Texual & Expository Sermons: Benefits & Dangers

Introduction: Review of Sermon Species and Today's Focus

0:03 Well, as you brethren know, what happened last week is we really only got through the first of three divisions of our lecture in which we're attempting, having established the identity and legitimacy of the three species of sermons, we're attempting to consider the benefits and dangers of each species or the relative advantages and disadvantages. And last week we covered only the benefits and dangers of the topical or subject sermon, and now today we'll take up the dangers and benefits or advantages and disadvantages of the textual sermon, and then also and finally of the expository, that is, consecutive expository sermon. All right, then we're taking up the advantages. Advantages and disadvantages of the textual sermon. And I remind you of the analogy of the play here in the textual sermon.

1:14 The stage is set by the text. The backdrop, the props, the actors are all brought from the text itself. No major component is imported outside of the text, but every major component is derived from the text itself. Well, let me first of all underscore three very basic benefits of the textual sermon to the hearers, and then three to the preacher.

Benefits of Textual Sermons

1:47 So the benefits of the textual sermon, first of all, to the hearers. First of all, it creates a climate of expectation. When people sit under a ministry that at least occasionally, or even, with some degree of regularity, is marked by textual sermons, there is a climate of expectation in that they are not certain what you're going to bring, but they know that generally what you bring to them has grown out of the matrix of your own interaction with the Word of God, and is something that has gripped your own heart, and so that climate of expectancy, is perhaps more heightened by that little element of surprise. And that in itself is not an evil thing, as long as you're not indulging in novelties, or like some people, whose sermon titles would lead you to expect marvelous things, but that's about the only thing marvelous about the sermon was its title. And the title creates great expectancy, but the sermon itself, great disappointment. So we're not talking about anything of that kind, which is an abuse of a climate of expectancy,

3:16 but that legitimate climate of expectancy that is present when people do not know what text of Scripture the servant of God will bring before them week by week. Then secondly, it has this benefit to the hearers, which is in that it usually provides, good footing for the memory. Generally speaking, textual preaching is done with texts that have in the very way they are stated, more than an ordinary grip upon them. And so for aiding the memories of our people, textual preaching is indeed a benefit, providing a good footing, for the memory. I'm sure that most of us who sit through the series that Pastor Nichols is bringing in the Communion meditations will probably, a year after that's completed, be able to recall, if he deals with five or six of those texts, stating the purpose of the death of Christ, at a moment's notice, we'll probably be able to recall three or four, if not all five of them, with very little trouble, because they are texts, dealing with basic central themes, that naturally work their way,

4:44 very powerfully, into the memory. And anything that can get the word of God into the memory, into the storage bank of our people's minds, is indeed a benefit. So it creates a climate of expectancy, textual preaching provides a good footing for the memory, and then thirdly, it provides a pattern for analyzing a specific text of Scripture. It provides a pattern for analyzing a specific text or portion of Scripture.

5:26 And as we indicated last week, our people are not only learning their hermeneutics as we expound the words of Scripture, but they are also in a sense, learning their homiletics, in that they are learning how to break down a text of Scripture into its various parts, in order to think through it in a logical way. And textual preaching, that is indeed textual preaching, in which the whole substance of the sermon is taken out of that one verse, or several verses, or paragraph, or paragraph of the Word of God, does indeed, over the long haul, provide a pattern for analyzing a specific portion of Scripture. But then there are specific benefits to the preacher. Textual preaching, first of all, forces him to be honest with the words of Scripture. It forces him to be honest with the words of Scripture.

6:36 If he knows that the whole sermon, in its major components, is to grow out of a verse, or several verses, then he is immediately driven to wrestle with the words, the words and their relationship to each other, their relationship altogether to the immediate and remote context, and therefore textual preaching will force a man to be honest with the words of Holy Scripture. And anything that forces the preacher to be honest with Scripture is to his advantage. Secondly, it forces him to be consistent with the proportionate emphases of Scripture. Textual preaching will force a man to be consistent with the proportionate emphases of Scripture. For example, in the text that formed the basis of the meditations that I gave in this chapel series last week, when we look at 1 Timothy 4.16, we have the two-pronged imperative, pay close attention to yourself and to the teaching.

7:58 Then you have that encouragement to perseverance, a use of epimeno, continue in them, and then the encouragement. In doing this you will save both yourself and those that hear you. Now, anyone who is true to the text, that text of Scripture, though it breaks down very clearly into those three component parts, the two-pronged imperative, taking yourself into the teaching, the prompt to perseverance, continue in them, and then the promise of encouragement, in doing this you will save yourself and those that hear you. Where does the predominant emphasis lie in that text? Well, it obviously lies here, the two-pronged imperative. It is the duty to pay close attention to ourselves and to the teaching that is the dominant idea. The second idea is ancillary in that it is saying, continue in them, and then to give encouragement, we have this final word of encouragement, but here is the dominant idea.

9:09 And if your textual preaching is true to the text, it will force you to be consistent with the proportionate emphases of the Word of God. You will not be guilty of bringing up into a place of equal prominence something that is a secondary point of emphasis in the text. And then thirdly, here is one of the benefits of textual preaching to the preacher. It allows him the liberty of preaching on passages which have gripped him in an unusual way.

9:51 It allows him the liberty of preaching on passages which have gripped him in an unusual way. If you are locked in to consecutive expository preaching, morning and evening, or you are locked in to a consecutive expository series in the morning and a large, broad, topical or thematic series in the evening, and you have no place for textual preaching, what do you do when in your own personal devotions there is a text of Scripture that fastens itself upon your own soul and like burrs that fasten themselves to your britches when you take a walk through the fields, you just can't shake the burrs off, you just can't shake that text off. Well, if you do not believe and are not prepared to engage in textual preaching, you will be robbing yourself and your people of the benefit that comes from working through a text which has gripped you in your own spiritual exercises of the devotional reading of the Word of God, in your general theological and related reading, and we need to have some place in our preaching for that liberty. Spurgeon comments on this concept when he says,

11:18 What is the right text? How do you know it? We know it by the signs of a friend. When a verse gives your mind a hearty grip from which you cannot release yourself, you'll need no further direction as to your proper theme.

11:35 Like the fish, you nibble at many baits, but when the hook has fairly pierced you, you will wander no more. When the text gets a hold of us, we may be sure we have a hold of it and may safely deliver our souls upon it. To use another simile, you get a number of texts in your hand and try to break them up. You hammer at them with might and main, but your labor is lost.

12:01 At last you find one which crumbles at the first blow and sparkles as if it falls in pieces, and you perceive jewels of the rarest radiance flashing from within. It grows before your eye like the fabled seed which developed into a tree while the observer watched it. It charms and fascinates you, or it weighs you to your knees and loads you with the burden of the Lord. Know then that this is the message which the Lord would have you deliver, and feeling this, you will become so bound by that scripture that you will feel that you cannot rest until you have yielded your whole mind to its power and have spoken upon it as the Lord shall give you utterance. Now this part of his counsel we do not embrace. Wait for that elect word even if you wait till within an hour of the service. This may not be understood by cool, calculating men who are not moved by impulses as we are, but to some of us these things are a law in our hearts which we dare not offend.

13:09 Well, we would not go so far as to say that's what we do week after week and wait until such a text grips us, but what I'm saying is this, that in the course of other forms of ministry when a text does fasten itself upon you and does break open, sometimes in a matter of minutes, the whole structure of it and the outline and the thrust of it in preaching, you almost feel as though you are passive, that something is being given to you. And one of the great benefits then of textual preaching is that it allows you the liberty of preaching on such texts which do indeed grip the heart often quite unexpectedly. But now there are dangers, there are liabilities of textual preaching, particularly if it is indulged in as the primary species of sermon. First of all then, the dangers to the hearers and then the dangers to the preacher. First of all, the dangers to the hearers. Number one, they may cultivate an itch for the novel and more striking words of Scripture.

Dangers of Textual Sermons

14:27 They may cultivate an itch for the novel and the more striking words of Scripture. Since textual preaching does not usually take its starting point from a bland statement of Scripture or an apparently bland statement, albeit fully verbally inspired. But from those texts that are more striking in the way the thought is couched in the given words that God has given, people who feed too frequently upon textual preaching can subtly cultivate an unholy interest for the novel and the more striking words of Scripture, and therefore will not appreciate the plain Jane Scriptures which may contain truths very, very vital to their spiritual well-being. Then secondly, if the textual does not focus upon the context, immediate and remote, then all the dangers of a topical sermon apply here as well. And what were those dangers

15:54 of the topical sermon? Well, they may acquire a distorted view of the nature of the Bible. They'll think of the Bible only in terms of unusually striking statements hung together by less striking filler. They will not readily acquire the habits of sound interpretation and the sense of the words that left a mark on their minds.

16:23 They will not be able to understand the detail of their words by reading them, nor do they have a clear understanding of the meaning of the words they're talking about. In each of the verses in the Bible, the text has been translated from the text of the Bible to the text of the Bible, and the text of the Bible has been translated to the language of the Bible. The lecture of the Bible is in the context of the Bible. It takes the text and plunges right in without any reference to what Professor Murray called the universe of discourse.

16:45 And I like that terminology. Context has become a hackneyed word. Universe of discourse usually causes people to say, purpose of that particular book, that particular prophet, that particular epistle. Well, in too much textual preaching, especially textual preaching that ignores the immediate and remote context, our people will not readily acquire the habits of sound interpretation, and thirdly, they will probably remain ignorant of many facets of biblical revelation. So all of the potential dangers of topical preaching apply to textual preaching if it becomes the predominant preaching mode that we use. They will probably remain ignorant of many facets of biblical revelation. But there are dangers not only to the hearers, but there are dangers to the preacher.

17:48 In textual preaching, danger number one to the preacher, he is vulnerable to the unnecessary agony of subjectivism in the selection of his text. He is vulnerable to the unnecessary agony of subjectivism in the selection of his text. Now, Dabney recognized this danger and addressed it very pointedly on page 82. By the way, that quote from Spurgeon was page 85.

18:27 in his lectures to my students. Speaking of the advantages of expository preaching, Dabney writes, The expository method secures for the pastor sundry conveniences and advantages. One of these, not to be disdained, is that he is thus relieved of the harassing doubt and hesitation which often attend the selection of an individual text. Instead of having to read the text, having his spirits consumed for a day by this question, that is, what text shall I preach, he proceeds at once to attack the work of preparation which is laid out for him in advance.

19:12 Another gain is it enables the preacher to embody and use many points which separately are too brief to offer a sufficient tract of thought for a whole sermon, etc. But he recognized that we would be delivered from the volume of the text. He recognized that we would be delivered from the volume of the text. He recognized that we would be delivered from the volume of the text. He recognized the vulnerability to the unnecessary agony of subjectivism. Now some of us who only preached after the textual model in our early preaching experience really know what that agony is. To wait sometimes literally for hours, praying, casting about, turning from one passage to another, waiting for what Spurgeon would call that elect portion of the word of God, until it was given to us in some kind of subjective, mystical way. Well, any preacher

20:06 that lives by that rule is either unusually fortified with emotional and mental strength beyond the rest of us mortals, or he'll end up getting discouraged and quitting the ministry if he tries to carry on that kind of ministry year in and year out. And Spurgeon was indeed the great exception, but exceptions only accentuate rules. They do not constitute a pattern to follow. Then second disadvantage to the preacher, he is vulnerable to the danger of manipulating the emphases of the text for homiletical finesse. He is vulnerable to the danger of manipulating the emphases of the text for homiletical finesse. The text may have but one leading central idea embodied in but one leading fundamental and central statement. And yet there is a built-in proclivity, and much of

21:25 it has to do with the laws of the mind and the way we think, to set forth any unit of thought in terms of divisions. Well, one can be artificial, then, in the dividing up of the text if he is continually engaging or excessively engaging in textual preaching. And we do not want to leave ourselves unnecessarily vulnerable to the danger of manipulating the emphases of any portion of the Word of God simply for homiletical finesse. And then, thirdly, the the the a preacher who engages too often, too frequently, in textual preaching is vulnerable to the danger of imbalance and lopsidedness in his preaching. He is vulnerable to the danger of imbalance and lopsidedness in his preaching. He will generally find himself choosing texts that seem to be more readily preachable but are not. But they may not be the text which address the most crucial issues of the flock in which he ministers.

22:42 And when you begin to select sermonic materials in terms of their potential ease or difficulty with respect to this matter, that is, difficulty with respect to preparation, rather than in terms of the known need of your people or the track that is already laid by God Himself in consecutive ages, practice – expository preaching, you will probably end up, over the long haul, imbalanced and lopsidedness. You will choose texts that are more readily preachable. You will choose texts which land you in territory in which you feel more comfortable. So those are some of the very real dangers of the textual sermon. Now then, we come to take up, in the third place, the benefits and dangers, the advantages and disadvantages of the expository sermon. And here you remember the analogy. The stage is set from a given passage in a book or group of chapters, and

Benefits of Expository Sermons to Hearers

23:59 all of the major components are taken from that section, and what we have is a play in serial. So, we have installments until we have preached through the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, or the Book of Philippians, chapters 1 through 4, etc., etc. Now, what are the benefits of the expository sermon? And you remember our definition is consecutive expository preaching. Well, you're going to see my prejudice in that we've got five benefits, all right? Five benefits to the hearers, and then four benefits to the preacher. All right, to the hearers, benefit number one. The Bible is seen in its own native form, structure, and

24:58 substance. The Bible is seen in its own native form and substance. Structure really is redundant. Form and structure.

25:11 Pretty much synonymous. The Bible is seen in its own native form and substance. Now, Alexander perceptively recognized this and expressed it on page 238 of his thoughts on preaching, in which he's dealing with this whole question of expository preaching, and he writes, the expository method, page 238, is best fitted to communicate the knowledge of scriptural truth in its connection. The knowledge of the Bible is something more than the knowledge of its isolated sentences. This logical connection between the various statements is no less the result of inspiration than is any individual statement. In some books of scripture, the argument runs, from beginning to end, and the clue to the whole is to be sought in the analysis of the reasoning. As instances of this we may cite the epistles to the Romans, and to the Hebrews, of which no man can have any adequate conception who has not been

26:31 familiar with all their parts as constituting a logical whole. This, however, is so universally conceded, as the first principle of hermeneutics, that it is needless to press it further. So, benefit number one, and perhaps the supreme benefit to our people, is that the Bible is seen in its own native form and substance. And let me just give you this brief quote from Taylor, page 161 at the bottom.

27:06 I'm thus brought naturally to the consideration of the advantages which are connected with this method of ministerial instruction, and among these I mention first the fact that it brings both preacher and hearers into direct and immediate contact with the mind of the Spirit. The open Bible on the sacred desk is the token that both speaker and listener regard it as the ultimate standard of appeal. Thank you. Then he goes on to say that in both the topical and the individual textual, it's much easier to depart from the mind of the Spirit as embodied in the words of Scripture. And the second great advantage to our people is this. If we are doing expository preaching as it ought to be done, proper principles of sound interpretation and application are most important. Proper principles of sound interpretation and application are most readily absorbed.

28:28 Our people under our ministries are to have a growing confidence that the Bible is the layman's book.

28:40 They need to have increasing confidence that it is the book for the people. As Dabney says, on page 81 of his excellent treatise on sacred rhetoric, a prime object of pastoral teaching is to teach the people how to read the Bible for themselves. A sealed book cannot be interesting. If it be read without the key of comprehension, it cannot be instructed.

29:13 Now it is the preacher's business in his public discourses to give his preachers, people teaching by example, in the art of interpreting the word. He should exhibit before them in actual use the methods by which the legitimate meaning is to be evolved. Fragmentary preaching, however brilliant, will never do this. The pastor must teach his flock how to expound for themselves by frequent practice in company with them.

29:47 I love that. By frequent practice in company with them. In a sense, he is thinking out loud and in a manner that is more finished than he would in his own devotions. He is thinking out loud and following with his people the track of his thought in arriving at the proper meaning of the word, but I go further and say in its proper application.

30:14 Our people need to be taught by example, not only how to interpret the scriptures, but how to apply them.

30:23 Having extracted the doctrine, how to engage in use of the Puritan terminology, use one, use two, use three, use four. They need to be instructed in both proper principles of interpretation and application, and they are most likely so to be instructed under a solid, most honest ministry of consecutive, expository preaching. Third benefit.

30:56 Unsavory but necessary subjects are naturally and inevitably introduced. Unsavory but necessary subjects are naturally and inevitably introduced. Just a general sense of the word, of reticence to touch certain subjects of a delicate nature, of a very controversial nature, are forced upon us in consecutive expository preaching as they are in the consecutive reading of the scriptures. I doubt I would ever have preached on the text in Proverbs 5, preached on purity and marital love and fidelity as a means of purity, but it's not likely that you would say rejoice in the wife of thy youth, let her breast satisfy thee at all times like a loving hind and a doe. I mean, that's pretty graphic imagery, but it's there in the consecutive reading of scripture. You read it without embarrassment, a subject which if you took up topically, people might wonder where your mind was.

32:22 Now, if you were bringing a series of sermons on sexual purity, you might allude to that passage, but if you were preaching right through, then you see topics that you might not normally concentrate upon, you are forced to, and that's one of the great benefits of consecutive expository preaching. Again, listen to Dabney on page 83. You're going to read him anyway, but hearing it in a lecture somehow embeds it, I think, a little more. A more weighty advantage is that the expository preaching of the scriptures is a way of bringing a series of sermons on sexual purity.

32:53 The expository method enables the pastor to introduce without offense those delicate subjects of temptation and duty and those obnoxious doctrines and rebukes, which on the opposite method always incurs so much odium. He calls certain doctrines and duty and rebukes obnoxious. The fragmentary preacher will find it very difficult and delicate thing to request his people to give him the Sabbath hour for the discussion of polygamy, divorce, and other sins against chastity. The taste of many will be disgusted. They will ask, what foul taint does our pastor suspect in us that he supposes these offensive subjects necessary? Yet there may be good cause, if not now, hereafter. Some Mormon emissary may seduce some of the more ignorant and unstable to his abominable creed. Some better minds may be harassed with skeptical difficulties concerning the polygamy of the saints in the old dispensation. We know that

33:52 the awkward silence of the Holy Spirit is a way of getting rid of the sin of the Lord. The silence of the pulpit concerning the seventh commandment has been the occasion of much of the shocking levity of opinion which prevails as to its breach. Now, if the pastor has engaged to preach an exposition of the whole book of Exodus, all is made easy. He does not introduce these subjects there. It is God who has done it, and if he would be faithful, he has no option to omit them. And then he goes on the same thing with the doctrine of predestination. He says, start preaching through Romans. Then when you come to chapter nine, what are you to say? I'm sorry, folks, I've got to apologize for God. He never should have put this here. No, you go right on through. So, in thinking of the advantages and benefits of expository preaching, this third one is no little part of those advantages. The fourth, the hearers may most readily be prepared for, involved in,

34:58 and conserve the substance of the preaching. The hearers may most readily be prepared for,

35:10 involved in, and conserve the substance of the preaching. Not a few of our own people here, I know from years of interaction with them, pray over the next paragraph in the book that one of us is preaching to them. And they can't. They can't. They can't. They can't. They can't. They can't.

35:34 They come with questions. They've sought to ascertain the meaning. And there are difficulties. They already come with their minds predisposed. They are already at a high level of interest.

35:47 They are prepared for. They've been praying, Lord, as our pastor preaches on that passage this Sunday morning, Lord, be pleased to give me understanding. Be pleased to help him. He's confessed his own difficulty before it on Wednesday night and asked us to pray. You see, they're involved even in your preparation. And it's in consecutive expository preaching that that's most likely to be the case. So they are most readily prepared for and then involved in. They've already had their minds go down the track of the words and the basic units of thought in the passage. So they're in familiar ground, at least by having read over the passage ahead of time. So they are involved with you as you are, as it were,

36:34 expounding, and opening up in their presence that which under God has been opened up at your desk in preparation. And if it's true, balanced, fair, expository preaching, they are most likely to conserve the substance of the preaching. Why? Because you've just opened up what's there. And when you're done, the highest compliment you can have paid is for people to sit there and say, well, that's so plain. Any old dummy can see that. When you have opened it up in such a way that your people say, well, that's so clear,

37:14 what was wrong with me that I didn't see that before? If your people sit there and say, oh, isn't that marvelous? Oh, I would never get that out of the Bible in a million years. If people ooh and ah at the things you get out of the Bible, something big bad with your exposition.

37:38 Now, if in your... application, you take them into areas they never would have thought of, that shows that God's given you a shepherd's heart. And that's part of the distinct gift of being able to reprove, rebuke, exhort. But if they sit there amazed that you get these deep and hidden meanings that in no way would ever be seen, then something's wrong. No, when you're done preaching the passage, the average listener should be able to sit down long after he's forgotten your outline and the way you...

38:12 you tried to have headings that were easy to remember, because you won't be able to remember a week later. You want something to humble you? In consecutive expository preaching, when you sit down to prepare next week's sermon, try to repeat your outline from the week before without looking at your notes. I find it's one of the best things to keep me very, very realistic in what I expect from my people. Here, I've spent a whole day's work over, and I can't even remember the outline many times. But I can go back and think my way through the passage, and feel that the understanding gleaned is with me as a permanent deposit. And that's our concern. Long after the scaffolding of the homiletics has dropped off and the termites of time have eaten it, it's the solid marble of divine truth that is there, uneroded, and no termite can do anything but bust his teeth on it. It's in their hearts, because we've given them the Word of God. That's one of the

39:12 great advantages. And the fifth great advantage is the element of variety and change encourages sustained interest. The element of variety and change encourages sustained interest. In consecutive expository preaching, in the course of sometimes just a couple of paragraphs, you'll move from very almost, we would say, to a very, very, very long, very long, very long, very long, very long, very long, call esoteric doctrinal truths that take you up into the heights.

39:55 And then you're dropped right down on the deck of some of the most very practical issues.

40:01 And one of the great benefits then of consecutive expository preaching is that there is that constant variety and change that encourages sustained interest in your people. Listen to Dabney on page 87.

40:48 And it's a matter of transcendent, of infinite concern to him to get the right meaning of that book. But all popular readers of the Scriptures have a strong consciousness of their own blindness of mind to much that they read there. They feel that in many places they do not have the key of knowledge. Hence, he who proposes to open the meaning of the Scriptures meets the most serious desire of their religious nature.

41:14 And if this work is done successfully, now listen, without, without undue pedantry and prolixity, in other words, giving them a Hebrew and Greek lesson every week and having outlines so involved that only Solomon could ever sort out the head from the tail of it, but with a plain and honest mastery of the task which is obvious to the good sense of the hearer, if his judgment is convinced that the preacher has indeed given him the clue of correct understanding, nothing can be so attractive to him. He feels that's precisely what he needed. The expository method is also naturally adapted to sustain the interest of common minds in that it provides them with frequent and easy transitions of subject.

42:05 He goes on to say that it's only the professionally trained mind that can hold itself to one subject for a lengthy period of time without growing weary. And that's one of the benefits of consecutive expository preaching. It's one of the things I have delighted in in preaching from the Gospel of Mark because you go at times from some of the most profound and lofty to some of the most gutsy practical truths and all in the space of a week or two. And you will find over the years that that element of variety and change does indeed both encourage and sustain interest in you.

42:48 But now there are benefits to the preacher. This is all the benefits to the hearers. And I'm sure there are more, but these five I've focused upon. What about the benefits to the preacher?

Benefits of Expository Sermons to Preachers

43:02 Well, benefit number one. Such preaching forces him to be honest with the whole of Scripture.

43:17 Such preaching forces him to be honest with the whole of Scripture. In every one of these, there is a predisposition to avoid certain truths and to gravitate to other truths. But consecutive expository preaching forces you to be honest with the whole of Scripture. And one of the best statements on this is found in Alexander, pages 234 and 235.

43:53 It's paragraph, he has it numbered three. The expository method is adapted to secure the greatest amount of scriptural knowledge to both preacher and hearer.

44:06 And then he goes on to elaborate why that is so. Secondly, it enables the preacher to be working ahead, to be thinking and preparing constantly. That's the second great advantage to the preacher.

44:26 Forces him to be honest with the whole of Scripture. Whatever book he is preaching through, he can't just burp, sneeze, and hope he ends up in the next paragraph giving him the luxury of passing over a very difficult one with all kinds of starting with just textual problems all the way to the problem of images and relationships between things that are so embedded in either the culture of the Old Testament theocracy or in the mixed cultural settings of the Roman world in the first century that the passage just seems to drip and ooze with difficulty. But this pressure is upon him to be honest and to work at seeking to unfold its meaning. But it also enables him to be working ahead, thinking, and preparing constantly. And again, that's no little benefit to consecutive expository preaching. It will keep you from a lot of unholy daydreaming.

45:34 If you simply just read the next paragraph and get a general feel for it, then driving between appointments and driving to a pastoral visit and the rest, your mind is turning over, Lord, what are the problems of that text that I'm going to have to really wrestle with when I sit down with my Greek text or with my Hebrew text and really attempt to come to grips with it? What are some of the very obvious lines of emphasis that I wish to underscore this next Lord's Day? Well, that's a tremendous benefit to have your mind seizing those opportunities that otherwise could be lost for any productive mental and spiritual activity. But then there's a third advantage to the preacher. It preserves him from the agony of indecision and uncertainty regarding the choice of a text. This is just stating in a positive way, what we mentioned as one of the weaknesses of the textual method leaves him unusually vulnerable to that agony.

46:49 Here's stating it positively. Consecutive expository preaching preserves the preacher from the agony of indecision and uncertainty regarding the choice of a text. If waiting upon God, consulting with one's fellow elders, a decision is made, then you're not at the mercy of a vicious subjectivism. You're not at the mercy of a vicious subjectivism.

47:10 You're not at the mercy of a vicious subjectivism. You're not at the mercy of a vicious subjectivism. You're not at the mercy of a vicious subjectivism. isn't it? Nor are you at the mercy of the natural aversion that you would have, as we've already mentioned, because of difficulties that are in the text or because of apparent negative fallout that will come from preaching that passage. You're saved from all of that because you simply say in our consecutive preaching, here we come, and there you are. You're in that paragraph that you know is going to be like sticking a big, long stick into a bee's nest. Well, then you can say, God, it's your stick, and you stuck it into the nest, and you'll have to help me to hit the river and jump in before the bees get my butt. So it's wonderful to be able to put yourself in the Lord's hands that way. Or if I

48:05 end up getting stung to death, I'll know I'm not getting stung to death because of my stupidity in running in. And tackling a situation that I should have left to another time. If God providentially has brought us to that passage, then believing that God is the God of providence, unless there are compelling reasons to skip over it, we go right through with it and then accept the consequences. All right?

48:33 Now then, there is another advantage, and it's this. It puts a wholesome check. This is advantage It puts a wholesome check on any potential abuse of his oratorical powers. It puts a wholesome check upon any potential abuse of his oratorical powers. Now, this may sound like a strange thing in a day when the very word oratorical is like a dirty word with rhetorical, oratorical, any of those things, eloquence. But I hope you men don't hold that view. True eloquence is speaking that makes thought worthy of being considered stand out vividly in the mind's eye. True eloquence is feeling the weighty impress of human words, or I should say of words conveying divine thought. Sacred eloquence

49:46 involves that. And so we have no problem with eloquence, oratory, when it is the vehicle of making men feel the weight and the pressure of God's own holy word. But now Alexander recognized the benefit of consecutive expository preaching because he lived in a day when there were men who were eloquent and who could have abused that gift and that cultivated art of eloquence. Such a mode of preaching, 251 at the bottom of Alexander's thoughts on preaching, is less adapted than its opposite to make the speaker a separate object of regard and might be selected by many on this very account. It is now some years since we enjoyed the privilege of listening to the late, pious, and eloquent Summerfield, the charm of whose brilliant and pathetic discourses will never be forgotten by those who heard them.

50:48 After having on a certain occasion delivered a deeply impressive sermon on Isaiah 6, 1-6, he remarked to the writer of these pages that in consequence of having been pursued by multitudes of applauding hearers, he had been led to exercise himself more in the way of simple exposition as that which most threw the preacher himself into the shade and most illustrously displayed. The same idea was expressed by the late Dr. Mason in circumstances which no doubt drew from him his sincerest convictions and most affectionate counsels. The words are found in a sermon preached in Murray Street Church, December 2, 1821, on the occasion of resigning the charge of his congregation, and we earnestly recommend to every reader this testimony of one who, it is well known, was eminently gifted, in the very exercise which he applauds, in suggesting to his late charge, that is, the congregation he was leaving, the principles upon which they should select a pastor, he said, Do not choose a man who always preaches upon insulated texts. I care not how powerful or eloquent he may be in handling them. The effect of his power and eloquence will be to banish a taste for the word of God and to substitute the preacher in its place.

52:17 You have been accosted. Do not choose a man who always preaches upon insulated texts. I care not how powerful or eloquent he may be in handling them. Do not choose a man who always preaches upon insulated texts. I care not how powerful or eloquent he may be in handling them. But he says that one of the great benefits of expository preaching is right here, and then he even quotes that same paragraph that Alexander quoted. So it made an impression upon two great minds.

53:34 And some of you at this point may say, well, that will never be my problem. If I can just absorb one-fourth of what I'm being taught here and pass and get out of this place, if I can just absorb one-fourth of what I'm being taught here and pass and get out of this place, if someday I would ever possess oratorical powers that might be a stumbling block to me, maybe seems far removed, but the day may come when the combination of your understanding, the development of your mind, your interaction with people, some of you may have latent oratorical powers that have not been evident to anyone yet. And if so, your greatest blessing could be your greatest curse in terms of your ability to preach the word, the word of God, in such a way as to make that word vivid and powerful and stickable in the minds of God's people. And commitment to consecutive expository preaching puts a wholesome check on the potential abuse of oratorical powers.

Dangers of Expository Sermons to Hearers

54:42 All right, now, we've tried to lay out the advantages or benefits of expository preaching to the hearers and to the listeners. But now we want to deal with the dangers, the liabilities of consecutive expository preaching. Now, by way of introduction, let me say, admittedly, the dangers are less than they are with topical or subject preaching and individual textual preaching, but the dangers are nonetheless real, especially, especially if a man comes to the church, and he has a conviction that the only true method of preaching is consecutive expository preaching exclusively. And some people have that conviction, and that's where the dangers are greatest, all right? All right, the dangers to the hearers, and I'm going to give you three. Number one, they can become weary of the same general field of study and meditation.

55:55 They can become weary of the same general field of study and meditation. Now, there is a carnal weariness among those who simply do not want to live by every word that proceeds out of the word of God. But there is a weariness that can set in to good, godly, spiritually-minded people. And this is particularly true for those who are not in the spiritual world.

56:27 But there is a weariness that can set in to good, godly, spiritually-minded people. And this is particularly true for those who are not in the spiritual world. But there is a weariness that can set in to good, godly, spiritually-minded people. And this is particularly true for those who are not in the spiritual world.

56:31 But there is a weariness that can set in to good, godly, spiritually-minded people. And this is particularly true for those who are not in the spiritual world. But there is a weariness that can set in to good, godly, spiritually-minded people. And this is particularly true for those who are not in the spiritual world.

56:35 But there is a weariness that can set in to good, godly, spiritually-minded people. And this is particularly true for those who are not in the spiritual world. going to preach through. I think it's Spurgeon who makes reference to that preacher who started his ministry with 800 people preaching through the book of Job. And when he got to chapter 42 at the end, his congregation was down to what? How many? A handful? Well, he had preached through the book of Job, but he preached the congregation into nothing. They just became weary because there are certain motifs and certain forms of literary expression that if one is committed to preaching through verse by verse and not using good judgment in summarizing sections, this can simply become wearisome to our people. I'm sure that Professor Lamar Martin would be the first to acknowledge that if you were preaching through the book of Isaiah, you'd be foolish to preach it verse by verse. There are some places where you ought to summarize the major strands of emphasis of

57:43 whole sections, some of those judgments upon the nations. And to preach verse by verse, week in and week out, the oracle against, the oracle against, would become wearisome and tedious to your people. And that doesn't mean that they're unspiritual. It just means they're human. All right? So you have that danger. If there is poor selection, or if you feel that you must expand upon every word and every phrase and say everything there is to say on the text. So poor selection and excessive detail are two of the great enemies of sustaining interest in consecutive expository preaching. And we need to be aware of that. So that's danger number one to the hearers, or liability. Second,

58:41 people can sit for years under such a ministry, and still be ignorant of some of the most fundamental biblical duties and privileges, that you should stick closer to my notes and say doctrines. They can sit for years and still be ignorant of some of the most doctrines, duties, and privileges contained in the word of God. This is why topical preaching is so beneficial. at times, to our people.

59:25 For example, if a man were committed to preaching through, first of all, all of the prison epistles, and then he was going to preach through one of the Gospels, why, in five years of preaching, he might never have a section that strongly set before people some of the most elementary duties and doctrines and privileges of the Christian life, that where in all of that would there be a strong emphasis on something so fundamental as the fear of God, or perhaps the doctrine of creation, things of that nature. So, we need to be aware of the fact that though often people committed to consecutive expository preaching think that this is the way to make sure all the bases are touched, unless they have a very lengthy ministry and a very streamlined method, and even then, if it took them 10 to 15 years to preach through the Bible, you have another whole generation, if God's blessing is on your ministry, who have come into the church at the tail end of that ministry and have missed those little droppings along the way of a given doctrine, which in some of the people who've been there from beginning to end will now have a cumulative grasp upon, but it's vital periodically to come back to some of those great doctrines, those great duties, and privileges,

60:53 and address them in a topical manner, because people can sit for years under consecutive expository preaching and be relatively ignorant of some of the most fundamental doctrines, duties, and privileges. Then thirdly,

61:12 they can become unappreciative of any other method of preaching.

61:25 They can become unappreciative, if you want to state it even stronger, I have the words, in my notes, they can become hypercritical and unappreciative of any other method of preaching.

61:39 I have actually heard young theologues in seminaries ask the question in discussion periods, Pastor Martin, do you believe the Spurgeonic method is a valid method of preaching? Now, isn't that an amazing question? Apparently the Holy Ghost thought it was pretty valid the way he owned it for all those years and continues to own it to the blessing, the blessing of millions. They were dead serious.

62:05 They were ready to have me pronounce the Spurgeonic method invalid,

62:11 unworthy of any imitation.

62:14 Well, that's the kind of hypercritical and downright stupid conclusion that people can come to if they are only exposed to consecutive expository preaching. So those are the dangers to our hearers so that they do not then have that sense of the implications of 1 Corinthians 3 for preachers and different, different forms of preaching. All things are yours. Paul and Apollos and Cephas, all things are yours.

Dangers of Expository Sermons to Preachers

62:43 All of God's servants with their various strengths and legitimate means of communicating the word of God are ours for our edification. But then there are some very real dangers to the preacher. Danger number one, he can become insensitive to current needs which ought to be addressed. He can become insensitive to current needs which ought to be addressed.

63:17 There are times when there are issues in the congregational life and experience of the people of God. There are issues pressing in upon them from crises in the nation or in the world which demand that the word of God be brought to bear upon them. But the man who's committed, I mean, the book of Romans in the morning, I'm in 2 Kings at night and you know, should the Lord rattle the whole country with 50 earthquakes, all 8.9 on the Richter scale, it's Romans and 2 Kings or whatever else I said.

63:59 And insensitivity to the current needs which ought to be addressed. That's one of the real dangers of this, That's one of the real dangers of this, That's one of the real dangers of this, rigid commitment to consecutive expository preaching. Number two, he can become less dependent on the Holy Spirit than is healthy for a fruitful ministry. He can become less dependent on the Holy Spirit than is healthy for a fruitful ministry.

64:38 I have found myself being brought up short many a time when it came time to prepare the next message in a consecutive expository sermon opening up the text, beginning my study, lifting up my heart in prayer to God that he'd give me light and understanding, but then saying, wait a minute, what right do you have to assume that that's the passage you ought to be preaching? Don't you think you ought to at least pray, Lord, all things being equal, this is what I ought to do, but is there some need that I'm not aware of? Lord, help me not to come presumptuously assuming that simply because this next paragraph happens, happens to fall in line in the consecutive exposition, that that is necessarily the word that your people need this Lord's day. And I've had to think again of Jeremiah 17, nine. Cursed be he that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart departs from the Lord. He shall be like a heath in the desert.

65:41 He shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit a parched place, a wilderness, a salt land where no water is. Amen. Well, I don't want that on my ministry, but it can creep over us very subtly in commitment to consecutive expository preaching. Thirdly, the preacher can become paralyzed by his own labors if he doesn't vary his method.

66:10 The preacher can become paralyzed by his labors if he doesn't vary his method. A man committed to consecutive expository preaching week in, week out, Sunday mornings, Sunday night, can become mentally and emotionally, intellectually sterile through the sheer pressure and the lack of variety in that kind of preaching. Dabney even makes reference to this on page 90. Page 90.

66:50 I'll just give you the page, and you can refer to it at your leisure. There are times when a man's ability to break open a passage, to get excited with the passage, his ability in those areas wanes, not so much through spiritual attrition and backsliding, but sheer mental exhaustion and a kind of homiletical rut into which he's gotten himself. And one of the best things to break him out of it is to do a two-month topical series. So he's working in a totally different field with a totally different set of principles, using different mental and intellectual and spiritual muscles that help the others to relax and gain strength. And then he comes back to his consecutive ministry with much more freshness. And it may not necessarily have anything to do with spiritual dynamics. It's purely mental, psychological, emotional dynamics.

67:57 And I have met men. And they have been greatly paralyzed by their commitment to consecutive expository preaching only. So that's a very real danger. And then of course the fourth danger is that he can easily mistake a running commentary on the text for true preaching.

68:25 He can easily mistake a running commentary on the text for true preaching. I don't mean to be unkind when I say it, but the view of expository preaching reflected over the years by a place like Dallas Seminary is the classic example of this. The average Dallas Seminary graduate who gives himself to consecutive expository preaching as he's taught to do it in Dallas does not know the difference between a running commentary on the text and expository preaching. This was, you see, the great concern of that homiletics professor.

69:05 He said, you've given the men today a model of how to exegete the passage and go from exegesis to homiletics. And you laid out the three heads, but you didn't stop there. And from there, you went to applying the word of God to the conscience. But the application, the point of the arrow, had behind it all the weight of accurate exegesis and the pressure and the weight of clean homiletics so that the issue was not confused so that when the arrows struck their conscience, it struck it with sharpness.

69:42 And that's a very difficult thing. And many times, the escape is simply to stop here, in which you're giving a running commentary on the text that has gone through some of the disciplines of homiletics and may have some organization to it, but the element that makes it preaching, the element that makes it, in that sense, have a prophetic edge. The. Applicatory edge.

70:08 The edge that lifts the people of God with the glory of the truth that is contained under head one and that humbles them with the truth contained in head two and impels them to duty under head three. That element can be lacking. And it's one of the difficult things. I confess, after years of seeking to do expository preaching, the most frightening thing to me to this day.

70:36 Upon the first look at a text, the next paragraph, whether it's preaching through Ephesians or Philippians or Thessalonians or the book of Mark, was to say, oh, Lord, what in the world is in there that is preachable? Again and again, it's my first reaction. Lord, if you don't do something that at this point is going to be a surprise to me, I don't have a clue how I'm going to preach that. So we must beware of that danger.

Conclusion: Embrace All Three Sermon Species

71:08 All right? Now, I've laid before you all I wanted to do some other things I want to say in the discussion period that really I don't think belong in the actual points that I've laid out before you. And hopefully, if they don't come up, I'll just introduce them. All right?

71:27 So there you are, the liabilities and benefits of the various kinds of preaching. And I hope you're convinced and have had your judgment carried as I've tried to make a good case. And I hope you're convinced and have had your judgment carried as I've tried to make a good case. For the use of all three species of sermons, while recognizing the inherent dangers of each kind as we engage in those labors in days to come.