We must realize that there are two different realms. One realm is the realm of doctrine. In this realm a man only needs to convey to others what he has learned from school, books, and Bible expositors. All it takes is some work, cleverness, and eloquence. The other realm is the realm of revelation. In this realm a man can do nothing unless he has God’s revelation. We must see that in the ministry of God’s word, man is powerless and helpless apart from God’s revelation. If God does not speak, we cannot force any word out of our mouth. If God does not give us His revelation, we do not know what to do. When God gives us revelation, we have the ministry. If God does not give us revelation, we have no ministry. The exercise of our ministry is based upon corresponding revelations. We have to be linked up to God in this realm. We must come to the Lord. If we do not come to the Lord, we cannot stand before men and speak. In the other realm we can use what we have memorized, learned, or spoken from the previous month or week. In that realm, man can do something; he can resort to his own ways. All he needs is memory, cleverness, and eloquence. But in the realm of revelation, no one can be a minister of the word unless God does the work. All who have learned this lesson before the Lord can discern this. Everywhere they go, they can tell which realm a person is in when he speaks.
Some brothers commit the fundamental blunder of regarding eloquence and intelligence as qualifications for a good message. They think that preaching is one hundred percent a matter of eloquence. But the Bible shows us that preaching does not depend on eloquence but on receiving revelation from the Lord. Preaching that contains no revelation merely nourishes man’s mind. It can stimulate man’s thoughts, but it cannot provide revelation.
This should be our concern: Unless we first have the basic revelation, we cannot have many subsequent revelations. Those who do not have the basic revelation do not have subsequent revelations. Even if they teach many doctrines, they cannot convey revelation to others. Those who are in one realm can only produce fruits from that realm. A listener with a good memory may retain a message for a few days, but after that time, the message goes away and nothing remains. A man can listen to our messages, but our word does not result in any condemnation of evil, the flesh, or the carnal man in him. Words from one realm can only produce fruits from that realm; they do not produce fruits from a different realm. Fruits of the outward realm consist of nothing but a collection of words, doctrines, and expositions. Sermons that are propagated in this realm consist of nothing but the fruits of this realm. But the other realm is different. If a person has received revelation once and is continually receiving revelations, he imparts revelation to others as he speaks. Only revelation produces revelation. Only light produces light. Only God’s word results in the work of the Holy Spirit in man. Knowledge begets only knowledge. Doctrine begets only doctrine. In the same way revelation begets only revelation.
It is not enough for us to give doctrines to others. Neither is it enough for us to give old revelations to others. What are doctrines? Doctrines are past revelations. The words in the Bible were once living, but they are not necessarily living for everyone today. Only the words that the Holy Spirit has reiterated are living to man. When many people read the Bible, they only touch the words of the Bible; they do not touch the word of God. This is not enough. We need the Holy Spirit to speak a second time. We need the Lord to speak a second time apart from His established speaking. God has to speak directly to a person before he can hear God’s word. A hundred people may listen to a sermon, but only two among them may receive any help. God may only speak to these two among the hundred; the other ninety-eight will not hear anything. Unless the Holy Spirit speaks, the words of the Bible are doctrine to us. We have to remember that all past revelations are but doctrines to us. Although God might have spoken to us and revealed Himself to us once through these words, the same words and revelation will be but doctrines to us without the anointing of the Holy Spirit today. They can only produce fruits of doctrine; they cannot produce fruits of revelation.
The problem today is that doctrines are passed on from generation to generation, yet there is no revelation. A believing father does not necessarily produce a believing son. The Holy Spirit may regenerate the first generation. He may regenerate the second generation. The third and fourth generations may turn out to be unbelievers. God’s Spirit may work on the fifth generation again and regenerate it. Every regeneration is the result of the operation of the Holy Spirit. When a man begets a son in the flesh, his physical attributes pass on from his generation to the next generation, but there is no work of the Holy Spirit involved in this transfer. Regeneration involves the work of the Holy Spirit. Once the work of the Holy Spirit is withheld, there is no regeneration. These are two different things. One way conveys the doctrines. It is not hard to preserve doctrines for hundreds or even thousands of years. Doctrines produce doctrine, and the cycle continues. A man may know nothing except doctrines. While he preaches doctrines, two or three thousand people may be listening to him. What is in him are doctrines, and what goes out of him are also doctrines. These doctrines are passed on from generation to generation. This is like begetting children in the physical realm; one does not need the operation of the Holy Spirit to beget a son. But the same is not true with revelation and the ministry of God’s word. The ministry of God’s word requires the anointing of the Holy Spirit each time. The Holy Spirit has to operate in man in order for him to experience salvation. Similarly, there must be the revelation of the Holy Spirit before there can be the ministry of the word. As soon as the Holy Spirit stops His revelation, the word becomes nothing but doctrines. The Holy Spirit must operate before there can be the ministry of the word. Whenever the anointing ceases, there is no vision, no revelation, and no ministry of the word.
Hence, we have to say to the Lord, “I can do nothing. Lord, I cannot do anything with Your word unless I first prostrate myself before You and move beyond the pressing of the ordinary crowd.” Today many people do not realize how helpless they are as far as God’s word is concerned. Many people are like professional preachers. They can say anything; they can preach doctrines, teachings, truths, and the Scripture. They can speak whenever they feel to speak. This is too easy, far too easy!
The ministry of God’s word is totally beyond our power. We must remember that the only way to regenerate others is to do it through the operation of the Holy Spirit. We can pass on doctrines to others, but in order to be a minister of the word, we have to have the revelation of the Holy Spirit. We must realize that this task is beyond our power. This is the Lord’s task; it is not our business. In this realm a man is not free to speak whenever he pleases. It is not that simple. God wants to have ministers of the word on earth; He wants to see men speaking. Hence, today is the time for us to seek His face. We have to say to the Lord, “I can do nothing. I cannot speak.” Man is totally helpless in this regard. Only a foolish person is proud. A foolish man does not realize that spiritual things have nothing to do with man; he does not know that man cannot handle spiritual things by himself. No eloquence, natural talent, or method can help a man touch the ministry of God’s word. The ministry of the word is something that belongs to a different realm, a realm that has nothing to do with ourselves.
Brothers, God must bring us on to the point where we see the uselessness of man. We cannot beget or regenerate anyone by our own resolve. Parents can beget children in the flesh, but they cannot beget anything in the way of regeneration. In the same principle, we can pass on doctrines to others. We can tell others what the Bible says, but this does not make us ministers of God’s word. A minister of God’s word is produced through God’s speaking. If God does not speak, it is useless for us to present the Bible to others. God must first speak to us before we can convey this word to others. If God does not give His word to us, we can never convey any word to others. This is not our business. Many people can tell stories, and they can preach doctrines, but they may not be able to tell you what God’s word is. If God grants us mercy, we can tell others what God’s word is. If God does not grant us mercy, we cannot do anything. We have the word only as God gives us the word. This is something totally beyond our control; we can do nothing about it. Yet this is something that God wants to do. God wants to have the ministry of the word. He has chosen us to be ministers of the word. Yet we cannot do it. In fact, we cannot do anything. It is God’s mercy and revelation that give us the word to speak to others. Hence, we have to receive a basic revelation from God. At the same time, our spirit has to be disciplined by the Lord and come under His control. It must be so disciplined that it can open to Him all the time for fresh revelations. The Lord has to deal with us and with our work to such an extent that we bow down and say, “Lord, do Your own work. If You do not have mercy on me, I can do nothing.”
We must see that ministry is based on the revelation of the word, and the revelation of the word is based on the revelation of Christ. When it comes to spiritual things, things related to God’s word and His ministry of the word, we must remember that there is no such thing as a long-term deposit. No one can boast about what he has, and no one should imagine that he can keep on working with what he has in his hands. Every time we come to God we should be emptied so that we can be filled and pour out once more. Whoever is self-satisfied is not qualified to be a minister of the word. Ministry of the word results in a state in which a man becomes as empty as a newborn babe as soon as the word is released. He knows nothing before God, and he looks to God for another filling and another infusion of the word and revelation. Then he pours out God’s word and revelation once again upon others and becomes empty once again. We must be continually emptied. Only by being continually emptied will we have the ministry. In the spiritual realm, God is the One who accomplishes everything; man can do nothing. We should never think that anyone can open his mouth and speak God’s word. To take up God’s word and to serve as a minister of this word is a task that is beyond any human power to achieve. This work belongs to another realm. The Holy Spirit has to work on us specifically every time. Human beings can do nothing about this. May the Lord be merciful to us, and may we see before the Lord how useless man is. May we not be foolish. Once a man becomes proud, he becomes foolish. When he does not see the basic spiritual things, he becomes foolish.