and we'll begin. Our gracious God in heaven we are thankful this day for the Lord's Day for the many gifts and privileges you have bestowed upon us as your covenant people. We thank you for our freedom and for the ability to gather together this morning to study your word and to grow in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and what pleases and honors him. May you continue to be with us and bless our time together, our study of your word and your truth, your providence throughout the ages in the very establishment and promotion of preaching the gospel to your people and calling sinners to yourself would you bless this time together this morning to your glory we pray in Jesus name amen But we're continuing our study of what we are to do and what we are not to do in public worship or corporate worship as the people of God. And as you will know, one of our main emphases has been that it's the Word of God, it's sola scriptura, that has been our guiding point, our rules of engagement, so to speak. So this is the focus as we continue. We started a few weeks ago looking at the particular elements that God has commanded. Remember our distinction between element, that which God has clearly commanded, forms in which we take those elements and we have a certain measure of liberty. So God commands prayer, we use the Lord's Prayer, we could use other prayers from the scriptures, the high priestly prayer. It doesn't demand that we follow a prescribed form of praying but that we pray and then that prayer is guided by wisdom, by prudence, by the many examples and precepts that the Word of God gives us. Then circumstances are things that deal with things that have not been commanded but are, again, guided by prudence and the situation that we're in. We're not commanded to have electricity. We didn't have electricity before, but we've got electric lights. We've got heating and air conditioning to make things more comfortable. That's a circumstance. It's not something that we have to follow because the scriptures don't even deal with it. So we're going to continue this morning dealing with the elements. You will see on your notes there that we have dealt with three of the five that are specifically commanded for each time we gather together in worship. That involved reading the word, secondly praying the word, thirdly singing the word. Now the scriptures are very clear, they are explicit, they give us precepts and commands on doing those things. doesn't say what passage we are to read. We saw from Scripture, and we'll see again briefly this morning, that the pattern in both the Bible itself and in church history has been to read sequentially. through the scriptures, through an entire book, which is our practice here. So we talked about reading the word, we talked about praying the word, we talked about singing the word. This morning, we come to what I would consider and what many would consider as the most prominent precept that God has commanded, and that is preaching the word. So we're going to be talking about that as we've looked at these previous elements and now we're going to focus upon preaching. Now without cheating, unless you've already read it, who can remember the basic biblical pattern We saw it somewhat a few weeks ago in reading the word. Does anybody remember what typically took place in the biblical situations where the word was preached? Okay, go ahead and read it. Because what we have is a clear pattern laid down in the scriptures. So first of all, we saw from Nehemiah, and many of you will remember this passage well, it's Nehemiah chapter 8. And particularly in verse three and following, we read these words. Then he read, that is, Ezra. Ezra read from it the book of the law in the open square that was in the front of the water gate from morning until midday. so why we wouldn't we wouldn't say absolutely this was a six hour period that seems to be the implication morning started at 6 a.m. now we don't know at what point Ezra took the book and went before the people but he began reading a read for quite a while what was interesting is last night in our sequential Bible reading we were in Nehemiah 9 So three weeks later, guess what the people did? They took the book and they read from the book of the law for a quarter of a day, six hours. So just let that register in you. If you ever think our services are too long, realize that when they read and the word was preached, it was for a long period of time. They were not easily tired of the scripture. So as we read from morning until midday before the men, the women, and those who could understand, the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law and then notice what happens he read and then in verse 4 so Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood my wife and I were talking about this this morning that it's not absolutely essential that we have a platform Many of the early churches met in homes and wouldn't have had this type of setup, but that is a circumstance that makes it easier to see the speaker and perhaps even easier to hear, especially when you have a sound system. That's a circumstance, but it's helpful. And so to help in the ministry of the word, Ezra stood on a platform of wood which they had made for the purpose and beside him all the Levites and these men who ministered with the word and Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people and when he opened it all the people stood up. was an expression of reverence and fear of God and respect for his word. And we go on down and we read that in verse eight, they read distinctly from the book of the law of God and they gave the sense and helped the people understand the reading. So what happened in Nehemiah's day? Reading the word, followed by preaching the word, giving the sense, helping the people to understand and see how it applied to their own individual lives. Then we looked at Luke chapter four, very familiar passage where Jesus goes to the synagogue in Nazareth and he stood up to read the word. And he read from Isaiah 61, Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel. And then what happened? He preached, he explained what those words meant, how they applied to the immediate circumstances in which he was in. This is about me, what is what he's saying. So, Nehemiah, reading, preaching. Jesus reading, preaching. And then of course in Acts chapter 13, it was one of the first recorded sermons of the Apostle Paul as he began his first missionary journey. This is in Antioch of Pisidia. And notice how it is explained in Acts 13 and verse 15. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them to Paul and Barnabas and said men and brethren if you have any word of exhortation for the people say on. And so what happens, Paul preaches, and as I said, it's one of the first recorded sermons, at least in more detail. Paul just starts with the historical setting. God chose a people, and he blessed them, and they rebelled against him, and this is what he did, and now he sent his son, and he preaches the gospel. So the pattern that we have set before us, simply this, reading the Word and preaching, explaining, applying the Word of God. Now we're not going to spend much time on the early church and the Middle Ages because things declined rapidly. I never could understand for a long time why just within a hundred years after the Apostles It seems like the church was filled with all kinds of errors. And how could the church drift away from a solid biblical foundation so quickly? And the best explanation that I've ever heard of that is that when you look at many of the church fathers, the early church fathers, they came out of Greek philosophy. They were steeped Greek philosophy and brethren when when you're brought up a certain way when you're taught and and and your life and your mind is is just filled with certain principles and you become converted those old things don't just disappear they continue to manifest themselves and that's when you read the works of origin He got a few things right, but he got an awful lot wrong. We're talking very early church history, not long after the apostles. Why did that happen? And I think the reason was that these men were coming out of this Greek philosophical viewpoint of life. And one of the immediate impacts of that was on the preaching. And preaching became, instead of exegetical and expositional and sequential going through the scriptures, it became each man taking up his little hobby horse and preaching topically, and then also preaching and interpreting scriptures allegorically. that simply means that it says this but it means that. One of the clearest examples of that I think is the Song of Solomon and literally for a thousand years Men looked at the Song of Solomon and says, well, yeah, it talks about Solomon and the Shulamite, but it really is meaning about Christ and the church. And I don't know if you remember when I preached one sermon from the Song of Solomon and pointed out, no, this is a historical record of a man who is absolutely crazy about his wife. he loves her and she loves him now because Christ himself chose the marriage relationship as a picture of Christ in the church there are universal applications that certainly apply but the book means this man is crazy in love with his wife so that the church drifted very quickly and for a long period of time so literally from about 400 AD to 1400 try to try to grasp that that for a thousand years The Scriptures were not as faithfully proclaimed and taught. Brethren, we don't live in such days and we have much to be thankful for. That the Word of God is in our own language. In many cases for much of that thousand years the Scriptures were read and preached in Latin even though the people didn't understand Latin. And so one of Luther's biggest contributions in the 1400s was to begin preaching in the vulgar language, as the Confession speaks of it, which simply means the language of the people. They were German. They didn't know Latin. They couldn't understand what was being said and what was being read and Luther began to preach in German because that was the language of the people. Now let's look at the high view of preaching in the days of the Reformation, the Puritans, and Westminster Assembly. Now before we do that, any questions up to this point? Last time I plowed ahead and didn't leave much room for questions, but any thoughts or contributions to the matter at hand? Dave. That's not really the question at hand but go ahead, it might be. Okay, so the question is, if the Song of Solomon is about a man who's crazy in love with his wife, and it's not allegorical, why would God include it in his word? And off the cuff, short answer would simply be, I'm not sure. Except that it's very valuable, it's very instructive. God is giving us, this is what marriage looks like, or is supposed to look like. And so it serves a purpose to give us an example. We have many historical details throughout the historical books of the scriptures. All the descriptions of wars and sins that men committed. We might ask, well that's not, clearly that's not allegorical. David numbered the people and there were so many from this tribe and so many from that tribe and so many from that tribe. What's the point of that? How does that help us? But without going into detail at this point, God has his reasons for including that. And so I think that primarily he is saying, husbands, this is what your marriage should look like. You ought to delight in the wife of your youth. So that would just be the short answer. say okay and so exactly like i said jesus himself in his word has given us a clear example an illustration to say as christ loved the church husbands are to love their wives Sacrificially, selflessly, they are to devote themselves. So the parallels, they're going to be universal parallels that apply to us every bit as much as it did in the days of Scripture. Kevin? I think it helps us understand that relationship of Christ and the church. Previously, God has provided instruction on how husbands are to love. Okay, so both those comments, Bill's comment was that we are the bride of Christ. They're going to be parallels there. And Kevin saying here's a vivid illustration of what marriage is meant to be. husbands ought to strive to love their wives like this and wives ought to delight in their husbands like this and so this is this is a very clear and lively illustration I won't give you any details at the moment but you you read the Song of Solomon you'll see them and you'll recognize this this is the way we're meant to love our wives, and this is the way the church is meant to love Christ. John? Right. Okay, yeah, and what we're doing, like the series on one another, people would say, well that's topical, but it's exegetical. So you're still taking this passage, that passage, that passage, and that passage on a common theme, and you're unpacking, this is what this looks like. How do we love one another? How do we serve one another? How do we admonish one another? How do we forgive one another? So it's thematic, but it's not just, hey, this week we're gonna talk about the love of God, and next week we're gonna talk about our duty to pray, and next week we're gonna talk about our relationship to the government, and just whatever the preacher wants to preach on. So it's not just a hit or miss, even when we do a mini series like this, it's guided to move us in one direction in different ways. And so that would be the question was, what's the difference between a topical address and what we're doing, say, on a theme? like we've done a theme on repentance, we've done a theme on the Sabbath day and keeping the Lord's day holy, and different themes like that. So a little bit of difference where the preachers were just picking and choosing whatever they wanted to. So, Elias. Okay. Right, and I didn't hear the early part, but basically the idea is that the early church was dealing with the influence of Greek thought on their interpretation and application of Scripture. How do we avoid the same problem in our culture. We tend to be focused on modern and it's a fault in a large degree that we focus on our little narrow circle. I'm thinking about our missionary here from China and the fact that what he deals with in that culture is like light years different. from what we deal with here in America in Central Pennsylvania. So I think the best solution is gonna be what we see develop in the days of the Reformation and post-Reformation with the Westminster Assembly and going back to the Scriptures. Let's preach the way the Bible tells us to preach. So I'm going to kind of put pause on that issue and maybe as we see how the scriptures really direct and what the history of the church in the Reformation, post-Reformation period did, might kind of bring us back to the foundation we should be on even in our present situation. We have to, I'm not saying we don't address current issues. We have to address current issues. Every Christian is a Christian in his culture. and you need to be able to bear witness to Christ and the truth of God's word in whatever situation you may find yourself in. So we're going to, I think, see that as we develop this. Let's look, first of all, at Calvin. I've just got a couple of quotes here for you. This is from T.H.L. Parker in his book on Calvin's preaching. Listen to his description Calvin's preaching. Calvin believed that the preacher's primary task was to expound the scriptures. Now let me stop there for just a second. Where do you think Calvin would have got that idea? I mean did he come up with this? Was this brand new? Is this just Calvin's thought of how preaching ought to be done? The preacher's primary task. Why primary task? Anybody? Okay, so it's what Christ did. Alright, in Christ's preaching was to take the scripture that was read and expound it, exposit it, unfold it, unpack it, apply it to the lives of the people. You remember Acts chapter 6 in verse 4? When the whole situation came up where the Hellenistic Jews were getting hopping mad because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food, the elders said, okay, we got a problem, what do we do about it? Spirit of God led them to instruct the people, you choose seven men that we can appoint over this business. And we, Acts 6, 4, we, will give ourselves to what? All right, the most common mistake in referencing that verse that I've ever heard, nothing, you got it right Paul, you just mixed up the order. Because invariably, people will say, we will devote ourselves to the Word and prayer. But brethren, that's not what they said. What they said was, we will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Now maybe there's not a whole lot of difference there, but I think we can preserve the order primary first thing the minister is meant to do is pray. And then right next to that he's preaching. Those are his primary tasks. And of course what Calvin is writing about is the focal point of the preaching. He's not saying we neglect prayer, but he's saying that in the preaching aspect, our primary task is to expound the Scriptures, not our own thoughts. not current events, not a bunch of funny stories and entertaining illustrations. Our primary task is to expound Holy Scripture, which is, so to say, the voice of God Himself. My friends, let that sink in. Preaching, we'll try to highlight in just a few moments, is not the wisdom and the quips and the abilities, natural abilities of a speaker to hold everyone's attention. Our primary focus is to expound the Scripture. That is God's voice to us. It's God's Word. Geneva's three churches, three churches in the town, the Word was preached every day of the week. We're not told that Calvin did all the preaching himself but much of it he did. And they was preached every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Sermons with sermons lasting for more than an hour. It's very interesting when you read Nehemiah 6 hours, Nehemiah 8, Nehemiah 9, another 6 hours. When you read about Paul and the word being read and then Paul preaching lengthy sermons. We're not told exactly how long in Antioch but later in Ephesus remember Paul preached assuming that he started sometime early in the evening preached till Midnight. and maybe beyond. Then the guy fell out of the window and they thought he was dead. Paul raised him from the dead and kept right on preaching. So we don't know how long that sermon lasted. This was not a short thing for most of the period of the Reformation. Sermons lasting for more than an hour. Kind of an interesting thing I thought I would add here. Calvin rarely preached topical sermons. Okay, his pattern was to teach consecutively through the books of the Bible. So much so, if you've read or studied the history of Calvin, you know that at one point he and Pharaoh had to leave Geneva on the run, literally, to escape with their lives. People were ready to kill them. Three years later, He was called back by the Geneva Council and said, we made a mistake, please come back and continue to teach us. Guess what he preached on the first sermon after a three year absence? The next chapter, where he had stopped preaching three years before. He just picked right up. This was the pattern. This was the typical situation. Now, we move from the days of the Reformation. We use Calvin just as an example of what was going on. Same thing could be said of Luther to a large degree, Beza, and others. Then we come to the Puritan period, and there's really no better description of it than what I found from J.I. Packer. in quest for godliness. Listen to this, Puritan preaching has had a bad press in these latter days. The caricature is that Puritan sermons were regularly long, abstruse, confusing, and dull. In fact, one hour was the recognized length. That was typical. practical biblical exposition was the actual substance and liveliness was a regular mark of the style. So here we have an hour-long sermon of practical, in other words, taking the Bible and saying, this is how it applies to our lives. Practical biblical exposition and liveliness was a regular mark of the style. What made Puritan preaching into the reality that it was, however, was less its style than its substance. Puritans preached the Bible systematically and thoroughly. They didn't skip around. They started in a book. They preached expositionally, place by place, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. so systematically and thoroughly with sustained application if you ever read a Puritan sermon you know what I'm talking about you know what Packer's talking about because what the Puritans did was they they would take a passage and say this is what it means And now here's 73 uses for it in your life. And that's typically what they did. Sustained application to personal life. And then this last element I think is especially significant. The preaching was that of those who believed it. They preached the Bible because they believed it. It was the Word of God. This is the way God wants us to live. I think I've already mentioned the fact that a family from a previous congregation down in Greenville we met with last time we were down there, not this last week, but one time before that. His father was a Lutheran minister. Her father was a Methodist minister. In the last two weeks of the year, of last year, it turned out that both men told their children, we no longer believe the Bible is the Word of God. What do you think that does to their preaching? If you don't believe it, well, here's a good idea. If you like it, you know, try it. No, my friends. The preacher is to stand in that pulpit and say, thus says the Lord. This is God's Word. That's the way the Puritans preached. They preached as those who believed it. They sought by the manner to make their matter credible and convincing, convicting and converting. God give us that in this church, in this country, all over the world where the gospel is faithfully proclaimed. Men believe it and they preach it so that it can be convincing, convicting, and converting. Well let's look at Westminster Larger Catechism. It has three questions. We're going to deal with two right now. Hopefully we'll have a moment or two at the end to address some others. Anything about that period of Reformation in particular and the Puritans? Any questions, comments? Speak fast or at least for a little while hold your peace. Bill. So restate it one more time. You know there may be a school of thought there that is just to take the scriptures like a club and beat people over the head with it. That's not the purpose. When we read in Acts 4 that the Lord gave apostles and teachers and pastors it was for the perfecting of the saints to build up the church to edify, strengthen, equip them with knowledge and understanding. So very different view than what the scriptures teach us the goal of preaching is. Well let's look at Westminster Larger Catechism 158. Just a couple of things here in 158. By whom? is the Word of God to be preached. I grew up in a church that basically, if you wanted to preach, it was like, go get them, boy. No training, no schooling, no teaching, no instruction at all. Just, hey, if you've got a burden, you go do it. That's not what the scriptures teach. The Word of God is to be preached only by such as are sufficiently gifted and duly approved and called. I'm not going to take time to read all of these scripture passages. I'm going to try to touch upon them. First Corinthians 4, 1 and 2, Paul says, let every man regard us as stewards. the mysteries of God the preacher is a steward a servant and he says let every steward be found faithful My friends, men who want to preach need to be examined. They need to be tested. They need to be found faithful as a steward. You're about to take into your hands the very mysteries that have been kept secret for thousands of years, now made known in the gospel. And you must take that work solemnly and be tested and proven. In chapter 12 and verse 28 where Paul's talking about all the gifts that the Lord gave some apostles, some prophets, some teachers. And he goes on, he says, are all apostles? The obvious answer is no. Are all prophets? The obvious answer is no. Are all teachers? No, not everyone is suited to teach. That's why Westminster is telling us that it's by men who are gifted. God gives gifts to men. Some have it, some don't. And when someone has a desire to preach, they need to be tested. They need to be proven as being faithful and being a teacher gifted by God. Same thing in 1 Timothy 3 and verse 10, actually in reference to the deacons. Let these men first be tested. You don't pick a brand new believer, a novice, as the King James said. You don't pick a novice and put him into an office. He needs to be tested, he needs to be proven. And if it's true of deacons, how much more so of elders in the same passage. In 1 Timothy 4, in verse 14, Paul tells Timothy, do not neglect the gift that was given you. by the laying on of the hands. And the word is presbytery. By the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. As men gathered together as elders in conjunction to govern the church, they would take men and set them apart. We have it in our own denomination. We did it here with our elders of laying hands on them, calling them to that work to which they are gifted and prepared. That was especially true when it came to the preaching of the word. Question 159. How is the Word of God to be preached by those that are called unto? I don't know what your view of preachers is. The standing joke is, well you only work one day a week. Brethren, I would encourage you to take this question and answer and go over it periodically, just so you understand that when a man takes on that role, being a preacher of God's word, and he takes it seriously, there is a lot going on. his position and responsibility were it not for the gift and grace of God would crush him to powder. Listen to the way they answer this question. They that are called to labor in the ministry of the Word are to preach sound doctrine. How do you determine sound doctrine? You've got to compare Scripture with Scripture. You've got to be sure that what you're preaching doesn't contradict this or that or the other passage of Scripture. Titus is told in chapter 2 and verse 1, preach that which is becoming to sound doctrine, diligently, in season, out of season, when you feel like it and when you don't. when you have time to prepare and when you don't have very much time to prepare that opportunity you are to exercise you are to preach in season out of season I can't tell you how many times I wish I didn't have to come preach on a particular day things haven't gone so well I'm not feeling good I'm struggling but brethren I have to preach and I have to preach diligently I have to do it in season and out of season when it's convenient and when it's not plainly hold the emphasis of Luther the word needs to be preached in the language of the people not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Paul tells the Corinthians exactly that. When I came to you, I didn't come with excellency of speech. As a matter of fact, we're told in other places that Paul's preaching was judged weak. and that his speech was contemptible to these high-minded Greeks that were used to excellent orators. They said, this guy can't even speak well. Paul says, I didn't come with words of man's wisdom, but I came in the spirit and in power. That's what we aim at when we preach the word of God. We don't come to tickle your ears to make you feel good or to make you feel guilty. We come to exalt God. We come to proclaim His truth in the Spirit and in power. And brethren, that means by definition we have to be walking with God. Because if we're not, the Spirit will be quenched. and will not be manifesting his power faithfully making known the whole counsel of God exactly what Paul told the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 and verse 27 I taught you for three years I declared the whole counsel of God We're gonna talk to you about God's sovereignty. We're gonna talk to you about man's responsibility. We're gonna talk to you about God's love, but we're also gonna talk to you about God's holiness and justice. You have to declare the whole counsel of God. And then it says that we are to wisely apply themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers. So you have to look at your audience every time you speak where there's children. You need to say things that will be useful to them where there are new believers. You need to gauge things so that they too will profit from the word of God. And then they're seasoned saints that are well schooled and well taught. You've got to feed them as well. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1st Corinthians 3 2 he said I had to feed you with milk Hebrews 5 the writer says you you should be teachers but I've had to to give you milk instead of me you have to judge your audience you see what I'm saying there's all kinds of things going on in the preacher as he ministers faithfully the Word of God he is to preach zealously with fervent love to God and the souls of his people. Brethren, I hope, I hope, I sincerely hope that you are able to sense just from the tone and the manner of your ministers how much we love your souls, how much we desire to see you walking in fellowship with Jesus Christ. And if you haven't come to faith, we want to see you change. We want to see you turn to Christ and believe in Him. We want you to be converted. We want you to be edified. We want to see you built up in the ways of salvation. The whole focus, as I mentioned, of Ephesians 4, 11 and 12, God gave these gifts to men to the church. for the building up of the saints across the board. Everybody has different needs, but that's what we're aiming at. And then also, we come not to please men, 1 Thessalonians 2, 4, but to please God. We aim above all else at His glory. Well, let's move quickly to the present day view of preaching. And I would have to say that sadly, in many evangelical churches today, especially in America, preaching appears to be of little value. It's almost been relegated to the sideline. And you see that in a number of ways. One is the amount of time given to preaching. Remember, Nehemiah, Paul preached hours. Reformation period, Calvin, Puritans, one hour at least. How long does the average sermon, I'm not talking about this congregation particularly, but the average sermon in other churches, how long do you think it is? How much? 20? I was told actually by someone who came to our congregation in Greenville and he said listen I've been in business for years I've done all kinds of presentations to large audiences and after 20 minutes you'll lose them. So don't go beyond 20 minutes. That was very typical when I was very young in the faith. I used to attend. 15-20 minutes was a fairly long sermon. Not too long before we left Greenville, I was sitting in my dentist's chair, and we were talking about churches, and he says, he was Anglican, and he says, well, my pastor now, the pattern is, he preaches from anywhere between seven and 10 minutes. He has one point. As he says, that's all you're really gonna remember. So he focuses on one point, preaches seven to 10 minutes. My friends, that's a travesty. You can't begin to deal with the mysteries of God and the loveliness of Christ and the hideousness of sin in ten minutes. It's not just the amount of time that's given. Even the architecture tells you something about a church's view of preaching. I want you to look behind me and tell me what you see. Pulpit. Where is it? Elevated? Where else? in the center. My friends, even that is saying something. It's saying that we believe preaching is the central thing. It's the primary thing that we're called to do. That's part of our worship. Now, not every situation. If you go to Africa, you're liable to be standing out in the middle of waist-high grass on a field preaching. But the point is, even the architecture can say something. And I was raised in a church. You know where the pulpit was? Off in the corner over there. Because the central thing was the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Not the preaching of God's word. So it's just one other element. Many other things are dominating the ecclesiastical landscape these days. Music is probably the biggest thing. Went to a church in Greenville with 5,000 members. 45 minutes of the band playing. people screaming at the top of their lungs jumping up and down so excited you know how long the sermon listed about seven minutes Music is dominating the ecclesiastical landscape. Everything under the sun, puppet shows, drama teams, video presentations, all kinds of other things are taking the place of the central role of preaching. The place a church gives to preaching will tell you a lot about that church. All right, very quickly, the role and importance of preaching in scripture. Number one, we find in 2 Timothy 4 and verse 2, Paul says to Timothy, preach the word. Remember, the primary role of the preacher is to expound Scripture. Paul says, preach the Word. A lot of reasons for that. The Word of God is sufficient for everything that you're going to face. So when we preach the Word, you're going to be thoroughly equipped unto every good work. But by definition, This is God's book. This is God's word. And when we preach the word, it's gonna magnify God. It's gonna exalt Him. It's going to honor Him. And brethren, is that not our goal in public worship? To magnify God. This is not about us. This is about Him. Secondly, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18 through 24. This is where Paul is saying, as he writes to the Corinthians, filled with Greeks, and he says, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. In verse 23, we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness. But to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Back up in verse 21. Since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. My friends, what we're hearing today is preaching is not where it's at. All that doctrine and instruction, no, let's just build up the congregation with lots of lively singing and joyful experience and fellowship. That's what's really important. But listen, the Word of God teaches us that it's through the foolishness of preaching that God saves those who believe. I don't think there's a clearer illustration of this than the conversion of Spurgeon. I had the whole thing printed out and wanted to read it to you. Many of you may already be familiar with it. Spurgeon was 15 years old. He wanted to go to church, to a particular church, and a severe snowstorm came in. And so he couldn't go where he wanted to. He turned aside to this little primitive Methodist church. The pastor couldn't even make it to church because of the snow. Spurgeon said a little thin looking man stumbled into the pulpit he couldn't speak well he couldn't pronounce the words well but he was preaching from a text in Isaiah 45 that said look unto me all the ends of the earth and be saved and he went through and he said look that's what you're called to do you don't have to go to college to learn how to look anybody can look you don't have to lift your finger or your hand you just need to look look, look to Jesus and be saved." And then he eyed Spurgeon sitting there, there were only 12-15 people in the whole place, and he eyed Spurgeon and he looked at him and fixed his eyes on him and said, you young man, you look miserable. and you will be miserable in life and in death unless you obey my text. Look, look, look to Jesus and be saved." And Spurgeon said at that moment, the way of salvation was clear to me. You think of the numbers of people that Spurgeon brought to Christ because of that humble, tailored, who couldn't speak well, just preached the word. Through the foolishness of preaching, God saves men. Oh boy, I wish I had another 10 minutes to look at Romans 10 and particularly verses 14 through 17. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach unless they be sent? There's a lot there. One thing that I want you to see is that second phrase, how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? In most Greek manuscripts that word of before him is not there. And I think what Paul is actually saying, how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? Because my friends, when the Word of God is faithfully preached, Christ is speaking. This is the highest, most glorious, most powerful exchange you will enter into with God Almighty. Because when the Word of God is preached, Christ is speaking to you. It's not just me. It's not just Pastor Matt. It's not guest speakers. Christ is speaking through His Word. That's our view of preaching. That's what we seek to propose here and emulate following the scriptures. I would encourage you, read over question 160. Think carefully about it because you are very much a part of the preaching of the word here. Pray for that preaching. prepare your hearts for that preaching receive gladly with meekness the word when it is preached and it will bear fruit to the glory of God let's close in prayer father we thank you for this time would you add your blessing to it use your word and your spirit encourage us this day strengthen us by your grace and fill us with joy as we prepare to enter into your courts and hear the voice of Christ speaking to us through his word we ask in Jesus name amen