Sermon Tone Analysis

Pray

Biblical Preaching.

Now, more than ever in our generation, we need Solid Biblical Preaching.

That’s my assignment for this time together, to answer the question, what is Biblical Preaching.

I admit, that, this was a somewhat difficult assignment.

Not because of any lack of material but rather because an abundance of material.The conclusion that I came to, was that there is much already written on the mechanics of preaching, much spoken about concerning the methods of preaching, there is a ton of material accessible on how to put together a sermon, and so I’ll leave those things of another time.

I am thoroughly convinced, as I look around at pulpits today, that we need to emphasize 3 areas of preaching, which I hope to do during this talk.

The matter of preaching, in other words, what should be the Subject of our Preaching.

I admit, that, this was a somewhat difficult assignment.

Not because of any lack of material but rather because an abundance of material.The conclusion that I came to, was that there is much already written on the mechanics of preaching, much spoken about concerning the methods of preaching, there is a ton of material accessible on how to put together a sermon, and so I’ll leave those things of another time.

I am thoroughly convinced, as I look around at pulpits today, that we need to emphasize 3 areas of preaching, which I hope to do during this talk.

The mission of Preaching, that is, why do we preach.

The mark of preaching, what effects should our preaching have.

The matter, the mission, the mark.

3) The mark of preaching, what effect should our preaching have.

The mission, the matter, and the mark.

2) The matter of preaching, in other words, what should be the subject of our preaching.

It’s no secret that a great many preachers rarely preach the Bible.

Notice, I didn’t say “from” the Bible, or uses Biblical texts.

If you look around the great majority of what you will see from the pulpit is a single verse of two ripped out of context, or even more popular, a clever story that moves emotions.

I’ve sat in services where the preacher used worldly movie clips to illustrate something while his Bible remained in the background, mind you, movies I wouldn’t even watch as a Christian, period.

We find little theatre plays, pep talks and the like, really anything and everything except Biblical Preaching.

It seems rare to see a preacher who opens the Bible, reads the text and exposits the text, to exposit means to add details, to clarify the meaning, to expound upon, flesh out, to expand on, to explain clearly what it means and how it applies to the body of Christ.

This is Biblical Preaching, it is Scripture focused, text driven, and authoritative, because it is the Word of God.

Turn with me to

As Paul Washer often says, “It’s all about Sola Scriptura.”

It means Scripture Alone!

It is the preacher's Lifeline; if you ever forget Sola Scriptura, then you have become unfit to be a preacher.

If Sola Scriptura doesn’t become your battle cry, then you have left the word of God for the word of the world.

Our Job as preachers in the Chruch is to herald the Gospel of Jesus Christ and truth, and the only source of absolute truth necessary for preaching is contained within the pages of this book!

The command in 2 Timothy is to Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, so that means we are always ready to preach.

We preach, and in our preaching we reprove, we rebuke, we exhort, and give instruction, all focused on the word of God.

So it seems fitting that if we are to speak about preaching then Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone must take precedents .

Our Job as pastors and leaders in the church is to herald the Gospel of Jesus Christ and truth, and the only source of absolute truth necessary for our role as pastors is contained within the pages of this book!

This brings us or our first point: The matter of preaching, the subject of our Preaching.

The Scriptures Alone should be the foundation, the source, the focal point of all of our preaching.

Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone,

For this time together, I want to talk about the written word of God, the Bible.

Without which, the preacher has nothing to say.

Without which, the Pastor cannot guide those under his care

Without which, the church is left with no direction.

Sola Scriptura, Men died and others devoted their lives during the reformation to redeem a dependency on the Word of God, this was their battle cry and as a preacher it must be ours.

It is meant to communicate that the Scriptures alone are sufficient as our supreme authority in all spiritual matters.

That all truth necessary for our salvation and spiritual life is taught either explicitly or implicitly in Scripture, and that is what needs to be preached.

There are two types of preaching, preaching that has Authority and preaching that does not have Authority, the difference is preaching the Bible as it is written as the author meant the text or preaching something else, the Bible is the only authority a preacher has.

We as preachers, outside of the word of God are nothing, we have nothing, we are but sinners, that were destined for hell, that indeed, deserved hell.

Then the power of the Gospel saved us, and God called us as broken vessels, and empowered us by His Holy Spirit to proclaim His word.

But His Word.

Not our word.

Our cleverness doesn’t have the power to save, whatever ability to speak well you have doesn’t have the power to save, the Scriptures alone contain the Gospel that is the power of God unto salvation.

It is Christ that makes us fit for service.

Before Christ we were only fit for hell and because of that Men don’t need what we know, they need to know what God knows.

Men don’t need our wisdom; men need the wisdom of God, there is nothing that we can give men that can bring them into the saving grace of our heavenly father apart from God’s word, Men do not need to know us, they need to know God.

Therefore, the Bible is what must be dearer to us as preachers than all other things, for it is the very Word of God, the one whom we serve.

The Bible is so necessary that a preacher without a Bible is nothing more than a blind man leading the blind.

A preacher without a Bible has nothing to say that is worth saying ,and a preacher who leaves His Bible behind is a preacher doomed to failure.

Now, I’m not saying that illustrations that we come up with do not have a place, they do.

I’m not saying that we cannot give wisdom and counsel as we exposit the text, there is a place for that, but the text must have the primary place in preaching, we are command to preach the Word.

Unfortunately, this primacy of the word of God in Preaching seems largely absent today.

We see this failure all over the world right now, and it is an attack on the sufficiency of Scripture.

Why do I say it is an attack on the sufficiency of Scripture?

I say that because to preach anything else, means that you have no real confidence in the Word of God, it means that practically you do not find the Word of God necessary enough that it is your primary source in preaching, and that, is an assault on the sufficiency of Scripture.

Many Pastor’s seem to believe that they don’t need to preach out of the word of God.

Pastor’s who believe they can use the world’s way to communicate God’s truth.

There are pastors all over the world who never even use their Bible during their sermon.

Many pastors do not even reference scripture anymore, must less preach through an entire text.

Part of this problem comes from a wicked belief that says that you need more than the Bible because God’s written word is not enough or that God has secret knowledge that we can get from Him that is not in the Bible, That idea is straight from the pit of Hell!

This is why Sola Scritptura is so important.

By definition it is against the idea of any kind of Special Revelation.

I love what a dear Brother, Justin Peters said:, I can’t quote him exactly, but basically he said that until you have mastered every gram of truth in the Bible, understand it completely and fully, you don’t need to worry about any other type of revelation.

And Brothers, you will never exhaust the mysteries of Scripture while you are still living.

Once the Bible is no longer our source of preaching, you can guarantee that at some stage you will begin teaching error.

To error is human, we have a fallen nature and the only source of absolute truth we have is found in Scripture.

Once you leave the source of truth, error will eventually creep in.

Which means, the preacher that leaves behind Scripture and Sound doctrine will be guilty of leading God’s people astray.

That thought should terrify any God Fearing preacher.

Now, let me be clear on what I am not saying.

I am not saying that other books aren’t useful; I’m not saying that gospel tracks can’t be helpful, I’m not saying that conferences such as this aren’t edifying and educational, what I am saying is that the Preacher must see the Bible for what it claims to be!

The Bible is inerrant/Infallible, the Bible is sufficient, and the Bible is Authoritative and should be the Primary source from which the Preacher preaches and teaches from.

This book is the only book that has truth by which we are sanctified, it’s the only book that has the truth for salvation, it’s the only book that is wholly sufficient for life and Godliness ,every other source of information falls short.

Listen to thorugh 4:1-3

-3

"All scripture is Inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in Righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom; preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

What I want you to understand is that the Apostle Paul is writing this letter, and he is writing it from a prison in Rome where he is about to be executed for being a Biblical Preacher, a faithful follower of Christ.

We know this because in chapter four and verse 6 Paul says, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

And as Paul is preparing to die, he decides that what he needs to write to Timothy is that the Scriptures are sufficient, and He must preach them as they are, using them to reprove, rebuke, and exhort and warning him that a time is coming when people will want false teachers rather than the word of God.

Now look, let me describe for you the condition and prison that Paul was in.

Paul is in a Cell that was round in shape, it didn’t have much room.

Typically, this was a short stay, before the prisoner was executed.

It was cold and wet, now it wasn’t we because of rain.

You see the city sewage ran just on the outside of the cell wall, and so it was a jail of filth.

There were times where they would pack in many prisoner and when the execution order came, they would open this small door on the side of the cell and let the sewage water run into the cell until the prisoners were drowned in a cell of human waste water, then would then re-open the door and let the water drain out.

Of course this meant that is was always disgusting.

Now this is where we believe the Apostle Paul was at as he is writing to Timothy.

He knew he time was near and end and you would assume that he would be writing things of the utmost importance and this is where he writes to timothy, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom; PREACH.

THE.

WORD; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

Paul, with the weightiest language he could use, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Charges Timothy, in the Presence of the Sovereign, Almighty God and Christ Jesus, to PREACH THE WORD.

How important to you think Sola Scriptura, really is.