The Introduction of the Sermon, Part 1

The Constituent Elements of Each Sermon Species

0:04 Now we come again this morning, brethren, to wrestle with this very critical subject of the essential ingredients of effective pastoral preaching. And as we do, I want to assure you that it is with a growing awareness of the vastness of the subject and of the absence of scientific precision in attempting to handle it in a structured way. And that has made me feel more and more with each passing week as I go back over the lectures of three years ago and seek to upgrade them and update them. I say it has made me very, very conscious of my own ignorance, of my own utter dependence upon the Lord, and of our corporate need of light and help from the Holy Spirit.

0:54 Now, having set the framework for our study by giving you a broad overview of what Constance is, what Constance Institute's biblical preaching in terms of those seven axioms for all kinds of sermons, we are now considering guidelines for the specific kinds of sermons. We have dealt with their identity. The large letter B is guidelines for the specific kinds of sermons. Subheading number one was the identity into topical, textual, expository.

1:27 We have dealt with the legitimacy of each specific, species of sermon. And then last week, we addressed ourselves to the matter of the worth and the weaknesses of each kind of sermon. The inherent dangers in the textual, topical, and expository and the inherent potential for good and for blessing both to the preacher and to his people. Now, what we come to this morning is what I'm calling the constituent elements of each sermon.

2:01 The constituent elements of each species of sermon. The constituent elements of each species of sermons. Now, the word constituent means that which is necessary in forming or making up a whole. And the elements are the basic or irreducible parts or principles of anything.

2:23 So we are dealing with the constituent elements of each species of sermons. Now, I would like us to think about this. Now, I would like us to think about this. I want to introduce this subject by stating several very vital matters.

Addressing Discrepancies Among Homiletical Authorities

2:38 And the first is this, that the standard literature dealing with these things, that is, the constituent elements of all sermons, are tinged with a great measure of human judgment and apparent arbitrariness and apparent contradiction. The standard literature dealing with these things is tinged with a great measure of human judgment and apparent arbitrariness and apparent contradiction. For example, Dabney, in giving out what he believed were the constituent elements of a sermon, lays out five things which in his judgment constituted those elements and then very forcefully instead, insisted that his students work from that model. And he would not tolerate working by any other model. And they were sitting not under a neophyte, not under an armchair quarterback, but they were sitting under a man who himself had been mighty in the pulpit for years and who was teaching them at the time he wrote these lectures as a man who had taught the art of preaching for 20 years. So when a man who was an able, proven,

3:58 eminent preacher who had reflected upon the science and art of preaching for 20 years says that the constituent elements are five and forced his students to work with it, you can't just throw that off unless you're so filled with carnal pompousness and your own importance that you can do that. But anyone who can do that is spiritually sick. And I hope none of you, when you read Dabney's case for five constituent elements in a sermon, just flip that off. Just lightly and say, oh, well, that's Dabney's opinion.

4:31 Well, that's an opinion that has to be regarded with some degree of seriousness. Then you'll pick up Shedd and you'll discover that he reduced the elements to four and has no reservation in saying that in doing so he's just borrowing from Aristotle. And you find this on page 156 of Shedd's work on homiletics. And he says that I lay out my model from a pagan Greek and then proceed.

4:58 And he proceeds to demonstrate what he believes are the reasons for so doing. Well, then you come to Paratus, and lo and behold, you find that Paratus says there are but three constituent elements. And then his students were urged to work with a model in which there were three. Well, what are we to think in the light of this apparent discrepancy and contradiction of opinion among these master preachers and teachers of preaching?

5:26 And I want to underscore that. The three men I have quoted were master preachers. When you read what their contemporaries said about the preaching of these three men, Dabney, Shedd, and Broadus, these men were preachers. So they weren't just sitting back with scientific objectivity detached from the realism of the subject with which they were dealing.

5:52 Furthermore, they were all very well acquainted with the standard literature of classic rhetoric, and had taught this subject as a course for years. Now, brethren, you can't discount that kind of testimony if you have any sense. You must regard it and regard it seriously. Well, what do we do then?

6:12 Throw up our hands in despair and say, Man, if you can't get Dabney, Shedd, and Broadus to agree, who am I to sort all of this out? Or shall we simply conclude that this thing called preaching is too elusive for analysis and give up on the whole subject? Well, my answer is that none of those options is a valid option for us. I suggest that we consider and understand several things with respect to this apparent discrepancy and contradiction.

Understanding the Nature of Homiletical Differences

6:46 Number one, we must understand that most of the differences relate to the extent of detail in the analysis of the constituent elements not in the context of the text. Not the elements themselves.

7:02 Most of the differences relate to the extent of the detail of the analysis of these constituent elements, not the elements themselves. What one includes in one division, another makes into separate divisions. Let me illustrate. Suppose we were to say to ten different men, Please put on paper what are the constituent elements of a domestic dwelling, a house.

7:34 Now, constituent elements are those irreducible parts without which you do not have the whole. Well, one man might write on his paper, foundation, walls, and roof. If you don't have foundation, walls, and roof, you don't have a house. Someone else might put foundation, structural framing, windows, and roof.

8:00 Someone else might put, concrete slab, concrete block, floor joist, framing, roof, and shingles. You see what we're doing? Now, all of those things are constituent elements of a house. But in the analysis of those elements, what one man includes under a more generic term, another man breaks down into distinct elements.

8:33 Foundation, walls, and roof. But the walls, are comprised of framing over which some sheetrock goes. Now, one man in describing that part might break it down. And that's basically what you find in the apparent discrepancy between Dabney, Shedd, and Broadus.

8:53 And Broadus' principle is, let's back off and not use the zoom lens and become too minute in our analysis of the constituent elements, but let's reduce them to their irreducible, minimal, and therefore allow latitude within that more general and more streamlined division. So, you must understand that when you read the various authors, that the differences relate to the extent of detail by which they describe the elements, not the elements themselves. And then secondly, we must understand that these difficulties of discrepancy and apparent contradiction arise from the fact, that there is such a large degree of interplay between rhetoric and the biblical idea of proclamation. These differences arise from the fact that there is such a large degree of interplay between rhetoric and the biblical idea of proclamation. Now, it's very interesting, when you read these authors and others, when they are describing, or setting forth a theology of preaching with reference to the role and function of the preacher, there is very little difference between them. And the reason is, they have explicit exegetical materials

10:21 to deal with from the scriptures. So, when Dabney is dealing with what is the distinct role of the preacher, Shedd and Broadus, you find tremendous agreement, even though they may approach it from differing perspectives, there is nowhere, near the degree of apparent discrepancy and contradiction. But when they descend from their theology of what preaching is, to their theories of sermon construction, they are now relying more on the human discipline of rhetoric, which as we saw in our initial lecture, derives from natural revelation and not special revelation. You cannot expect to find the same degree of precision when there is this interpretation of natural revelation and a scantiness of materials from special revelation. And in a sense that's good, because it keeps us from absolutizing in areas where we ought not to absolutize. All things are yours when you ask the question, what are the constituent elements of truth, and what are the constituent elements of truth?

11:39 Dabney, Shedd, and Broadus are yours. All are yours, and there are insights that are the distinctive province of Dabney. It is his distinct contribution to help us understand this dimension, and Broadus this dimension. And as those who are seeking to grapple with this great issue, we must recognize that we need not make a decision as to which man will claim our loyalty on this point of what are the constituent elements, but seek to glean from all of them principles that will be adaptable and helpful to our own distinct ministries.

The Necessity of a Working Model for Preaching

12:17 And then in the third place, we must understand that it is a proven fact that it's far better to have one of these theories as a working model and to modify it with experience and competence than to have no model at all. It is a proven fact that it is far better to have one of these theories as a working model and to modify it with experience and competence than to have no model at all. It is a proven fact that it is far better to have one of these theories as a working model and to modify it with experience and competence than to have no model at all. It is a proven fact that it is far better to have one of these theories as a working model and to modify it with experience and competence than to have no model at all.

12:39 It is a proven fact that it is far better to have one of these theories as a working model and to modify it with experience and competence than to have no model at all. It is a proven fact that it is far better to have one of these theories as a working model and to modify it with experience and competence than to have no model at all. It is a proven fact that it is far better to have one of these theories as a working model and to modify it with experience and competence than to have no model at all. to have one of these theories as a working model and to modify it with experience and competence than to have no model at all.

12:55 Now this is why you will find these men becoming, as it were, rather rigid in laying upon their students a distinct model and demanding that they work with that model. It is not because they were so foolish as to think their model was the only valid model, but as observers of preachers and trainers of preachers, they recognize that men must start with some model and with experience and competence modify it if they throw up their hands and say since there is no absolute model, I will absolutely have no model at all. They never subject themselves to the mental disciplines necessary to develop into able preachers. Now there are some men of unusual natural rhetorical ability who do instinctively what men of lesser parts must accomplish by conscious effort. May I repeat that? There are some men of unusual natural rhetorical ability who may do instinctively what men of lesser parts will have to learn by conscious effort.

14:10 Please don't assume that you are in, in that elite category. Please don't assume it, because even if you happen to be in that category, nothing will be lost by your assumption that you are in the latter category. A man who is a natural hitter, who by dint of sheer raw native ability, the first time he picked up a baseball bat, knew how to plant his rear leg, to have as the fundamental pivot of his power, right down to his rear leg, and who knew where to place his shoulders and his hands in relationship to the ball. The man who does all of that stands to lose nothing by understanding and analyzing the essentials of being an effective batsman. Even though he may do it all instinctively, if he comes to understand what he is doing, he will be able to do it. He will be able to do it. He will be able to do it.

15:11 He will be able to do it. He will be able to do it. He will be able to do it. He will be able to do it.

15:11 If he knows what he is doing right, then if he does go into a slump and starts doing something wrong, he has a basis of analyzing what he was doing naturally to see what has happened to disrupt that, and if that never happens, why, at least he is now able to help men who don't bring to the batting box as much native ability, and he can help them to cultivate their skills. And so, it is a proven fact. Now, if you ask me, prove that chapter and verse, I can't. But it is a proven fact of observation in the development of preachers that it is far better to have one of these theories as a working model with which to work and to modify with experience and competence than to have no model at all. I know you're going to read this in a few weeks. I'm going to give you a number of quotes from Dabney this morning, hoping that as you see their relevance in the lecture, when you come to the lecture, you're going to be able to see come to it again in your reading, the stuff will really leap out and seize upon your memories.

16:19 As in our day, so in Dabney's day, having dealt with what he calls the constituent members of the sermon, not constituent elements, he says, now many preachers demur against the uniform requirement of all these parts as necessary members of a sermon. You see, you have these super-spiritual men in Dabney's day who said, look, let's not talk about this. Let's not talk about having parts of a sermon and analyzing. Just preach. Just have a holy gush every Lord's day. They don't like this discipline of breaking things down and recognizing the constituent members of the sermon. They would claim a discretion to omit all of them except the argument and perhaps the conclusion. They say that our requirement is mischievously formal, and brethren, never pronounce it mischievous. That's bad pronunciation. It's

17:12 mischievous, not mischievous, all right? They say our requirement is mischievously formal and dictates a tiresome sameness. They depreciate such sermons as, quote, and he must have been quoting a man in his own day, casts all run in the same mold. You see what they're saying?

17:33 You've got one mold and every sermon is just cast into that mold and turned out. We'd say cookie-cutter sermons. Let me then in advance explain. They're sarcastic, and suggest an unjust analogy. Sermons are not dead casts run into any mold, changeable or fixed. Give a new mold for each attempt to be demolished when once used. I still reject and resent the illustration. Sermons should be living growths like plants or trees, none of them indeed monsters, none maimed, but each one modified within the bounds of the rudimental laws of its nature by its own circumstances of growth, so that they together present an endless and charming variety. Every natural tree must needs have certain constituent parts,

18:28 its roots, its stem, its branches, its foliage, its fruits. And it's interesting that he gives five. But how endlessly diversified is the development of these members? They cannot any of them be wholly absent, but the individuality of each tree determines their relative size. In other words, the relative size of root, of stem, of branches, of foliage, of fruit.

18:59 Each individual, each tree determines their relative size so that we have every graceful difference of form and stature from the humble shrub to the tapering and lofty pine. And when I re-read this in preparation for the next sermon, I said, I'm not going to be able to tolerate this. I'm going to be able to tolerate this. And so when I read the preparation yesterday, I just looked out my study window and I said, you know, Daphne, you are as right as right can be. And I looked at some of the large shrubs that separate our property from my neighbor's property. And sure enough I can remember when he planted those shrubs and he opened up a big trench and he put the roots of those shrubs in there. And I could see the main stem or trunk and then the branches and then the foliage. And then I looked at the weeping willow. So different, and yet there was root, fruiting, grass, and

19:45 then the tree. And so the tree was like a little tree in the middle of the season. And then, There was main, trunk, branches, foliage, and then I looked at the tall elm behind us and all the varying trees, and I said, Daphne, you were right. That's not only poetically beautiful, that's the truth.

19:57 But this illustration, I'm willing somewhat to relax. I will admit that circumstances may justify the preacher in reducing some of these constituent members to the extent of an apparent suppression when I assign them all to the regular sermon as essential parts, I intend that all will be present in the complete type, and that this is the model toward which every sermon, even the most informal, must tend. So he gives all the latitude that there may be circumstances when you have so brief an introduction, if the introduction is the root, that you can hardly see it, for all intents and purposes, you say it doesn't exist. But that's the abnormal situation, and that the sermon in its ideal conception ought to include all of these elements, though no two sermons will have the same size root, the same shape root, the same size and shape of the main stem and branches and foliage. There is all kinds of room for diversity, but not such diversity that the tree becomes some kind of a monstrosity that you couldn't tell from a submarine.

21:08 You see? And that's the problem with people who would throw out these principles, they come up with sermons that have no more relationship to true preaching than they do to a submarine. In fact, maybe the submarine is better than their sermon. It's buried most of the time in the ocean than their sermon ought to be.

Broadus' Model: Introduction, Discussion, Conclusion

21:27 Now, for our purposes, we're going to work with Broadus' model because it is the simplest and the most streamlined and allows the greatest amount of latitude, and you will see, I hope, in the unfolding of the lectures, the wisdom for this particular choice. So the constituent elements of each species of sermon for our purposes here in this course will be the introduction, the discussion, and the conclusion.

22:01 Now, when you read Dabney, and I hope some of you will read Shedd,

22:06 you will notice that Dabney enlarges the discussion,

22:11 the second constituent element, into three subheads, exposition, composition, and proof. So his five divisions are introduction, exposition, proposition, proof, and conclusion. Shedd enlarges the discussion part into two things, proposition and proof. So he ends up with his four divisions.

22:32 So Broadus takes those three, exposition, proposition, proof, and reduces them all to the general heading of discussion. Alright? So we're going to work, then, with that three-fold division. Now, the remainder of our time today will be taken up with a discussion of the first division, which is the introduction to the sermon.

The Introduction (Exordium) as Preparatory

22:57 Alright? So the rest of our time now will be taken up with the introduction. Now, when in your reading you come across the word spelled E-X-O-R-D-I-U-M pronounced I-G-Z-O-R-D-I-U-M, that would be a phonetic rendering of it, E-X-O-R-D-I-U-M pronounced I-G-Z-O-R-D-I-U-M, that's the term from classic rhetoric that is equal to, synonymous with, our term introduction. So when you read about the I-G-Z-O-R-D-I-U-M, you are reading about the introduction with the terminology of classic rhetoric. Now, generally speaking, an introduction, short or long, formal or informal, is a vital part of a good and edifying sermon. Therefore, no little effort ought to be expended to cultivate the art of apt introduction. Now, as we think our way through this subject of the introduction, we will first of all address ourselves to the functions of the introduction.

24:11 Now, you don't need to write the other heads down, but so you know where we're going, I'll give them to you. Then we'll take, secondly, general guidelines for the construction of the introduction. Thirdly, suggested sources for constructing introductions. And then, fourthly, concluding exhortations with respect to the construction of introductions.

24:36 All right? First of all, then, the functions of the introduction. Now, the introduction is essentially preparatory to the burden of the message. It is, if I may use the analogy, your John the Baptist sent forth to prepare the way of the Lord whom you trust will come in the preaching of the Word of God.

25:01 Its function can be viewed in the light of many analogies. We may go to the culinary analogy and say that your introduction is the appetizer to a sumptuous meal. It awakens the taste buds, it starts the juices flowing, and makes you impatient for the main entree. That's supposed to be the function of an appetizer.

25:24 Some of you pig out on your appetizers occasionally and ruin your zest for the main course, but that's understandable. I was young once, all right? We may change the analogy to that of the airplane and say it's like what they used to do when they had piston aircraft. You know, you miss a lot of things living in the jet age.

25:48 You miss the thrill of what it used to be like at the end of a runway when they'd lock the brakes and then they'd rev up the engines one by one. And with the old reciprocating piston engines, the whole plane would shake and vibrate. You could feel that raw power and they were checking the magneto and checking the oil pressure lever and all the rest, getting ready for the takeoff. And when you had gotten in position and they revved up those engines one by one, then you knew it wasn't long before the brakes were going to let loose and there'd be that tremendous surge of power.

26:16 It's one of the aspects of piston flight that I still enjoy above jet flight, that I still would take the jets over the piston engines. But if you can think of your introduction in that sense, it's taking your congregation to the end of the runway, locking the brakes, revving the engines, apprising them of the fact that hopefully we're going to take off and cruise soon, all right? Or if we may change the analogy to the building trade, your introduction is the porch. Which leads to a house.

Function 1: Directing the Minds of Hearers

26:47 It's not the house itself, but neither is it the sidewalk or the street leading up to the house. It is that point at which you are passing out of the realm of general concourse, the sidewalk, and into a specific dwelling. And if we can liken your sermon to a house well furnished with biblical truths, pleasant to the eye and comfortable, as it were, in a spiritual frame, then the introduction is the porch by which your people are led into that house. Now I would like to suggest that this preparatory element, which can be viewed under these varying analogies, should be viewed as, and now I'm going to give you some distinct non-analogous, these are going to be plain statements of the functions of the introduction. The first and great function of an introduction is to direct the minds of your hearers towards the subject or substance of your sermon. To direct the minds of your hearers towards the subject or substance of your sermon. Now none of us holds the view that there is any magical power in being exposed to preaching.

28:05 Preaching becomes effectual as a means of grace only so far as it engages the minds of those who hear. Now I am not discounting that mystical element of the peculiar presence of God under the preaching of the word that may create an impression even upon people who are not self-consciously listening carefully. I am fully aware of that element, though I wouldn't want to write a thesis on what it is. I know it's there.

28:36 And it's no little part of the benefit of preaching to our children. Long before they can absorb much of the substance of the preaching, they are being impressed with the ethos of the presence of God in the midst of preaching. And an impress is being made upon their spirits. But speaking of our adult hearers or those who have come to years of discretion, if the word is to profit them, their minds must be engaged.

29:05 Now the great problem in preaching is that if you've done your job and God is with you, you come to that text or that subject or that passage with your mind not only presently engaged with that text, passage or subject, but with your mind having been engaged for many hours and sometimes, in a sense, even for many years with that text, with that subject, with that passage of the word of God. Now your dear people come out of a context in which their minds have been pulled in a thousand directions under the legitimate concerns and trials and responsibilities of life. Now it is your task, tactfully, wisely, and yet by the grace of the Spirit, powerfully and in a sense irresistibly to turn the mental head in the direction of that truth which you desire to open up in their hearing. Now that is one of the great functions of the introduction, to direct the minds of your hearers towards the subject or substance of the sermon. But then secondly, the function of the introduction is to excite the interest of your hearers in the subject or substance of the sermon.

Function 2: Exciting the Interest of Hearers

30:30 Not merely to direct the mind to that subject, but literally to excite their interest in the subject or substance of the sermon. It is one thing to get them to look in the direction of what you propose to tell them. It is another thing to have them look with keen anticipation and eagerness and thereby be prepared to resist anything that would turn their head back away from the subject that you are setting before them. So the challenge of the introduction is the challenge of exciting interest so that your hearers are convinced it is in their own best interest to give undivided attention to that which you are about to say. Now Ryle gives a beautiful quote of how that great, many feel the greatest, preacher Wales ever had, Daniel Rowlands, how Rowlands judiciously used his introductions to this end. Now this assessment comes not from someone who didn't know what preaching was, but who is always included in the list of probably the five or six most able preachers Wales has ever produced, Christmas Evans. Now Christmas Evans, great preacher himself, writing about another great preacher,

31:57 Daniel Rowlands, said this. I'm quoting from page 203 of Christian Leaders of the Eighteenth Century by Ryle. Rowlands' mode of preaching was peculiar to himself. Inimitable, couldn't imitate it.

32:11 Methinks I see him now entering in his black gown through a little door from the outside to the pulpit, and making his appearance suddenly before the immense congregation. His countenance was in every sense adorned with majesty, and it bespoke the man of strong sense, eloquence and authority. His forehead was high and prominent, his eye was quick, sharp and penetrating, he had an aquiline or Roman nose, proportionately comely lips, projecting chin and a sonorous, commanding and well-toned voice. When he made his appearance in the pulpit, he frequently gave out with a clear and audible voice Psalm 27.4 to be sung.

32:54 Only one verse was sung before sermon, in those days notable for divine influences, but the whole congregation joined in singing it with great fervor. Then Rowlands would stand up and read his text distinctly in the hearing of all. The whole congregation were all ears and most attentive, as if they were on the point of hearing some evangelical heavenly oracle, and the eyes of all the people were at the same time most intensely fixed upon him. He had at the beginning of his discourse some stirring, striking idea, like a small box of ointment which he opened before the Great One, of his sermon.

33:38 And it filled all the house with its heavenly perfume, as the odor of Mary's alabaster box of ointment at Bethany. And the congregation, being delightfully enlivened with the sweet odor, were prepared to look for more of it from one box after the other throughout the sermon. Now that's what his illustration did. It gave him such a smell of what was to come, that he said, that smells so sweet, I want to hang in there lest I miss any of the sweetness that will be opened up.

34:14 Well you see, that's the element of exciting the interest of our hearers in the subject or substance of the sermon. Now Daniel Roldans fully understood that all effective preaching was ultimately the product of the Holy Ghost. But do you think that this matter of the striking introduction just came to him while he was asleep? Just was dumped out of heaven upon him while he prayed?

34:40 No, no. It was the fruit of self-conscious sanctified labor and was no little part of his usefulness in preaching. Dabney addressing himself to this element in the introduction says on page 141, Another reason for the exordium introduction is that some initial misconception, indifference or prejudice is usually to be expected by the hearer. While this continues, his hearty attention and favor will not be given.

35:12 If the preacher then introduces his main proposition and proceeds immediately to deal with it, something at the beginning will be lost to the hearer. The loss of this must prejudice his comprehension of all the rest and only the more if the discourse is methodical throughout. The pupil who fails to attend while the alphabet is taught to this class as they advance to words and sentences. Hence it is well that some preface should precede the main subject which will awaken attention and relieve any existing prejudice.

35:50 You see what he's saying? The introduction, the exordium, ought to excite the interest of the hearer. Now if he has a prejudice that will keep him from being excited and on the very opposite or in the very opposite be repulsed, he will serve to sweep away that prejudice so that his interest is excited. Shedd likewise, addressing himself to this principle, writes on page 157 the introduction in its very nature is preparatory.

36:22 It does not lay down any truth. It does not establish any doctrine. It simply prepares the way for the fundamental parts and necessary matter of the discourse. In secular eloquence one very important object of the exordium is to conciliate the hearer towards the speaker, to remove prejudices and awaken sympathy with him. There is not ordinarily any need of an exordium for this purpose in sacred eloquence. The preacher, unless he's been exceedingly unfaithful to himself in his calling, may presume upon the goodwill and the general respect of those to whom he preaches and need not waste time or words in endeavouring to secure a favourable attention to himself as a man. It is, however, sometimes necessary that the preacher in his introduction should conciliate his audience in respect to his subject. If his theme is a very solemn and awesome one, if the proof and discussion of it lead to those very close and pungent trains of thought which are apt to offend fallen human nature, it is well for the sermoniser

37:28 to prepare the mind of his auditor for this plain dealing with his heart and with his conscience. The introduction in this case affords an opportunity to remind the hearer that preaching is for the soul's good and the soul's salvation, that when the subject requires it the plainest discourse is really the kindest and the most affectionate, that the truth which is to be established and applied is a part of God's revelation, and that however severe it may seem, it is the severity of divine wisdom and love. Now, for instance, if I may use an illustration present in your minds last Lord's Day morning when I used that analogy of the man who had been a bachelor. What was the purpose of all of that? It was to secure in our people a determination to lay hold of the logical links in Philippians chapter 3 as that chapter was being expounded. Not only to set that link before them, but to awaken an interest in their hearts to determine that they would lay hold of it.

38:38 Now, that was a rather lengthy introduction, more than usual. But it was necessitated by the pastoral conviction that there had to be a high level of motivation or the average listener would not grasp those logical links and would therefore miss the mind of the Spirit of God and therefore insult the God who revealed his mind with those logical links. So you see there was a pastoral purpose in all of that, most of it falling in this direction, exciting the interest in the hearers in the subject or substance of the sermon. But then there is a third function of the introduction.

Function 3: Warming the Affections of Hearers

39:14 And we've already anticipated this and it flows out of the other and it is warming the affections of our hearers to the subject or substance of the sermon. You get the mind, excite the interest, but now we want to even go further and warm the affections of our hearers. Often, at least I trust it will be often, we come to the pulpit not only full of self-conscious weakness, a sense of confusion who are we to speak to fellow mortals in the name of the God of Heaven, but I trust we will also come with the spirit of an Elihu described in Job 32, verses 18 to 20. I am full of words, the Spirit within me constrains me. Behold, my breast is as wine which hath not no vent. Like new wineskins, it's ready to burst.

40:13 You know the man who's just skinned his goat and tied off his legs and this is going to be his skin to put his freshly pressed wine and he fills it half full and as the wine begins to work, it starts getting bloated and bloated and it looks now as if you just touch it, the whole thing's going to burst. The Elihu had seen that many times and he said, that's what my heart's like. It's at the point now where I feel if I just touch it, it's going to burst. I'm full, he said.

40:39 My breast is as wine which hath no vent. Like new wineskins, it's ready to burst. I will speak that I may be refreshed. I will open my lips and answer.

40:49 Well, here you come with a subject that has worked, that has fermented under the holy influences of the yeast of the Spirit's ministry in your own heart and you come before God's people with a heart that is like a wineskin ready to burst and your emotions as well as your mind have become ignited with that truth. But your people have no such feeling because their minds and spirits have not been held in close proximity to that truth. Now follow me closely. If you ever come upon your people giving vent to a level of emotion that is appreciably beyond theirs, they will feel threatened.

41:32 They will feel threatened. That's what happens if you have to sit under someone who comes and just as it were splits the wineskin and lets all that pressure just vent upon you before you've had a chance to look at that truth and have your own mind and spirit warmed by it. You automatically push that person away from you in self-defense. You feel threatened. That's just a part of the way God has put us together. Well, no little part you see of the function of an apt introduction is to begin to warm the affection of your hearers to the subject or substance of the sermon. And our people ought to sense in our very introduction that we have a very tight rein upon our emotions. They ought to feel that there's something pent up behind our pastor's introduction.

42:25 They ought to be able to feel as it were the pressure behind the dam of our own holy restraint. We're not opening up the sluice gates and letting it all come cascading down through. But they sense there's plenty there to cascade if we did open up the sluice gates. And by that very sense of restraint and yet letting out enough of the heat and the warmth of our own spirit, then it begins to kindle that sympathy that exists between a true preacher and a true people of God.

42:55 And their hearts begin to be warmed to the very truth that we are seeking to bring before them. Not with dispassionate, unemotional objectivity. And regardless of how the emotion may express itself, there is no such thing in the Bible as emotionless preaching. It is a prostitution of the biblical notion of preaching.

43:17 And I say that prepared to defend that with not only chapter and verse but the whole psychology of the way in which God demands that we love Him with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength. And that includes the emotional element that must be present both in the handling and the reception of the truth of God. Now every man who's been worth his weight in salt, who's addressed himself to this subject of preaching understood this principle, if he's written on it at all, or has addressed himself to the general subject of preaching at all, listen to Dabney's perceptive comment. If the speaker has done his duty to himself and his subject, he has mastered it by previous study and comes to the pulpit with his soul inspired and warmed with it. He cannot assume that his hearers are in this animated state. It may even be true that they are ignorant what his subject is to be. Now this contrast between their state of feeling and his is unfavorable at the beginning to the institution of an active sympathy. See what he's talking

44:31 about? It is unfavorable to that active interplay between the heart and spirit and affections and emotions of the preacher and those of his hearers. When he is on fire, and they as yet are ice, a sudden contact between his mind and theirs will produce rather a shock and a revulsion than sympathetic harmony. His emotion is to their quietude extravagance.

44:59 He must raise them first a part of the way toward his own level. And he gives that under his section on the exordium. And haven't you proven that true in your own experience? Well that's the great principle, one of the great principles of the function. Pardon, that's on page 141. And then Phelps, whose work on preaching is spotty, but so vital was the subject of the introduction that he wrote, well this whole section goes from pages 220 to 281, so that's 61 pages on the subject of the exordium. But Phelps on page 223 of his book entitled The Theory of Preaching also understood this very vital principle of the function of the introduction. And I'll read just a brief quote from him.

45:54 Again, preparation is always needed to secure the sympathy of an audience with the effect of a subject upon a speaker's own heart. The work is but half completed if preparation is made for only intellectual results. If you've secured the attention of their minds he said your work is only half done. You are not only in possession of your subject, but your subject has possession of you. You feel it.

46:24 You're under the moral dominion of it. You represent in your own person the effects of the sermon you're about to preach. Now brethren, don't pass that off as so much rhetoric. You, if you are in your proper role as a preacher, you are a living monument of what that truth does to a man who believes it and receives it and lives with it. Because you have believed it and received it and have lived with it at least for a number of hours in your formal preparation and hopefully for a much longer time in your general Christian experience. A vital object of preaching therefore is to lift the audience to the same level of sensibility on which the preacher stands. Profound sympathies are never spontaneous. They start in preliminary conclusions. A magnetic

Function 4: Securing the Goodwill of Hearers

47:17 line may sometimes be laid down between the pulpit and the pew in the first five minutes of the delivery of a sermon which shall vibrate with electric responses all the way through. And he says your exordium, your introduction is the time when that magnetic line is laid between you and your people. Now brethren, I ask you to rivet these concepts in your minds and keep them before you as you work on the subject of your introduction. The great functions of the introduction are to secure the attention of the mind, to excite the interest of our hearers in the subject, to warm the affection of our hearers to the subject, and then I put this on not in the same class with the other three but as sort of tacked on number four. It is sometimes to secure the good will of your hearers towards you as a preacher. The function of the introduction sometimes is to secure the good will of the hearers towards you as a preacher. Now as Dabney has intimated and also shared in the ordinary course of pastoral ministry you already have the good will of your hearers. But

48:38 in those situations where you don't if people have not received you as a person they don't receive the message you bear. And Jesus recognizes, you remember he said whosoever receiveth you receiveth me. He didn't say whosoever receives your message he said whosoever receiveth you receiveth me. It's very significant when our Lord was sending out the seventy he recognized that there was the reception of the person which precedes or at least attended a genuine reception of the message. Whosoever receiveth whomsoever I shall send. Well who do we receive? Not just the message but the person is received. So if there is that prejudice to our person we may speak in vain and so the introduction may at times have as its primary function the securing of the good will of our hearers.

49:37 Now Phelps gives a very very touching illustration of something that I believe some of you brethren in a special way will be able to relate to on this very point. On page 226 talking of this very matter that the power of a person with an audience is a legitimate object of homiletic culture. Why not? That is a false sentiment which prompts a man to say I'll speak the truth no matter what they think of me.

50:07 Something of their respect for truth depends on what men think of you. Such is the divine ordinance of the ministry that truth is never so powerful that it can afford to part with that alliance with the man appointed to proclaim it. No wise preacher therefore will defy a prejudice against himself among his hearers or invite indifference to himself by his neglect of anything which forethought and self-discipline can add to his power of person. Now brethren get hold of that. That means that when I buy a suit, you know what I always take into consideration? Not just my age, my situation here in the states, but will that suit be acceptable if I wear it when I minister every other year over at Leicester in the United Kingdom? There is a different sense of taste in the kind of modesty that is expected of a clergyman. And there are times my wife has prodded me.

51:06 It was she who picked out this suit. I never would have, you see. But I neither would I wear this in the UK preaching publicly. It would be offensive in most situations.

51:16 Why is that so? Because I do not want any unnecessary prejudice to my person. Because that can only erode the efficiency of my message. In nothing giving offense that the ministry be not blamed.

51:31 Now he goes on to say a preacher's chief cultivation of the power of person must be outside of the pulpit. In his home, in the homes of his people, in his study, in his closet he must build up in part unconsciously the reputation on which the power of the man must rest. But then he says there are situations where you're dumped down in the midst. Of a set of circumstances where your life cannot go before you to produce the good will of people to your person. And there are circumstances which you know produce positive ill will. What should you do? Well in your introduction you ought to seek as much as possible to sweep that away. Now here's his illustration.

52:14 That was not a wise man who in the time of the civil war in a southwestern state commenced a sermon by laying a revolver on the pulpit by the side of the Bible saying that his life had been threatened and that he was prepared to defend it as he would against a mad dog. So you see what he was saying? He's saying I don't care what your political sympathies are in this war. I'm prepared to stand on my grounds by dint of my pistol. Now he gives a contrasting illustration. A humble Massachusetts chaplain was his superior in homiletic tact who was compelled by General Butler to preach to a wealthy Presbyterian congregation of southerners in Norfolk who were also in their seats on the Sabbath morning in obedience to military order. Now get the picture. Here's this bloody war with the passionate hatred between those blank Yankees and those rebels.

53:10 And here a man by military orders is standing as a northerner in the midst of southerners who are there by military order. You talk about the absence of those sympathetic vibrations. Well what did this man do? Well listen to his holy wisdom. Listen to his holy wisdom.

53:31 Said the preacher in commencing his discourse, my friends I am here by no choice of mine. I came to your city as a chaplain to look after the souls of my neighbors who are here as I am under military rule. I stand in the place of your honored pastor by command of my military superior. But I'm a preacher of the same Christ who you possess and I ask you to hear me for his sake. He had a respectful hearing for the next three months. Isn't that beautiful? That makes me want to weep, get the goose bumps and fall down at the man's feet and say wise preacher. You see just by that simple thing he swept away in the heart of any true believer at least a major stumbling block to receiving his message.

54:22 And he did it by a well planned apt introduction. And there are times and you'll see this in scripture. I was interested in beginning to do an analysis of the introductions of some of the recorded what are probably just obviously a synopsis of the sermons in the book of Acts. And you see this master stroke by the apostle in his introduction in which he addresses his prejudiced Jews as his brethren and his fathers in Israel. And what is he doing? Well in that judicial sentence he is seeking to sweep away some of the unnecessary prejudice to have a hearing for the message of the gospel. Well then these I suggest are the primary functions of the introduction. They are not the exclusive functions of the introduction. This is

55:14 not an exhaustive list. You'll find more as you read but as I've tried to analyze the subject and see the common denominators of the proven guides I believe it is safe to say that by and large these are set forth by all of the standard writers that I have read as the primary functions of the introduction. Now then let me at least begin and then we'll break off and start up again. In fact this may be a good place to take five before we move on to the general guidelines, suggested sources and concluding exhortations.

55:50 Alright let's take a break then it's just about