You may turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 10. It's going to be a topical message tonight on the necessity for biblical preaching. It flows out of our study this morning. Remember that the Lord Jesus commends those who give a cup of cold water to these little ones.
Well, he presupposes these little ones are preaching the truth of the gospel. They are proclaiming the word. The Bible does highlight that reality that blessed and rewarded are those who do give that cup of cold water. The Bible also recognizes the centrality and the primacy of God's preaching as God's primary means of calling sinners onto himself.
This is not to diminish the place of personal Bible reading. This is not to diminish the place of the family altar. This does not diminish listening to sermonaudio.com, or Bible being read, it is to highlight, though, that the scriptures, the New Testament scriptures, indicate that God uses preaching in a very particular way. Our confession says, 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 by the ministry of the Word. by which also, and by the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper, prayer, and other means appointed of God, it is increased and strengthened." So I thought, in terms of review or refresher, we ought to look at the necessity for biblical preaching.
So I want to read three passages, we'll pray, and then we'll look in more detail at these particular texts. The first is Romans chapter 10, verses 14 to 17. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe him 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. The second passage is found in 1 Corinthians 1. Pastor Cam read that this morning in our consecutive reading in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 1, verses 18 to 23.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, 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. We'll just read to 25. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
And for the final passage, 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 to 8. I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things. Endure afflictions.
Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight.
I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Amen.
Let us again seek the Lord in prayer.
Opening Prayer
Father, we thank you for this, your word. We pray for the ministry and the guidance now of your spirit. We pray that you would impress upon us afresh the necessity of biblical preaching. Grant us ears to hear and grant us grace to receive the word.
And may we truly, happily, joyfully take it in and put it into practice in our own daily lives. And we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Several years ago I read a particular story where someone said that preaching is an outdated mode of communication. It no longer garners the support and has the effect that it once had. And one man responded to such a thing. He said, you know, over the last 20 years, I probably couldn't tell you the specific sermons that I have heard any more than I could tell you the specific meals that my wife has cooked for me over that 20-year period.
But this one thing I do know, after 20 years of my wife's cooking, I'm healthy. I have the proper nutritional intake. I am strong. I have a vitality about me.
And even though I can't pinpoint every recipe and every meal and everything that she has put together, I know that I am healthier for her efforts in terms of feeding me well. He applied that to the pulpit ministry. For 20 years I've been going to a church. For 20 years the preaching has been faithful.
I may not be able to tell you what the preacher said this morning. I may not be able to tell you how many sermons he preached on such and such a text or on such and such a book, but this one thing I know. I am healthy. I am vital.
I know the truth. I'm protected from heresy. I'm protected from error. I love Jesus Christ.
I want to serve the Lord God Almighty. And I attribute that in large part to the faithful proclamation of God's holy word. The reformers saw the importance of the scriptures preached. The Puritans saw the importance of the scriptures preached.
The apostles saw the importance of the scriptures preached. The church today needs to see the importance of the scriptures preached. Just as I was preparing tonight, on my way out of the house, I checked my email. One of these guys that checks his emails.
You know, they tell you don't check your email on your phone when you're laying in bed. I do that. You know, I just always gotta know if there's an email there. It's a sick fascination.
Anyways, the email that I received tonight was absolutely appropriate to this particular message. This person was lamenting that this morning she went to her local church. She doesn't live in the local area here. She went to her church and she said it was a message about computers and about technology and about whatnot.
She said, you know, hungry sheep go to the house of God looking for food and they come home with nothing. And that's a crime, that's a problem, that is wrong and the church today needs to recover something of what the apostles emphasized in the proclamation of God's Holy Word. Now if you've been here for any amount of time, you will know that this is something we seek to emphasize frequently and often, because our health, our vitality, our well-being, both as individuals and as a church, is fueled by the scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments. I want to do two things this evening.
First, look at the necessity of the Word of God in general, and then the necessity for biblical preaching specifically. We'll look at the biblical data, those three passages we just read, and then a couple of confessional statements, some of the things that our forebears saw and identified with reference to preaching.
The Necessity of the Word of God
But first of all, the necessity of the Word of God. The Bible tells us that there's two ways that God has revealed himself. Theologians call this general revelation and special revelation. General revelation is the revelation of God through the created order.
The psalmist highlights this in Psalm 19. The apostle Paul appeals to this in Romans chapter 1. Remember when he says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. He says, because what may be known of God is evident within them.
They know certain truths about God by virtue of being created in His image and seeing the created order around them. There are things that resonate in their soul and so they seek to suppress it. Paul says the knowledge of God revealed in the created order is enough to leave men without excuse in Romans 1. They have no apologetic.
They have no defense before God. General revelation is enough to damn man. General revelation cannot save man and that is why we need special revelation. We need the record of the doing and the dying and the rising of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The scripture highlights the necessity for the gospel, the good news concerning Christ. If sinners do not believe that gospel, they will perish in their sin. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me," in John 14, 6.
Peter says there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. In Ephesians chapter 1, the apostle highlights our salvation, or indicates that our salvation is connected to our having believed the word of the truth of the gospel. James 1.18 says, of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth. And in that passage we just read in 1 Corinthians 1, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
Now it's the verbal content, it is the fact or the truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and His life, death and resurrection, but nevertheless that verbal content is preached, it is proclaimed. Romans 1.16, Paul's thesis statement to that great book. He says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And then in Romans 10.17, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
So the scriptures are clear. Apart from hearing the gospel, apart from understanding the truth, apart from believing on Him, who alone can save to the uttermost, sinners are damned to spend eternity in hell. because they have rejected and rebelled against the goodness and the kindness of God. So that is a general statement concerning the necessity of the Word of God.
Romans 10: Preaching and the Sending
Now let's investigate these three passages concerning preaching. Again, we're not minimizing Bible reading. Please, read your Bibles tomorrow morning when you get up. Read your Bibles tomorrow afternoon when your family finishes supper.
Read your Bibles on Tuesday morning when you get up. Read your Bibles on Tuesday afternoon after you eat your food. You get the pattern? Read your Bibles.
What I'm saying is not against that. We're just focusing on the pulpit ministry, the centrality of preaching, and the life of the church. And in Romans 10, the apostle emphasizes this reality. John Murray comments and says, the main point is that the saving relation to Christ involved in calling upon his name is not something that can occur in a vacuum.
It occurs only in a context created by proclamation of the gospel on the part of those commissioned to proclaim it. Go back for just a moment in verse 11 in chapter 10. For the scripture says, whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and great, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." You see what Murray says. It's not just this generic idea of calling upon the Lord. It is in response to faithful preaching. And that is verse 14.
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And the next clause is very important. You may have noticed I departed from the reading of the New King James. The New King James has, "...and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" A better rendition is, "...and how shall they believe him whom they have not heard?" The idea is simple, that when the Word is preached by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is as if Christ Himself is present and calling sinners to believe on Him.
If you doubt this, turn for just a moment to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2, where the Apostle highlights this reality in somewhat of an incidental way. This is not his main point, but it is something we glean and gather from his statement here. He's talking about Christ, our peace.
Ephesians 2.14, For he himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 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. So Christ is our peace, Christ makes peace, now notice in verse 16, and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. Verse 17, and he came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through him we both have access by one spirit to the Father.
Christ preached peace to the Ephesians. Well, if you know the gospel records, Christ never left Israel. Christ never ventured out of that geographical locale. But when the Apostle Paul and his companions entered into Ephesus in Acts chapter 19, when they spoke the true gospel, when they proclaimed accurately the word of truth, the Apostle Paul is able to say that Christ himself came and preached peace to you.
It truly is an amazing reality that as the Word of God is handled accurately, it is the God of the Word that you are hearing. The Apostle Paul highlights this in 1 Thessalonians 2. He says, for this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth. The Word of God!
You see, this is why we emphasize preaching. If it is being done right, if it is being done biblically, if the exposition is sound and the application is legit, we trust in the power of the Holy Spirit that God Himself is pleading with sinners, be ye reconciled unto God. So the apostle understood this reality. So going back to Romans 10, how shall or how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
How shall they believe him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? You see, there's that whole emphasis we've been seeing in Matthew 10.
In the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, these 12 men didn't just show up on Jesus' doorstep and say, you know, we want to go out and speak for you. We want to be your emissaries. We want to be your ambassadors. We want to be your preachers.
No, Christ appointed them, Christ authorized them, and Christ sent them. We see the very same emphasis in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 13, when the Spirit comes to deal or to bring Saul and Barnabas out so that they can engage in gospel missions, where does the Spirit go? He doesn't go to a missions agency.
He doesn't go online. He doesn't google missionary.com. The Spirit comes to the church. And the Spirit says to the church, separate unto me Saul and Barnabas for the work that I have called them to.
In Acts 20, 28, there is an admonition to the elders of Ephesus. The apostle says, therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. Paul gives specific qualifications. 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1. The Apostle Peter highlights this in 1 Peter 5.
Men must be identified in the church. Men must have hands laid upon them in the church. Men must be authorized in the church. And we trust it is the Spirit of God at work sending gospel preachers on their particular task of calling sinners to repentance and faith and seeking to edify and strengthen the body of Christ.
It truly is a wonderful thing.
1 Corinthians 1: Three Observations on Preaching
Notice the second passage in 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. We'll focus on 21 to 23. Dr. Greg Bonson says that verse 21 really is A statement concerning the entire history of philosophy.
Philosophy is tasked with the big questions. Why am I here? What am I doing? Where am I going?
Is there a God? People have sought God as they understand him throughout the ages. And notice Paul's condemnation upon man apart from Christ, man in a state of sin and rebellion. He says, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom, that's their own attempts, their own efforts, their own ways, their own means employed.
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. Come to the 21st century for a moment. For those who say that preaching is outdated, preaching doesn't work, preaching is foolish.
This isn't a new objection to preaching. Paul says it is the foolishness of preaching. He's speaking as a man. The sophistry and the wisdom of our day would condemn This means, oh, you can't expect, we can't believe that the living and true God comes through the proclamation of the truth to effect saving power on sinners.
We cannot believe that men and women and boys and girls will be nourished and nurtured in their faith and strengthened with might in the inner man so that they may indeed pursue those things which Christ has smiled upon and blessed. We just can't believe that's the way to go about it. in this Twitter age, in this Facebook age. You know, in order to affect the social media group, we've got to be wise with these techniques and with these tactics. Do you think preaching was popular when Paul preached?
No. They had mime, they had skit, they had drama, they had all these things available. Same sort of media. Maybe not Twitter or Facebook, but the same sorts of approaches to reach people.
Paul says, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, It pleased God through what? Through the foolishness of the message preached. Now the emphasis falls on the message, on the truth concerning Christ, Him living, dying, rising again, reigning and ruling at the right hand of the Father. But nevertheless, the verbal content is in fact proclaimed.
And then Paul says, for Jews request a sign, Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. Three simple observations on this section. I give credit to Pastor Tom Lyon in Tacoma, Washington. At an ARPCA conference, he preached on the primacy of preaching as a means of grace.
And these three observations, they're simple. I'm not saying that to denigrate Pastor Lyon. saying that so that we will understand them.
Preaching Pleases God
Notice, in the first place, preaching pleases God. Right there we could shut our Bibles, pray to the Lord, and go home. The necessity for biblical preaching, God is pleased with it. Do you want to please God?
Do you want to honor God? God was, or it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 2. 2 Corinthians 2. Just for a moment, we'll go back to 1 Corinthians 1. 2 Corinthians 2 at verse 14.
Verse 12, Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them, I departed from Macedonia. Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ.
You hear the language? We are to God the fragrance of Christ, he says. He says, among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. You see, it's not as if God is only pleased when sinners are converted.
God is pleased through the declaration. God is pleased through the proclamation. The truth is what pleases God, according to the Apostle Paul. To the one, we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other, the aroma of life leading to life.
Some of you who have been here for a while will remember me describing Pastor Ann Martin on this text. I remember being present when he was preaching on this, and he was saying, it's as if God, with his holy nose, is sniffing it up as the preaching goes out. He enjoys it. It's the fragrance of Christ to him.
It is something pleasing when the Word of God is proclaimed. Not when we go about entertaining men, or having puppets and ponies in programs, or teaching men how to be savvy in social media. But when Christ and Him crucified is preached, God the Father is glorified. That's the stress of the passage.
This is what Paul indicates in 1 Corinthians 1. It pleased God.
Preaching Displeases the Natural Man
Secondly, preaching does not please the natural man. It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. Jews seek after signs, and Greeks seek after foolishness. So what are we to conclude?
The natural man is not pleased with preaching. The natural man would rather hear lessons on how to be more savvy with his computer. The natural man would rather be entertained. He'd rather hear witty anecdotes.
He'd rather hear moralistic stories. He'd rather have a little gentle nudge in the arm so that he can go out and be a better him. That's what the natural man desires. The Jews seek after signs.
The Greeks seek after wisdom.
Preachers Nevertheless Preach Christ
the third observation, preachers nevertheless preach. Jews want signs, Greeks want foolishness, but we preach Christ crucified. We don't say, well, Jews, let's have sign time. Well, Greeks, let's study Plato.
No, we preach Christ crucified. We don't tailor our message to the ethos of the age. We don't try to accommodate to the sinner. We don't try to make him feel at home.
Rather, we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a scandal, a stumbling block. To the Greeks, foolishness. But to us who are being saved, Christ.
But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
2 Timothy 4: The Apostolic Charge to Preach
And then the third text, 2 Timothy chapter 4. We will eventually return to our studies in the pastoral epistles. But even supposing we return there tonight, it'll be a while before in 2 Timothy 4, I suppose. 2 Timothy 4 is crucial for our understanding of this doctrine because this is Paul's last letter. This is Paul's swan song.
This is his 11th hour. This is when he's going to die. How do we know that? Because he tells us in verses 6 to 8.
When you're at a man's deathbed, you listen very keenly and acutely to what he has to say. When you're at a man's deathbed, you give attention and you give ear to what he feels is important. And with the Apostle Paul, he does not lay importance on the sign gifts. He does not lay importance upon tongues and prophesying.
Paul's emphasis throughout the pastoral epistles is upon sound doctrine. Paul's emphasis in 2 Timothy chapter 4 is upon preaching. I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 1, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word, not preach yourself.
Not cater to a narcissistic age. Not tell stories. Not be a moralist. Preach the Word.
That's what men need. That's what sinners need. That's what believers need. That's what everybody needs.
That is man's fundamental problem, is that he has sought to close his ears from the mouth of the living God. And so the task of faithful preaching is to preach God's Word. Paul specifies or gives the particular command, and then he specifies the manner. Convince.
Don't suggest. Rebuke. Don't coddle. Exhort.
Don't be satisfied with anything less than obedience to the truth of God. You see, preaching must occur in the manner that Paul prescribes. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering. Probably one of the hardest elements of this string in terms of manner.
You've got to be long-suffering, Timothy. Rome wasn't built in a day. The Church of Christ is not built in a day. You must be faithful day in and day out.
Preach the word. Be faithful. Teach books. Teach lessons.
Teach doctrine. Teach confession. All that stuff. You need to be long-suffering.
The people of God don't just get it right away. Wouldn't it be nice if once we were converted, we were theologians? We just kind of knew everything. Wouldn't that be great?
Wouldn't that be nice to be Turretin? You wake up on the other side of regeneration and you're theologizing with Calvin. That's not the general norm for the most of us. And so Paul tells Timothy, convince rebuking Zor with all long suffering.
Be patient in your task, Timothy, and do it with teaching. You see, preaching isn't just a bunch of blather. It isn't a pep talk. It isn't just a bunch of stuff to fire up the troops.
They must be taught the scriptures. If you have application, they ought to be able to see how you got there. They ought to see the exegetical task involved in opening up the Scripture. You don't have to get into infinitives and participles and all those particular, you know, jots and tittles of the grammar, but brethren ought to be able to see how what you're saying is rooted in and grounded in and is accurately representative of the Scripture you're preaching.
You need to teach the people of God. They need to grow, they need to learn, they need to understand. So he gives the command,
The Manner and Reasons for Preaching
he specifies the manner, and then Paul, as he often does, gives two reasons why Timothy is to preach the Word. There's two reasons embedded in the text why Timothy is to preach the Word, why he's to convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. We'll take the second reason first. Paul is going to die.
That's verse 6. For I am already being poured out as a great offering and the time of my departure is at hand. Preach the word, Timothy, because I'm going to die. Preach the word, Timothy, because I'm going the way of all flesh.
Preach the word, Timothy, because I'm going to meet my Lord Jesus. Preach the word. That's Paul's legacy. That's what he passes on.
That is the baton that he gives into the hand of this young man. You see the flow of logic there. The first reason is found in verse three. Why is Timothy to preach the word?
Why is he to convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching? Verse three. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. It's a great piece of logic here.
Let me just hear Timothy firing off an email to the Apostle Paul. You know, in Ephesus, they've started getting into this alpha program. They started to do, you know, Gangnam Style and worship. The Harlem Bump or Shuffle or whatever you call that is what they're doing in our local church, Paul.
It's like they won't endure sound doctrine, Paul. Do you have any words of encouragement for me? Notice that Paul does not say you ought to learn how to do Gangnam Style. Shuck and jive with them.
Preach the word. What's the response to apostasy? Preach the word. What's the response to heresy?
Preach the word. What's the response to defection in the church? Preach the word. What's the response when men will not endure sound doctrine, but having itching ears heap up teachers for themselves that will be right there to tickle them?
It's unfortunate, there's always some heretic standing in the fray that will come and tickle the ears of people that want their ears tickled. Paul says, Timothy, don't have any truck with them, you preach the word. You convince them, you rebuke them, you exhort them with all long-suffering and teaching. You don't kowtow to them, you don't tailor the message to them, you don't accommodate them, you don't pander to their felt needs, since when does God look upon the felt needs of sinners as something determinative as to how His church is to operate?
It's disgusting. Timothy, preach the Word. Spurgeon, in another context, but it fitting application here says, may thy church never yield to the world with the idea of setting up the kingdom of Christ in a more easy and rapid manner than by the simple preaching of the gospel. Amen.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Confessional Witnesses to Biblical Preaching
A couple of confessional statements and then we'll conclude. The Didache, which is an early Christian treatise, probably written around AD 120. Some scholars put it even before that. It's just that.
It's an early Christian manual. It's just instructions on the Christian life and also lots of references to the text of scripture. My child, now I'm not saying this in some self-serving way, do this for me. No, that's not it.
I just want us to appreciate what the Bible says concerning preaching, and what the early church and the Reformation period taught concerning this issue. My child, remember night and day the one who preaches God's word to you, and honor him as though he were Lord. For wherever the Lord's nature is preached, there the Lord is. Don't honor him as the Lord with worship and bow down and all that sort of thing.
But it's that first Thessalonians 2.13 thing. You received it not as the words of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God. You see, that's where there ought to be, in all of us, on the Lord's Day, a holy expectation. There's a book by Leland Ryken called Worldly Saints, and it's a book about the Puritans.
It doesn't mean they were worldly. It means they were saints in this world. And one of the things concerning preaching was that for the Puritan, there was an expectation. When the Sabbath day came, they went to the house of God to hear from God.
That's what the Didache is getting at. The Westminster Larger Catechism, number 155. How is the Word made effectual to salvation? The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of enlightening, convincing and humbling sinners, of driving them out of themselves That's the beauty of preaching, driving them out of themselves.
You see, if you're listening to a sermon on sermonaudio.com, and let's just suppose for a moment you're struggling with the Seventh Commandment. Let's just suppose for a moment that you have compromised your fidelity and your sexual purity with reference to that Seventh Commandment. And you're hearing this sermon, and the preacher starts to expound the Seventh. He starts to nail sexual immorality.
What's the tendency? You can't do that here. You can, but I'm going to keep going. Now, I understand you can get up and leave, but most of us are too respectable to ever venture such a thing, right?
Actually, no. We've had many people walk out in our services. There's a dynamic. Again, Pastor Ann Martin describes it this way.
God, the Spirit, and the brethren. Not me, the Spirit, but there's this connection that happens when preaching takes place. driving them out of themselves and drawing them unto Christ, of conforming them to His image and subduing them to His will, of strengthening them against temptations and corruptions, of building them up in grace and establishing their hearts in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. come to church with that expectation. Westminster, larger catechism, 155. You can Bing it, you can Google it, you can Yahoo it, you can download it, you can read it, you can go over it, and you come to church on the Lord's Day with that expectation.
That's what's at stake. And then the second Helvetic confession says the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God. Now again, accurate preaching, faithful exposition, me telling you moralistic stories on how to be a better you is not the Word of God. The preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God.
Wherefore, when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is proclaimed and received by the faithful, and that neither any other Word of God is to be invented nor is to be expected from heaven, and that now the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded. Not the minister that preaches, for even if he be evil and a sinner, Nevertheless, the Word of God remains still true and good. Amen.
Application
Brethren, hopefully these three passages and these confessional references have again stirred up in you an appreciation for and a desire for the necessity of biblical preaching. We need good preachers. We need biblically qualified, theologically sound men who are gifted in expounding the Scriptures. Pray for the men in our church that have aspiration.
Pray for the men in our church that have desire. Pray for the men in our church that they would in fact pursue these things with great earnest and that the Spirit of God would rest upon them and make it evident in our midst of who it is the Lord God Most High is raising up before us. We need good preachers. Calvin said at the present day there are Are there many who are well-nigh sickened by the very name of preaching?
Because there are so many stupid, ignorant men who blurt out their worthless brainwaves from the pulpit." What do you mean, Mr. Calvin? Don't you love that? There's an honesty there.
Machen, in the early part of the 20th century. The miserable phrase, sharing Christ, which so sickens those of us who believe that the work of preaching is not of that of sharing an experience, but of proclaiming a message. Machen again says, we can preach the gospel, they tell us, by our lives, and do not need to preach it by our own words. But they are wrong.
Men are not saved by the exhibition of our glorious Christian virtues. They are not saved by the contagion of our experiences. We cannot be the instruments of God in saving them if we preach to them thus only ourselves. Nay, we must preach to them the Lord Jesus Christ, for it is only through the gospel which sets him forth that they can be saved.
And speaking to the preachers who are cast into the role of head cheerleader, whose job it is to rally the others for service on the field, Benjamin Warfield said, if the minister comes to be thought of, for example, fundamentally as merely the head of a social organization from whom may be demanded pleasant manners and executive ability, or as little more than a zealous promoter, the minister's whole function is summed up in these or such things. If the whole function of the minister is inspirational rather than instructional, then no doubt we may dispense with all serious study of the Scripture." We don't want inspiration. We want instruction from the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments. We need good preachers.
We need good hearers. I mean, God could send Spurgeon back. I don't think he will. I know he won't.
But if Spurgeon stood in the pulpit and proclaimed the way Spurgeon proclaimed and no one was there to hear him, what good would it be? Does a tree make a sound when it falls in the woods if nobody's there to hear it? I think the answer is yes. You need to get this show up.
In other words, if, as the Helvetic Confession says, the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God. God is speaking. We ought to be there to listen. We ought to be a Samuel.
Speak, Lord! For your servant listens. Be present for the preaching of the Word. Be attentive to the preaching of the Word.
Wake up. If you don't drink coffee, start. Don't sleep. God the Lord came into your living room and started to talk to you.
There is no way you would lie down on your couch and nap in His presence. I know you wouldn't do that. Why is it acceptable to nap in the church if, as we have seen in Scripture, It is the Word of God. Be attentive to preaching.
Be prayerful before and after preaching. Take Westminster Larger Catechism 155, pray it in, ask God to bless the Word so preached, and when you hear it, thank Him, rejoice in Him, and then obey it. So be present, be attentive, be prayerful, be obedient to the Word preached. And finally, God has shown, God has designed the Word as the instrument through the power of the Holy Spirit and faithful exposition by equipment to be the means of salvation for sinners.
You know, there's a lot of emphasis today on being missional. If that's what we want, faithful exposition of the Word is crucial. We're going to reach our generation for the Lord Jesus. It's not going to be through moralism.
It's not going to be through accommodation. It's certainly not going to be through entertainment. It is going to be through the faithful exposition of God's holy word. That is where the emphasis must lie, and that is what we as a church ought to hold fast to.
And if you are not a believer here this evening, the Lord Jesus Christ has come. He has lived, He has died, He has risen again, and all those who by God's grace look to Him in faith will have everlasting life. 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. Believe on Him and you shall be saved.
Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for these passages and for the rich heritage that we have in the Reformed community. And we just give you thanks and praise and ask God that you would bless your word to our hearts and that you would cause us to receive it joyfully and happily. Give us grace, Father, to leave from this place. Conform us more and more to the image of your dear son.
Help us to be faithful witnesses in the workplace, in our neighborhoods. Help us to be faithful witnesses among family members. And God just grant us great grace and great love, first and foremost for you, and love for our fellow man. Certainly a demonstration of that second great commandment is to know the truth of the gospel and to be able to set it forth accurately.
Go with us now, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.