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Introduction: Preaching That Quickens Its Manner

0:00 We do come tonight to our third consideration of the theme that has occupied our evening hours, namely, preaching that quickens. And you will remember, I trust, that as we approached this vast, this weighty, this vital subject, I suggested that all of our thinking concerning the subject ought continually to be conditioned by three fundamental biblical principles. And I'll not take the time to go over those principles. I gave them to you on the two previous occasions.

0:37 Then, with that introductory framework, conditioners. Conditioning our thought, we took up the first major division of the subject, namely, preaching that quickens its content. And I suggested that our study of the scriptures and of the history of revivals indicates that there are at least these seven categories of central biblical and experimental truth, which God has most frequently owned, both to precipitate, sustain. Stain and extend seasons of divine quickening.

1:17 And now this evening, we move on to the second and hopefully at least to one heading of the third division of our subject, preaching that quickens its manner, and that will take up most of our time, and hopefully at least the first subheading of the third major division, preaching that quickens its instrument. Let us now then seek. To come to grips with the second division of our subject, preaching that quickens its manner. And as we come to take up the subject of the manner of preaching, most frequently owned of God in seasons of quickening and reviving,

2:00 I would simply point you back to the exposition of Acts 14, 1 in our initial study and the emphasis given by Luke on the manner of preaching. I would simply point you back to the exposition of Acts 14, 1 in our initial study and the emphasis given by Luke on the manner of preaching. The manner in which Paul and his companions spoke, and the connection between the manner of their speaking, and the fact that multitudes, both of Jews and of Greeks, were brought to faith. And there the great principle of the general congruity between divinely appointed ends and means is very clearly underscored.

2:39 And perhaps nowhere is that. That third introductory principle more prominent in our consideration of this entire subject than it is in this division of the subject. What manner of preaching has been most frequently owned of God in seasons of revival? Assuming that the content is that content described in our two previous studies, what is the matter?

3:11 Assuming that the content is that content described in our two previous studies, what is the manner of presenting that content in preaching that has most frequently characterized its powerful use in seasons of quickening? Now as we come to consider some of the characteristics of that preaching, I want to underscore again that I am not saying that if a man preaches in this manner, those particular truths already emphasized, there will of necessity be a season of refreshing and reviving. Nor am I saying that in all seasons of refreshing and reviving,

3:51 all of the preaching has been characterized by all of these specific things to which I will direct your attention tonight. However, what I am saying is that there does emerge a general pattern from the preaching recorded in the Scriptures, preaching owned of God to bring quickening and blessing, and also a pattern of preaching which emerges from the history of revivals. And let me suggest that that preaching, as to its manner, has been characterized by at least four common denominators.

Simplicity of Presentation to the Mind

4:32 Number one is what I am calling simplicity of presentation to the mind. Simplicity of presentation to the mind. I trust we are all settled in the conviction that the word of God clearly teaches that the operation of the word, both in conversion, in quickening, in the sanctification and building up of the church, is not a mystical or magical operation. The work of the Spirit is indeed mystical.

5:10 But it is fundamentally a work in which the Holy Spirit brings home the truth of God, first of all, with understanding to the minds of men. In seeking to enter man's soul, the door of the understanding must first of all be opened, and the truth will never be found having a powerful influence upon the affections, upon the will, and upon the subsequent patterns of life, until first of all it is received in the understanding of it. And it is for this very reason that the biblical writers are not at all indifferent.

5:54 We are not embarrassed to speak of the work of God in the divine begetting as a work to be found in conjunction with and even by the instrumentality of the Word. James 1 in verse 18, of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of truth. Or 1 Peter 1.23, having been born again, not of corruption.

6:24 Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God which lives and abides forever. And then the apostles' grand statement in 1 Corinthians 4.15, for I have begotten you through the gospel. And as I have read the exegesis of those texts, by those who seek to deny this truth, I have read what to me is a patent exercise.

6:54 But I refuse that today we should be a great lie. But I echo it. I do not seek to deny it. I will not deny it.

7:23 I will not deny it. of men in a form of simplicity. Ryle, in his great work, and I don't use that term of many books, but in terms of the things we've been wrestling with, I would say this is a book that is greatly helpful, Christian leaders of the 18th century, for Ryle not only gives the thumbnail sketch of these various leading figures of that great period of awakening, but he analyzes these men as to their preaching. One of the things he says concerning their preaching on page 24 or pages 24

8:03 and 25 is this, these men preached, they rightly concluded that the very first qualification to be aimed at in a sermon is to be understood. So simple, isn't it? He's exemplifying the very thing he's telling us. They rightly concluded that the very first qualification to be aimed at in a sermon is to be understood. They saw clearly that

8:34 thousands of able and well-composed sermons are utterly useless because they are above the heads of their hearers. They strove to come down to the level of the people and to speak what the poor and the poor do not know. They strove to come down to the level of the people and to speak what the poor and the poor do not know. They strove to come down to the level of the people and to speak what the poor and the poor could understand. To attain this, they were not ashamed to crucify their

8:57 style and to sacrifice their reputation for learning. To attain this, they used illustrations and anecdotes in abundance, and like their divine master, they borrowed lessons from every object in nature. They carried out the maxim of Augustine, a wooden key is not so beautiful as a golden one, but if it can open the door when the golden one cannot, it is far more useful. They revived the style of sermons in which Luther and Latimer used to be so eminently successful.

9:37 In short, they saw the truth of what the great German reformer meant when he said, No one can be a good preacher to the people who is not willing to preach in such a manner that seems childish and vulgar to some. Thus the great German reformer, with his bristling earthiness of preaching that may have been beneath the dignity of the schools, but perpetrated the conscience of a nation. And it was this studied simplicity, Ryle says, that marked the preaching of these men,

10:22 Romaine, Whitfield, Wesley, Venn, and a host of others. And brethren, if we are dead in earnest about this matter of experiencing the quickening work of God's Spirit amongst our people by means of the preaching of the Word, then we must not only concentrate upon those great themes that we have considered which have most frequently been owned of God to precipitate such quickening, but we we we must labor to present those themes in a manner suited to be used mightily of God.

11:01 And first in the list of those characteristics is this matter of simplicity in presentation to the mind. Now within the scope of this matter of simplicity, obviously, the matter of vocabulary enters, structure enters, structure enters, subject matter enters, and a host of other things. But suffice it to say, brethren, we must know what it is to experience something of self-denial and an inward crucifixion to those many things,

11:41 either laziness on the one hand, a false confidence, really a presumptive confidence in the sovereignty of God on the other, or a temptation. Or a temptation to be vulnerable to the opinions of those to whom we preach. And we must die to those things and labor to be so simple that our people, when we are done preaching, will look at their Bibles, reflect upon the subject, and say, Anybody could have told us what he told us today. That's so plain and simple in the Bible.

12:16 And so plain and simple the way he laid it out before us. Why a freshman in Bible school could have done that?

12:25 Now, if people reflect in that way upon your preaching, don't take that as an insult. They can pay you no higher compliment.

12:35 But we must study simplicity. We must labor at simplicity. It was said of our Lord that the common people heard him gladly. And no little reason for that was the simplicity of our Lord's teaching.

12:54 And we forget, I think, that we are not the only ones who are taught simplicity. We are not the only ones who are taught simplicity. We are not the only ones who are taught simplicity. We are not the only ones who are taught simplicity.

12:56 That men such as Whitefield and Spurgeon were vilified and lampooned not only for what they preached, but in their own day, even in some circles, more for how they preached. And particularly, what was called the vulgarity of their preaching. They brought the loftiest themes of divine revelation down into the language, down into the language of the marketplace. And it was offensive to official clerics when the great themes of the covenant of grace and election and effectual calling

13:39 and all of these grand doctrines which these men loved and preached with power and vigor, it offended people. When they were preached in the language of Mr. and Mrs. Ordinary Man or Woman, they were preached in what people, called a vulgar style and a vulgar language.

14:03 But brethren, what, what is elegance? What is the approval of men if there is no stickability to our sermons? If our sermons are like greased pigs, and when our people try to take hold of what we're saying for the life of them, they simply cannot get hold of it. Rather, our sermons should be like a bowl of water, rather our sermons should be like a bowl of water, a bush of nettles, through which when one walks, he just finds them hung all over his clothes and biting into his flesh.

14:38 That's what our sermons ought to be like. They ought to have the stickability of simplicity. Have you read the sermon outlines of McShane? If you have, the first time you did, you were disappointed.

14:51 I was, these are so simple. Almost every single sermon, and repeated. No wonder the little children loved to hear it. They could follow it.

15:09 He'd tell them where he was going. He'd take them there, and then he told them where he had taken them, once he got there. Simplicity. And you see, for the most part, brethren, we are simple in direct proportion to the mastery of our subject.

15:30 It's only the man who has mastered his subject that can be simple and clear in the presentation of it. And many times, the muddiness of our sermons is a reflection of the muddiness of our own minds with respect to the subject in hand. And it is thorough mastery which alone will result in consistent simplicity of presentation to the mind. May I commend for your careful and constant perusal the excellent essay by Bishop Ryle entitled, Simplicity in Preaching.

16:09 It's in his works, in those essays collected together. the title The Upper Room, Simplicity in Preaching by Bishop Ryle. Furthermore, let me commend to you Spurgeon's lectures to his students and the chapters on the use of anecdotes and illustrations. But now let me just try to press this, or as the old Puritans would say, screw this issue into your conscience. Let me ask you, my preaching brethren, when was

16:39 the last time you self-consciously labored after the sermon was all prepared and everything was in order as to exegesis and the homiletical aspects and all of the rest, and took that and carefully scrutinized it with this question, is there any possible way I can present this body of material without materially altering the substance in a manner that will help the teenagers to see it more clearly? Is there any way in which I can rearrange the headings or the wording or the illustrations so that the preteens will be more likely to be found hanging upon every word and leaning

17:23 forward eager-eyed as I preach? What can I do to make this sermon more simple? It is a labor, and it's a labor that we must not avoid. If we would be used to it, we would be used to it. If we would be used to it, we would

17:44 make use of the energy of God in preaching that quickens. Only the Holy Spirit can give the saving illumination of the truth. Only the Holy Spirit can give the love of the truth, but it is our responsibility to bring as it were to the door of the mind the truth in all the simplicity we can possibly bring it there—in utter dependence upon the Holy Spirit to do it. And there not there is a There is nothing that stands AMPARAGAGE or that will guardianship do what we cannot do. Some of you perhaps have heard the illustration that James Stewart gives

18:24 in his book on preaching. And a certain preacher went to a well-known preacher and he bared his heart to him and said, sir, there's something wrong with my sermons. I find that my people are restless and they're not grasping what I'm saying. And for the life of me, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Can you help me? He said, well, I don't know, but I'll make an effort to help you.

18:47 Will you right now preach to me here in my vestry? It was an Englishman. Will you preach to me here and now the sermon you preached to your people yesterday? Well, the young man, of course, felt a bit awkward doing that in the presence of a famous preacher, but at his invitation, he began to do so. And at the end of 20 minutes, he stopped him. He said, young man, I know what your problem

19:10 is. He said, you have been spending 20 minutes desperately attempting to get something out of your head. You have been spending 20 minutes desperately attempting to get something out of your head. You have been spending 20 minutes desperately attempting to get something out of your head. Rather than spending 20 minutes getting something into mine. You see the point he was

19:26 making? Through lack of a clear grasp upon what he was preaching, he was desperately struggling to get something out of his own head, rather than having such a grasp upon it that he could skillfully and wisely bring it into the heads of others. God alone can bring it to their hearts, but it is our responsibility to do everything we can do in the light of the known laws of the mind and the principles of pedagogy to bring that truth into the minds of men. Well, in the second place,

Vividness of Exhibition to the Imagination

20:07 preaching that quickens as to its manner is not only marked by simplicity of presentation to the imagination, vividness of exhibition to the imagination. Bridges quotes the old Arabian proverb which goes like this, he is the most effective speaker who can turn men's ears into eyes. He is

20:45 the most effective speaker who can turn men's ears into eyes. Now, who gave us the imagination to that amazing faculty of the mind by which we can conjure up mental images? Why, God gave it to us. And that faculty before sin entered was to be fully employed in the mandate of subduing the earth. Adam was to

21:13 conceive of those arrangements in the dressing and keeping of the garden that would be aesthetically pleasing, and it was only as if the imaginative level of the mind was to be fully employed in the He could conceive of certain arrangements that it was possible for him even to begin to accomplish that divine mandate. And so the faculty of the imagination has been given to us by God, and alas, as sin has permeated all of the faculties of our humanity, one of the tragic things that God must say in Genesis is that the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart have become evil, and that continues.

21:53 And yet that faculty in itself is not an evil faculty, and we as preachers must recognize the tremendous tool we have at our disposal in preaching when we labor to preach in a manner marked by vividness of the exhibition of the truth to the imaginations of our hearers. And as we seek to do this in the pattern of the preaching that has been owned of God, we must recognize that the teaching of God in revival, we are simply standing in the pattern of biblical preaching. What would the

22:31 prophet's preaching be without its constant vivid imagery, constant personification, analogy, metaphor, parable, object lessons, all of which appeal to the imaginations? Then, of course, the greatest of all preachers, Jesus, incarnate in the person of our Lord, what would his recorded ministry be without narrow gates and compressed ways, without travailing women, without good trees and bad trees, without mountains

23:13 being cast into the sea, without flowers and without birds, without lost sheep and coins and sons? What would our Lord's teaching be without all of this vivid imagery drawn from the stuff of the entire cultural framework within which he and his hearers lived, all of which became fuel for our Lord to press truth upon the mind with vividness, with respect to the imagination? And certainly we see this even in the

23:55 more didactic passages, the epistles of the New Testament, where again and again there are some striking images used in order to bring into play this faculty of the imagination so that men might feel the impingement of divine truth upon the whole person. And I think in our fear of what we might call the tricks of the rhetorician who simply seeks to play with the words of the Word of God, we have a sort of built-in aversion even to thinking in these terms. Having done our

24:39 exegesis, having done the basic work of homiletics, having labored at simplicity and clarity of structure, do we go back through the sermon and say, where and at what point could this be stated in such a way as not to come as mere words expressed? How can I clothe that thought without in any way stripping it of its biblical vigor or its God-intended end by clothing it in

25:11 imaginative, figurative language that will awaken this faculty in my hearers? Then to labor by use of simile and parable and metaphor and allegory and what I would call the abandonment of discernment. To labor, brethren, at preaching in such a manner that there is this vividness of exhibition to the imaginations of men. Now I fully recognize that there are diversities of gifts and diversities of administration. Some men, just by virtue of the way God has put them together, are much more naturally imaginative.

25:55 They are always thinking. In terms of metaphor and simile, and they hardly need to put forth any effort to speak that way in ordinary conversation. I'm fully conscious of that. Some men are so constituted that they think much more in terms of the very straight and angled lines of simple, succinct, propositional statements. I'm fully aware of that. But, brethren, if we are convinced that our theology of what constitutes preaching is the truth, then we are convinced that it is the truth.

26:27 If we are convinced that our theology of what constitutes preaching should be derived from the Bible, then at any point that we do not have the same degree of natural ability with respect to a dimension of the biblical standard, who knows what can be accomplished by prayer and by pain? In my relatively short life, men who at this stage in their preaching ministries are no more committed to the truth than they were twenty years ago.

26:59 Who are no more convinced of the absolute authority of the Word now than they were twenty years ago. Who are no more or less convinced of the absolute sovereignty of God as the essential element in blessing the Word, and yet their preaching has taken on totally new dimensions. And it's in this very area they have labored at cultivating the imaginative element.

27:29 And as they have labored at that, the Spirit of God has owned their labors with the result that there is a much broader spectrum of powerful impingement upon the minds of the listeners because of this vividness of exhibition to the imagination. And frankly, I'm convinced that a lot of this plea for a return to the liturgical, and even in reformed churches, drama in the sanctuary,

28:01 as a means of presenting the truth, I'm convinced that part of the reason among many is that there has been a vacuum in terms of preaching satisfying men's thirst to have their own imaginative faculty awakened by the highest and noblest theme. And may God grant that our people will not be left with a vacuum due not to a matter of diversity of gift, but due to our own diversity of gift. But due to our own diversity of gift. But due to our own diversity of gift.

Directness of Application to the Conscience

28:34 But due to our own laziness in working on this dimension of preaching. But then in the third place, the preaching that quickens as to its manner has not only been marked by simplicity of presentation to the mind, vividness of exhibition to the imagination, but by directness of application to the conscience. Directness of application to the conscience. Now, once again, the scriptures and the history of revival speak with a unanimous voice on this issue.

29:14 Application is, as one man has described it, the highway from the head to the heart in preaching. Now, I know the Bible makes no such absolute dichotomy, but again, the imaginative element you see enters and is helpful, and we're not teaching heresy. And when Philip Henry said, What he was seeking to underscore is that though we may bring the truth close to the mind by simplicity of presentation, by vividness in appeal to the imagination, until that which is now clear, simple, and vivid is brought home to the theater of the conscience,

29:59 we have not truly preached. Application is the highway from the head to the heart in preaching. Our people must be convinced, brethren, every time we preach, that we are not merely saying nice and true things in their hearing, but that we are delivering our souls of weighty and necessary things that must impinge upon their hearts. And it is your job to make them feel that.

30:33 Whether they yield to what that felt consciousness, that what consciousness demands is between them and God,

30:43 but that they should feel the pressure of the word upon their hearts is in great measure our responsibility. And here again, we turn to the scriptures, and we learn from the scriptures themselves that preaching without application is not measuring up to the intention for which the word was given. All scripture is given by inspiration. raised by the direction of God.

31:10 And it is profitable for teaching, yes, but also for reproof, for correction, for child training, for instruction. But that is the word used throughout the New Testament, for training in righteousness. And until the word we have expounded has not only been seen in its objective teaching, but in it's reproving, correcting, instructing, faculty, we have not fulfilled in our preaching the very intent for which that word was given. Later on in chapter 4 of 2 Timothy, Paul says to Timothy, preach the word, and what does

31:54 that mean? Reprove, rebuke, exhort. Each one of those mandates involves application to the conscience. Reprove, rebuke, exhort. So brethren, this matter of applicatory preaching

32:19 is not something peculiar to the Puritans. It is not something to be regarded as one school of preaching among many. I want to say it as bluntly as I can say it, if your preaching is not generally applicatory. You are not preaching the word biblically. It is just that simple. And certainly those

32:47 seasons of awakening of which we have heard this week, those of which we read in the book of Acts, are again and again marked by this directness of application to the conscience. For instance, take that specimen, outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Peter stands and he does not speak in vain. He does not speak in vain. He does not speak in vain.

33:10 He does not speak in vain. He does not speak in vain. He does not speak in vain. He does not Take generalities and say to the Jews, his countrymen, at a certain point in redemptive history, under the overshadowing providence and sovereignty of God, certain individuals whom we will not mention, in a certain place, did some things that were not very nice, the result of which was Jesus Christ was executed.

33:34 That isn't what it is. He said, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, by wicked hands, he said you whored of murder, that's close and applicatory preaching. You murdered him. No wonder it is said they were cut to the heart as with a dagger.

34:14 Refused of murdering the incarnate God and take that seriously, that's enough to slander. And they cried out, men in Bethlehem, shall we do? Close, applicatory preaching. We see it in the ministry of John the Baptist. Having just read in my own New Testament reading again that section of John's ministry, I thrill every time I read it.

34:42 Daring to stand in the presence of that heathen potentate and say to him, it is not lawful for you to have her. Thank God he had not. He was then enlightened on so-called new theories of the application of Old Testament law to the Gentiles.

35:03 He was not talking to someone who was within the framework of ethnic Israel, but he said, it is not lawful for you to have her. God's laws concerning the sanctity of marriage apply to you, man. You sit on your little earthly made throne and think you're above law? I tell you nay.

35:26 It is not lawful for you to have her. No detached dissertation on the sanctity of the seventh commandment. There was close and applicatory preaching to the conscience with respect to that commandment. It is said of our Lord that when he said these things, they perceived that he spake of them.

35:53 When he said these things, they perceived that he spake of them. Why? Because using the imagination of God. The imaginative faculty, he told a parable that could bring them to no other conclusion.

36:10 And isn't that essentially and primarily what Nathan did? He first of all awakens David's imagination and his passions. He knew how to awaken his passions in order to get him. And when his imagination and his passions were awakened, then he turned and said, The art, and we see it again and again in the apostolic letters, The art, and we see it again and again in the apostolic letters, the whole book of 1 Corinthians.

36:42 Paul didn't mess around. He said, Now concerning it, it's been reported to me, and I have good reason to believe their report, that you people are filled with divisions. The household of Chloe has told me. He wasn't overly fastidious that here was a technical breach of Matthew 18 and some other passages.

37:00 In his apostolic function as a universal elder, he was concerned to shepherd that flock, and he said, In his apostolic function as a universal elder, he was concerned to shepherd that flock, and he said, In his apostolic function as a universal elder, he was concerned to shepherd that flock, and he said, It's been reported to me there's this problem. And then he goes after it in close applicatory instruction, and one problem after another. And so I say, my brethren, if we would be used of God in quickening, if we would plead with God and have our prayers not to be tinged with presumption, let us seek by the grace of God to have preaching which as to its manner is marked by directness, let us seek by the grace of God to have preaching which as to its manner is marked by directness, let us seek by the grace of God to have preaching which as to its manner is marked by directness, let us seek by the grace of God to have preaching which as to its manner is marked by directness, of application to the conscience.

37:40 Let me give you just one incident from history that indicates the transformation in the life of one greatly used of God at this very point. This is in an article on Gilbert Tennant, an American Boanerges in an old Banner of Truth magazine. The people among whom Tennant was called to labor were mostly immigrants from Scotland and Ireland. And though very religious, it would seem that there were few true believers in the Church of God.

38:07 And though very religious, it would seem that there were few true believers in the Church of God. The people as a whole seemed unmoved by the earnest preaching of their devoted pastor. Notice, he was an earnest preacher. There was fervency and passion in his preaching, but they seemed unmoved.

38:24 And when after six months no one had been converted, Tennant was greatly distressed. He could not help contrasting his lack of success among his people with the results which the Dutchman, He could not help contrasting his lack of success among his people with the results which the Dutchman, He could not help contrasting his lack of success among his people with the results which the Dutchman, he was was often Most WWII You know what I mean? Most WWII He was often popular as a revered as a revered revered

39:07 under Frelinghuysen's ministry. It was while Tennant was in this state of deep concern on account of his lack of success that he was taken seriously ill and given what he called affecting views of eternity. His experience at that time he recorded later on for the benefit of a friend, and this is what he wrote. I was then exceedingly grieved that I had done so little for God, and was desirous to live one half year more, if it was God's will, that I might stand on the stage of the world as it were, and plead more faithfully for his cause, and take more earnest

39:48 pains for the salvation of souls. The secure state of the world appeared to me in a very affecting light, and one thing among others pressed me sore, that I had spent much time in conversing about trifling things, and that I had spent much time in conversing about trifling things, and that I had spent much time in conversing about trifling things, and that I had spent much time in which might have been spent in examining people's states toward God and persuading them to return unto him. I therefore prayed to God that he would be pleased to give me one half year more, and I was determined to promote his kingdom with all my might at all adventures. It was while Tennant was thus laid aside that a letter came to him from his fellow minister and friend Friedenheisen, urging him to be more discreet

40:32 and that he will have an allowance to be expects to你有th. It was during this time that I put an end to my local Congregation trabaj Sasolii. His beide entrespata perché a juste a di rece給 a tri fra sso ssu lla n per mixes of valessio a cat sint ro grand in per rile ag على dist of trua d lit o for 75 an li s qui di под o si stry a his preaching henceforth more searching, it was also more powerful. I did then preach much upon, and then the themes are mentioned, many of which we dealt with, original sin,

41:17 repentance, the nature and necessity of conversion, in a close, examinatory, and distinguishing way, laboring in the meantime to sound the trumpet of God's judgment and alarm the secure by the terrors of the Lord, as well as to affect them with other topics of persuasion, which method was sealed by the Holy Spirit in the conviction and conversion of considerable number of persons at various times in different places in that part of the country, as appeared by their acquaintance with experimental religion and a holy conversation. Now, you see the fundamental difference? He was a holy man when he went in to that state

42:02 of sickness. He had deeper dealings with God in his own inner life, renewed determination to preach with urgency and passion, but joined to that the new dimension as to the manner of his preaching. Now, granted, there were changes in the man himself. Eternity, compassion, yearning for the souls of men were more deeply ingrained and more consciously felt, but as to the manner of his preaching, this was the new ingredient.

42:32 The presence of God, the presence of God, the presence of the Holy Spirit, this could not be a different kind of thing than the man himself. The ordination of the Holy Spirit was one of the most important things. He was also the final man who gave life to the Holy Spirit and whom he called Christ. The Holy Spirit gave life to each of the 13 disciples in the state.

42:50 The Holy Spirit also gave life to His disciples and the exalted. He gave life to the disciples, but only to their disciples and to the saints and to the world. The Holy Spirit was the man who was the master of the gospel, the man who was the master of the gospel. It is so easy to fall into a pattern where we subtly apply only in the areas of our own conscious struggles.

43:14 Or we make application only in the areas which have been most pressed upon us in our pastoral dealings with our people. And it takes a conscious effort to reflect upon the whole spectrum of the complexion of our congregation. Where are they working? Where are they going to school? What are their backgrounds?

43:42 What influences are being brought to bear upon them? We must consciously and constantly seek to have an applicatory ministry that is comprehensive, that is diverse, and that is balanced. Not only with regard to the searching elements of application in dealing with sin, but in our applications to comfort the people of God in their struggles. And here again we are tempted to bring the consolations by close application only in those areas where we struggle and need the consolations of God.

44:20 Or only in those areas where we have had to console in the privacy of the study. Or of someone's living room. But there are other needs that are not to be measured only by our struggles. And the areas where we need to have our sins pointed out and the consolations brought near.

44:41 And the areas we become aware of in our pastoral dealings. But we need constantly to seek to broaden our horizons, to think as it were through our Bibles too. The patterns of our own. The patterns of our own congregational life.

44:58 And back from those patterns through the Bible, through the text. And then to come forth from the presence of God prepared to demonstrate to our people wherein this given passage or theme is not only profitable for teaching, but for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness. Brethren, may I ask again a very simple question? Do you even make conscience about giving time to the applicatory elements in your preaching?

45:36 Or do you find that the time allotted for preaching is for the most part so used up in the discipline of exegesis, of homiletic structure and form, seeking to attain some degree of simplicity, some vividness in terms of preaching to the imagination. There's just no more time. There's no more time. There's no more time.

45:57 If I try to preach sermons. If I try to preach sermons week after week that have close and diverse and balanced and comprehensive application, why, I'll have to give many more hours to preach. Then, brother, you are to labor in prayer and in the ministry of God. Suffer, for it is the grand instrument of God for the advancement of the kingdom of His own dear Son.

46:33 You see, if there were to appear in the New York Times next Monday morning a full-page ad by one of the most famous preachers in the United States, I would say, by one of the most famous preachers in the United States, I would say, by one of the most famous preachers in the United States, I would say, one of the well-known companies in New York that sells fancy suits to wealthy businessmen, say it was a Hickey Freeman. And it said, new spring tropical suit, $350, one size fits all.

47:07 I doubt there'd be many comers that would fit everyone, would really fit no one. Now, again, I'm aware, as one of the brethren spoke to me the other night, that when we're applying the Word, God the Holy Ghost can make applications in a hundred areas we never dreamed of. But I've also found He seldom does that additional work far beyond my expectation if I haven't done some work rooting around in the consciences of people. And it is in the context of your conscious efforts to make pointed, specific applications to the consciences that as the Word under the power of the Spirit is being brought home to the theater of the conscience

47:50 that God the Holy Ghost in ways that transcend analysis then takes and multiplies our feeble efforts a thousandfold and makes applications we could never dream of.

48:04 But seldom does He do that with any degree of extensiveness where the preaching is simply either a running commentary on the text or it may be a very perceptive, exegetical analysis of the text. It may even go further and be a very exemplary, homiletical treatment of the text.

Earnestness of Solicitation to the Heart and Will

48:26 But if it's a text that has been a one-suit-fits-all preachment it is unlikely that it will be used of God to quicken. But then I come to the fourth characteristic of the manner of preaching that God is pleased to own to bring quickening and it's what I'm calling preaching marked by an earnestness of solicitation to the heart and will. An earnestness of solicitation to the heart and will. Now you notice how we've moved

49:10 from the understanding to its parallel faculty or ancillary faculty of the imagination to the conscience and now to the will. An earnestness of solicitation to the heart and will. Now no one holds nor firmly than I to the great biblical truth to the humbling biblical truth that sin has brought about the enslavement of the will. And if any of you men have not read Martin Luther's treatise on the bondage of the will

49:53 I urge you to get a copy of it and to read it. Luther said concerning that work which as many of you know was a response to a great sin. Erasmus to a treatise of Erasmus he complimented Erasmus he said you've gone to the heart of the issue of the day the issue of the state in which man is found as a sinner with respect to the impotence the bondage of the will. And as the old confession says that condition is such that man can of himself do nothing either to regenerate himself or to prepare himself thereto.

50:37 While we hold tenaciously to that truth we cannot read the recorded sermons of the prophets of our Lord and of the apostles and the records of the seasons of refreshing and the sermons owned of God since the closing of the canon without coming to the conviction that preaching that quickens has been marked by an earnestness of solicitation to the Lord. To the heart or to the affections and to the will. I simply cannot imagine Isaiah saying come now let's reason together may your sins be as scarlet may they be white as wool

51:21 may they be red like crimson may they be as snow and you say there's something wrong with that. Why? Not because I've misquoted the text but because there has been nothing of the obviously inherent pathos and earnestness of solicitation to the heart and will of the people to whom he first uttered those words. Come now let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow.

52:00 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Ezekiel's impassioned plea turn ye turn ye why will ye die O house of Israel our Lord pleading come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden O Jerusalem Jerusalem and then the apostolic testimony Paul could say knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men we beseech you in Christ be reconciled surely brethren this very brief overview

52:43 of but a few texts in the Old and the New Testament indicates that the biblical preaching recorded for us is preaching marked by this earnestness of solicitation to the heart and to the wills of men. And as we read and we're reminded today of the life and ministry of McShane something of that preaching as though he were dying to have men converted it is said by the by those who heard Whitfield and those who have analyzed him that perhaps more than any other preacher of the relatively modern age there was this capacity for sustained earnestness

53:26 and this deeply felt and obviously communicated solicitation of the hearts and wills of his hearers. There is one thing that distresses me many things that distress me with myself and my own life. But as I try to be sensitive to what God is doing in our own day and rejoice in so much that is evidently the work of God in laying his hand upon men many young men giving them a passion to buy the truth and sell it not inflaming their hearts with the desire to follow

54:11 the lines of truth no matter where those lines may lead them. There is one area in which I could wish or I do wish that there were more evidence of the work of the Spirit of God and it is precisely at this area I do not see commensurate with what I believe to be a genuine love of the truth and a willingness to pay a dear price for the truth an equal measure of the grace of holy pleading the ability to entreat with genuine earnestness with great solicitousness that ability

54:55 to yearn in preaching and it is very interesting that in Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones' book on preaching you remember he confessed that if there were one aspect of his own ministry concerning which he felt the most proddings of conscience it was in this area of pathos in preaching. Now brethren I trust you share with me an instinctive abomination of all affected pathos in the pulpit. I would far rather a man stand and preach as unimpassioned as a block of granite but be real in his granite-like presentation

55:38 than to see a twitch or to hear the slightest sob in a throat that was artificial and contrived.

55:51 For any thinking sensitive person will pick up on it immediately and it will cancel out any credibility whatsoever.

56:02 What I am saying is that we must cry to God that he will so impregnate our minds and hearts and our spirits with the great realities with which we traffic and then so fill our hearts with a genuine yearning for our people that we may be able to say with Paul that we were willing not to impart the gospel of God only. Thank God for that and it must be the gospel of God in all of its vigor and purity and majesty and that's what we're talking about when we talk about the reformed faith and Calvinism. Yes,

56:45 we were willing to impart not the gospel of God only but because you, were become dear. Is there not a connection between that statement and the previous? Our gospel came not unto you Thessalonians in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance.

57:20 Oh may God help us brethren to cry to him that he would so flood our hearts in the secret place with genuine yearnings for our people. Amen. Amen. Amen.

57:32 If we don't have the practice begin to pray even if only for a half a dozen of our members by name every day bringing them before the throne of grace Galatians 4.19 traveling that Christ be formed in them and then when we have thus labored for them in secret relatively stand and see the countenances of those whom you've brought before the throne of grace with greater earnestness to plead on Christ's behalf with them and for them and to plead with their hearts in earnestness of solicitation to heart and to will.

58:17 Someone has observed that perhaps for this very reason men like Spurgeon and Whitfield died an early death. It's only a conjecture but I think there's something to say for it. Because they preach so frequently and one of the marks of their life is the fact that they are in the presence of God and that their preaching was this impassioned earnestness this solicitation to the heart and wills of men that cost them something for when that current of genuine yearning runs over frail humanity for lengthy periods of time in a sense

58:58 it consumes that humanity. It's costly in the truest sense to be a passionate preacher. Now again I'm saying that that earnestness will manifest itself in the same way in any two men. You must be true to your own God-given identity as a man.

59:23 Your preaching should be smothered with your fingerprints and no one else has them. This whole idea that we must not let our own identity enter the preaching that's a stupid view and theology of preaching. All that God has made us to be sanctified and under the restraints and disciplines of the Word and the Spirit is to be employed in our preaching and each of us will preach in a manner that has our own fingerprints upon our preaching and what earnestness is to one man in its peculiar manifestations it will not be to another but if it is earnestness produced by the Holy Ghost it will be

60:08 communicated to men and women. We are not mere Bible talkers. We're not merely jumping truth out in a take it or leave it fashion. Nor are we preaching in such a way in which we might almost get some delight if they do end up damned.

60:35 The end of God and seasons of quickening has been preaching marked by this earnestness. May it be the mark of our preaching. Now I said I'd give you just one point under the third division and that's all I'll do. The preaching that quickens as to its instrument is only one thing to say and then I'm done.

The Instrument: A Life That Validates the Message

61:00 Preaching that quickens as to its instrument the instrument must be one whose life validates his message. Whose life validates his message. Some of you are too young to remember Gandhi but when he was asked on one occasion by a visiting Westerner Mr. Gandhi this is Gandhi of India what is your message?

61:32 What is your message? What is your message? He paused and quietly answered I am my message. See what he was saying?

61:50 Walk with me observe me. My lifestyle in its totality is my message. Now we do not believe that men will be won by our lives apart from the proclamation of the word. All I'm attempting to do is to underscore such truths as are set forth in passages of Thessalonians one, second Corinthians four, and a host of others.

62:18 Our gospel came not unto you in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance even as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. Chapter 2 Ye are witnesses in God also how holy and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you for what? Your they understood that there was a relationship between the measure of power in preaching and their lifestyle that if they had a genuine concern for the well-being of the Thessalonians for their sakes they must validate

63:03 the message by holy just and blameless conduct. Second Corinthians four one as we've received this ministry we faint not but we have a strong faith in the Holy Spirit and we are not blinded by the darkness not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully but by the full display the manifestation of the truth commanding to every man's conscience in the sight of God. You see that close proximity

63:46 full display of the Holy Spirit and brethren if anything marks the men who have been most used of God in seasons of revival surely it was their pursuit of universal holiness it was their self denial it was their Christ likeness it was their determination in the language of McShane to be as holy as a redeemed sinner could be made holy this side of Heaven. And I pray for more power in your preaching while you yet have not gained the mastery

64:31 of your television set and for some of you it will not do to go moaning to God every Saturday night with a bad conscience trying to get your bloodied conscience cleaned up so you can preach with something approximating a measure of inward peace on the Lord's Day morning. It is necessary just stick the thing up in the attic until you've matured enough to handle it. That's plucking out a right eye and cutting off a right hand and for some of you that may be the very simple answer to many of those groans and many of those prayers. We live in a day in which self indulgence is the order

65:15 of the day. Please yourself indulge yourself. The servants of Christ are called upon to be exemplary and self controlled. Brethren that self control touches the appetites which we indulge which only God can know about but certainly attaches the appetites which if we indulge too much everyone can tell we've done it.

65:45 Need I say more? Don't play with your conscience if you have a chronic problem with excessive weight that is due to a lack of self control of your caloric intake. Stop blaming it on your pressure and get honest with God and deal with the issue. I had a preacher come and tell me that for four years he labored under a smitten conscience that he was rationalizing about his obesity and when he dealt with that there was new power in his preaching.

66:24 For some of you the self control may enter a number of other areas and I would not be lord over any man's conscience. I would be lord over any man who would be used of God in quickening and in seeing the spirit of God bless our preaching. The instrument must be one whose life validates the message he preaches. Validates it in his ethical sensitivity in seeking to walk in a conscience void of offense to God and man who can stand knowing that his wife and his children are not tempted to see him for what he really

67:08 is. And if your wife cannot say when that man stands to preach somehow he's not my husband anymore he is the mouthpiece of almighty God. And if your children have come to any years at all and they cannot make the same testimony you've got some business to do with God and with your family before you get in that pulpit on Sunday. The preaching that quickens God above all else be the instrument who validates his message by his blameless life.

Cost of Quickening Preaching and Concluding Prayer

67:47 It's a costly thing brethren to pray that God will use our preaching to bring quickening. Costly. The cross will meet you every morning. If you've not read Pastor Chantry's chapter in that little book The Shadow of the Cross I commend it to you.

68:11 Self denial in the work of the ministry. It is not the only thing in the world that is so costly. But in this desperate hour may we not be found sparing our flesh at the price of seeing our nation go down into hell. But may we be willing to pay any price short of sinning against God's Holy Law to put ourselves in the way

68:47 to bring cricketing to our people, to our churches, to our communities, and to our nation. Let us pray. Our Father, in your presence, we acknowledge that all things are naked and opened before you.

69:19 And we would plead that out of your perfect knowledge of who we are and what we are, and out of your perfect knowledge of our weaknesses and our sins, our laziness and our carelessness, our willingness to pass off on our people shabby sermons that have been the fruit of our own unwillingness to deny ourselves. O God, conscious of our many ministerial sins, we cry to you for cleansing in the blood of your dear Son. How we thank you that our acceptance rests upon his perfect obedience.

70:02 We thank you that because he lived the life we have not lived and died the death we deserve to die, that in him we are accepted. And we thank you for that acceptance. And in love to you for grace freely conferred, we pray, make us better men, more holy men. O God, give us grace to be honest with those pockets of resentment, and give us resistance to your sanctifying work.

70:34 Deliver us from all of our carnal rationalizations, all of our self-excusings. O God, find us where we need to be found, and say to us in grace and yet in fatherly firmness that which we need to hear. We pray that your blessing will rest upon the things we have considered this night, and that as a result of our meditations you will make of us able, more able ministers of the new covenant. Use us for the praise of your dear Son.

71:14 And O God, give to this generation that which it most desperately needs, but which it least desires. Mighty men of God, upon whom your spirit rests with power, both in grace...

71:32 Great advancement in personal godliness, and in all of those elements that make for effective and powerful preaching. Hear our cry, and answer us for the honor of your beloved Son. We ask in his worthy name. Amen.