The Power of Preaching

0:00 Father, there's no hope for accomplishing any of the goals of preaching without your sovereign intervention, including this moment. And so we turn away from ourselves, our self-reliance, our preparations, our mind, our heart, and we lean on you. We acknowledge you. We ask you to come. We need your help. We always need your help. help to speak, help to listen. And so please don't leave us to ourselves, draw near and show your power to meet every need in this room, Lord. They are so diverse and only you know them and you know them so well and you care. So tend your shepherds, I pray. Bless them, empower them for their preaching, I ask in Jesus' name. Amen. So that's our theme in this session, and then later this afternoon, the privilege of preaching. And my aim is that if God would be pleased, that having listened to this message, you would preach with greater power. And what I mean by that is that you would be used with greater effectiveness in bringing about the Christ-exalting, soul-satisfying purposes of God in preaching. Greater effectiveness is what I mean by power.

1:36 So I've been reflecting now for about a week. This is all new on this message, and it has seemed to me good, and I hope to the Holy Spirit, that we gather our thoughts under three headings. One, the saving, sanctifying, Christ-exalting, soul-satisfying purposes of God for his people through preaching are humanly impossible and must be brought about by God. That's Heading number one, your task, the things that what you want to happen is impossible. That is absolutely crucial if you're going to have any power at all that you bow before that reality. Number two, we'll come back to each of these.

2:32 Even though the accomplishment of God's purposes in your life and in your people's life require supernatural intervention, God has chosen to bind the fullness of his supernatural blessing to his word spoken through you. That's amazing. So even though it's supernatural and you cannot do it, he has chosen to bind the supernatural intervention in the lives of your people to his word. That's number two. Now, at this point, with those two in place, I could go, this could become a message about the power of God through counseling, right? Power of God through teaching, power of God through small group mutual exhortation. The word could go in any direction, but I have been asked to speak about the power of preaching, which I define as expository exaltation. And it is a form of speech that I think God has sovereignly ordained to be a regular part of the corporate worship of his people. So we linger here for just a minute before we get to heading number three, because I want you know what I mean by preaching if we're going to talk about power in preaching.

4:07 K. Ruxon ton logon, 2 Timothy 4.2, herald the word, preach the word, is not the same as teach the word. It's not the same as discuss the word or share the word or dramatize the word. It's unique. It is a unique form of speech that was brought into being by the uniqueness of God and the uniqueness of the inspired word of God and the uniqueness of the people of God. Those three absolutely unique realities calls forth a unique kind of speech called preaching. So God is unique, right? He's great. He's beautiful. He's valuable. There's no one like God, one of a kind. And the Bible is unique. God's breathed scripture is unique. There's no book in the world like the Bible, which is our job to open before the people. So we have a unique God.

5:14 We have a unique book, and we speak every Sunday to an absolutely unique people. It may be 30 or 3,000. It doesn't matter. They are absolutely unique. Just think of it. So they're God's possession. They're chosen before the foundation of the world. They're destined to be like the Son of God. They are bought with the blood of Christ. They are acquitted and accepted before God. They are a new creation. They are indwelt by the creator of the universe. They are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. They are called to eternal glory. They are heirs of the world. They are destined to rule with Christ. And they're going to judge angels.

5:59 That's the people you talk to every week. It's just staggering. You should be blown away by these 30 people. Nothing like it in the world. Nothing. I mean, absolutely unique. There is no gathering like this week by week gathering. It must have a unique form of speech. That's what I think preaching came into being as. The God, the book, the people are totally and amazingly incomparable, and they call forth a unique form of speech called preaching, heralding, expository exaltation. That's our focus. So heading number one, God's purposes are impossible in the lives of his people for human beings to accomplish.

6:59 Heading number two, nevertheless, those purposes are bound by God to his word. Okay, number three, third heading. There are ways to preach which release or hinder this supernatural effectiveness. In other words, you can preach with greater or lesser power. That's amazing. There are things you can do that release or hinder God's power in your preaching. So let's take these one at a time now.

7:52 Number one, heading number one, the saving, sanctifying, Christ exalting, soul satisfying purposes of God for his people are humanly impossible and must be brought about by God. Every aspect of salvation, just read your Bible and you'll become a Calvinist.

8:20 Every aspect of salvation is beyond the natural man. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. To which the disciples threw up their hands and said, then who can be saved? To which Jesus did not say, you misunderstood.

8:49 He said, with man, it is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. That's my hope for my children. And that's my only hope for anybody in your church. If anyone is going to be saved, God must save them. The new birth is a work of God. According to God's great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope. Man doesn't do that. God does that. Seeing the glory of Christ is a work of God. God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Nobody can shine in your heart but God to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Repentance is a work of God.

9:53 God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, whereby they become delivered from the one who has taken them captive to do his will. 2 Timothy 2, 25. Faith is a work of God. By grace you have been saved. Through faith. Is that your own doing? This is a gift of God. You are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. You're his creation. You don't create yourself.

10:23 It's all of God. Experiencing the love of God is a work of God. I remember when I was preaching through Romans, I got to Romans 5, 5. I think I lingered there three weeks on that verse. God's love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Do you experience that? That's an experience. That's an experience. God's love has been poured out God's love for you is mediated to you by the Holy Spirit no other way you can't make that happen to you people you can describe the love of God in fact the next verses do it but you can't cause the heart of anybody to experience the love of God only the Holy Spirit can pour that out obedience to what pleases God is a work of God may God equip you with everything good that you may do his will working in us what is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to him be glory forever and ever any obedience in the lives of your people that is authentic is a gift you didn't make it happen God made it happen all Christian virtues are a work of God the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, meekness, faithfulness self-control, fruit of the Holy Spirit, not you you can't make love happen, faithfulness happen, patience happen in the lives of your people serving the Lord Jesus is a work of God.

12:19 Whoever serves, let him serve in the strength that God supplies so that in everything God gets the glory. Endurance and patience. One more. This is precious to an old man. We pray for you that you may be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy. He's praying that God would give endurance and patience, not gutting it out, but with joy at the work of God. Oh, my goodness.

13:02 It's just wonderful to believe in the sovereignty of God. I just love it, right? This is the beginning of your power to realize you don't have any. It's not from you. From him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory forever. Amen. That's heading number one. Number two. Even though the accomplishment of God's purposes in the life of our people requires supernatural intervention, God has chosen to bind that fullness of supernatural effectiveness to the ministry of the word.

14:06 Didn't have to, but he did. So, the new birth, though a work of God, comes through human word. You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. This word is the good news that was preached to you.

14:38 That's 1 Peter 1, 23 and 25. Amazing. That's just staggering. Salvation, though it is a work of God, comes through belief in the truth which is spoken by humans. And you don't get it any other way. God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory that is in Christ Jesus. Saved through belief in the truth which we preach to you. Faith is a work of God. Nevertheless, faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ, Romans 10, 17.

15:46 So we can step back. I mean, the list could go on and on. All those sovereign works of God are through human agency. So we can step back and make the all-encompassing statement that since all that pleases the Lord comes from faith, right? without faith it is impossible to please God. Anything that is not from faith is sin. So through faith comes everything that pleases God. Therefore, all the works of God in us are owing not only to his direct supernatural intervention, but also to the ministry of the word, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. that logic makes sense nothing is pleasing to God is not from faith and there is no faith without the preaching of the word Therefore, everything that God does in the lives of his people depends on the Word and the sovereign work of God through it. So heading number two, which is where we are, even though the accomplishment of God's purposes in the life of our people requires supernatural intervention, God has chosen to bind his fullness, the fullness of his effectiveness and his power to the human ministry of the Word. I believe the main reason why he does it this way, namely ties the sovereign vertical supernatural intervention to the horizontal human ministry of the Word is that he would not receive glory and Christ would not receive glory if he did his vertical work incognito.

17:54 wouldn't get any glory if there were no horizontal declaration of what's going on in the vertical supernatural intervention of God. In order for God's supernatural action to bring him glory, it must have interpretation, human interpretation. Otherwise, things would happen and people wouldn't have any idea. Was that lightning?

18:31 Electricity? Devil? They wouldn't know anything unless a word had accompanied the power declaring who God is and what he's doing. So Jesus, when he declared that he would send the Holy Spirit, said, I'm going to send him in order that he might glorify me. That's the central ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Son of God. The Spirit makes much of Jesus. Where the Word of Christ is silenced, the Spirit does not do His illumining supernatural work. the word of God is preached and the spirit. I love this picture in my hands here.

19:25 So this is a jet and this is a jet. These are blue birds here. They fly. And this is the word preached and this is the Holy Spirit. And if this plane lands for some reason, you stop preaching the truth. This plane lands. And does not do his work.

19:51 Because if he were to go ahead and do his work with no word, nobody would know what's happening. And Christ would get no glory. You're the one who names it. And make sure the people know what's happening. You know, most of your people don't know how they got saved. They don't. They're all born Arminians. They don't know what happened. I mean, this is serious. It really is tragically serious. They think they did it. They're not glorifying Jesus the way they should. Only by preaching can people learn that they were raised from the dead. They don't know that. I mean, God is so merciful to save people through bad theology. It's just wonderful. And we Calvinists, we just come along and clean it up.

20:41 I mean, this is just serious. I've seen for 33 years, I'm just cleaning it up. Clean it up. People give their testimony. I grew up in the Roman Catholic Church. Fine. Come on in. We'll clean it up. That's really gracious of God to do that. I mean, we have our own problems, all right? But we clean up a lot of mess. And a big mess is people don't know what happened to them. And our job is to speak truth so that Christ gets the glory he ought to get from everything that happens to us. Just imagine the kind of theologies that are out there that don't give God the glory he should get because they don't understand how it all works. And oh, when you show them, it's like a second conversion. I mean, hundreds of people in the last 50 years have told me it's like a second conversion to discover the sovereign grace of God in their lives.

21:44 so fly your fighter jet of the word faithfully and the spirit will fly with you he loves to glorify the Christ of the gospel don't stop elevating the truth of the Bible because the Holy Spirit won't do his work if you do if you cease now we come to heading number three There are ways to preach which release or hinder this supernatural effectiveness. There are things you can do with God's help which will make you more or less useful in the accomplishment of God's purposes, God's sovereign, supernatural purposes in your life.

22:44 It is possible to become a more powerful preacher. Now, caution here. This doesn't mean that you get veto power over the sovereignty of God. when Paul asks, for example, in Colossians 4.4, that they would pray for him, that I may make the mystery of Christ clear, which is how I ought to speak. And when he says in Ephesians 6.20, that they would pray for him, pray for him. So what's happening in prayer? He wants those people to go to God and ask God to send down something. All right. And what he's asking them to send down is boldness, that I may declare the gospel boldly. So when he does those two prayers, Colossians 4, 4, Ephesians 6, 20, when he asks, go to God and ask God to give me clarity and boldness, he's admitting clarity and boldness matter.

23:53 this is not a throwaway they matter something more will happen if I'm clear and bold than if I'm not so he's asking ask God to do that well as soon as he admits they're important he is also admitting God gives them right that's why you're praying in others I don't have veto power over the power of God going out for me because the very means by which he goes out for me is a gift of God.

24:28 The gifts of God are not just in your people as you preach. The gifts of God are in the preacher as he's preaching. If there are things you can do to make yourself more powerful, they're gifts of God. That's why he's asking them to pray for God to give them. So please don't misunderstand when I say there are things you can do with God's help. I don't mean you can have veto power over God's purposes in the world. So I'm going to mention three things that I, and as I was working through these again last night and today, I thought, oh my goodness, I left out so many. So please don't, don't think, oh, these are the three. They're not the three. They're just three.

25:19 And, and I, as I did them, I realized why I'm choosing these. And I'll, I'll, if you don't catch on early. I'll tell you later why these three are prominent, but they're not the only three things that you can do to increase your effectiveness. Number one, I'll name them and then we'll go back and look at them. Make the content of your sermons the word of God. What God says, you say. Make his meaning your meaning. The reality he means to communicate, that's the reality you mean to communicate. Okay, that's number one. Number two, make your explanations and illustrations crystal clear. Number three, make your delivery the embodiment of authentic, contagious affections for the preciousness of the reality.

26:33 Say it again. Make your delivery the embodiment of authentic, contagious affections for the preciousness of the reality that you have just made. Crystal clear. All right. Number one. What God says, you say. Make his meaning your meaning. Don't tamper with God's word. 2 Corinthians 4. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth, we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 2 Corinthians 4. Get the message right. This is paramount, as you know, from the fire-breathing book called Galatians.

27:38 Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let it be damned. An angel, damn the angel who preaches another gospel. Damn me if I preach another gospel. Whoa, that's serious. As we have said before, going to repeat it. So now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one that you received, let him be damned. That's fire breathing. This is paramount. What God says, you say. Don't mess with it. It's glorious. You don't You need to mess with it. It's awesome. I mean, if God talks, you're going to quote the New York Times? What is that?

28:34 Crazy. God has promised to bless his word, get his word right. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and don't return there, but water the earth, causing it to bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty. It will accomplish the thing for which I sent it and accomplished my purpose. How many times have I preached that to myself walking into the pulpit? It's not going to be in vain. I don't care how bad it feels right now. It's not going to be in vain. If I say what he says, get the word right. God doesn't just watch his word.

29:30 He performs it. Jeremiah 1 12 the Lord said to me I am watching over my word to perform it I'm watching over my word to perform it not yours I perform my word not your word I perform my word I do it I work miracles through my word Don't mix it with your alien ideas. Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat, declares the Lord. Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? So if this is the path to power and you miss it, the rest of all the other empowerings that you try to work up will not be God's blessing on your preaching. It will be something else, not his blessing.

30:41 Number two, make your explanations and illustrations crystal clear. Why does Paul say to the elders that they must be didacticos?

31:04 How would you translate that? Translate apt to teach, able to teach, gifted in teaching, competent in teaching. What does that mean? It means be good explainers, right? Elders should be good explainers. I don't think every elder has to give the gift of preaching. We have elders who labor, especially in preaching and teaching, and there are other kinds of elders. But every elder must know his Bible, and when he bumps into false teaching, be able to explain the problem. Why?

31:40 Because it matters that you make things clear. The gift of teaching is to make things clear. Complicated things get explained. That's what the gift of teaching is, right? You take something that people are puzzled by, you dig in, you figure it out, you arrange it and you tell it, and they, oh, that's the gift of teaching. It's clarity, it's beautiful. The opposite of clear is not false, but foggy.

32:12 And foggy is almost always boring. And the Bible isn't boring. It's just incredible. It's just the word of the living God, and it is not boring. And you shouldn't make it boring with foggy, vague, unclear preaching. Paul pleaded for this, that I might make it clear, faneroso, which is how I ought to speak, Colossians 4, 4. We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. But by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

33:20 Paul loved being clear. It wasn't a technique. It was obedience. It was glad obedience, cleaning the windows of the soul. Your people's souls are all foggy. They're all foggy. And your job is to be so crystal clear. You just go in there and shh, shh, shh. And they go, whoa, yes. Paul said to Timothy, think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Can you say that to your people? Think over what I say. Expose my sermon to careful thinking. Are you giving them real, clear substance so that you can say, think about what I say?

34:26 Take it apart. See if it works. See if it fits. See if it makes sense. Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking, be mature. So I think that implies you should preach in such a way that you could say to your people, I want you to apply your best thought to my best preaching.

34:58 Take it apart. Follow it. Does it, is it cohere? Is it valid? Clear logic really matters. It really matters. I think God's very logical.

35:22 I think logic comes from God. I don't think it's culturally defined. I think syllogisms. All men are mortal. Plato's a man, therefore Plato's mortal. I think that's in the heart of God. that's a valid argument. All horses have four legs. Fido has four legs. Therefore, Fido is a horse.

35:50 If you preach like that, your people should go, huh? And many do. Many do. It's muddy. It's just muddy. It's not flowing. I can't follow it. It doesn't make sense. He's not going anywhere.

36:12 That's not good. Don't be children in your thinking. In your thinking, be mature. If the people obey the command to think over what you say, will they find it to be coherent, beautiful, and clear, or will they find it foggy, muddy? The reason God will bless clarity is because he values his word.

36:50 And the reality he's trying to communicate by his word. If the explanations of his word are unclear, the greatness, the beauty, the value of the reality communicated by the word, won't be clear, and therefore God won't put power on it as much as if it were clear. He loves to glorify himself, his son, his word, and therefore the clearer you can make it, vivid before people, the more you're likely to get God's yes. That's my word. So be clear in all your explanations and illustrations, which means that I don't know how you do this, but you need to listen to yourself preach as you prepare your sermons.

37:50 Kevin's got the job of cleaning up after me here and telling you how to do all this. That's not my job. I'm just telling you, this is a great job. We got a great job. But there is a way to help yourself be clearer. And a second reading of my manuscript that starts emerging is regularly. That didn't make sense. I mean, I'm putting myself in the here. That didn't make sense. That transition didn't work. They're wondering, why did you do that in the next paragraph? And I realized I got to make this clearer. It's got to be clearer. OK, transition number three.

38:38 It's kind of arbitrary, right? And this is the last one. Make your delivery the embodiment of authentic, contagious affections for the preciousness of the reality God means to communicate. So now I said I would tell you why I chose these three, and maybe you can see that all I'm doing is unpacking my definition of preaching. Preaching is expository, exaltation over an authoritative text. So the first point is get the text right. The second point is be clear in the exposition. Now the third point is exaltation. So that's, I didn't mean to do that. It just happened. That's just, when you're just locked into a definition like I am, it just happens. The aim of the Word of God is that the people of God understand the truth of God and feel the value of God.

39:46 The aim of God's word is that the people of God would understand the truth of God and then feel appropriate responses to the worth of the reality being communicated. And that's the third point is on that.

40:10 How do you how do you help people with that? It's a it's a miracle, right? For anybody to feel love for God is a miracle. For them to be amazed at God is a miracle. For them to be broken for sin is a miracle. But there are things you can do to help make that happen under God's grace. The Bible demands from us right thinking about reality and right feeling about reality. Emotions are not peripheral and not optional in the Bible. They are essential.

40:57 Now, if this were a charismatic gathering, nobody would need persuading, but Presbyterians, you need persuading. for some crazy reason that I don't understand. Why there's this resistance to the subjective in the Reformed world. We just love doctrine so much. I mean, me too. And therefore somehow are suspicious of, ooh. Feeling.

41:33 So the Bible demands that we have right thinking about God and that we feel appropriately about His worth. Emotions aren't peripheral, they're essential, and this is clear all over the Bible. If you're a Bible person, you will pray to be a passionate person. For example, just to give you a few examples of the kinds of affections, spiritual affections that are commanded. Contentment. Be content with what you have. Fervent love. Fervently love one another from the heart. Hope. Hope in God, for I shall again praise him. Fear, fear the one who can cast both soul and body into hell.

42:36 Peace, let the peace of God rule in your heart. Zeal and fervency, let the peace rule. Be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Sorrow, weep with those who weep. Desire, long for the spiritual milk of the word. Tenderheartedness. Be kind to one another. Tenderhearted. Gratitude. Always be thankful in everything. And on and on and on. These are commanded.

43:07 People need to be taught this because they're jarred by this. They think feelings just happen to you and can't be commanded. If it's commanded, it can't be an emotion. Oh my goodness. What a crazy demonic thought that is. Jonathan Edwards said, I should think myself in the way of my duty to raise the affections of my hearers as high as I possibly can, provided that they are affected with nothing but the truth and with the affections that are not disagreeable to the nature of what they are affected with. I love that sentence. I read that 40 years ago or whenever it was. And I was like, hey, man, thank you for that permission, Edwards, because nobody writes a sentence like that unless they're crazy rational.

44:02 Right. I mean, that's a complicated sentence. Very carefully crafted and utterly liberating for charismatics like me. Scan the Psalms, for example. I can't take the time to give you all the text, but I will name maybe 20 or 25 emotions that the Psalms take for granted in the life of a believer. Loneliness, love, awe, sorrow, regret, contrition, discouragement, turmoil, shame, exaltation, marveling, delight, joy, gladness, fear, anger, peace, grief, desire, hope, brokenheartedness, thankfulness, zeal, pain, confidence, and so on. Text for each of those. God empowers preaching that authentically embodies the worth of his word, not just the truth of his word.

45:11 Why would God bless a message that communicates precisely the truth of a reality and communicates nothing about its worth?

45:33 It embodies nothing about its worth. Why would you do that? He does. He does. He's very gracious. but I think he delights in blessing the embodiment of the worth of his reality as well as the truth of his reality. So, implication. The greatest battle in your life as a preacher is to treasure the glory of God above all things and to feel its worth. That's the greatest battle. The devil can get doctrine right. You are the Son of God. You are the Holy One of God. That's the devil talking. Truth. He saw the truth better than the disciples. getting doctrine right may not rise you any higher than the devil.

46:32 He just hates it. And we love it. That's the difference. Wow. So any effort to manufacture emotion that is not authentically coming from a true treasuring of God's worth, the people are going to know this. I mean, I've seen it. You know, one of the dangers of Pipers hanging around with these young preachers is they say, well, I guess you're supposed to preach like Piper. and then they try to do the motions and do the loudness and do the earnestness or whatever I do and it's just fake. And I never tell anybody preach like me.

47:27 I never would say that. You've got to be you. You've got to be you. And the great challenge is what's me? Who am I in Christ? What is it like for me to feel the worth of God? Me, not Piper. DeYoung. None of that. I want to know between me and you, what is it like for this person that you created in your image to feel the worth of your salvation? And I want to be that authentically. Just help me. It doesn't have to be tomorrow, 10 years from now. Just get me there. people will know if you're faking it. They'll say, you're not preaching. You're not even living. You're acting.

48:18 So stay in love with the glory of God. That's the great battle. Getting up every morning and doing George Mueller, getting your heart happy in Jesus every day. it is a powerful thing to say to your people the words of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold even much fine gold sweeter also than honey and drippings from the honeycomb and they see he means it. He means it.

48:52 I can tell he lives there. He lives in that gold and he lives in that honey. I can tell. So summarize where we've been. Let me stop. The saving, sanctifying, Christ-exalting, soul-satisfying purposes of God in your people are humanly impossible. That is the beginning of your power. number two nevertheless God has chosen to bind the fullness of his supernatural intervention in your people's lives with his word that you preach number three there are ways to preach that release or hinder more of this supernatural effectiveness one get the content of your sermons right make his meaning your meaning two make your explanations and illustrations crystal clear and three make your delivery the embodiment of authentic contagious affections for the preciousness of that reality. Let's pray.

50:08 Father in heaven it's clear then the implication of this message is that we are utterly dependent on you, both for the work in our people, save them, sanctify them, get them home to glory, and in ourselves to be what they need from us in our preaching ministry. So, I ask again, perform these miracles, I pray in Jesus' name.