These were preached in 1969, when the Dr visited Pensacola Theological Institute in the USA:
1. Prayer (Hebrews 10:10-25)
2. The Acid Test of Christian Profession (2 Corinthians 4:17)
3. The Deep Things of God (1 Corinthians 2)
4. The Doctrine of the Church (Acts 2:42)
5. A Picture of the Church (Luke 24:25-27)
6. How Shall We Escape? (Hebrews 2:1-4)
7. The Problem of Evangelism (1 Thessalonians 1:5a)
8. Revival of a Backslidden Church (Exodus 33)
9. The Narrow Way (Matthew 7:13-14)
“Preaching Christ is the great purpose of the Christian expositor. But how do we preach Christ from the Old Testament without falsely allegorizing or spiritualising? Sinclair Ferguson shares some principles that will help us to stay true to the original purposes and historical reality of the text, while drawing out the riches of grace which are proclaimed in Jesus Christ
While the temptation is to look for a simple formula, a quick fix, which will allow us to do this without effort, Sinclair Ferguson wants to help us become preachers with an instinct for preaching Christ from the whole of scripture.” (HT: Proc Trust)
David Murray, professor of Old Testament at Puritan Theological Seminary, has some excellent guidance about preaching Christ from the prophets.
Audio and pdf here.
Veracity.Clarity. Authority. Authenticity.
Kevin De Young: 4 Indispensible Qualities of Good Preaching.
Tim Challies is asking John MacArthur some good questions over at his blog. I was struck by this comment:
I think the greatest challenge any minister can face in ministry, especially in today’s world, is to maintain faithfulness to the Word of God over the long haul. There is always a temptation to tickle ears, follow trends, or grow lazy in weekly study. But since pastors are called to faithfully preach the Word, they must resist those temptations; and they must do so each and every week.
Alan Kurschner tells us why Powerpoint is not prophetic:
In summary, I simply do not find sermons supplemented with Powerpoint conducive to the qualities of soul-grabbing, prophetic, anguishing preaching. So pastors, just focus on edifying the flock’s souls at that moment and allow your well-prepared sermons to speak for themselves.
Don Carson spoke in England last week at the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership. His theme was the church. Downloads are free.
| Building the Church (YEMA 2011) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 1 | Leaders and Pastors which build a Church 1 Timothy 3:1-7 | Don Carson | Listen | |
| Feb 1 | What is the Church? Ephesians 5:21-31 | Don Carson | Listen | |
| Feb 1 | Q & A – News from the YGP | Don Carson | Listen | |
| Feb 1 | Building the Church 2 Timothy 3:1 – 4:8 | Don Carson | Listen | |
| Feb 1 | Believing and belonging – avoiding church dating – the glorious priviledge | Don Carson | Listen | |
Ehud. What do we do with him?
A left handed assassin, who uses not a little trickery to wangle a private audience with a foreign despot. Alone with the unsuspecting monarch, Ehud plunges the dagger into the king’s fat belly.
Applications anyone?
Silly isn’t it? Yet how many other Old Testament characters do we preach in precisely this way? “Joseph resisted temptation and so should we.” “Daniel prayed three times daily, and so should we.”
Of course, it all works fine so long as the biblical characters are playing nice. But then we come to Ehud.
I’m not saying that there can never be an exemplary value in Old Testament characters. But perhaps we are always on safer ground when we ask “what is God doing?” in the narrative, rather than assuming that the primary value of texts is in the human characters.
I might be wrong, but I think the main point we’re meant to derive from Ehud is theological. God saves his people on the one hand, and judges his enemies on the other.
In itself, the assassination is besides the point.
Dr Iain Murray – “A Caution for Expository Preaching” (via Sermon Central)
In a number of circles today “expository preaching” is in vogue, and it is being urged on preachers as the way to preach. If this means that the preacher’s one business is to confine himself to the text of Scripture, and to make the sense plain to others, there is nothing more to discuss; who can disagree save those who do not know that the Bible is the word of God.
But “expository preaching” has often come to mean something more. The phrase is popularly used to describe preaching which consecutively takes a congregation through a passage, or book of Scripture, week by week. This procedure is compared with the method of preaching on individual texts that may have no direct connection with each other from one Sunday to the next. The latter is discouraged in favour of the “expository” method.
Why has this view of “expository preaching” become comparatively popular? There are several reasons. First, it is believed that the practice will raise the standard of preaching. By a consecutive treatment of a book of Scripture, it is said, the preacher is taken away from any hobby-horses, and congregations are more likely to be given a broader, more intelligent grasp of all Scripture. The preacher is also delivered from a constant search for texts—he and the people know what is before them. These reasons are perhaps confirmed for younger preachers by the fact that at our main conventions and conferences the well-known speakers commonly deal with one passage in a few addresses, and when these find their way into print they are taken as models of the best way of preaching. Published sermons of any other kind are few and far between, for publishers definitely favour the “expository” on the grounds of their popularity. 1
In our view, however, it is time that the disadvantages of this view of preaching are at least considered:
- It assumes that all preachers are capable of making effective sermons along these lines. But men have different gifts. Spurgeon was not unfamiliar with “expository preaching” (listening to sermons in his youth he had sometimes wished the Hebrews had kept their epistle to themselves!), and he decided it was not best suited to his gifts. There is reason to think that being an effective “expository” preacher is not such a common gift as some seem to think. Even Dr. Lloyd-Jones was 20 years into his ministry before he slowly introduced “expository” series.
- The argument that the “expository” method is the best means to cover most of the Bible is too largely connected with the idea that the foremost purpose of preaching is to convey as much as possible of the Bible. But that idea needs to be challenged. Preaching needs to be much more than an agency of instruction. It needs to strike, awaken, and arouse men and women so that they themselves become bright Christians and daily students of Scripture. If the preacher conceives his work primarily in terms of giving instruction, rather than of giving stimulus, the sermon, in most hands, very easily becomes a sort of weekly “class”—an end in itself. But true preaching needs to ignite an ongoing process.
- Significantly, the churches—particularly in Scotland—once distinguished between “the sermon” and “the lecture.” The word “lecture” was not used in any pejorative sense, it simply meant what is now commonly meant by “expository preaching,” namely, the consecutive treatment of a passage or book. The commentaries of John Brown of Broughton Place, Edinburgh, originated in this way. So did Lloyd-Jones’ work on Romans—he called those expositions “lectures”; the difference between a sermon and a lecture, in his view, being that a sermon is a rounded whole, a distinct message—complete in itself—whereas the lecture on Scripture is part of something larger and ongoing. In contrast with his Romans, Lloyd-Jones conceived the contents of his Ephesians as sermons, and anyone comparing his procedure in these two series (the first done on a Friday night, the second on a Sunday morning) can quickly see the difference. This is not to devalue his Romans, the purpose was different.
- At the end of the day, the best preaching is preaching which helps the hearers most, and in that connection the track record of the consecutive “expository” method is not impressive. It has never proved popular in the long term, and the reason for that, I think, is clear: a sermon needs a text as the basis for a memorable message. The text may be remembered when all else is gone in the mind of hearers. Sometime, it is true, a text may be a paragraph rather than a verse—a Gospel parable or a narrative, for instance—but if, as often happens with “expository preaching,” a series of verses is regularly made “the text,” then a whole series of ideas get into the sermon, and clear over-all lessons (such as one may see in Spurgeon’s sermons) are lost. The preacher has become only a commentator. Sometimes he even ceases to give out a text from the passage he intends to take. But people could commonly get the same help, and perhaps better, by taking up a book teaching the same section of Scripture. But, it may be said, “Is not Lloyd-Jones’ Ephesians both expository and textual preaching? He enforces only a few leading thoughts at one time, and yet proceeds consecutively—why cannot others do the same?” The answer is that Lloyd-Jones did bring the textual and the expository together in his Ephesians, but this is exactly the type of preaching that is not within the gift of most preachers. Too many tyros have tried to preach verse-by-verse through major books of Scripture with near-disastrous results. It is arguable that this is one of the reasons why “reformed” preaching has, in more than one place, been criticised as “heavy” or plain “dull.” The less ambitious, who also adopt the “expository” mode, make no attempt to use single verses for their texts, and that is the danger that too easily turns preaching into a running commentary.
- Evangelistic preaching does not best fit the “expository” mode; in fact, where the “expository” is exclusively used, true evangelistic preaching to heart and conscience commonly disappears. It may be said that if this is true it is the fault of the man, not the passage, for is not all Scripture given by inspiration of God and profitable? Surely, it is objected, all Scripture may be used of the Spirit of God to awaken and reach the lost? It may, but it is clear from Scripture that there are particular truths most adapted to speak to non-Christians (witness our Lord’s example) and that it is these truths, and the texts that best epitomise them, which have special and regular prominence in most effective evangelistic ministries. The men most used in the conversion of sinners in the past have known what these texts are—Whitefield, M’Cheyne, Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones and a host of others knew. Today there is some danger of their being forgotten. When did you last hear a sermon on “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul”?
I am always looking for useful reference resources to help me preach the Old Testament. The following book looks helpful: Reclaiming the Old Testament for Christian Preaching edited by Kent, Kissling & Turner.
Philip Ryken says of it: “I have found that nothing brings greater joy than preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ from the Scriptures of the Old Testament. This masterful collection of essays will help contemporary preachers understand, proclaim and apply all the genres of Old Testament literature with greater depth and clarity.”
Here is a detailed review.
Some passages scare me to death. I read them through, for the first time on a Monday morning, and they cause me to draw breath.
(Do I really need to preach this come Sunday? Why did I ever commit to consecutive preaching?!)
I had such an experience last week. Twice over… in fact. My texts were Judges 2:6-23 and 2 Corinthians 2:5-11. The themes were Israel’s apostasy (morning sermon) and church discipline (evening sermon). Talk about terrible twins!
Strangely, the preparation and preaching were sweet. Unusually useful.
But then, I shouldn’t call it strange. I am starting to find this a common experience.
Often the difficult texts provoke the deepest study…
Often the hardest texts produce the most helpful sermons…
Often the darkest texts provide the sharpest contrast to the effusive light of the gospel….
I find preaching on judgement a particular blessing. Not that I revel in judgement. Rather, I revel in grace. Therefore I find that texts which display God’s righteous wrath, do well – and do always – provide a welcome contrast to God’s lavish mercy. The more plainly we see judgement, the more clearly we see the cross.
C.J Mahaney says truly:
Only those who are aware of God’s wrath are amazed at God’s grace.
Read that quote again. Slowly.
And then embrace the next hard text that comes your way.
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