 
sake and for the proclamation of Christ, then it is for the 
church of the Lord Jesus Christ, because that is the apple of 
Christ's eye. It is his very bride. Christ 
loves his church. And the gospel minister goes 
through word and deed and through many hardships for the cause 
of Christ and His church. Thirdly, the gospel minister's 
illumination. Notice the language in verse 
6. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness 
who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge 
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, This explains 
why Paul only preaches Christ. The word here that begins verse 
six is the word for. So that's an explanatory. There is something explanatory 
going on here, an explanation or a justification. Why does 
or what is the reason Paul preaches Christ? Because it is the God 
who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone 
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory 
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So not only is the gospel minister's 
preaching of himself a rejection of the Christ who is to be preached, 
but it's a rejection of the power of God, the very power of God 
in creation, that is the power of God that raises dead sinners 
from deadness to life in Christ. It's a rejection of Christ, And 
it's a rejection of the very power of God in regeneration. So there is a salvific application, 
of course, to this verse. For it is the God who commanded 
light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts, 
the hearts of the elect, saved by grace, to give the light of 
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So this is salvific. Generally 
speaking, I think there's a specific application to apostolic ministry 
here, but before we get there, this is salvific. The very power 
in creation, and the allusion is to Genesis 1, God speaking, 
commanding light to come into being. the very power at the 
creation that God employed by His majesty, by His sovereignty, 
and by His glory, that light would become by that very power 
He has called us sinners from deadness to life in Christ. Another 
reason why we're not to preach ourselves, because what is there 
in us to preach? We were dead in our trespasses 
and sins, wholly opposed to God and His Christ, And He, in His 
mercy and in His grace and in His love, brought us forth from 
the vileness and the wickedness of ourselves and the madness 
of iniquity to life and light in Jesus Christ. But there is 
also here a specific application to gospel ministry and the illumination 
that the Spirit of God gives to those who are proclaimers 
of His message. We won't go to these passages, 
but we could think of Luke 24. Well, largely and generally speaking, 
we could think of John 1, 1 to 5, with Christ as the light of 
the world, but specifically as it applies to gospel ministry, 
Luke 24. where Christ gives a post-resurrection 
Bible study, and he opens the understanding of his disciples 
that they might understand the Scriptures. And so the Gospel 
ministers' illumination, it explains why Paul only preaches Christ. God commanded light to shine 
out of darkness. He has shone in our hearts not 
to give us some measure of strength whereby we might preach our own 
acclaimed, but to give us power and strength that we might preach 
the blessings, the riches, the excellencies, and the glory of 
Jesus Christ our Savior. If I'm distracting you by keeping 
taking off my, I keep taking off and putting back on my glasses, 
I'm still learning using glasses as I descend into old age. And so bear with me. So it is 
this power that is looming large and blessedly behind apostolic 
and gospel proclamation. The very power that God exercised 
in creation is that self-same power by which he illumines the 
minds of gospel ministers in showing them the very face of 
Christ. This is not in some sort of weird 
or esoteric way. The idea of this face of Jesus 
Christ has to do with exactly what is indicated before that, 
the knowledge of him. How do we know a man or how do 
we know a woman? Very largely it is by their face. 
If we could not see a person clearly for cloudiness, fogginess 
for our eyesight, we might not know that it was the person who 
it is. But when there is clarity, when 
there is illumination, when the light of a proper vision comes, 
we know who that is. And the gospel minister is to 
be marked by one who knows his Christ. He is to know the One 
who is of one substance with Father and Spirit. He is to know 
the One who is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, and all of 
His glorious perfections just like Father and Spirit. He is 
to know the One who assumed our humanity, who went about the 
earth doing good, substitutionarily in perfection to the Father's 
law in the place instead of all who believe. He's to know the 
one who shed his blood upon Calvary's cross, not as an atonement of 
maybe, not as an atonement of perhaps, but so as to perfectly 
secure the salvation of a multitude which no man can number from 
every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He's to know the 
one who rose again, who ascended into heaven, and who now ever 
lives to intercede for his people. And it is by the very power of 
God that this comes, not only to the hearts of his people, 
but in a peculiar way to the minds of those who are his ministers 
called to set forth Christ in him crucified. And lastly, we 
close with this, the gospel ministers' humility as bearer of the divine 
message. Notice the language of verse 
7. On this note, the gospel ministers 
humility as bearer of the divine message. But we have this treasure 
in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be 
of God and not of us. Now, those last words come in 
clear contrast to these false apostles. They were such who 
were trying to display that the excellence of the power is of 
them, arguing their acclaim, setting forth their acclaim and 
their works and their deeds, their mighty things done, so-called, 
in the name of God. And Paul comes along, though, 
and says, no, we're not to set forth ourselves as shiny, polished, 
golden, bejeweled vessels that happen to contain a treasure, 
but rather we are clay pots. We have this treasure, gospel 
treasure, the glory of Christ, the knowledge of the glory of 
God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have this treasure in earthen 
vessels, clay jars, clay pots that are weak, that are not magnificent, 
that are cheap, that are dirty, and that can be easily cracked 
and broken. There is this designed contrast 
in God's universe and specifically in the church of the Lord Jesus 
Christ That those who are ministers of the gospel are not the shiny 
sons of men who are to be seen as these elevated, you know elite 
proclaimers of proclaimers themselves who do have the ability and the 
occasion whereby they could speak of their own acclaim and glory, 
but rather gospel ministers are clay pots. They are earthen vessels, 
weak, easily breakable. I might say not weak, but meek. There is to be a strength in 
your Christian minister, but the idea is in contrast to these 
boasting in self, they boast only in Christ. They are not 
angelic ministers. It is not the case, if we're 
to use and extend this analogy, that the gospel minister is this 
beautiful rectangular, you know, treasure box bejeweled with rubies 
and emeralds and diamonds. And if you open the lid, oh good, 
there's also treasure in there, and that's Christ. No, it's the 
gospel minister is an earthen vessel, a cracked clay pot, who 
bears forth that which is the treasure, the riches and the 
glories and the excellencies of Jesus Christ. The purpose 
of this economy, the purpose of this analogy or economy of 
the earthen vessel and the glorious treasure is that the glory of 
God through Jesus Christ would be magnified. And that's what 
we want from our ministers, that's what we want from those who are 
proclaimers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Just in a minute 
and 33 seconds, we see three things in conclusion. First, 
the preaching ministry of and in the Church is the preaching 
of Christ and Him crucified. Spurgeon writes this, let us 
remember that we are but earthen vessels, fragile, unattractive, 
and commonplace, that the excellency of the power may be of God and 
not of us. What a sad sight when the vessel 
tries to outshine the treasure it holds. If we speak of ourselves, 
we rob Christ. If we preach ourselves, we impoverish 
the hearers. Secondly, we see here the preaching 
ministry of and in the church is born of divine power and illumination. Not in some sort of weird or 
Gnostic or guru-ish way, but simply that the ascended Christ, 
in giving gifts to men, equips those men by the spirit in order 
that they might disappear themselves and hold forth only. the Lord 
Jesus Christ and His glory, the glory of the triune God and salvation 
by the living and true Christ. And thirdly, the preaching ministry 
of and in the church is one of prideless obscurity for the sake 
of the gospel's glory. Chris Austin wrote this so many 
years ago obey them to whom the word excuse me a bishop Should 
be as lowly so elder overseer a bishop should be as lowly as 
he is high in office His greatness is not in human acclimation But 
in the service of Christ's flock his goal should to be should 
be to be forgotten so that only Christ is remembered and Luther 
It is not we who are to be magnified, but Christ. And we are not called 
to establish a school for Luther, but for Christ. What is Luther? After all, the doctrine is not 
mine. I have been crucified for no 
one. What Paul or Apollos is, after all, does not matter. The 
word belongs to Christ. And so as we go forth as a church, 
as we go forth as churches, as any church goes forth, we're 
not to exalt the minister, we are to exalt Christ. We're not 
to bear with ministers who preach themselves, we are to bear long 
with much patience and long suffering with those ministers of God who 
do preach Christ. who hold forth the Lord Jesus 
Christ in all his glory, who hold forth the Lord Jesus Christ 
in his splendor and majesty? And might it always be the case 
that the minister disappears and that all we see is the Lord 
Jesus Christ? Like that, Mount of Transfiguration, 
where Moses and Elijah were there, but at the end of the scene, 
at the end of the narrative, what is seen only is the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Might we always see the blessed 
Savior, and might we as a church own Him as Lord and Savior? If you're here tonight and you're 
outside of Christ, if you heard anything, hear that Christ is 
glorious. that God is holy, that we have 
all sinned and we've fallen short of the glory of God, but there 
is salvation in Jesus Christ, the blessed Savior, and gospel 
ministers preach Him, preach the glories of Christ, His saving 
work. And might we all go into this 
time afterwards glorying and fellowshipping, not in the things 
of vanity, but in the things of the splendorous triune God, 
and in the majesty of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Well, let's pray. 
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We rejoice in 
your goodness to us. We thank you for Christ Jesus, 
our Savior, the Redeemer of men. We thank you that he came into 
this world, sinners to save, and we rejoice in his glory, 
his riches, his excellencies. We do pray that you'd help us 
as a church to be unified around these things. We pray as well 
for the Surrey Church and even with our association that we 
would rally around those things that are of gospel and eternal 
significance. We thank you for your truth. 
We pray that we would be such as who are marked by being lovers 
of the truth, that we rejoice in our triune God, Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit, that we rejoice in our Savior, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and that every time we gather for worship, you would 
be exalted upon the praises of your people. We pray that you 
would go with us now as we go into this time of fellowship. 
We pray that you would be with us, that you cause us to be grateful 
and thankful for the provision of food and drink. We thank you 
for that. We pray that you would nourish 
us, that you would strengthen us, and that we would, each and 
every one of us, give you thanks and praise. And we pray in Christ's 
name. Amen. Please be seated or wait. No, 
please be seated because you are already seated. What are 
we doing now doxology? Thank you. Okay. Yeah, here's 
here's your here's your new elder 572 let's stand and sing together 
572 ever shall Now may the God of peace who 
brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd 
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 
make you complete in every good work to do his will, working 
in you what is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, 
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Please be seated. 
We'll have a brief time of prayer. When the piano's finished, you're 
dismissed.