The Importance of Preaching - Part 1 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley Jr., pastor of the Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise! Thou the resolve by God and King, the triumphs of his grace!

This is LeSaire Bradley Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Pray thou the prayer of life, dear Lord, to me, as thou didst break the walls beside the sea. Now through the sacred gate I seek thee, Lord, my spirit cast forth the old living Word. Lest thou the truth, dear Lord, to me, to me, as thou didst bless the bread my Galilee. Then shall upon its seas all fetters fall, and I shall find my peace, my all in all. Teach me to live, dear Lord, only for thee, as thy disciples live in Galilee. Then all my struggles soar, then with reward I shall behold thee, Lord, the living One. I would like to be able to send you a copy of our publication, The Baptist Witness.

If you'll just request that when writing us, we'll be happy to send it your way. Our address is The Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. The emphasis on sound biblical preaching has been downgraded in our day. In some cases, the goal of preaching is to help people feel good about themselves, and so there's no mention of sin and never any call to repentance.

Some prefer that preaching of doctrine be avoided entirely because they say it's just too controversial. If you ask many people what they consider to be important in a church, what would you be looking for if you want to find a church? What would be important to you? Well, some would say, I want to find a church with a variety of programs so I can select what seems to work best for me. Sometimes young people say, well, I think it's important that I find somebody my own age if I'm going to be involved in a church.

Somebody else says, well, I look for a good musical program. I think that's very, very important. Others say they believe that it's vital to have a good youth program. Somebody else talks about small groups, how important that is to maintain good personal fellowship. Or others say, well, I want a church that's close by so I don't have to drive far. Then you say, well, what about preaching? Well, yeah, I guess there should be some preaching, and just so the sermon's not too long. But obviously that's not the thing that's uppermost in the minds of many people today. But I want us to go to God's Word and see if preaching is really important or necessary.

Maybe it's a relic of the past that could just be eliminated and replaced by some modern methods. Look at 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 21. For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that belief. The world and all of its boasted wisdom doesn't come to know the true and living God.

The world by wisdom knew not God. So it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That's not talking about foolish preaching.

No doubt there's been enough of that from time to time. That speaks to the fact that the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified is considered to be foolish by the world. How can it be that a message concerning a man that died on the cross from the human standpoint, appearing to be defeated, be such an important message, be so vital?

How could we possibly embrace that? In fact, in this very chapter Paul goes on to speak about how the Greeks, being a cultured, educated people, saw this as utter foolishness, and the Jews wanted an additional sign. So the preaching of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness, but unto us which are saved is the power and wisdom of God.

So first of all, I want us to consider the importance of preaching as seen by example. And we first will look at Old Testament examples. Noah is referred to by the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 5. God spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly. Noah is identified as being a preacher of righteousness. He preached for many years, but only eight souls were in the ark when the flood came. But he was faithful. He discharged his duty, he preached righteousness, and he built the ark.

And then we look at the book of Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 2. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, and he read therein before the street that was before the Watergate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women and those that could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive under the book of the law. Now he read from morning till noonday, and the people listened.

They were attentive. They wanted to know what is the message. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people.

And when he opened it, all the people stood up. Verse 8. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. Now that's what preaching is. Preaching is to read the word of God, proclaim the word of God, give it the sense in which it is found in scripture, the meaning of it.

And so Ezra was indeed preaching to a congregation of people who were receptive and stood as they listened. And we read about Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 1. The words of the preacher.

That's what we want to emphasize. Solomon is here referred to as a preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher. Chapter 12 verse 9. And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yea, he gave good heed and sought out and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. So Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs and the book of Ecclesiastes from which we've just read. He was a man of great wisdom and as he penned those words of wisdom, particularly the practical things that we find throughout the book of Proverbs, he is identified as being a preacher, a preacher of truth, words of truth.

They are described in this latter part of chapter 12. And then of course, all of the prophets were preachers. We could spend the whole day talking about the various prophets and their particular ministry and the type of things they had to say, but we'll observe one, Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 4. A sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

And that's part of his message. He pointed out the sins of the people. He called on them to return to the Lord. The prophet Jeremiah frequently used the word return, return, return, come back, you've strayed, you've gone away from God, you're worshiping false gods, you're worshiping idols, return.

God will forgive you. So part of what Isaiah and others of the prophets had to say was in the negative vein, a word of rebuke, a word calling for change and repentance, but also how beautiful to see those uplifting truths, those prophetic messages concerning the anticipation that Jesus Christ the Messiah would ultimately come. So in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 he says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

What beautiful language. What wonderful truth that they could anticipate that this great one would ultimately appear. And we know according to the New Testament record that he did. This prophecy was fulfilled. He's called Wonderful, Wonderful in every category that we might discuss and describe.

Counselor, where do we go for the counsel that we so desperately need? But to Jesus Christ, our Counselor, he is the Mighty God, one of power, he is the Prince of Peace. Well we can see from Old Testament examples that preaching was important.

All the way from Noah through Ezra, Solomon, Isaiah, and the other prophets. And we come to the New Testament. We're going to find any change here? Is preaching going to still occupy a place of prominence?

Is it still going to be important? Is it still going to be used of God? Well John the Baptist comes on the scene in Matthew chapter 3 verse 1. In those days came John the Baptist.

What was he doing? Preaching. Preaching in the wilderness of Judea. And what was he preaching? And saying, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now John the Baptist was obviously not one who was trying to please men. When he saw these self-righteous Pharisees come and knew that their motive was wrong, he said, ye generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath. He was blunt.

He was bold. But he was preaching a message that was given him of God. He was a special messenger sent of God. Crying, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Well then Jesus comes on the scene.

Mark chapter 1 verse 14. Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel. Now we recently brought a message entitled Jesus Christ the greatest teacher.

Indeed he was. But he was also the greatest preacher. He came preaching.

Preaching the gospel of the kingdom and saying that time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Now notice Jesus didn't at this juncture give a lot of explanation about man's fall, about his ruined state, about his inability, about his total depravity.

He did that at other times. He said you cannot come to me except the father with you sent me draw him and I'll raise him up at the last day. But here he simply declares the message. Repent and believe. So if we preach repent and believe we're following the example of John the Baptist. We're following the example of Jesus.

We're following the example of the apostles in New Testament times. And then on the Sabbath day Jesus went into the synagogue as recorded in Luke chapter 4 verse 17. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. Now we just read one of the prophecies from Isaiah concerning Jesus Christ.

And Jesus picks up the book of Isaiah and begins to read and read another prophecy about his coming. And so when he opened the book he found the place where it is written the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. Jesus Christ was anointed of the Spirit of God to preach.

And he preached throughout his ministry. Could we dare say that preaching is insignificant? That it's irrelevant?

That there's no place for it? When we have these biblical examples as to its importance. Yes he hath anointed me and what a comfort this is to preach the gospel to the poor. If you've been made to see your spiritual poverty you know your great need.

You know that you are a sinner and apart from the grace of God through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ you would be ruined, lost forever. Being poor in spirit the gospel message is a comfort to you. And then we see an example of the importance of preaching in the book of Acts chapter 6.

There was a controversy between the widows. One group claiming that the other group was being favored when the church was ministering to their material needs. So in verse 2 of Acts 6, then the 12 called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. The preachers are saying if we have to spend our time settling disputes among the widows, if we have to spend our time ministering to them and carrying food to meet their needs, we're going to miss out on what our principal responsibility is. We can't neglect the preaching of the word to attend to other matters. And so it says, wherefore brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

Now, what's the purpose of it? But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word. This is what we've been called to do.

This is our responsibility. I believe these are the first deacons and they were appointed to take care of these matters, that the ministers might give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. Now, there are other things that a pastor must do, but this is foremost. It's above everything else to be given to prayer and the ministry of the word. That means there has to be time to prepare, to study God's word, to be able to bring messages that will be biblically correct. Christ honoring and edifying to his people. Now, verse seven says, and the word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. So after they made this change and freed the hands of the preachers to spend more time in prayer than to study the word, the church was blessed and prospered.

So there were many that came to believe, including a number of the priests. So we see the importance of preaching by these biblical examples. Now secondly, I want us to see the importance of preaching by commandment, by commandment.

Mark chapter 16, verse 15. These are the words of Jesus. And he said unto them, go ye unto all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

This is a command. Jesus Christ speaking to his disciples, go ye, what are you to do? Many good works might be cited, many things that they could have been involved in, but the work he gave them primarily was to preach the gospel and preach the gospel to every creature. He didn't say that you're just to preach the gospel to select groups, that you're to find a group of people that you believe are Christians and preach to them. That's not what he said.

That's not the commission. He said preach the gospel to every creature. That was the command of Jesus Christ. And then in Acts chapter 9, verse 15. This is part of the experience of Saul of Tarsus after having been struck down on the road to Damascus.

And the Lord is sending Ananias to his house. The Lord said unto him, go thy way for he, that is Saul, is a chosen vessel unto me to bear thy name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. And straightway, now Ananias goes, he brings him the message, he baptizes him and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the son of God. And so the Lord has now commanded Saul who had become Paul to go forward preaching.

You're a chosen vessel to bring my name before the Gentiles. Isn't that a remarkable experience as a man who was persecuting the church, a man who despised the gospel message would now be so transformed that he immediately goes preaching Christ in the synagogues that he is the son of God. So here was a direct command from the Lord that Paul now would go preaching the word which he did indeed faithfully.

And then we find it was commanded by Paul himself at a later time. As he writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and addresses a letter to Timothy who is called his son in the ministry, language could not be more forceful than what we find here in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1. 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, preach the word.

Can't misunderstand that, can you? Preach the word, be instant, end season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. So this is a command of God. Now God still calls men to preach, gives them the gift and the church recognizes it and prays God's blessing upon them as they go forward preaching. And so we see that preaching was not something that we just thought of by a group of men and thought we might experiment with this and see if this is a good idea, see if it works or doesn't work. This was something commanded, commanded by Jesus to his disciples, commanded by Jesus through Paul as he writes to Timothy and says preach the word. Now the third thing, we see the importance of preaching by its content. If indeed we are preaching the word which the commandment is clear, then we must know that the preaching is important because of what's being preached. We look at 2 Timothy once again, this time chapter 3 verse 14, still of course addressing this young minister that says, But continue thou in all things which thou hast learned and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, all of it. Now that's crucial if we're going to talk about sound preaching, preaching that will glorify God, edify people, it must be understood. What we preach is the word and all the word, all the scripture, Old Testament, the New Testament, all 66 books of the Bible are inspired of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

So here's some of the things that are included in scripture and that which is to be preached. While some would suggest you shouldn't preach doctrine because it's controversial. Well indeed it is controversial because if you're preaching sound doctrine you're saying this is truth and anything that opposes that is error. People in this day and time are offended by that. How can you say that somebody's wrong?

Don't we all have a right to our own opinion? Well from the standpoint of having religious liberty and you can hold what you please and express it, but from the standpoint of pleasing God you don't have the liberty of just selecting what you're comfortable with, what you like and reject what you don't like. We preach doctrine, the teaching of the word of God. We preach the truth about God, about the sovereignty of God, the power of God. We preach the truth about the Trinity.

Preaching doctrine means that we preach the truth about salvation. Preach concerning God's purpose before time began in choosing of people, electing them, predestinating them, ultimately redeeming them, calling them, one day we'll glorify them. Preach the doctrine of what it means for one to die and be at home with the Lord. When death comes that's not the end of it all.

You go home to be with Him. Preach the truth about eternity, that there's a heaven where the saints will live, there's a hell where the wicked will suffer. And then it's for the purpose of reproof.

Reproof is rebuke for wrong attitudes, wrong behavior, and wrong beliefs. So if there is preaching that fits the criteria that is here laid out for us, not only will be messages of comfort, I love to bring messages of comfort. Certainly there are many of them to be found in God's word. But if all God's people ever heard was a message of comfort, they'd go to sleep.

And the book of Ephesians says, awake thou that sleepest, arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light. So we have to sometimes bring messages of reproof. Somebody may say, well, I don't care for that.

But that's not an option for a person to decide, I like this part of God's word, I don't like this other part. Rebuke is given for sinful behavior, wrong behavior, erroneous beliefs, wrong attitudes. And then the next thing is correction. We have information in the word of God as to how to correct the problem.

You have a problem in your own life, you have a struggle going on, you have difficulty resolving certain issues. Information is provided, how to correct the problem helps someone who has stumbled and gone out of the way to get back, get back on the path and continue in the right direction serving God. And then the fourth thing, instruction in righteousness. That's the positive training needed to stay on the right course.

That if you've had to be corrected to get back on the course, then the instruction that's given helps you to stay there. So we can clearly see that the content of what is preached makes it important. If we're preaching doctrine or proof, correction, instruction, all of these things are vital for God's people and for the church to be built up and edified. Paul's charge to Timothy was to preach the word, to be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. God uses the faithful preaching of His word to the benefit and edification of those who hear. Let us pray that God will bless all those these days who are endeavoring to be faithful in preaching the word of God. I hope that you will write us and until next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. Lord, accept the offerings of my mouth.

Teach me, Lord, thy judgment's all. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr., pastor of the Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. I come to my path because thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. They have laid a stair to bind my feet, yet have faltered on your strength.