The Kind of Preaching God Demands

The Kind of Preaching God Demands
December 1, 2024
Speaker:
Passage: Nehemiah 8:8
Service Type:

I would encourage you to turn them to Nehemiah. chapter 8. The title for our lesson this morning is The Kind of Preaching That God Demands.

And you might be wondering, great, this is a lesson for preachers. Well, that's not exactly true at all.  In fact, it's very important that each of us be able to recognize sound preaching from God's Word, and those that can accomplish that and those that refuse to accomplish that. You see, preaching is not a New Testament concept. In fact, it is one that is brought out in the Old Testament. And the avenue of preaching is for us today, the desired method for instruction in bringing the lost to Jesus.

  • 1 Corinthians 1:21

Preaching is something that we need to consider. It's something that should be done in an acceptable form and fashion, if you will. And so what we're going to do is we're going to look at an example from the Old Testament to see how this should be done.

  • Nehemiah 8:1-8

What's the context that we're, that we're referring to? If we back up to verse one, we see that all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate. And there they speak to Ezra, the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel.

This is an account in Nehemiah that refers to Ezra the scribe. He's also referred to as a priest in verse 2 that we're, we should be somewhat familiar with. This is after the return out of Babylonian captivity into the promised land. This is most likely, soon after the walls have been rebuilt around the city of Jerusalem and they call Ezra together for a specific purpose, and that is so they can have the Old Testament law read to them.

How many of us want to sit for an entire reading of the Old Testament law? Well, they're not going to sit for an entire reading of the Old Testament law. We're gonna see that when it begins to be read, they are standing. I see some shaking their heads no. I'm like, we can't do that. I understand.

It was important that things were done this way. We're going to look at some of the reasons why this was done in this particular way as we move forward. What I want us to recognize first is that what we have described for us that we've already read from Nehemiah chapter 8 is what I call, open Bible preaching.

Open Bible preaching was taking place.

God Demands: Open Bible Preaching

  • Nehemiah 8:5
  • Luke 4:16-21

Jesus says, this is the fulfillment of this prophecy. He was claiming that His preaching was, in fact, the fulfillment of the prophecy given in the Old Testament. He stands behind that pulpit of wood, and gives the sense and understanding of what was read.

  • 2 Timothy 3:17
  • 2 Kings 22:11

There was ta time in Judah when the law had been forgotten. But, Josiah finds the law, it was brought to him, and he had it read. Later it says that he mourned. The mourning of Josiah leads to a change in the heart of the people of God.

Unfortunately, it doesn't stop the leading into the captivity due to all the wickedness they had done. But, Josiah did what he could to restore the people to...

Preaching that Brings Respect to God

  • Nehemiah 8:5-6

When the Word of God was opened, it says they were standing. But the time they were being taught what the law told them to do. They said, "Let it be, let it be." That's the sense of "Amen, amen." Then they bowed their heads toward the ground.

We don't have the same religious traditions, as far as bowing down, or standing up, or kneeling, as some religious practices do, or have done for centuries. We don't necessarily avail ourselves to those positions. Not that it would be wrong to do so. There would be nothing wrong for all of us to find our knees to the floor this morning and pray to God. That would be perfectly acceptable in the eyes of God. We don't do it for traditional reasons. It wouldn't be wrong for us to do it.

It wouldn't be wrong for us to be in a similar position as, as these that we read about in Nehemiah chapter 8 where we're on our hands and knees and our faces are to the ground. It would not be inappropriate for us to do that either. We don't do it for traditional reasons.

But notice the reverence that they give to God and it said there in verse 6.

It says, Ezra, 'blessed the Lord, the great God."

This word, LORD, is Jehovah, or YHWH, in the Old Testament, the Self-existing One. And then He's called "All Supreme God" after that, they blessed Him for that. The people were open to hearing the instruction of the law, verse 9 indicates that for us.

"for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law."

These people had recently returned from captivity. They've returned to their homeland, rebuilt the walls around the city of Jerusalem, and the temple is not yet rebuilt but it will be. And now the reading of the law takes place. And, the people are weeping not only out of respect for the law but for God.

If the job of the preacher is to reveal and explain the Word of God, which it is, we should start with reading and hearing God's Word.

  • Matthew 28:19

Teach them to observe what I taught you. We're to teach them how to become disciples as God wants, how to remain disciples, and how to identify false disciples.

We need to be instructed on how to preach the way God wants it done. And, we need to recognize when others aren't teaching according to God's will.

  • Acts 8:34

Acts chapter eight, Philip is called to meet a particular chariot on the road, and it's the Ethiopian eunuch. He's headed back to Africa. So, after being in Jerusalem, after wanting to worship with the people of God, and he's traveling back. He has a copy of the Old Testament in the form of a scroll, most likely, and he's reading from the prophet Isaiah.

  • Isaiah 53:7-8

We know specifically he's reading from Isaiah in the 53rd chapter, as we have it divided up in our Old Testaments today. But he doesn't understand the reference that he's reading.

And Philip comes along beside his chariot after being told to go to this chariot. And he says, do you understand what you read? And he says, how can I accept someone guide me? So Philip gets up in his chariot and he begins at the very same passage and he preaches unto him, Jesus.

I want you to notice that if our preaching today misrepresents God and His design for man's salvation, we are in error. If preaching today misrepresents God and His plan for man's salvation, that preacher, those that allow that preacher to remain a preacher of God, are in error. You say, well, that's rather strong language.

It's rather serious discussion that we're, that we're engaged in right at the moment. Preaching is ordained by God. We need to do it in a way that is acceptable to the one who ordained it.

Preaching that Can Be Understood

  • Nehemiah 8:7-8,12

These individuals were able to go about their day, becuase they understand the Word of God. We stumble about our day, often, because we don't understand the word. We need to understand from the word, the way that God says we should accomplish the things we stumble with.

Effective Communication is the goal of preaching!

Not all talking is communication. Not all engagements of talking creates effective communication.

"Any fool can know. The point is to Understand." — Albert Einstein

Hindrances to Effective Communication:

  • Technical Speech (jargon)
  • Beat-around-the-bush (Hinting/Inferring)
  • Not Sincere/Unsure about what you speak

What we preach obviously needs to be from the word of God, but it needs to be done in a way that people can understand.

We need to speak with plainness, and boldness. 

  • 2 Corinthian 3:12

“Plainness” = “Boldness” = “Confidence”

"Be bold, be bold, and everywhere be bold."— Herbert Spencer

  • Acts 4:13

How were they able to speak with boldness, these men had known Jesus, they had the Holy Spirit guiding them in what to say.

“Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.” — Acts 28:31

Paul is the one being referred to who was speaking with boldness and confidence.

Our preaching needs to be able to help people understand God's word.

Preaching Helps Understanding

“Give me understanding, and I will keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.” — Psalm 119:34

How is it that we can expect to live the way that God wants us to live if the instruction that we receive in the Word of God is not something we can understand?

It's going to be really hard to live up to the expectations of the New Testament when we don't understand what we're trying to live up to.

  • Luke 24:45

Now Jesus is doing this for His disciples, for His apostles, miraculously. He's allowing them, giving them the ability to understand what they need to know. But today, we have to do so on our own. It's much easier to do so if we can find someone who has explained things well. But, we're instructed that we need to do things with understanding.

  • Ephesians 5:17

Hopefully what we've done, and I know we've not exhausted all of the ways that, that someone preaches in a way that God demands preaching to be done. But I think we've been able to increase our understanding, get a better idea, if you will, of what God is looking for from whoever comes up here to speak, whether it's a full time preacher or one who fills in on occasion.

We need to preach with an open Bible. We need to use the word of God to instruct one another. We need to reverence God by the things that we say. The things we preach needs to be reverancial to God. And third, we need to preach with the intent of helping others to understand what the will of the Lord is.

What is the will of the Lord? It is to be in the right relationship with God, to remain so for all the days we have on this earth, so that we can enjoy the salvation that is prepared for us, when this life is over.

Maybe you are one who has never accepted the will of the Lord, but understanding what the will of the Lord is for you and for me today, it's to be in a right relationship with Him, to remain that way the rest of our natural lives on this earth. So, as we talked about in our Bible class this morning, we can enjoy the salvation that is prepared for us when this life is over.

Maybe you're one who's not a member of the body of Christ. We would hope that you would consider the things that we've been discussing recognizing that there is a right and a wrong way to present God's word. Unfortunately, that means that there's right and wrong information that gets presented sometimes.

We need to make sure that we are being taught what God wants us to know when it comes to how we enter His kingdom, because that's all that's going to matter to God. That's all that's going to matter to Jesus when He returns this time. It's not to give us a way out of sin. That's what happened when He came the first time, but it's going to bring those who've accepted that way of salvation back to the Father.

  • 1 Corinthians 15:26-29

Having heard the word, are you willing to believe it, repenting of your sins, confessing your faith in Jesus, submitting to a watery grave of baptism, contacting the blood that washes away your sins, washes the guilt of sin away, so that you can come up out of that water, a babe in Christ, ready to be a servant to Jesus?

Maybe you're one who has done that, who did that in the past, but has wandered away from the faith, and has gone back into the world. And through the way that you live, though you may not realize it, have brought reproach upon the church and need to come back in repentance to God. We say rededicating your lives to God, coming back to Him, being converted once again in full obedience.

If that is you, we would hope, beg and plead for you to take the opportunity to contact us, so that we can assist you in being in a right relationship with God.

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