Take your copy of God's Word this evening and turn with me to a familiar text to some of us. Acts 20. Acts 20 and verse 32. Acts 20 and verse 32. Hear now the Word of God. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Let's pray together. And now, oh Lord, we pray that you would build us up in your word, encourage us, renew us, remind us of truths which are so important. We pray that as we look to your word, our hearts would be nourished and our faith strengthened and increased. In Jesus' name, amen. My goal tonight is twofold. Our catechism question is as follows. What are the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption? The answer, written in 1693, is the following. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are his ordinances, especially the word, baptism, and the Lord's Supper, and prayer, all which means are made effectual to the elect for salvation. A two-fold goal tonight. Those of you that were with us several years ago when we as a church walked through a summer series on the ordinary means of grace will recall not only this particular text, but many of the things that we will speak about tonight. As we walk through the doctrines of the faith through the catechism this year, we find ourselves in the question surrounding the ordinary means of grace. And this is something that we as a church, since that time, have really begun to value more and more. Our brother prayed about these things this morning, that we as a church would attend regularly unto the means of grace. But our church composition is quite different. than it was a few years ago, and by that I just mean there are new people who have joined with us. And there are several things which mark out our church, and one of them is that we, in and out of our weeks, regularly speak of the ordinary means of grace. And many of us remember walking through the Scriptures looking at these things. But we don't want to take for granted that that phrase itself might be new for some. And so tonight what I want to do is firstly remind those of us who know what this phrase is and what it means and the blessing of these things to remind us from God's Word about the value of the ordinary means of grace. But secondly, I want to encourage those of you who might hear that phrase and you might still be unsure what that may mean. Ordinary means of grace. And to perhaps catch you up with us as we think about what the scripture says are the channels or mechanisms that God chiefly uses to strengthen and increase the faith of His people. Three simple points tonight from our text in Acts chapter 20. And some of this will be review, but some of it will be new for those of you who've heard and studied these things before. Three simple points. Number one, our God is a God who builds up his people. It's a simple point. Our God is a God who builds up his people. in the faith, and in His grace. He builds them up. Secondly, in order to do this, our God uses means. So He builds them up, and He uses particular means to do so. And thirdly, God uses the Word as one of those means. So you could really put that together in one sentence, but we've divided it into three. God is a God who builds His people up. If you're a Christian, if you worship the living God, if you worship the triune God, you have a God who builds you up in the faith. Secondly, He uses specific, identified means regularly to do that. And thirdly, the Word is one of those means. So let's look at these three points tonight from Acts chapter 20 and verse 32 in connection with what our catechism says. In 1693, particular Baptists, really a specific particular Baptist, we would call such individuals reformed Baptists today, were coming off of what we might call a 100 to 160 year long process of reformation. The Church in 1054 divided between East and West, and today those divisions are still there. Orthodox with a capital O. Greek, Coptic, Russian. That's the Eastern side of Christianity. The Western side would be the Roman Catholic Church. And then in the early 1500s, reformation was so needed in the church, and it came. But as a part of reformation, the many men and women who sought prayerfully to reform the western branch of the church, We're wrestling with what is it that the Word of God actually says about the things that we're doing. So we encountered things like the Word of God being translated into the languages of the people. It changed everything. The worship of God being restored to what the Scriptures actually reveal regarding His worship. And it changed everything. And then as a part of that, the subcategory might be looking to the Word to ask the question, what do we do with the things that we've been doing? And these Reformers and English Puritans after them began to write confessions and catechisms for their people to understand. These are the things which God's Word actually calls us to do. The Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20 leaves a group of people. I've had the privilege of traveling all over the world and you've heard me tell this before, but there are many times where you have a short amount of time with people and then you need to leave them. And what do you leave them with? What do you commend them to? And Paul, getting ready to leave the Ephesian church, and specifically its elders, there at the docks, sailing away to Jerusalem, says to the Ephesian elders, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace. I'm leaving you. You will not see me again. What I want to leave you to and with is the Word of God. And then he says something which we might pass over, but it's rather startling. This word of His grace is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. This word that I'm leaving you with, that I'm commending you to, it is able to build you up. In keeping with our catechism question tonight, our confession that we hold to and confess as a church, the London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 14, Verse 1, or Paragraph 1, reads as follows. The grace of faith whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought accomplished, brought about by the ministry of the Word, which we might take as common sense, but you have to remember, this is written in a time where many are teaching that conversion is brought about or regeneration is brought about by baptism as an infant. And these early Reformers and the Puritans who wrote this phrase after them wanted to understand that the actual ordinance that converts people is the Word proclaimed. So, the grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe, is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word. And also, by the administration of baptism, the Lord's Supper, and prayer, and other means appointed of God, it is increased and strengthened. I don't know if you've ever read that phrase closely in our confession, but what it's saying is, we come to Christ through the means of the preaching of the Gospel. God converts sinners as the Gospel, as the Word is preached. But then it is the preaching of that selfsame Word, along with baptism, Lord's Supper, and prayer, that that faith is strengthened and increased. Now that is absolutely revolutionary. Because what that means, if we believe it to be biblical, is that the ordinary means that God uses to convert sinners is the proclamation of His Word. And that the regular ordinary means that God uses to take those sinners who are now saints and grow them in the faith is the proclamation of the Word, the sacraments, and prayer. So when our brother this morning made the statement in his prayer that we might be a people who regularly attend the ordinary means of grace, we don't mean by that that we want to be a people who just have more baptisms and just have more Lord's Suppers, but rather these are the actual ordinary means that God promises that he will use to build us up in the faith. And so we should be a church that chiefly and firstly prioritizes these things. And then let other ministry and means come secondarily. So let's look at Acts 20 v. 32. Paul says this, I commend you. He confidently gives people over to God and to the Word of His grace, which is firstly the Gospel, But we could say beyond that, it's the Gospel. The message of Christ is revealed in all of the Scriptures. Simply put, He means more than just John 3.16, if you will. In Colossians 2, turn there with me, Colossians 2, Paul writes, these words. Colossians 2, verses 6 and 7. As you therefore have received Christ the Lord, you've been converted, you've heard the Word, you've believed on Christ, so walk in Him. Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith as you have been taught. How are you established in the faith? Through the teaching of the Word. Abounding in it with thanksgiving. Our first point, brothers and sisters, really is simple, and some of you in this room remember hearing it, but I want us to all understand, God builds up believers. God builds up believers. So when Paul is walking down to the dock, or on the boat, and he says to the Ephesian elders, I commend you to God and to His Word, He's not simply giving them a platitude. He's not simply saying, hey, read your Bible. He's saying, I leave you with that which is able to build you up because God builds up His people. But secondly, we said God uses means to do this work. God uses means to do this work. Paul confidently commends them to God. And to a mechanism, a means, a channel. Any one of those words that you prefer. God uses means. What is the means that He uses that we see in Acts 20 verse 32? It's the word of His grace. It's the word of His grace. Why does Paul say, I commend you to God and the word? Why is he saying, I commend you to God and a particular means, a particular mechanism, a particular channel? Because God uses particular means to build up his people. That's what Paul says. This word of his grace is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. The means of the word proclaimed, the means of the gospel proclaimed is characterized as having the ability to build people up. And you may say, well, why are we laboring here? Well, let's make application. When you don't feel built up in the faith, when you feel spiritually dry, there is an actual means that the scripture says God is using and will use to build you up. And that is his word. That is his word. Turn over then to 2 Peter, 2 Peter 1. 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 2 through 4. Let's switch apostles for just a moment from Paul to Peter. Peter writes this to believers, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." There is a lot there, brothers and sisters, but what I want you to see is this. Peter says, May grace and peace be multiplied to you. And this comes through the knowledge of God. That God's divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him. That God's grace may be multiplied in our lives comes through the Word. Through knowledge of Him. So if God uses means to build up his people, what are those means? If God is a God who builds up his people and God is a God who uses means to do it, what are they? Now one objection we need to deal with here. You often hear people say something like this. I don't want to get too specific because I don't want to put God in a box. You ever heard that? Whatever the theological issue is. What we're actually about to say is one of those things that some might say, well, okay, I hear you, I agree with you, but I don't want to put God in a box. We can't limit what God can do. Brothers and sisters, We're not limiting at all what God can do. We're simply taking the Word of God and saying, God, what have you said that you will ordinarily do? There's a big difference. So as we walk through this, just keep in mind that coffee, in a coffee shop with a friend, good Christian blogs, books on our resource table, which are wonderful. All kinds of things. Christian music in the car. Singing psalms or hymns. These are all wonderful things, and we're not saying the Lord doesn't use them. But what we're doing is looking at where the word says God will use something. So when you hear the phrase in our prayers, on the back of our bulletin, When you see our services and they regularly involve preaching, sacraments, and prayer, and we call them ordinary means of grace, what do we mean? What do we mean? The catechism points to what they are. But what's a definition of the means of grace? Well, here's one attempt. The means of grace are the instruments that Christ uses ordinarily, regularly, Not exclusively, not in a box, but these are the instruments that Christ uses ordinarily to birth and strengthen faith in the elect as he is present among them. Let me say that again, because there are several components there. The instruments that Christ uses ordinarily, hence the term ordinary means of grace. The instruments that Christ uses ordinarily to birth and strengthen faith in the elect as he is present among them. Can God use anything? Yes. Are some things clearly defined in the scriptures? Yes. And it is those things that we don't have to speculate about. These are those things which the Lord says He will ordinarily use. The Bible lists some particular means, instruments, channels through which the grace of God is multiplied in the life of the believer. So when Peter writes to the believers, may grace and peace be multiplied to you, is that just a platitude? Is that just a divinely inspired Christian greeting card? Or does he actually believe that God's grace and peace can be multiplied in the lives of believers? I would submit to you that I think Peter actually sees and envisions God's grace abounding and growing among the saints. So the Bible lists some particular means through which the grace of God is multiplied in the life of the believer. These we must do. And when we do them in faith, we can expectantly hope for spiritual blessing. Now I'm aided here in my study of the means of grace by one scholar, James Renahan, who says that when we think of the means of grace, we need to think of them in two ways. They are instituted by Christ. In other words, Christ has ordained them. He's commissioned them. And they come with the promise of blessing. So that would narrow the field. When we think about the things in the Word that we see that Christ has ordained, and the things that Christ has ordained that come with the promise of blessing, these would be the ordinary means of grace. Now you might be thinking, well this is an interesting lecture. This is profitable perhaps as we think about kind of reformed theology stuff. Brothers and sisters, I would submit to you that the importance of this is not the fact that these things were rediscovered during the Reformation. It's not the fact that these things are solidified for us in our confession and in our catechism. It's that these are the very things which God says He will use to take us all the way home. These are the things which he says that he will use to grow us, and mold us, and enrich us, and strengthen our faith. And they're the very things which Christ has ordained for his church. And the things that come with a promise of blessing. Well, very quickly, what do I mean by they come with the promise of blessing and Christ ordains them? Let's look very quickly. We'll do a little Bible drill tonight. Turn over to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10 and verse 14. We'll get there, Lord willing, in the coming months in our Roman series. But Paul writes this, speaking about Israel and the need for them to hear and obey the gospel, Paul says, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful. are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Do you see what Paul is saying there? Faith comes by hearing, and what is it that you hear? The Word of God. Faith is birthed by the Spirit through the means, the Christ-ordained means go into all the world. and make disciples, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. It's a command of Christ that is used by the Spirit through the preachers to birth faith. If someone believes and has faith in Christ, it is through the hearing of the word. Turn over then to Matthew chapter 28, Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20. Jesus came and spoke to them. You remember this. This is the Great Commission as we call it. Jesus came and spoke to them saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen." There is Christ's commission. There is baptism as an ordinance. We use that word ordinance. It simply means that which is ordained. Christ ordains baptism. You remember in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 16, Paul says, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not the fellowship in the body and blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not the fellowship in the body of Christ? There's a means that Christ has ordained that brings about blessing. The Word births faith and strengthens it. Baptism, ordained of Christ, and it's something that strengthens faith. You may say, well how does baptism strengthen faith? We looked just last week, didn't we, at Romans chapter six and verse three. That baptism itself is a visible sermon. But did you catch what Jesus said in Matthew 28? Go and teach, and baptize, And as you do these things, I am with you." Jesus has promised to be with His church as they baptize. Well, lastly then, turn over to 1 John 5. 1 John 5 verses 14 and 15. Now, this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. Christ, of course, ordains prayer. Matthew's Gospel. When you pray, pray like this. And here we see an example of how prayer is something that Christ ordains and it comes with a blessing. What is the blessing attached to prayer? This is the confidence that we have in Him. That if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. The sovereign God of the universe attaches to the ordination of prayer the promise to hear. Remember, these are ordinary things which Christ has ordained and that come with the promise of blessing. So when you pray, when you listen to sermons, when we as a church observe baptism in the Lord's Supper, they are things that Christ has told us to do. But they are also things that come with blessing. Largely, the blessing that our faith, through these means, by the Spirit, will be strengthened and increased. Again, brothers and sisters, God is free to use any means in the life of any believer. If we were to poll the room tonight and we were to ask the question, what has God used in your life? friendships, good books, blogs, Christian music, walks in the park. The list could go on and on. He's free to use any means in the life of any believer, and He undoubtedly does. But these are the means that are clearly laid out in Scripture through which He has told us that He will work. Let me put it to you this way. God has not promised that every time you take a walk on a Lord's Day afternoon at your favorite nature trail, that He definitely will use that to strengthen and increase your faith. He might. You think about creation. You're looking at the trees or the mountains or the valleys on that trail. The Lord might use that. But He hasn't said, this is an ordinary means. Go regularly and walk in the woods, because I'm going to bless it. He hasn't promised that your favorite book that you order off of Amazon is going to definitely be something that He is going to commission to bring about blessing for you. But there are things in his word that he has said, I have commanded these for you. They're commissioned of me. And when you come to them in faith. There's the promise of blessing. Preaching. Baptism. Lord's Supper. And prayer. Unlike Roman Catholicism, we do not believe that the means of grace alone have power to work. In other words, if we could just get someone to stand up here and do Lord's Supper, magically there's blessing. Because we're doing Lord's Supper. No, they must be accompanied by the work of the Spirit of Christ and by faith on the part of the believer. That's why we don't get water and go throughout the streets and just baptize as many people as we can because baptism itself will do something. Or that bread and wine itself will do something. Or that someone standing here simply speaking will do something. Rather, these are the means that when believers come to them in faith, Christ has promised. These things we can expect blessing through. But there's one other component to that definition. Remember the definition that we spoke of. The instruments that Christ ordinarily uses to birth and strengthen faith in the elect as he is present among them. Remember the Great Commission. As you do these things, I am with you. Jesus has not left his church without his presence. He said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. You can charge the gates of hell because they will not be able to stop my church, Jesus says. And in his word, he has shown us the ordinary means through which he is building his church. Charles Hodge writes this, the ordinary means are quote, institutions, God ordained to be the ordinary channels of His grace, that is, of the spiritual influences of the Holy Spirit to the souls of men. John Calvin, when speaking of the Lord's Supper, said, All we say is that God uses the means and instruments which He sees to be expedient, in order that all things may be subservient to His glory, He being the Lord and disposer of all. Therefore, as by bread and other ailment He feeds our bodies, and by the sun He illumines, and by fire He gives warmth to the world, and yet bread, sun, and fire are nothing, nothing, save inasmuch as they are instruments under which He dispenses His blessings to us, so in like manner He spiritually nourishes our faith by means of the sacraments." whose only office is to make his promises visible to our eye, or rather, to be pledges of his promises. God builds up his people, and he has identified ordinary means that he will use to do so. Well, as we close then, Acts 20 verse 32, The Word, Paul says, as he commends the Ephesians to it, is able to build you up. So lastly, God uses the Word as one of those means. Friends, the Word of God in Acts chapter 20 is pictured as doing two things by the Spirit of Christ. Number one, give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. It's through the Word that you believe, that you receive. Did you know that when a minister rightly preaches the scriptures and he proclaims the gospel, that the gospel proclamation is the offering of Christ to any who will receive him. Christ is offered in the gospel. And so it is the word, Paul says, that is able to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. The Word is the means that converts sinners. We don't believe that baptizing babies washes away original sin, starts them on the journey of faith. No, it's the Word that converts by the Spirit sinners. But notice what else he says. He says, this Word is able to build you up. Friends, the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God. Many of you will remember this, but turn over to Ephesians chapter 2. Paul writing to the church at Ephesus. You remember what he says? He's talking about how Christ is the one that divides the wall between Jew and Gentile. He's our peace, bringing together the two into one. And then he says this, verse 15, having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And then notice what this says. And keep in mind, he's writing to Ephesian believers, largely Gentiles, Ephesian believers. sometime in the 60s A.D. Verse 17, and He, that is Christ, came and preached peace to you who were far off than those who were near. When did Jesus visit Ephesus? When did Jesus go to Ephesus and preach about Himself? But when in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John can we see that Jesus went there and preached? Because Paul said that Jesus came and preached peace. Jesus never physically went into Ephesus. But when by the Spirit of Christ, the message of Christ is rightly proclaimed, Christ speaks to His people. This is why undervaluing preaching in our day has led to so much malnourishment. It is not the preacher that is Christ. It is not the preacher that becomes possessed by the Spirit of Christ. But when the Word is rightly proclaimed by the Spirit of Christ, Christ is speaking to the hearer who comes in faith. That's why we pray just about every Lord's Day. Lord, may your sheep hear your voice. Is that not what Jesus said was going to happen? My sheep hear my voice and they know me. That's why during the Reformation, one of those early documents said the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God. So God builds up His people. He uses particular means to do so. We've identified those means in the Word. They are means that Christ ordains that come with a promise of blessing. Preaching, the Word, prayer, and the sacraments. And lastly, the Word is one of those particular means. Acts 20. In verse 32, what does Paul say to those that he loves and those that he leaves? I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. So when, as a member or a regular attendee of Grace Baptist Church, you wonder why we do the Lord's Supper every other week, why we take baptism so seriously, why preaching is such a crucial part of what we do. And why is it that we have a prayer in our service by one of our elders? And then in the evening we gather regularly as a body to pray. Why do we do those things? Because these are the things which Christ has ordained. And He has said, when you do them, not for anything in themselves, but by My Spirit when you come in faith, there is the promise of blessing. Why in the world would we ever say, then we will minimize those and maximize other means. Brothers and sisters, each of us is blessed throughout our weeks with so many things that the Lord uses in our lives. But when the ordinary means of grace abound, when they are offered, when the church is called to observe them, Those, those things we can say, my Savior gave this to me by ordination. And he says, when I come in faith looking to him over the course of my life with him, he will feed my hungry soul. And that, that is the blessing of the ordinary means of grace. What are the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of his redemption? The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are his ordinances. Those things that he's ordained, especially the word, baptism, the Lord's supper, and prayer. Let's pray. Almighty God, in a day when so many churches minimize these things, observe them less, maximize other things in the stead of the ordinary means. Would you continue to keep us a people that prioritize these things, that trust you when you say these are for us and that they come with various promises of blessing. Lord, bless the means of grace here among the people of grace. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.