June 21 – LD 25, Day 4: What is the Preaching?
by Rev Arie
den Hartog
Read: I Corinthians 1: 23 to 31
We are saved by the
power of God. We are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. Throughout all ages,
God has sent out preachers of the gospel in order that men everywhere might be
saved. The church has the great commission of Christ to preach the gospel. And
we are saved through coming under this preaching and receiving it by a true and
living faith in humility before God.
This does not mean that
the mere words of a mere man can save anyone; not even the words of a popular,
eloquent, or very persuasive preacher, no matter how large the audience he is
able to gather. There are many popular false teachers who have large
followings, sometimes all over the world, who are not God’s instruments of
salvation at all. These deceive many and lead many astray. Against these we
must also be warned. Jesus warned many times about the many false prophets that
would arise in the last days.
A true preacher is the
minister of God. He stands in the service of the Word of God. He does not bring
his own word. The word of a mere man does not have the power to save. The meaning
of this is actually in a sense very simple. The infallible Word of God is
contained in the Bible. The complete revelation of all that we need to know
about God and Jesus Christ for our salvation is recorded in the Bible. The
solemn duty and obligation of the preacher is simply to bring the Word of God
and the Word of Christ, nothing else. Anyone called to be a preacher must
devote his life to this. He must earnestly and prayerfully search what the Word
of God has to say and what it truly means. The preacher must compare scripture
with scripture to be sure he is bringing to the people of God only the Word of
God. This alone will build them up in the faith.
True preaching is the
simple, clear, and authoritative exposition and declaration of the Word of God.
The preacher is called of God to his office through the faithful
Even the ordinary child
of God, one who is not an elder, has the Spirit of God, and is able to judge
the preaching. John tells Christians, “But ye have an unction from the Holy
One, and ye know all things…But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but
as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in
Him.” I John 2: 20 and 27.
The Christians in
The Christian must place
himself under the true preaching of the gospel.
The apostle Paul gives
thanks to God for such true and faithful Christians. “For this cause also thank
we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye
heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the
Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you
that believe.” I Thes 2:13