REFORMED WITNESS
Volume VIII, May 2000, Number 5
Preach the Word
by H. Hoeksema
Editorial from the August 1, 1934, issue of The Standard Bearer.See more articles by this author
Also in this issue: Feeding Sheep Or Amusing Goats - by C. H. Spurgeon
Preach The Word.
Such is the charge of the apostle Paul to his spiritual son Timothy in II Timothy 4:1,2.
Preach the Word!
Preach the Word, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Be instant, preaching the Word, in season and out of season.
I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the Word.
Such is the charge, after all not of Paul, but of the Word of God; not to Timothy, but to the ministers of the Word, and to the Church of Christ in the world: preach the Word! Not only the ministers must know what is their charge and task. The Church of God in the midst of the world must also constantly keep in mind that such is the calling of them that preach to them and through whom she preaches. She must not desire anything else of them than that they preach the Word!
Serious charge. Humanly impossible!
The Word is the Word of God. It is essentially the Son. It is with respect to all things that are and shall be God's counsel, the Word God has eternally in Mind. It is the Word that was historically realized in the Lord Jesus Christ, the promise, the gospel. It is the Word that was communicated through revelation and inspiration to the minds of men, so that it might be carried forth on the wings of a human word. It is the Word, finally, we now possess in the Scriptures.
And notice that it is the Word. The only Word.
There are many words in the world, words of Man. These are lies, because man is merely man. He cannot speak of himself. And when he does speak of himself, as does the sinner, he surely lies. But in distinction from all these words of Man the Word that must be preached is the Word. When in a dark and stormy night a ship is struggling with the turbulent sea to reach the safe harbor, there may be many lights along the shoreline; yet in the midst of all these lights there is but one light by which the course of the ship can be safely directed, the beacon-light that flashes from the tower on the pier. That ship is the Church. That stormy and dark night is this present time. That turbulent sea is the world. That harbor is the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ and the glory of His kingdom to come. That one light is the Word. Many lights appear in the dark night beckoning the ship. They are flashed by would-be preachers that proclaim the word of man. Hence, it is the Word that must be preached.
It is the Word. Note the singular. A minister of the gospel must not be a preacher of words, not even of the words of Scripture. There are many words, texts, chapters, books in the Bible. And all these words are but vehicles that convey the Word, not as if these vehicles did not matter and might be substituted by words of our own. On the contrary. The vehicles and the thing conveyed belong inseparably together. Nevertheless, a minister of the gospel must preach the Word, not words. It is very well possible to explain all the words of a text or passage of Scripture in their correct meaning without preaching the Word. Word-exegesis is no preaching. Hence, from whatever part of Scripture a minister preaches and approaches the Word, it must always be that Word: God in the face of Jesus Christ!
For that reason it must be the whole Word he preaches. God is One. His work is one. His Word is one. And that one Word must be preached in its entirety. The whole counsel of God must be proclaimed. A preacher must not at random roam through Scripture to look for a text as one would look for a word in a dictionary. Neither must he let his own sinful inclination be his guide to preach only on those parts that are most to his liking. He must be a preacher of the entire Word. Otherwise he does not preach the Word.
He stands in the midst of the Church to preach that Word. It must not merely be placed as an open book on the pulpit so that the Church can come to it. It must be brought to the Church. Neither must it merely be read. It must be preached, interpreted, applied, witnessed unto by a living testimony. The preacher must fill his mind and heart with it. It must become part and parcel of his own soul. His whole being must be controlled by it. When he appears on the pulpit it must be a necessity for him to speak. For, the Word must be preached.
It must be preached in the midst of a sinful world and to a Church that is not yet perfect to sinful saints. That is why the preaching of that Word must assume the form of rebuke, of reproval, of exhortation, and the preacher must proclaim it with all longsuffering and doctrine. He must preach, and in preaching he must teach. His preaching must be doctrine. All doctrine. And this doctrinal preaching must reprove, i.e., convict of sin. Preaching that which does not convict of sin is fundamentally corrupt. How could that be preaching of the Word of God to sinful saints that does not convict of sin? It must convict of sin, not merely in the shallow sense in which it is frequently understood and practiced in Methodistic circles, so that one is convicted of sin once in his life and then he is saved and the matter is settled: but it must convict all the hearers of sin constantly. And convicting of sin, it must rebuke the sinner so convinced, i.e., severely censure him, so that he feels utterly condemned and undone before the face of God. But it must also exhort, and comfort; lead to the cross, to the resurrection, to the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness which is in Christ Jesus by faith, to the glory of the inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away; admonish to persevere even unto the end and keep the eye on the Light that flashes from the tower on the pier, till the safe harbor is reached.
This the preacher of the Word must do to himself as well as to the congregation!
He must always do it. He must persistently preach the Word. He must be instant in season and out of season. Not as if the Word could ever be out of season. But the hearers frequently create conditions, relationships, feasts and parties and banquets, when it would seem awkward if of a sudden the preacher would be instant and proclaim the Word of God. Besides, permanent conditions are created in the world that cause the Word to appear out of date. But the preacher must be faithful. He must put all his confidence in the Word and believe that it alone is true, in season and out of season he must be assured that the Word is always right and all the world is condemned.
A serious charge!
So serious: that this word takes us before the face of God and before the face of Jesus Christ the Lord, and places us under oath to keep the charge and carry it out!
So serious: that the word carries us to the day when Jesus Christ the Lord shall judge the then living and the then dead, impressing on the preacher, on the Church, that we shall be judged according as we have been faithful to this charge!
So serious: that this word brings before our mind the appearing of the Lord in glory and the coming of His kingdom, as though it means to impress us that the very glory of the Church is at stake with the preaching of the Word!
This is all the more urgent because men will arise, always do arise, having itching ears, choosing preachers after their own carnal liking who will insist that the words of Man, not the Word must be preached, that refuse to be reproved, rebuked and exhorted!
Preach, then, the Word!
Feeding Sheep Or Amusing Goats
By C. H. Spurgeon
From the March 1, 1989, issue of The Standard BearerSee more articles by this author
An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them. From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.
My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church. If it is a Christian work why did not Christ speak of it? 'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.' That is clear enough. So it would have been if he had added, 'and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel.' No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to him. Then again, 'He gave some apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers, for the work of the ministry.' Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.
Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all His apostles. What was the attitude of the Church to the world? 'Ye are the salt,' - not the sugar candy - something the world will spit out - not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance, 'Let the dead bury their dead.' He was in awful earnestness!
Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of his teaching. I do not hear him say, 'Run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick, Peter, we must get the people somehow!' Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them. In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of the gospel of amusement. Their message is, 'Come out, keep out, keep clean out!' Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon. After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the Church had a prayer meeting, but they did not pray, 'Lord grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are.' If they ceased not for preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They 'turned the world upside down'. That is the only difference! Lord, clear the Church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her and bring us back to apostolic methods.
Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired. It works havoc among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the Church met them halfway, speak and testify. Let the heavy laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment had been God's link in the chain of their conversion, stand up! There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts. The need of the hour for today's ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.
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