True Preaching: Fundamental Characteristic

The Tremendous Importance of True Preaching for Revival

0:06 Now, as Mr. Murray has already intimated, and as you have discovered in looking over the brochure, I have been asked to address you on the subject, what constitutes true preaching. Now, the subject is obviously a vast and a complex subject, and in many ways a most elusive subject. And because of these characteristics, any treatment of this subject of any length, in any circumstances, is a most difficult assignment.

0:41 But to attempt to handle this subject in one lecture, with any degree of comprehensiveness and balance, to a group of men who come from a diversity of backgrounds, who sit here tonight with a diversity of perspectives, on some of the most fundamental issues relating to preaching, in those circumstances it would almost border on presumption to make the effort. But I trust that in mutual dependence upon the Spirit of God, and with a determination to concentrate all of our faculties upon this most critical issue, that we will grapple together with this vast subject, and by the grace of God, through the Holy Spirit, spirit ministering by the scriptures that we may be instructed and helped and urged on in the great task of preaching. As we stand on the threshold of our study, I do want to say just a word by way of introduction concerning the tremendous importance of this subject. Perhaps I can do this in no better way than to quote a very brief paragraph from the opening pages of Broadus's classical work on the preparation and delivery of sermons, in which Broadus says, and I quote,

2:06 In every age of Christianity, since John the Baptist drew crowds into the desert, there has been no great religious movement, no restoration of scriptural truth, and reanimation of vital and important religious practices. Vital piety, without new power in preaching, both as its cause and as its effect.

2:35 From the days of John the Baptist until this present hour, no restoration of scriptural truth, no true religious movement, no reanimation of vital piety, without new power in preaching, both as its cause and as its effect. Vital piety, without new power in preaching, both as its cause and as its effect. Now, I trust that the brethren gathered here on this occasion are deeply concerned with these very issues, the issues of the restoration of scriptural truth, the reanimation of vital piety, the very issues that Pastor Chandri brought to our attention in his exposition of Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 2 in the previous hour. I trust we are not only interested in these matters, but that these matters form no little part of the focus of our prayers.

3:38 However, we do not pray for these things as fanatics, nor do we pray for them as hyper-Calvinists, that is, as those who expect God to answer those prayers without the ordinary means being used in the granting of that answer. It is surely a matter of faith that we must pray for these things, but we must not pray for them as fanatics, nor do we pray for them as hyper-Calvinists. As the elements of gracious sovereignty are stamped on every period of revival and powerful advancement of truth, so the elements of a gracious wisdom are stamped upon those same periods of revival and reanimation of piety. As surely as the history of revivals is the history of the mighty, free, gracious, sovereign intervention of God, it is the history of preaching that was suited to the ends that God himself was securing by his own mighty and sovereign power. This emphasis is seen so clearly in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Luke the historian always writes as Luke the theologian, and again and again when he is giving the record of the success of the gospel, in begetting divine life, advancing and developing divine life,

5:05 he is careful to trace the efficiency back to the almighty power of God. The language of Luke the historian is this language, very familiar to all of us. Then hath God also granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life. Him hath God exalted for to give repentance.

5:29 And remission of sins. Whose heart the Lord opened, so that she attended to the things that were spoken of Paul. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. And yet it is this very Luke, Luke the historian, writing as Luke the theologian, who says in Acts 14, And they so spake, that a multitude believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.

6:03 And the emphasis there is placed on the fact that there was a direct relationship between the manner of their preaching and the God-ordained and God-caused success of that preaching. And I say this principle that stands on the face of the record in the book of the Acts is simply understood. In the history of the great periods of life and reviving in the church. And so, brethren, we are dealing with a subject that lies very close to the heart of those points of emphasis that were brought before us in the previous hour.

6:46 There can be no intelligent, biblical concern for revival without an intelligent and biblical concern with the question that is before us tonight, what constitutes true preaching. For it is true preaching which has been both the cause and effect under the blessing of God in terms of precipitating and advancing revival. Now, in attacking the vast subject, I have two major divisions. I don't know if I'll get to the second. I hope to.

The Fundamental Characteristic: Proclamation by a Herald of God

7:24 If I don't, at least you'll know where I hope to go in our study. First of all, I want to consider with you from the Scriptures the fundamental characteristic of true preaching. And having considered that, we shall then address ourselves to the secondary characteristics, plural, of true preaching. What then is the fundamental characteristic of true preaching in the light of the Scriptures?

7:55 Well, I want to make an assertion which I believe embodies the teaching of Scripture, and then we shall turn to the Word of God to see the raw materials out of which that assertion was formed. True preaching consists of the proclamation, explanation, and application of the Word of God by one who legitimately and self-consciously occupies the position of and conducts himself as a herald of God. What is true preaching? It is the proclamation, the explanation, and the application of the Word of God, that is, the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments, by one who legitimately he has not intruded himself into this office or position who legitimately and self-consciously occupies the position of and conducts himself as a herald of God. Now, what are the raw materials of Scripture out of which this assertion has been formed? Well, I am sure that most, if not all of you, are aware of the fact that there are

9:21 four major families of words used in the New Testament to describe the act of preaching or communicating the Word of God in verbal form. You have that family of words translated in our English Bibles to preach the Gospel in the verbal form euangelizo or in the middle form in which it most frequently appears euangelizomai and then you have that second major family didasko to teach in the noun form didaskalia the thing taught and then you have the third family martireto often translated to bear witness in the verbal form in the noun to be a witness but there is a fourth family of words and it is this family of words which in our English Bibles is most frequently translated to preach and it is the kairouso family of words the verb to preach the two noun expressions the kairouts the one who preaches as a herald and the kairouma the message that is preached and it is I say this third family of words which more than any others

10:43 identifies and describes the essence of true preaching the first family of words points to a more limited element of the content of the preaching the second family of words points to the manner of communication but it is this family that focuses upon the very essence of what constitutes preaching preaching in a New Testament sense first of all see this demonstrated as we see the word the Holy Spirit uses to describe the activity of preaching and we will take just several specimen passages first of all from the Gospel of Matthew when the Spirit of God would describe the activity of John John the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ his activity is described in the language of Matthew 3 and verse 1 as follows and in those days cometh John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea he came not teaching he came not witnessing he came not gospelizing or preaching the good news he came proclaiming he came heralding he came preaching

12:09 then when the Spirit of God would describe the activity of our Lord himself after he is clothed with the Spirit of power we read in Matthew's Gospel chapter 4 and in verse 17 from that time began Jesus to preach and to say repent ye for the kingdom of God is come and the kingdom of heaven is at hand and here the activity of our Lord is described as an activity of preaching when he commissions the twelve and sends them forth as recorded in the tenth chapter of Matthew we read in Matthew 10 and in verse 7 he commissions them saying and as ye go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand when our Lord prophesies the universe and his apostles spread of his gospel in Matthew 24 and verse 14 he uses this word again and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached among all the nations for a witness and then shall the end come now when we turn to the emphasis of Luke as found in his gospel and then on into the book of Acts we find this similar focal point on preaching as the proclamation of a herald in Luke 24 and verse 47

13:35 our Lord says that repentance and remission of sins is to be preached in his name among all the nations Acts 8 and verse 5 we read the account of Philip going down to Samaria and preaching Christ unto them in Acts 10 and verse 42 Peter says that he and his fellow apostles were ordained to preach that God is the judge of the living and of the dead when Paul describes his ministry at Ephesus to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20-25 he speaks of that activity as a preaching of the kingdom of God and so this emphasis is found throughout the book of Acts that preaching in its essence is to be understood in terms of this concept of the proclamation of a herald and then in that very strategic passage on the subject of preaching in Paul's letter to the Romans Romans chapter 10 here again the emphasis falls upon the geruso family of words in Romans chapter 10 and beginning with verse 8 but what set it? the word is nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach

15:05 verse 14 how then shall they call on him whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent and so this emphasis comes through in this strategic passage bringing into the closest proximity the activity of faith unto salvation and the necessity of the person who believes coming within the orbit not of sharing not of some dramatization of the gospel but coming within the orbit of preaching by a duly authorized herald of the message of God and when the apostle describes his own activity in the passage read in your hearing today we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves your servants for Christ's sake when he would charge Timothy with his great responsibility in second Timothy four and verse two he says preach the word well brethren I don't want to weary you with just dragging out reference upon reference these have only been a few specimen references take your own concordance

16:32 and look up that word and trace it out and you will see how again and again this emphasis comes through now when the Holy Spirit describes the functional identity of the preacher this is the word he uses Paul in first Timothy chapter two and verse seven says that he was appointed first of all a preacher a herald a town crier a duly authorized herald of the message of God now he functioned in that capacity with the peculiar office of an apostle and as an apostle he was an instructor in divine things and so he brings together his function as herald as apostle and as teacher he does a similar thing in second Timothy one and verse eleven and then when Peter would describe the ministry of Noah he calls him in second Peter two in verse five a cherub a herald a proclaimer that preacher of righteousness and then of course when he would describe the message that is thus proclaimed it is called the cherub it is the thing proclaimed by the herald and perhaps the key text in the use of this word is first Corinthians one and verse twenty one how strategic is this matter not of the message given

18:02 in any form that we deem wise but the message given as a herald first Corinthians one and verse twenty one for seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the thing preached to save them that believe and then in that critical text in Titus Paul speaks of this great message of saving grace in Titus one and verse three as being manifested unfolded made known how in the thing preached Titus one and verse three so brethren the biblical materials are abundant and profuse pointing in this direction that the essence of true preaching is to be found in coming to grips with the biblical concept of this family of words to proclaim as a herald now what are the major biblical ideas bound up in this concept of the preacher functioning as a herald well as with many other concepts the Holy Spirit took a word and a concept that was part and parcel of the common verbal currency of that given society

Element 1: Integrity in Message and Life

19:28 seizes upon it expands it adjusts it elevates it and makes it something glorious in terms of the coinage of the Christian faith and this is true with the whole concept of a cheroots a town crier a herald who brought the message of his sovereign to his fellow citizens and as we think through the biblical concept of what it is self consciously to occupy the position of and to conduct oneself as a herald of God in preaching let me suggest brethren that at least five elements are bound up in that concept first of all is the matter of integrity the herald had to stand in a relationship of integrity with reference to the message given to him by his sovereign the herald was not free to go amongst his fellow townspeople and by consensus concoct his message his message was not the product of his own imagination his message was not the fruit of his own cleverness his message was deposited by his sovereign and when he self consciously occupied his place

20:57 as a herald and conducted himself in the realm of that self consciousness bound up in that whole concept was integrity with respect to the content of the message conveyed to him and so you and I are under solemn obligations to obey the command to herald the word we are to hold fast the form of sound words or in the language of Titus we are to hold fast to the faithful word as we have been taught now it's not very flattering for a man to announce a message and then being asked tell me sir where does the message come from to say it doesn't come out of my own mind it doesn't come out of the minds of my fellow creatures in that sense the message has simply been deposited and it is my task to bring to the mind of my master and of my sovereign Dabney and his classic work on preaching which many of us are grateful to see again in print speaks to this very issue when he says the nature of the preacher's work is determined by the word employed to describe it by the holy ghost the preacher

22:25 is a herald his work is heralding the king's message the herald is a herald the herald is a herald the herald is a herald but of old ambassadors were no other than heralds now the herald does not invent his message he merely transmits and explains it it is not his to criticize its wisdom or its fitness this belongs to his sovereign alone and brethren if we are to engage in that self-conscious identity that is ours as heralds always seeking to maintain the strictest integrity in relationship to the content of our message this is what the apostle paul is saying again in the text reading your hearing seeing we have received this ministry as we have obtained mercy we faint not in craftiness nor handling the word of god deceit peter speaks of the ignorant and the unstable who rest the scriptures and that word literally means they put it on a torture rack and stretch it out of its natural shape they maintain the semblance of biblical

23:54 terminology but by the time it passes through them it is totally distorted and out of shape the apostle paul could say i kept back nothing that was profitable he did not go about and see what was palatable he said i kept back nothing that was profitable and what was that that was profitable he tells us further on in acts 20 in verse 26 i tell i tell you this is the answer for all these questions if you are a Christian you are a Christian and all these are tamil is not broken just because The Holy Ghost does not own with power the distortion of his mind in Scripture. And therefore the solemn obligation that is upon us is clearly delineated in 2 Timothy 2.15.

25:21 Do thine utmost to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, not before your fellow men, but before that God whose approval you seek above all else. Cutting a straight course in the word of truth. Oh, what honesty, what care, what assiduity, what perseverance, what caution there ought to be in the handling of the word of truth. We are heralds, brethren.

25:57 It is not for us to adjust, to trim, to expand, to shape the message. We simply stand as those who are to receive. The message already shaped, already formed, already deposited in the language of 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 4. But this matter of integrity in relationship to the message not only affects the herald in terms of the content of his message, but in terms of the power and influence of his message upon himself.

26:36 And here you see the biblical concept of a herald goes far beyond the pagan or the mere natural concept of a herald.

26:47 The herald may be one who has no love for his king or his sovereign. His job as a herald may simply be a means of occupation, but not so with the heralds of God. And so the great emphasis in Scripture upon those who would truly preach is that they must manifest in every detail of life that their message has first of all mastered them.

27:17 What is the primary focal point of emphasis and the requirement for an elder according to 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1? It is not richness of the gifts of oral communication. There is one Greek word used in 1 Timothy 3, an apt teacher. We take three English words to translate.

27:41 But there is praise upon him. Praise, word upon word, delineating, balanced, vital, practical godliness demonstrated before the church and before the world. And before all of that is the little particle of absolute necessity. If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

28:05 The bishop, therefore, they must be. Why? Why that tremendous emphasis? For you see, if we come as heralds of a message which has as its ultimate end the glory of God in the moral and ethical transformation of the sinner, how can that message be conveyed with any credibility unless the one who conveys it is the living embodiment of its end and of its power?

28:43 So again and again Paul turns to Timothy and says, Let no man deceive. Be thou an example of the believer. Exercise thyself unto godliness. Take heed to thyself.

28:57 Be not a partaker of other men's sins. Keep thyself pure. Why this recurring emphasis almost to the point of redundancy? Because it's part and parcel of the biblical concept of a herald who when he proclaims that message he does not do so as some kind of a theist.

29:18 As some kind of a theological and clerical automaton. Some kind of a robot. Some kind of a computer. He does so as one who can say not in the apostolic sense but in a real sense.

Element 2: Authority from God's Commission

29:37 We speak that which we do know. Then there is a second characteristic of the herald added to this matter of integrity as the matter of authority. You see, the herald is conscious. That he did not come into the village on the basis of personal whim.

30:00 Or the fact that when he got up in the morning his wife nudged him and said, Dear, I'd like a little notoriety in the village today. Won't you go in please and fulfill the role of a herald and get a little attention from the folk in the village? No, no. No, no.

30:15 No one went into the village to fulfill the role of a herald but one who was duly appointed to that task. No, no. No one went into the village to fulfill the role of a herald. But one who was duly appointed to that task was appointed by the sovereign who ruled in that area.

30:30 And when he went into that village, he spoke with authority, demanding the attention of his fellow citizens, not because of any inherent worth in himself, but because of the consciousness of the authority that rested upon him and stood behind him in that function. Now notice how clearly this is exemplified in the text. Now notice how clearly this is exemplified in the text. Now notice how clearly this is exemplified in the text.

30:56 Now notice how clearly this is exemplified in the text. It is said in Matthew 7 that when he finished preaching in the Sermon on the Mount, the multitudes were astounded. Why? Because he spake as one having authority and not as their scribes.

31:14 Now their scribes were good Bible talkers. Jesus said that. He said, what they bid you do, do it. They sit in Moses' seat to the extent that they properly convey the mind of Moses, living under that economy and framework, do what they say.

31:35 But there was no authority. Now what lay behind our Lord's authority? Well, he tells us. He could say, I speak not my own words, but the words of him that sent me.

31:54 And do you remember how he said when he commissioned men to go forward, he that receives you, receives me. He that receives me, receives him that sent me. You see that chain of authority? And our Lord sought to make his herald self-consciously aware of that element of authority.

32:17 And so it is with us brethren. We must have a well-grounded, scripturally based conviction of the legitimacy of our call to the ministry. And I am personally convinced there are many men who speak with no or little authority because they have never been willing to trace down with judgment day honesty the legitimacy of their call to that solemn office. The pressure of a praying grandmother, the sentimental wishes of mama and daddy, or perhaps the well-meaning intentions of the pastor who liked to put notches in his rifle and say very modestly, well, the Lord's been good to us. We've got seven fellows preparing for the ministry, and while he's bowed with humility, you can see him swelling with pride. Some of you may be the victims of that kind of wickedness.

33:18 Brethren, there can be no authority unless there is a well-grounded scriptural conviction of the legitimacy of our call. What enables the herald who in himself is nothing to go into the village and demand the attention of all of his fellow citizens is the consciousness. I'm not here because I had a whim this morning that I'd like a little attention. I'm here sent by my sovereign.

33:47 Furthermore, we must have a consciousness of the validity of the activity to which we are called. On his way into the village, you see, if the herald begins to question, well, this is the silliest thing in all the world. How am I going to get the attention of my fellow citizens simply by opening up my mouth and speaking?

34:09 I must first of all set up a little stage and have a little play and get their attention. Do a few magic tricks. Must do something. I mean, you just don't go into the village and start talking. Expect your fellow citizens to listen to you. They know who you are. You're the guy down the street. You live at 312 and your neighbor lives at 313.

34:27 But you see, when the man came into the village, self-consciously aware of that authority that stood behind him, there is something arresting him in the very bearing of that authority. And when he self-consciously opens his mouth, not as a private citizen, but as the duly appointed herald of his sovereign, he speaks then with authority.

34:54 In his classic work entitled The Power of the Pulpit, Gardner Spring speaks so perceptively to this dimension of what constitutes true preaching. He says the ministers of the gospel are the appointed ambassadors of the head and king of the church. He sends them on their great and responsible errand. They possess authority to publish his gospel in his name, which belongs exclusively to themselves.

35:27 It is not an authority which they usurp, nor an office which they themselves have sought, but one which has been imposed upon them. The responsibilities of it are of no enviable kind. They must give an account of their stewardship, and such and one as no other men must render. Nor are the disabilities and dependencies of the office to be envied. No honest, right-minded man was ever invested with it without much fear and trembling. Nor is there one among them all who would ever have consented to this investiture but for the constraints of conscience. They have been thrust forth into the harvest in the language of scripture. Now this is one of the strong peculiarities of the pulpit, and places it upon high vantage ground. Its legitimate

36:26 occupants are divinely commissioned men. Inspired men they are not, but sinning and fallible like their fellows. Yet do they utter his truth, not on their own responsibility, but God's. Not in their own names, but his.

36:46 Not for themselves, but for him. Not as men merely, but as accredited ministers of their divine Lord who has sent them. It is not simply the authority of truth which they speak, for then every man who utters truth would be invested with this authority. It is the authority of truth uttered by those whom God has raised up and qualified and sealed by solemn sacrament and sent forth and specially authorized to utter the things that are commanded then of him.

37:24 Arrogant as this claim may appear to some, and abused as it has been and will be by an ambitious and tyrannical priesthood, God has given no less a preeminence to it. They have pressed the question on your conscience, my brethren. Is the note of authority present in your preaching? It has nothing necessarily to do with volume, with animation, with gesture, with a square jaw, with temperamental pugnaciousness.

Element 3: Boldness in Proclamation

38:02 It has to do with that something that cannot be put into words, that constrains men to turn and to listen. When a man speaks self-conscious, that he is sent by his son. Then there is a third element that is present in this biblical concept of the herald, and it's embodied in the word boldness. Now you will remember how it was this quality that the apostle Paul coveted as a minister of the gospel.

38:38 When he writes to the Ephesians and asks them to pray for him, notice the request that predominates in Ephesians 6 and verse 19. Watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and on my behalf. And what are they to pray for? Not that my allowance will be fully met so the mission board will be satisfied that they can send me back to the field.

39:10 He does not pray for good, ask them to pray for good health or for anything pertaining directly to his temple needs. But this is his great concern. Pray on my behalf that utterance may be given unto me in opening my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. We have a similar request in his letter to the Colossians in chapter 4 and verses 1 and 2.

39:39 Now what is the biblical concept of boldness? Well basically it is outspokenness, frankness, plainness of speech. It means that when we behold the faces of men, neither their frowns nor their smiles will move us one whit to restrain or to alter the unfettered announcement of the message of the Sovereign. That's what it means.

40:10 So you're not bribed by their smiles, nor threatened with their frowns to do a thing with the message. That's what boldness is.

40:22 Conscious of your own weakness, your own susceptibility to men's smiles and frowns, as no doubt the apostle was. And therefore he says, when you pray for me, above all else, pray that utterance may be given unto me. There must be a gracious and powerful working of the Spirit. It's not something that he received once for all.

40:45 Whatever measures of boldness he had known in the past, he is conscious that he must have increasing measures and the sustaining grace of God, even to maintain the degrees already experienced. Paul could say, if I should yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. One of the most thrilling examples of this kind of boldness is set before us in an incident that Gardner Spring records concerning Samuel Davies, preacher of another generation, then president of the College of New Jersey, which is now Princeton University, where he is now, is not what was then, but in the process of evolution and devolution, there is that connection. Well, he was visiting England on behalf of the College and was invited to preach before King George III. His youthful queen was sitting by his side, and so enchanted were they by the preacher's eloquence that the king expressed his admiration in no measured terms, and so audibly and rudely as to draw the attention of the audience and to interrupt the service. The preacher made a sudden and solemn pause in his discourse, looking round upon

42:13 the audience and fixing his piercing eye upon England's noisy monarch said, When the lions roar, the beasts of the field tremble. When Jehovah speaks, let the kings of the earth keep silence. That's the end of the boldness.

42:43 Now, you see, it was not brashness. It was not an uncultured, uncouth manifestation. It was a man who, standing in the presence of an earthly sovereign, was conscious that he stood in the presence of a greater sovereign,

43:03 self-conscious of his identity as a herald, and he conducted himself in a manner consistent, with that self-consciousness. And probably when he went home that night, he probably broke out in a cold sweat and said, What did I say?

43:25 Because that was said in that spiritual context. Brethren, it is this element again that is so desperately needed in our day. It is one thing to make a passing allusion to the sins of our generation. It is another thing to speak of them in such terms as to cause the consciences of men to smile. It would have been one thing for John the Baptist to stand before Herod and to say, Mr. Monarch, have you considered that perhaps in some way or another there may be a remote possibility that you may be a bit left of center of the norms of the Word of God?

44:16 And then go home and say, Well, I did rebuke him after a sort, but it's when he stood and said to that man, It is not lawful for you to have her.

44:33 That's what cost him his head. Oh, Nathan, standing before the monarch, who has all of the army at his disposal, and says to his incensed king who has no sense of anger at his own sin, but at this hypothetical sinner, Thou art the man. I say, brethren, it is one thing to deal with the sins of our people in an oblique and in a veiled way in order to salve our consciences that we are faithful to our trust. It's another thing to speak in such terms as we find John and Nathan speaking with boldness. Then there is this fourth characteristic of the person who is self-consciously fulfilling the role of a herald, and it's bound up in the word seriousness. Not somberness, not morbidity, but seriousness. You see, the herald did not appear in the village as the town jester.

Element 4: Seriousness of the Message

45:46 When the herald came into the precincts of the village, he did not come simply to announce the time of the day. When you saw him, you knew there was a serious word from your sovereign.

46:03 This element of seriousness will always spark the man who is conscious of his identity as a herald of God. Listen to the language of the great apostle in 2 Corinthians 2. He says in verse 14,

46:21 Thanks be unto God who always leads us to triumph in Christ and make it manifest through us in every place the savor of his knowledge. We are a sweet savor of Christ unto God in them that are saved and in them that are perishing. To the one a savor from death unto death, to the other a savor from life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

46:50 He says, the message I bear which is fragrant with the odor of Christ in the very nostrils of God, wherever I go, I preach Christ and that's a sweet savor to God. And in that I rejoice. There's the triumph. God is having his way in the His character is vindicated in the proclamation of Christ.

47:12 All of his glorious attributes shine forth in the epitome of their brilliance in Christ and in crucified. So as I preach him, he said, I'm always led in triumph in Christ. There is this sweet savor of Christ in every place. He says that very message is the arbiter of the destinies of man. And in some it is a message from death unto death. This very message seals them in the depths of damnation. For hell will have no torments like the torments of the gospel rejecter. And he says it is also the savor of life unto life. And when I carry a message

48:00 like that, there is felt weakness always resulting in seriousness even to the point of using the language of 1 Corinthians 2 3. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

48:20 It's that seriousness that causes the apostle Paul to be the apostle of tears. He could say to the Ephesian elders there in night I warned you with tears. He can say to the Philippians I've told you often and tell you now even weeping. Now this is not to say that we must regard humor as something that came after the fall.

48:43 That when Adam and Eve saw monkeys in the garden they didn't laugh but when there is over, no more. Laughter is the gift of God in creation. And there is a place for unplanned humor even in the ministry of the herald. But the overriding mood and climate of the work of the herald is that of seriousness.

49:10 You can't tickle men into the king's hand. The law and the gospel must operate at the deepest levels of their consciousness as well as their understanding, their affections and their wills. No man ever stands giggling beneath the thunders and lightning of Mount Sinai. When a sinner begins to take seriously the claims of the almighty over him, claims exemplified in that summary of God's moral demands in those ten words, then he begins to realize that those words touch the deepest springs of thought and desire and feeling. And he sees himself stripped in the presence of God. No man jiggles beneath the thunders and lightnings of Sinai.

50:04 No man titters and laughs before the gore of Gethsemane and the prods of Golgotha.

50:16 We come with a message announcing as Paul did, what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. We come with that message of a herald, indicting our fellow citizens as condemned and lost and under the frown of the almighty. Seriousness will throb through the entirety of our announcement. And when we bring that glorious news that all of the thunders and lightnings of Sinai broke upon the head and in the heart of the Son of God when he died for his people.

51:09 And we then tell people that they must and that they are warranted to flee to this Savior. When they are brought to that wonderful consciousness that for the sake of Christ they are accepted, there will be joy but the joy of some too. Rejoice with trembling. It is holy joy. It is the joy that is marked by a heart that having seen itself before God can never get over the wound.

51:53 My brother, am I speaking to someone who has been, shall I say, blessed or cursed with an unusual measure of naked wit? You have the kind of mind that sees the incongruous and the ludicrous in everything. My brother, if that is not harnessed and under the tight reign of this self-consciousness of your identity, your carnal humor may be the very thing that is withholding the blessing of the Spirit of God upon your preaching. I have sat under men who under God wielded the sword of the Spirit and just as the point was there upon my conscience and heart and it was about to be thrust the titter of laughter caused it to fall from the preacher's hand and he never thrust me with a wound that left its mark.

52:58 I shall never forget either hearing him preach or reading it somewhere dear. A.W. Tozer who's gone to be with the Lord saying early in his life he had to make the choice either to be a prophet or a clown for he knew he couldn't be both.

53:14 And I have sat as close as some of these brethren are sitting here where that man was preaching and seen the twinkle in his eye and the little bit of mirth in the corner of his lip and seen him consciously swallow down one humorous thing after another that was no doubt forcing itself up into his consciousness and what a lesson it was to me of the discipline of a man who knew I'm a herald of God. I dare not give pen to humor that would neutralize the influence of the message I bear.

Element 5: Unction of the Holy Spirit

53:49 And then the final thing and this is all we'll get to tonight brethren the final characteristic of the herald of God and this places the biblical herald in a category totally unknown by the secular herald it's bound up in the word unction and without anticipating or borrowing from my final message on the Holy Spirit's word in relationship to preaching suffice it to say that the ultimate authentication of the herald is found in his unction the ultimate authentication of the herald is found in his unction Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 2 I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling in my speech and preaching were not with enticing words of men's wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power he could say to the Thessalonians my gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost Peter speaks of those who preach the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven the great insignia of God's appointed heralds is the entombment of power it's the oil upon their foreheads and I am not speaking of some categorized experience subsequent

55:17 to conversion I am not speaking of anything other than that which God says forms the very essence of a minister of the new covenant in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as from ourselves but our sufficiency is of God who has made us able ministers of the new covenant not of the letter but of the spirit it is the ministration of the spirit the crowning gift of the new covenant is the gift of the spirit granted not because we have met a thousand conditions but because Christ has met every condition necessary to grant his people the blessing of the spirit brethren one can only judge that there must be either widespread grieving and quenching of the Holy Spirit or there are many men who lack this one final indispensable authentication of their position as a herald what is unction I don't know what it is I can't describe it but I see in scripture the teaching that there is a presence a dynamism and again it is not necessarily related in any way to any

56:45 form of legitimate preaching as far as intensity animation or the volume these may or may not be connected with that which is called unction but there is as Paul can say that living letter that is proof that you are not just a bible talker ye are our epistle written he says by the spirit of God oh brethren I suggest that if we are going to grapple afresh with what constitutes true preaching we must begin we must begin we must begin we must begin we must begin with this biblical concept of preaching as the announcement of a herald and give God in ourselves no rest until we can with some degree of self-consciousness stand in that position and when we do independence upon the one who has commissioned us then these things will characterize our preaching integrity and we will not be this way so that they can not be the same but that they will not be the same as any other party I think a lot of the time

58:12 it is good to give a chance for the people of the world to have the opportunity to give this opportunity an opportunity to be able to speak out and to be able to go