Truth Magazine

By J.W. McGarvey

Special Preparation For The Pulpit

On the subject of special preparation I must speak very briefly. As I could not cover the entire ground without giving a synopsis of some work on Homiletics, I will only attempt a few suggestions on points which need, I think, to be emphasized.

First of all, I ask, what is the purpose of a sermon? Its ‘structure, the material which enters into it, and the special study which precedes it, will all be determined by its purpose. It is feared that some sermons are prepared and delivered for the purpose of making a reputation. In all such the apostolic rule is reversed, and the preacher preaches himself, not the Lord Jesus. Other sermons have in view, as their chief aim, the improvement of the preacher as a public speaker. This also is a selfish end, and a prostitution of the noblest office ever committed by God to man. A better class of sermons are intended merely to impart instruction. These, while aimed in the right direction, fall short of the proper aim of a sermon. This aim, if we judge by all of the apostolic sermons, and by all that is said in the New Testament about preaching, is to bring about some change for the better in the life of the hearer. To this end instruction is but tributary, and for this reason it holds a subordinate place. No sermon is effective without instruction, nor is it effective without exhortation. We teach that we may have a basis for exhortation, and we exhort that we may move to a proper action. The last is the supreme purpose to which all else is to be carefully subordinated.

If this view is correct, then the very first step in the special preparation of a sermon, is to select the special change for the better at which it shall aim. This determined, the subject is determined, and often the passage of Scripture which contains the subject. Sometimes, it is true, a certain subject suggests a certain end to be attained by a sermon, and often a passage of Scripture on which the mind is dwelling suggests the subject of a sermon and its aim. But in these cases it is still the practical aim in view which settles the mind upon the choice of that particular passage and that particular subject.

When the special aim of the sermon has been fixed, and the subject or the particular Scripture passage to be employed has been selected, the next step is to study the selected passage until the author’s real thought is ascertained. This and this only should be presented as the teaching of the passage. To wrest the word of God for an evil purpose is one of the greatest of sins. To wrest it for a good purpose, though not so bad, is still a sin, and it is a sin quite common in the pulpit. It is to do evil that good may come. It is deceptive, because it has the appearance of doing what is not done, and it leaves on the minds of many hearers a permanent misconception of the passage which is misconstrued. If a text properly construed, whether it be your principal text, or others employed in the progress of the sermon, does not serve your purpose, find others that do, and if you can find none that do, then conclude either that your purpose is unscriptural, or that you are not yet sufficiently acquainted with the Bible to speak with that purpose in view.

It is also highly important that when the preacher has selected his subject, he makes himself thoroughly acquainted with it before speaking on it. Otherwise he is in danger of taking positions which fuller information would require him to modify or abandon. Multitudes of the blunders and errors which are constantly disfiguring pulpit efforts and which often make them sources of greater evil than good, result from neglecting this rule. The rule requires us to gather before us all the passages of Scripture which treat of the special subject in hand, to study every one with reference to the particular light which it throws upon the whole subject, and when we have made our selection to treat it in the light shed upon it by all the other passages. The careful observance of this rule will save the preacher from many a blunder and will prove to him a very fruitful source of rich and solid material out of which to construct subsequent sermons.

There are two parts of the sermon always requiring very careful attention, which are very commonly neglected. I mean the introduction and the conclusion. A good introduction, fixing the attention and winning the favor of an audience, gives the preacher a vantage ground at the outset and wins half the battle before the real struggle begins. It should never be left to the spur of the moment, but it should be carefully studied as, an outgrowth of the sermon; for though, like a preface to a book, it comes first to others it often comes last to yourself.

Good introductions are more common than good conclusions. How often we have heard sermons which moved on steadily and impressively until near the close, and then struggled as if sinking in the mire. We could see just how far the preacher had made careful preparation, and as soon as he passed that limit we could see that he began to flounder. Perhaps we have been that preacher (who of us has not?) and can remember how we beat about for a landing place and could not find it, – how we felt every moment that our sermon was being whittled down to the little end of nothing, though we struggled with might and main to give it a better ending. All this is the result of defective preparation. We stopped preparing before we got through and as a consequence we got through the sermon before we quit speaking. To avoid this disaster, which sometimes sends a man home, feeling as if he never had preached and never could, we must be careful to fix upon a conclusion and to prepare it thoroughly.

This should be done also for two other reasons. First, it is the beginning and the end of the sermon which are most distinctly remembered by the average hearer. When he has forgotten everything else that was said, he remembers these. Second, it gives greater power and case to the preacher himself all through the sermon. His conclusion, if a good one, contains in the concentrated form an earnest appeal, the practical aim of the entire discourse. Everything he says is aimed at it, and he approaches it at every step. He knows his landing place and he feels increasing strength as he advances toward it. It animates him from the beginning and it lifts him high when he reaches it. His hearers must be hard of heart if he does not lift them with him.

In all that I have said on the subject of special preparation, I refer to preparation for preaching, not for writing. If a man, after thus preparing to preach a sermon concludes to commit it to writing, either before or after delivering it, he does well, provided he does so not for the purpose of reading it to an audience, or of printing it, or of committing it to memory and reciting it. There is a great difference between preaching and reciting a memorized sermon. The former is a living thing, the latter is a machine. There is a still greater difference between preaching and reading a sermon. When the reading is real reading, as when one reads a book, it is a tame affair in the pulpit. When it is not real reading, but a kind of make believe in which the speaker half reads, half recites and tries to convince the audience by gesticulating and posturing, and hiding his manuscript, that he is preaching, the performance is a farce, and the people would laugh it out of countenance were it not for the solemn service with which it is connected.

System In Study

There are some preachers who read a great deal and do some studying, but never reach proportionate attainments because of a want of system. There are many others, who for the same reason never find time for much reading or study, and who consequently make but little growth. The only way to accomplish much in this bustling and distracting world, whatever be our line of work, is to work in a systematic way – to have a time for everything, and to do everything in its time.

Preachers who are moving about from church to church, and from house to house engaged in protracted meetings or missionary work, are apt to imagine that they have no time for study. But it is entirely practicable for them to spend some hours almost every day at a particular time of day in hard study, if they will. It requires only a little resolution and a polite apology to the friends who would otherwise expect your company, and who would perhaps be glad at times to be rid of entertaining you.

System in study requires much more than the mere appropriation of regular hours to study. It requires the steady prosecution of selected lines of study, and the proper distribution of our time between these. It is not well to give our whole time for any considerable period to one line of study; nor must we divide it between too many. The study of the Scriptures should occupy a fixed part of every day. If one devotes but a single hour every day to the study of the Scriptures historically, or by books, or topically, and shall compute how much this will amount to in a year, he will be astonished at the result. In the course of a lifetime it would make him intimately acquainted with every part of the Bible. And besides the study for mere knowledge, he should give another part of every. day to devotional study. Should a man take time to only commit to memory a single verse of a Psalm and meditate upon it every day, in the course of a year he would commit at least twenty Psalms, and he would have all of them in about seven years. I mention these small figures, not because a preacher should be content with them, but to show by the results of a little systematic study that more can be accomplished than those who lack system are apt to imagine.

As preaching is the preacher’s business, the special study of sermons should of course occupy just so much of his time as is necessary to the very best preaching of which he is capable. It cannot occupy all of his time, because the general lines of study which we have marked out are necessary for the accumulation of material on which to expend the special study of sermons; but the most pressing demand upon the preacher’s time, and the demand which must at all hazards be met, is that which is made by the preparation of sermons.

Give me a man of ordinary talents and earnest piety, who steadily and perseveringly through life pursues such a system of study as I have marked out, and I will show you a preacher who will always be sought after by churches that have him not; who will never leave a community except against its protest; who will count his converts by the thousands, if he lives long; who will count in still larger numbers the struggling souls whom he shall have helped on their heaven-ward way, and who will finally bring an abundance of sheaves into the eternal granary.

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 8, pp. 234-235
April 19, 1984

By Larry Ray Hafley

The Bible does not state that Noah used hammers, saws and axes in the construction of the ark. However, such instruments were authorized by the command, “Make thee an ark” (Gen. 6:14). Without the instruction to build the ark, the tools would have been without justification.

The Bible does not mention church buildings per se. However, they are scriptural because of the authority to assemble (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:18; Heb. 10:25). Without the authority to assemble, church buildings would be without divine authority.

The Bible does not refer to song books. However, they are authorized by the command to sing (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). They are aids to carry out the divine direction to “sing and make melody in your heart.” Without the authority to sing, songbooks would be unscriptural.

The Bible does not talk about chalk boards or overhead projectors. However, they are approved by the authority to teach (Matt. 28:19,20). They assist in doing what New Testament churches did; namely, teach (Acts 11:22-26). Without the authority to teach, projectors and boards would be contrary to scripture.

The Bible does not say anything about collection baskets. However, they are authorized by the command to “lay by in store” (1 Cor. 16:2). Without the authority for a contribution, collection trays would be unauthorized.

The Bible does not mention plates on which to serve the bread of the Lord’s supper. However, they are authorized by the command to “take, eat” (1 Cor. 11:24). Were there no communion, the plates would not be scriptural.

The Bible does not specifically cite a baptistry, an artificial pool in which baptism is performed. However, the command to baptize authorizes a place to baptize. Without the right to baptize, a baptistry would be iniquitous, lawless (cf. Matt. 7:21-23).

The Bible does not directly mention pianos and organs. However, such mechanical instruments of music are authorized by the command to “play music.” Without the authority to play on material, mechanical instruments, pianos and organs would be unscriptural. Wait a minute! There is no New Testament authority to “play music!” Therefore, pianos and organs are not aids to do the work of God, They are unscriptural additions to the word of God.

The Bible does not list items necessary to play games bats, balls, courts, gyms, etc. However, they are justified by the command to “minister to the needs of the whole man,” to provide recreation “for our young people.” Without those duties, ping pong tables and recreation rooms would be unscriptural. Wait another minute! There is no New Testament authority for the church to promote and provide recreation and entertainment. Therefore, “family life centers” (gyms and game rooms) are not approved of God. They are unscriptural.

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 8, p. 244
April 19, 1984

By Bob Dodson

As we continue the “Great-Test” Examination, when we stand before Christ in Judgment (2 Cor. 5: 10-11) this is the examination that we “must” have taken and passed by God’s mercy and grace (Tit. 3:3-8). Let us answer with our Bibles these “negative” questions that deserve our undivided attention. Again, let us remember that the “interrogator” is Jehovah, and He is “witness” to our every word and deed and thought (Prov. 15:3). Remember we must be truthful with God if we really care what our eternal destiny shall be . . .

Greatest Restraint

Are you buffeting your body daily in order to not become a cast-away (1 Cor. 9:27), and preserve it consecrated unto God (1 Cor. 6:13; 2 Cor. 7: 1)? Do you abstain from fleshly ‘lusts that “war” against your soul (1 Pet. 2:11)7 Are you daily laying aside the “old man” (Col. 3:5-9), and crucifying him with his affections and lusts (Gal. 5:24)? God mentions Christians whose eyes are full of adultery and who cannot cease from sin (2 Pet. 2:14), because they will not bridle their passions and evil desires (Jas. 1: 13-15). You can restrain yourself from every habit which “enslaves” you (2 Pet. 2:18-19), which harms your godly influence, or tears down your tabernacle of flesh (1 Thess. 5:23). The secret is allowing Christ to strengthen you to resist (Phil. 4:13; Jas. 4:4- 10). Are you saying Get behind me Satan and push, or “leave me alone” and let me adore my Savior?

Greatest Deception

Have you become a “stumbling block” unto your neighbors and friends and family (1 Cor. 8:9)? You have deceived yourself into thinking that “all is well with my soul” (Psa. 10:6-11), and many are following your pernicious pathways (2 Pet. 2:1-2) all the way to damnation (2 Pet. 2:9). Satan has blinders of prejudice (Jas. 2:9) over your eyes so that you do not “walk by faith” (2 Cor. 5:7) as you should. Walking in darkness you are vulnerable to every venomous bite of the Serpent (Gen. 31:1-6). You may be injecting this soul-poison into your brethren or acquaintances by your “indifference” and callous attitude about “spiritual matters” (Rev. 3:4-20). By teaching false doctrine we throw a rock of stumbling that can cause our friends and loved ones serious injury or death (Matt. 7:15-20; Acts 20:29-3 1). Often times we pat ourselves on the back and say “What a good boy am I,” while we stab our brethren with serpent-like tongues (Gal. 5:15; 1 Pet. 4:15). “Be not deceived” (Gal. 6:7)! Stop trying to mock God for you are only making a “fool” out of yourself (Matt. 7:24-27). Is it truly “well” with your soul, or would an examination by the great Physician point out that “drastic” surgery is necessary to remove diseased organs of the inner man (2 Cor. 7: 1; Rom. 7:22)? Are you deceiving yourself that “all” is well?

Greatest Mistake

To reject the gospel of Christ and turn your ear away from Him who speaks from heaven is absolute folly (Heb. 12:25). Living without God is tragic, but dying without Him is worse (Phil. 1:20-21). How many do you know who heard the gospel multiplied times and were granted golden moments to respond to the sweet invitation of Christ (Matt. 11:28-30), but procrastinated? This thief not only stole their time, but their soul (2 Cor. 6:2). Felix tremblingly made this “mistake” (Acts 24:24-29). Throughout eternity he shall have time to ponder about how he “shipwrecked” his opportunities to be saved (Acts 26:28), as well as will Agrippa. Are you making this mistake? Is it one that can never be erased “if you die in your sins” (John 8:21). Truly the cries of the lost for all eternity “I was wrong for waiting and now I am sorry” will fall upon the deaf ears of God (Rev. 14: 10-11; 21:8). Are you making the mistake of thinking that you will obey the gospel tomorrow (Jas. 4:15)?

Greatest Sorrow

Have you been born again through obedience to the gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16-17; John 3:5), and have become en tangled again in the affairs of this life (2 Pet. 2:20-22)? Are you feasting upon the vomit of corruption (2 Pet. 1:4) from whence Christ has redeemed you? Have you once tasted of the “heavenly gift” (Rom. 6:23) and gone back into indulgence of the filth of Satan’s world (Heb. 6:4-6)? If so, you will experience the most terrible sorrow of all in eternity, for you will reflect on the fact that you once ate from the Father’s table as an honored Son (Gal. 4:6). Haunting you relentlessly throughout endless ages of torment will be the thought that “I was on my way to the glorious city of God” (Matt. 7:13-14), but the attractions of “Broadway” lured and enticed me away. The sorrow of the “ex” child of God will be overwhelming in contrast to those who never obeyed the gospel of Christ (Rom. 2:8-9). Like a demon this thought will vex his conscious awareness while he suffers horrible torture in a merciless hell inhabited by the Devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41). It is my prayer that every wayward child of God comes back to the Father of forgiveness through repentance and prayer (2 Cor. 7: 10; Acts 8:22). Unspeakable horror awaits the child of God who dies in rebellion and disobedience (Rev. 22:15; Mark 9:43-48). Are you “fallen” from God presently?

Greatest Punishment

The nightmarish torment that awaits sinners defies description (Rev. 14: 10-11) for it is the wrath of ‘Almighty God poured out without mixture (full potency). Eternal fire that can never be quenched that burns so deeply that both body and soul are able to feel the searing bite of the flames (Matt. 10:28). The sinner will not just be tormented in flames, but will hear agonizing cries (Matt. 25:30) of others helplessly being devoured eternally by God’s anger. His nostrils will be filled with the “odor” of seared beings as they grapple with demons (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:15). Are you serving Satan for the reward he offers? If so then you have proven yourself the greatest failure. Your score is 0 (nothing). You have lost everything that is worth anything (Matt. 16:24-26)! Are you seeking to be successful in God’s eyes? If so, you can escape the “greatest punishment.”

Greatest Adversary

Satan the Devil is the worst adversary of man, but most people are befriending him while he is destroying them (Eph. 2:1-3). If you have not been honest with God and yourself while taking this test, Satan has deceived you, and you have become your own worst enemy. Lying to any question only compounds your sins before God, and cements your doom. This “examination” has been submitted to accomplish what Christ desired by the mouth of Paul (2 Tim. 2:2426). If after taking this test you see that you actually oppose yourself, please repent (Matt. 21:28-32) and become your own best friend and God’s ally.

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 8, pp. 239-240
April 19, 1984

By Carol R. Lumplin

There is more misunderstanding about “baptism,” than perhaps any other New Testament subject. A great deal of this is due to the disregard for what the New Testament plainly teaches. Paul wrote, “there is one baptism,” (Eph. 4:5). Since there is one baptism, it would rule out (1) John’s baptism, which ended when Christ died upon the cross (Col. 2:14); (2) Holy Spirit baptism, which is found only in Acts 2 upon the apostles and in Acts 10 upon the household of Cornelius; (3) fire baptism, which is yet to come upon those who know not God and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:7-9). This one baptism is the one which Jesus commissioned His apostles to perform (Matt. 28:19).

The apostles were directed and controlled by the Holy Spirit in what they could teach and bind upon people in religion (Matt. 16:19; 18:18). The Holy Spirit directed the apostles in all truth (Jn. 16:13). Since they were directed in all truth, we are confined in our understanding of “baptism, ” to what they have given to us in the New Testament.

Paul said, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Col. 3:17). “In the name of the Lord Jesus” means by His authority. The Lord has spoken on the subject of “baptism.” The book has been finished; no additional word will be forth coming (cf. Heb. 9:16-17). Honest and concerned people will open “the will of the Lord,” and there determine the “all” about “baptism.”

Baptized by the authority of Jesus Christ into the name of Jesus Christ. Peter commanded the believing Jews to, “repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins . . . ” (Acts 2:38). Peter was binding God’s law (Matt. 16:19) upon the Jews, with all the authority of Jesus Christ supporting him. Philip taught the same fixed authority to men and women in Samaria, who were baptized (Acts 8:12). Other accounts of the authority of Jesus Christ are expressed in (1) the conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10:47-48) and in (2) the conversion of the Ephesians (Acts 19:1-5).

Baptized into the likeness of the death of Jesus Christ. “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For we have been planted together in the likeness of his death . . . ” (Rom. 6:4-5).

Baptized into Jesus Christ. “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3).

Since, we have the authority of Jesus Christ to bind what soever the inspired apostles and writers have taught us in the New Testament, then are we not also bound by what our Lord said about baptism in His ,commission to the apostles? He said, “All power (authority) is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of ‘the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:18-19). The authority of Jesus Christ (in His name) instructed the apostles to baptize those taught into “the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” When a sinner is baptized “in the name of the Son,” to the exclusion of the Father and of the Holy Spirit, is he baptized according to the authority of Jesus Christ? He either is, or he is not.

I firmly believe those of us who baptize people; when baptizing, should use the language of Jesus Christ. If not, then why did the Holy Spirit direct the apostles to do this? Just some food for thought.

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 8, p. 236
April 19, 1984