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Preach The Word
(Fedena's in the video) |
By Pastor Paul Fedena
2 Timothy 4:1-4 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
I am noticing an alarming trend in our fundamental, independent, Bible-believing churches. It is that preachers seem to be adopting the old Pentecostal preacher’s style or method of preaching. They begin by reading a great passage of Scripture that holds great promise of a real message from God, then they never refer back to the passage as they preach a purely topical message which incorporates a little bit of pop psychology, homey personal illustrations, philosophical concepts and general truth, but totally divorced from the text they began with. The listener gears himself or herself up to hear a challenging message from God’s holy Word, and leaves the service feeling empty and devoid of genuine biblical spiritual truth. Spiritual malnutrition or starvation results!
Paul’s admonition in the text above, to the young preacher, Timothy, was to “preach the word !” What the text does NOT say is to “preach about the word” or “preach without the word” or to “preach your ideas about the word.” In fact, let’s examine the text and see what it doesn’t say and what it does say…
THE TEXT DOESN’T SAY TO PREACH ABOUT THE WORD:
Many “sermons” do exactly that. They preach about the Word of God, but fail to expound the text or to do what Ezra the priest did when he read God’s Word to the Jews who had returned to the land of Israel. The Bible declares that he gathered all the people together, men, women and all “that could hear with understanding.” Then it says: “So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” Isn’t that what all real preaching should accomplish?
In the Old or New Testament, the pattern is that men of God stand before the people and declare and expound the Word and words of God. For classic New Testament examples we could cite Stephen and the Apostle Paul, not to mention the Savior Himself.
THE TEXT DOESN’T SAY TO PREACH OUR PHILOSOPHY:
Apparently oftentimes preachers mimic their heroes and adopt their style of topical preaching. Perhaps their heroes could get away with promoting certain truths, clichés, and philosophical concepts and gather great followings. But these men of God were often great orators and also proclaimed forcefully the truths of God and His Word. Most preachers are not charismatic personalities or gifted orators, like Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., or the late, Lester Roloff, Jack Hyles, Robert G. Lee, et. al., but they often pick up on the home-spun philosophies of these great men but fail to have their insight into God’s Word or their ability to communicate the understanding of Scripture or even to extract the great truths that backed up their concepts, as did their heroes.
God blessed these great and gifted men because their roots were deeply in the Word, not because of their philosophy. To attempt to mimic them and their style without having the depth of Scripture saturation which characterized them, is to fail miserably. It is often humorous, if not tragic, to see a young preacher attempt to imitate some great preacher he admires, and even adopt his mannerisms. (When Dr. Jack Hyles had throat problems and couldn’t preach without continually clearing his throat, young preachers who admired him suddenly developed the same ailment!) The mannerisms of quirks of these great preachers are not what made them great, but their saturation with Scripture, close walk with God, the fullness of the Spirit and their surrender to Him.
Why is it that nearly everyone points to C. H. Spurgeon as the “Prince of Preachers?” It wasn’t because they heard him personally in most cases, but because of the power of his words as he expounded the Scripture. He had honed his craft of personal holiness, immersion in Scripture, hours of prayer and study each day as well as mastering the English language. Nearly every sentence, it seems, in his messages, are gems that can be admired apart from the rest of his sermon. Spurgeon, even when preaching a topical sermon, stayed with his text! He expounded that text, illustrated it, applied it, and logically presented it. It was clear, concise, and convicting because it was primarily biblical from the introduction to the conclusion. His main forte was the textual sermon.
I had acquired all of his New Park Street Pulpit series as well as his Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit series representing many years of his preaching work and often would read a sermon each day as a part of my daily devotions. What a great way to start the day! He never failed to motivate me because he gave me the meat of Scripture, not simply because he was an orator. I would have loved to have heard him in person, but the reason his messages live on in our generation is due to their content, not his personality.
As Spurgeon’s popularity grew and as his church increased exponentially, a reporter from the main newspaper in London came to see and hear for himself the “great Mr. Spurgeon” and to see what caused the crowds to flock to hear him preach God’s Word. He sat watching the service progress in the packed auditorium. At first there was a lot of noise and distractions. Then Spurgeon, small in stature, mounted his throne (pulpit), and began his discourse wielding the Sword of the Spirit as a mighty warrior. A holy hush descended on that great gathering as the Holy Spirit bore witness with His Word through His man, and for the next almost two hours even that reporter was transfixed and wrote an impressive article about his experience. He saw what the Lord can do with one man who “preaches the Word.”
THE TEXT DOESN’T SAY TO PREACH OUR IDEAS:
Sometimes preachers pick up on a concept which becomes their conviction, and then they ride that “hobby horse” to the exclusion of preaching the Word of God. Years ago a group of “fundamental” preachers began to preach against wire-frame glasses. Their flocks heard much about this “conviction” but little of God’s Word. Our pet peeves or theories should not be the substance of our preaching. At one point in my own ministry I fell into this trap. Finally a godly deacon rebuked me and helped me to “see the light” of my folly. I got off that horse and got back to preaching His Word.
There is a place for topical preaching, but it needs to be firmly grounded in the rock solid foundation of the Word of God. Many of us will remember Jack Hyles’ famous sermon “Fresh Oil.” It was very topical, but was built upon a basic and sound principle of Scripture. It wasn’t just Jack Hyles philosophy. (Now he did preach a lot of his philosophy, and most of it was truth and had its roots in Scripture, but some of it was just his philosophy, nothing more. For example, his series of books: Blue Denim & Lace, Grace and Truth, etc. was classic Hyles’ philosophy more than “thus saith the Lord.” Those books contained much practical truth, but the preacher is to preach the Word, not his or another great preacher’s philosophy. For a preacher to pick up on that and preach it as if it was God’s truth would be wrong.)
Of course we should preach on the home, stewardship, soul-winning and the many other themes of Scripture, but only as they are clearly presented in God’s Word, not our ideas or someone’s who wrote a book on that subject. The subject of every message must begin, follow through and end with Scriptural truth.
Our time in the pulpit is precious and God will hold us accountable for the content of our sermons and the scriptural foundation they are built upon. We influence people every time we preach, so let’s be sure we preach something that originated with God, not with our, or others, puny minds.
THE TEXT DOESN’T SAY TO PREACH ABOUT OURSELVES
There is nothing wrong with using our lives to illustrate the Scriptures, but the stories or incidents we use as illustrations are pointless and a waste of everyone’s time unless they direct attention to and throw light upon God’s Word. Spurgeon said that illustrations are the windows in sermons to let in light to illuminate the Bible.
Perhaps there is too much of us and our lives in our messages. We have no scriptural example of the great men of the Bible using incidents in their life in their sermons. The exception, of course, would be giving our testimony of salvation or how God did something special in our lives. Paul was a master of using his personal salvation testimony with great effectiveness, over an over again.
THE TEXT DOES SAY TO PREACH THE WORD!
In the book “The Private Devotional Lives of Finney, Moody and Spurgeon” we can discover the real secret of the greatness of some revered men of God. While it is true that these men were orators with special gifts, the real power behind their popularity and effectiveness as preachers of God’s Word is to be found in the bedrock of Scripture which under girded their lives. Their love of Scripture and the truths of the Word which they regularly mined in their personal lives is the real secret behind their power. Each day these men spent hours plumbing the depths of the Word. One cannot help but read their sermons to see how saturated their souls were with the Bible.
Spurgeon is one of my heroes. (He was NOT the kind of “Calvinist” being promoted today.) He was a great soul-winner, an orator who could hold audiences attention for hours, and influence people around the world in his day and even today in his writings, and especially in his printed sermons. Although he was not an expository, verse-by-verse preacher, he was a master at expounding the Word. Most of his sermons were textual and his messages would be about the text he selected. Of course he would illustrate it in many ways, but his illustrations shed light on his text. They were not given to impress folks about him or to highlight his vast experience. They were all about the Scripture he preached. Each point of his message was to illuminate the text. Every sentence in the sermon was designed to acquaint the hearer with God’s Word.
As you read his sermons you will find that they are not today’s standard and shallow “three points and a sob story” that pawn themselves off as a message from God. There is great depth and insight into the passage he was preaching about. Perhaps it would be well for preachers today to read one of his sermons each day as a daily devotional to become acquainted with the “Prince of Preachers” and more importantly, His Savior and the Bible. Even better, maybe we should acquaint ourselves with our Savior and the writers of Scripture and get to know them so personally and intimately that our sermons reflect their writings, their philosophy and their insight into the Lord and His Word.
Of course any preacher worth his salt will spend hours in the Word preparing food for his flock. However, it would do us all well to study the habits of other great men of God to see how they accomplished providing nourishing food at each feeding time. Spurgeon weekly immersed himself in the Bible to prepare for each service. In the above mentioned book it is said that he studied the Word for his theology, for cheer and comfort, for guidance, for its truth, for soul-winning, so that he might fight against the forces of evil, and for spiritual food. Spurgeon himself said: “It is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in scriptural language, and your spirit is flavoured with the words of the Lord, so that your blood is Bibline and the very essence of the Bible flows from you.”
It is said that Spurgeon’s library contained nearly 12,000 books. He was widely read and made it a habit before preaching on any text in Scripture to consult “a great array of Bible commentaries” to see what each had to say on his text. When a text caught his attention, he then checked Cruden’s Concordance to see how words in the text were used elsewhere in the Bible. He would jot down random thoughts as he studied and then finally arrange them into a cohesive and orderly sermon.
Spurgeon was exceptionally gifted. Often in his sermons it seems that every sentence was perfectly arranged and became a weighty thought to be transferred to the listener with near perfect cadence, rhythm, and syntax. Many sentences could be lifted out of a given point in his message which would convey the thought he was attempting to get across in that section of the sermon. He used every means at his disposal to use language to convey the teaching of the Bible on the subject he was developing. Illustrations were rare but clear and pertinent. He never allowed an illustration to become the main subject, as many preachers do. Although most of us are not as gifted as Mr. Spurgeon, surely if we used the same diligence in preparation as he did, we would be more effective in the pulpit.
Of course these preachers from earlier times didn’t have cell phones (or any phones!) to interrupt them, nor did they allow other interruptions to interfere with their study time. In short, they were disciplined. They blocked off large portions of the day for study, prayer and sermon preparation. My own habit, after several years in the ministry, was to keep the hours from 8AM to 1PM for study time each day, barring emergencies. (Real emergencies are rare!)
THE TEXT DOES SAY TO REPROVE, REBUKE & EXHORT
If we expound the Scriptures in our sermons we will cover all three of these vital areas. One sermon may be designed to simply reprove (convict, refute, shame) and if preached in the Spirit, will accomplish great conviction on the part of the hearers. Another sermon may be designed to rebuke (fault, chide, censure) and that too will bring about Holy Ghost revival and victory in the listeners. Yet other sermons may be designed to exhort (beg, entreat, beseech, encourage, strengthen, etc.). God will use this method of preaching to really bless the flock. These three main elements of preaching ought to be regularly visited by the preacher.
Many of our people are hurting. They are experiencing sickness, pain, emotional upheaval, family problems, financial hardship, depression and they come to church expecting to be lifted out of the humdrum, the humiliating, the hurts and the harshness of daily existence by the man of God in the pulpit. Any preacher worth his salt should be able to preach an entire year of uplifting, encouraging and challenging sermons to address these and many other specific needs of his hurting sheep. He will be rewarded with crowds of people who will come back on Sunday night and Wednesday night and for special meetings without cajoling and gimmicks. If the success of your ministry is measured by your Sunday night and Wednesday night crowd, my question is “How are you doing?”
THE TEXT DOES SAY TO PREACH WITH ALL LONGSUFFERING
God knows that if anyone needs the fruit of the Spirit that imparts longsuffering (patience, endurance, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance) it is the preacher! He has to preach to stubborn sheep that have their own wills and ideas which are often in direct opposition to the preacher and the Bible. Some of the saints will “wear you out” if you don’t develop a spirit of longsuffering and patience. Many a preacher has thrown in the towel and quit the ministry because of lacking this Spirit-fruit. He is thus admonished to be gentle, kind, forgiving and to put on the whole armor of God. He will be criticized, questioned, second-guessed, contradicted, gossiped about and even ostracized at times due to his steadfastness concerning his God-called ministry. But as suggested above if he is preaching the Word to meet the needs of his flock, he will be rewarded with solid saints who will support the work of the ministry of which he is in charge.
THE TEXT DOES SAY TO PREACH DOCTRINE
Doctrine is not what the Bible is about – the Bible IS doctrine! That is why we are admonished to preach the whole counsel of God. We are not to leave out any of the Bible during our tenure as N.T. prophets. Once again, if we expound the Scripture as we must, then sooner or later we will preach on every Bible doctrine.
I am convinced that one reason the Calvary Chapel movement (denomination) has grown exponentially in America is due to the concept of preaching through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. People are hungry to hear what the Bible says, not just what preachers say or preach about the Bible. (This is definitely not meant as an endorsement of the Calvary Chapel movement and their false concepts.) Most of the Calvary Chapels begin from nothing and within a year or two have to go to two or more services each Lord’s Day morning and find or build larger buildings to accommodate the crowds. It isn’t that the preachers are all charismatic personalities or great orators; I believe it is simply the hunger souls have to hear God speak through His Word. There are indeed other more worldly reasons people flock to these services, but this method of preaching through God’s Word is one major factor, in this preacher’s opinion. Dr. W. A. Criswell (Southern Baptist) did the same thing. He started in Genesis and continued Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday night Bible study leading his people on a trek through the Scriptures. Other great men of God have done the same thing with powerful results.
Personally as pastor I was almost always in a Bible book study in Sunday School, the PM service, and the Wednesday night service. (Most of my topical preaching was done on Sunday mornings, but even there I enjoyed most expounding the Scriptures in textual messages.) I would usually take only a few verses, perhaps 4 – 7 (a paragraph?), and outline it as an independent message. Many of you have my book studies and know that any message in any series can be preached on its own even though the listeners may not have been present for previous messages. Bible exposition or expounding a passage of Scripture definitely meets the criteria Paul set forth for Timothy to “Preach the Word!”
CONCLUSION: I am certainly not the role model for what is written above. I did do my best to major on the Bible in my ministry. My first words as I mounted the pulpit were “Open your Bible…” I studied hard, used the minds of great preachers of the past and present to augment my study. But mostly, I attempted to analyze each passage of Scripture and “give the understanding” to the sheep in my flock. I believe every pastor/preacher will have to give an account at the Judgment Seat of Christ for every sermon and lesson they prepared and presented to their people.
Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
As I understand it, Paul gave a pretty clear directive in his statement to “preach the word.” He also gave a threefold duty for every pastor in Acts 20:28 to “…take heed…feed…oversee (lead) the church of God.”
Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
What a sacred and solemn responsibility men of God are charged with when they are called into God’s work! May we all discharge our duty with diligence, fear and joy.
As pastor of a fairly large ministry I felt the awesome responsibility as at the beginning of each service I looked out over the crowd of souls gathered to hear what God had laid on my heart. I would momentarily tremble at the duty that God had given me, and then mount the pulpit and deliver God’s Word and words with joy. I knew that it wasn’t my words but His that would make a lasting impact on people’s lives and future. (Whenever I would deviate from the Word in a message to give a personal note or opinion, I tried to be careful to identify it as “Fedena’s philosophy” rather than “thus saith the Lord.” )
PREACH THE WORD!
I am noticing an alarming trend in our fundamental, independent, Bible-believing churches. It is that preachers seem to be adopting the old Pentecostal preacher’s style or method of preaching. They begin by reading a great passage of Scripture that holds great promise of a real message from God, then they never refer back to the passage as they preach a purely topical message which incorporates a little bit of pop psychology, homey personal illustrations, philosophical concepts and general truth, but totally divorced from the text they began with. The listener gears himself or herself up to hear a challenging message from God’s holy Word, and leaves the service feeling empty and devoid of genuine biblical spiritual truth. Spiritual malnutrition or starvation results!
Paul’s admonition in the text above, to the young preacher, Timothy, was to “preach the word !” What the text does NOT say is to “preach about the word” or “preach without the word” or to “preach your ideas about the word.” In fact, let’s examine the text and see what it doesn’t say and what it does say…
THE TEXT DOESN’T SAY TO PREACH ABOUT THE WORD:
Many “sermons” do exactly that. They preach about the Word of God, but fail to expound the text or to do what Ezra the priest did when he read God’s Word to the Jews who had returned to the land of Israel. The Bible declares that he gathered all the people together, men, women and all “that could hear with understanding.” Then it says: “So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” Isn’t that what all real preaching should accomplish?
In the Old or New Testament, the pattern is that men of God stand before the people and declare and expound the Word and words of God. For classic New Testament examples we could cite Stephen and the Apostle Paul, not to mention the Savior Himself.
THE TEXT DOESN’T SAY TO PREACH OUR PHILOSOPHY:
Apparently oftentimes preachers mimic their heroes and adopt their style of topical preaching. Perhaps their heroes could get away with promoting certain truths, clichés, and philosophical concepts and gather great followings. But these men of God were often great orators and also proclaimed forcefully the truths of God and His Word. Most preachers are not charismatic personalities or gifted orators, like Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., or the late, Lester Roloff, Jack Hyles, Robert G. Lee, et. al., but they often pick up on the home-spun philosophies of these great men but fail to have their insight into God’s Word or their ability to communicate the understanding of Scripture or even to extract the great truths that backed up their concepts, as did their heroes.
God blessed these great and gifted men because their roots were deeply in the Word, not because of their philosophy. To attempt to mimic them and their style without having the depth of Scripture saturation which characterized them, is to fail miserably. It is often humorous, if not tragic, to see a young preacher attempt to imitate some great preacher he admires, and even adopt his mannerisms. (When Dr. Jack Hyles had throat problems and couldn’t preach without continually clearing his throat, young preachers who admired him suddenly developed the same ailment!) The mannerisms of quirks of these great preachers are not what made them great, but their saturation with Scripture, close walk with God, the fullness of the Spirit and their surrender to Him.
Why is it that nearly everyone points to C. H. Spurgeon as the “Prince of Preachers?” It wasn’t because they heard him personally in most cases, but because of the power of his words as he expounded the Scripture. He had honed his craft of personal holiness, immersion in Scripture, hours of prayer and study each day as well as mastering the English language. Nearly every sentence, it seems, in his messages, are gems that can be admired apart from the rest of his sermon. Spurgeon, even when preaching a topical sermon, stayed with his text! He expounded that text, illustrated it, applied it, and logically presented it. It was clear, concise, and convicting because it was primarily biblical from the introduction to the conclusion. His main forte was the textual sermon.
I had acquired all of his New Park Street Pulpit series as well as his Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit series representing many years of his preaching work and often would read a sermon each day as a part of my daily devotions. What a great way to start the day! He never failed to motivate me because he gave me the meat of Scripture, not simply because he was an orator. I would have loved to have heard him in person, but the reason his messages live on in our generation is due to their content, not his personality.
As Spurgeon’s popularity grew and as his church increased exponentially, a reporter from the main newspaper in London came to see and hear for himself the “great Mr. Spurgeon” and to see what caused the crowds to flock to hear him preach God’s Word. He sat watching the service progress in the packed auditorium. At first there was a lot of noise and distractions. Then Spurgeon, small in stature, mounted his throne (pulpit), and began his discourse wielding the Sword of the Spirit as a mighty warrior. A holy hush descended on that great gathering as the Holy Spirit bore witness with His Word through His man, and for the next almost two hours even that reporter was transfixed and wrote an impressive article about his experience. He saw what the Lord can do with one man who “preaches the Word.”
THE TEXT DOESN’T SAY TO PREACH OUR IDEAS:
Sometimes preachers pick up on a concept which becomes their conviction, and then they ride that “hobby horse” to the exclusion of preaching the Word of God. Years ago a group of “fundamental” preachers began to preach against wire-frame glasses. Their flocks heard much about this “conviction” but little of God’s Word. Our pet peeves or theories should not be the substance of our preaching. At one point in my own ministry I fell into this trap. Finally a godly deacon rebuked me and helped me to “see the light” of my folly. I got off that horse and got back to preaching His Word.
There is a place for topical preaching, but it needs to be firmly grounded in the rock solid foundation of the Word of God. Many of us will remember Jack Hyles’ famous sermon “Fresh Oil.” It was very topical, but was built upon a basic and sound principle of Scripture. It wasn’t just Jack Hyles philosophy. (Now he did preach a lot of his philosophy, and most of it was truth and had its roots in Scripture, but some of it was just his philosophy, nothing more. For example, his series of books: Blue Denim & Lace, Grace and Truth, etc. was classic Hyles’ philosophy more than “thus saith the Lord.” Those books contained much practical truth, but the preacher is to preach the Word, not his or another great preacher’s philosophy. For a preacher to pick up on that and preach it as if it was God’s truth would be wrong.)
Of course we should preach on the home, stewardship, soul-winning and the many other themes of Scripture, but only as they are clearly presented in God’s Word, not our ideas or someone’s who wrote a book on that subject. The subject of every message must begin, follow through and end with Scriptural truth.
Our time in the pulpit is precious and God will hold us accountable for the content of our sermons and the scriptural foundation they are built upon. We influence people every time we preach, so let’s be sure we preach something that originated with God, not with our, or others, puny minds.
THE TEXT DOESN’T SAY TO PREACH ABOUT OURSELVES
There is nothing wrong with using our lives to illustrate the Scriptures, but the stories or incidents we use as illustrations are pointless and a waste of everyone’s time unless they direct attention to and throw light upon God’s Word. Spurgeon said that illustrations are the windows in sermons to let in light to illuminate the Bible.
Perhaps there is too much of us and our lives in our messages. We have no scriptural example of the great men of the Bible using incidents in their life in their sermons. The exception, of course, would be giving our testimony of salvation or how God did something special in our lives. Paul was a master of using his personal salvation testimony with great effectiveness, over an over again.
THE TEXT DOES SAY TO PREACH THE WORD!
In the book “The Private Devotional Lives of Finney, Moody and Spurgeon” we can discover the real secret of the greatness of some revered men of God. While it is true that these men were orators with special gifts, the real power behind their popularity and effectiveness as preachers of God’s Word is to be found in the bedrock of Scripture which under girded their lives. Their love of Scripture and the truths of the Word which they regularly mined in their personal lives is the real secret behind their power. Each day these men spent hours plumbing the depths of the Word. One cannot help but read their sermons to see how saturated their souls were with the Bible.
Spurgeon is one of my heroes. (He was NOT the kind of “Calvinist” being promoted today.) He was a great soul-winner, an orator who could hold audiences attention for hours, and influence people around the world in his day and even today in his writings, and especially in his printed sermons. Although he was not an expository, verse-by-verse preacher, he was a master at expounding the Word. Most of his sermons were textual and his messages would be about the text he selected. Of course he would illustrate it in many ways, but his illustrations shed light on his text. They were not given to impress folks about him or to highlight his vast experience. They were all about the Scripture he preached. Each point of his message was to illuminate the text. Every sentence in the sermon was designed to acquaint the hearer with God’s Word.
As you read his sermons you will find that they are not today’s standard and shallow “three points and a sob story” that pawn themselves off as a message from God. There is great depth and insight into the passage he was preaching about. Perhaps it would be well for preachers today to read one of his sermons each day as a daily devotional to become acquainted with the “Prince of Preachers” and more importantly, His Savior and the Bible. Even better, maybe we should acquaint ourselves with our Savior and the writers of Scripture and get to know them so personally and intimately that our sermons reflect their writings, their philosophy and their insight into the Lord and His Word.
Of course any preacher worth his salt will spend hours in the Word preparing food for his flock. However, it would do us all well to study the habits of other great men of God to see how they accomplished providing nourishing food at each feeding time. Spurgeon weekly immersed himself in the Bible to prepare for each service. In the above mentioned book it is said that he studied the Word for his theology, for cheer and comfort, for guidance, for its truth, for soul-winning, so that he might fight against the forces of evil, and for spiritual food. Spurgeon himself said: “It is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in scriptural language, and your spirit is flavoured with the words of the Lord, so that your blood is Bibline and the very essence of the Bible flows from you.”
It is said that Spurgeon’s library contained nearly 12,000 books. He was widely read and made it a habit before preaching on any text in Scripture to consult “a great array of Bible commentaries” to see what each had to say on his text. When a text caught his attention, he then checked Cruden’s Concordance to see how words in the text were used elsewhere in the Bible. He would jot down random thoughts as he studied and then finally arrange them into a cohesive and orderly sermon.
Spurgeon was exceptionally gifted. Often in his sermons it seems that every sentence was perfectly arranged and became a weighty thought to be transferred to the listener with near perfect cadence, rhythm, and syntax. Many sentences could be lifted out of a given point in his message which would convey the thought he was attempting to get across in that section of the sermon. He used every means at his disposal to use language to convey the teaching of the Bible on the subject he was developing. Illustrations were rare but clear and pertinent. He never allowed an illustration to become the main subject, as many preachers do. Although most of us are not as gifted as Mr. Spurgeon, surely if we used the same diligence in preparation as he did, we would be more effective in the pulpit.
Of course these preachers from earlier times didn’t have cell phones (or any phones!) to interrupt them, nor did they allow other interruptions to interfere with their study time. In short, they were disciplined. They blocked off large portions of the day for study, prayer and sermon preparation. My own habit, after several years in the ministry, was to keep the hours from 8AM to 1PM for study time each day, barring emergencies. (Real emergencies are rare!)
THE TEXT DOES SAY TO REPROVE, REBUKE & EXHORT
If we expound the Scriptures in our sermons we will cover all three of these vital areas. One sermon may be designed to simply reprove (convict, refute, shame) and if preached in the Spirit, will accomplish great conviction on the part of the hearers. Another sermon may be designed to rebuke (fault, chide, censure) and that too will bring about Holy Ghost revival and victory in the listeners. Yet other sermons may be designed to exhort (beg, entreat, beseech, encourage, strengthen, etc.). God will use this method of preaching to really bless the flock. These three main elements of preaching ought to be regularly visited by the preacher.
Many of our people are hurting. They are experiencing sickness, pain, emotional upheaval, family problems, financial hardship, depression and they come to church expecting to be lifted out of the humdrum, the humiliating, the hurts and the harshness of daily existence by the man of God in the pulpit. Any preacher worth his salt should be able to preach an entire year of uplifting, encouraging and challenging sermons to address these and many other specific needs of his hurting sheep. He will be rewarded with crowds of people who will come back on Sunday night and Wednesday night and for special meetings without cajoling and gimmicks. If the success of your ministry is measured by your Sunday night and Wednesday night crowd, my question is “How are you doing?”
THE TEXT DOES SAY TO PREACH WITH ALL LONGSUFFERING
God knows that if anyone needs the fruit of the Spirit that imparts longsuffering (patience, endurance, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance) it is the preacher! He has to preach to stubborn sheep that have their own wills and ideas which are often in direct opposition to the preacher and the Bible. Some of the saints will “wear you out” if you don’t develop a spirit of longsuffering and patience. Many a preacher has thrown in the towel and quit the ministry because of lacking this Spirit-fruit. He is thus admonished to be gentle, kind, forgiving and to put on the whole armor of God. He will be criticized, questioned, second-guessed, contradicted, gossiped about and even ostracized at times due to his steadfastness concerning his God-called ministry. But as suggested above if he is preaching the Word to meet the needs of his flock, he will be rewarded with solid saints who will support the work of the ministry of which he is in charge.
THE TEXT DOES SAY TO PREACH DOCTRINE
Doctrine is not what the Bible is about – the Bible IS doctrine! That is why we are admonished to preach the whole counsel of God. We are not to leave out any of the Bible during our tenure as N.T. prophets. Once again, if we expound the Scripture as we must, then sooner or later we will preach on every Bible doctrine.
I am convinced that one reason the Calvary Chapel movement (denomination) has grown exponentially in America is due to the concept of preaching through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. People are hungry to hear what the Bible says, not just what preachers say or preach about the Bible. (This is definitely not meant as an endorsement of the Calvary Chapel movement and their false concepts.) Most of the Calvary Chapels begin from nothing and within a year or two have to go to two or more services each Lord’s Day morning and find or build larger buildings to accommodate the crowds. It isn’t that the preachers are all charismatic personalities or great orators; I believe it is simply the hunger souls have to hear God speak through His Word. There are indeed other more worldly reasons people flock to these services, but this method of preaching through God’s Word is one major factor, in this preacher’s opinion. Dr. W. A. Criswell (Southern Baptist) did the same thing. He started in Genesis and continued Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday night Bible study leading his people on a trek through the Scriptures. Other great men of God have done the same thing with powerful results.
Personally as pastor I was almost always in a Bible book study in Sunday School, the PM service, and the Wednesday night service. (Most of my topical preaching was done on Sunday mornings, but even there I enjoyed most expounding the Scriptures in textual messages.) I would usually take only a few verses, perhaps 4 – 7 (a paragraph?), and outline it as an independent message. Many of you have my book studies and know that any message in any series can be preached on its own even though the listeners may not have been present for previous messages. Bible exposition or expounding a passage of Scripture definitely meets the criteria Paul set forth for Timothy to “Preach the Word!”
CONCLUSION: I am certainly not the role model for what is written above. I did do my best to major on the Bible in my ministry. My first words as I mounted the pulpit were “Open your Bible…” I studied hard, used the minds of great preachers of the past and present to augment my study. But mostly, I attempted to analyze each passage of Scripture and “give the understanding” to the sheep in my flock. I believe every pastor/preacher will have to give an account at the Judgment Seat of Christ for every sermon and lesson they prepared and presented to their people.
Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
As I understand it, Paul gave a pretty clear directive in his statement to “preach the word.” He also gave a threefold duty for every pastor in Acts 20:28 to “…take heed…feed…oversee (lead) the church of God.”
Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
What a sacred and solemn responsibility men of God are charged with when they are called into God’s work! May we all discharge our duty with diligence, fear and joy.
As pastor of a fairly large ministry I felt the awesome responsibility as at the beginning of each service I looked out over the crowd of souls gathered to hear what God had laid on my heart. I would momentarily tremble at the duty that God had given me, and then mount the pulpit and deliver God’s Word and words with joy. I knew that it wasn’t my words but His that would make a lasting impact on people’s lives and future. (Whenever I would deviate from the Word in a message to give a personal note or opinion, I tried to be careful to identify it as “Fedena’s philosophy” rather than “thus saith the Lord.” )
PREACH THE WORD!
