A Word for Preachers...Alexander on the Key to Applicatory Preaching

"I am told that someone said of Robert Murray McCheyne of Dundee, 'He seemed, as his preaching progressed, to advance upon you until he was standing inside your heart, applying the Word of God to all your life.'

"My own increasing conviction is that this application begins at our own door. I think the secret of applicatory preaching is that we must apply to ourselves the Word of God while we are meditating upon it, while we are studying it. We must do this before we ever begin to think about applying it to other people.

"John Owen wrote, 'A man preacheth that sermon well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul. If the Word do not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us.' And again, 'He who doth not feed on and digest and thrive by what he preaches and prepares for his people, may give them poison as far as he knows,   for unless he finds the power of it in his own heart, he cannot have any ground of confidence that it will have power in the hearts of others.'"

Eric J. Alexander
What is Biblical Preaching?

A Word for Preachers...Ferguson on the Preacher's Heart

"There is a widespread need for (preaching that produces inner prostration of the hearts of listeners). We have an equal need as preachers to catch the vision for it in an overly pragmatic and programmatic society that believes it is possible to live the Christian life without either the exposing of our own hearts or the accompanying prostration of ourselves before the majesty of God on high.

"It is just here that one notices a striking contrast between the biblical exposition one finds in the steady preaching of John Calvin in the sixteenth century and preaching in our own day. It is clearly signaled by the words with which he ended virtually every one of his thousands of sermons: 'And now let us bow down before the majesty of our gracious God...' Reformed biblical exposition elevates God and abases man. By contrast, much modern preaching seems to have the goal of making man feel great, even if God Himself has to bow down.

"So a leading characteristic of preaching of to their heart will be the humbling, indeed, prostration of hearts before the majesty of god on high. This is simultaneously the true ecstasy of the Christian, and therein lies the paradox of grace: the way down is always the way up.

"But if, through the preaching of the gospel, we want to see people prostrated with mingled awe and joy before God, the essential prerequisite is that we ourselves be prostrated before him. John Owen's words still ring true even after three and a half centuries: ' a man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul....If the word do not dwell with power in  us, it will not pass with power from us.'"

Sinclair Ferguson
Feed My Sheep: A Passionate Plea for Preaching

Meditating on the Glory and Love of Christ

Today I came across this helpful reminder from John Owen in The Glory of Christ:

I would urge you to prepare your minds continually for heavenly things by meditating seriously on the glory of the love of Christ.  This cannot be done if the mind is always full of earthly thoughts.  Do not be satisfied with general thoughts of the love of Christ but think of it in a more detailed way.

1. Consider whose love it is: the love of the Son of God who is also the Son of Man. As he is unique, so his love must be unique. 
2. Think of the wisdom, goodness and grace shown in the eternal acts of his divine nature and of the pity an love of his human nature in all that he did and suffered for us (see Ephesians 3:19; Hebrews 2:14, 15; Revelation 1:5). 
3. We deserved hatred, but, "in this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (John 4:10). 
4. What power this love has in its effect on our lives, enabling us to bear fruit to his glory.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Owen on Beholding Christ's Glory

"Some say they have a desire to behold the glory of Christ by faith, but when they begin to view this glory they find it too high and difficult. They are overcome, like the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. I admit that the weakness of out minds and our inability to understand much of the eternal glory Christ prevents us from keeping our thoughts in a steady and unbroken meditation for any length of time. Those who are not practised in the skill of holy meditation in general will not be able to meditate on this mystery in particular. But even so, when faith can no longer hold open the eyes of our understanding to think about the Sun of righteousness shining in his beauty, at least we can still, by faith, rest in holy admiration and love."

John Owen
The Glory of Christ

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...The Glory of Christ

"His glory is far too great for our small minds to understand so we can never give him the praise due to him. But by faith we can have some knowledge of Christ and his glory, and that knowledge is better than any other form of wisdom or understanding. The apostle Paul said, 'I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord' (Philippians 3:8). If our future happiness means being where Christ is and seeing his glory, there is no better preparation for it than to fill our thoughts with that glory now. So we shall gradually be changed into that glory."

John Owen
The Glory of Christ

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Owen on Union with Christ

"Let us consider the justice of God in forgiving sins. All of God's elect are sinners. How can God be just, then, if he allows them to go unpunished, seeing he did not spare the angels who sinned, nor Adam when he sinned at the first? The answer is in the union between Christ and the church. Because Christ represents him for all their sins so they are all freely and graciously pardoned (see Romans 3:24-26). At the cross, God's holiness and justice meet with his grace and mercy. This is the glory which delights the hearts and satisfies the souls of all who believe. How wonderful for them to see God rejoicing in his justice and yet at the same time showing mercy by giving them everlasting salvation! In the enjoyment of this glorious truth let me live, and in this faith let me die."

John Owen
The Glory of Christ

Christian Biographies for Young Readers

I have been impressed by a Simonetta Carr's series Christian Biographies for Young Readers published by Reformation Heritage Books.  The series is targeted at children between the ages of 7 and 12, but I have found that they can serve as great introductions for the whole family to such figures in church history as John Calvin, John Owen, Augustine and Athanasius.

The fifth and latest title in the series is Lady Jane Grey. Below is a video trailer for the book.

Alistair Begg's Thoughts for Pastors

Last week I was blessed to attend a luncheon for pastors hosted by WLQV Faith Talk 1500. This is an annual event I enjoy greatly, and this year was my favorite yet, as the guest speaker was one of my favorites: Alistair Begg. In his message he suggested (with a tip of the hat to Owen and Warfield) that faithful preachers MUST have the following:

1) Spiritual wisdom and understanding about the mystery of the gospel

If we are to preach faithfully, we must above all else understand that "in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." And, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:19, 21). God has come to do for us what we could never have done for ourselves. This is the very heart of the gospel.

2) The experience of the power of truth in our own souls

This is not just a theoretical set of truths that we are expounding. Our congregation is asking, "Is he offering bread he has never tasted, or that bread by which he himself has been nourished?"

3) Skill in rightly dividing the word of God

It is not enough to merely be "a nice man." We would not accept it in any other field. Even if they were "nice men" you would not fly in an airplane if the pilot had never been in a cockpit or undergo cardiothoracic surgery performed by a man who'd never held a scalpel. People everywhere are dying under the preaching of "nice men." Let Scripture always be the source of our message. As preachers, we serve the Bible; it does not serve us.

4) Spiritual discernment of our congregation

Preach to the congregation you have, not to the congregation you wish you had. God has entrusted these very real souls to your care, not some other hypothetical ones.

 5) A zeal for the glory of God and genuine compassion for the souls of men and women.

John Murray spoke of preaching as "a personal, passionate plea." 2 Corinthians 5:19 and 21 were mentioned earlier. Verse 20, of course fits in between them is: "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." Preaching is not just a sharing of the facts presented in the Bible. It goes one step further to imploring people to be reconciled to God on account of those facts.

Richard Baxter once proclaimed, "I seldom come out of the pulpit but my conscience smiteth me that I have been no more serious and fervent." We should similarly be convicted that we could have done more, but at the same time be comforted by the fact that "a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench" (Isaiah 42:3), knowing that he is pleased to place his "treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us."

The Duties of Pastors

As I prepare to preach this Sunday from Hebrews 6:9-12, I have been reading from John Owen's seven volume work, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews. In so doing, I came across two observations that he makes that were convicting to me, as they should be to every pastor. He states,

"Obs. I. It is the duty of the dispensers of the gospel to satisfy their hearers in and of their love in Jesus Christ to their souls and person."

Said another way, we could ask, do the members of your congregation have sufficient reason to be convinced that you love them on account of what Christ Jesus has done for you? There of course are two parts of this: They must know that you love them, and they must know that it is the love of Christ which engenders this love.

Owen's second observation is this:  

"Obs. II. It is our duty to come unto the best satisfaction we may in the spiritual condition of them with whom we are to have spiritual communion."

Do you know the members of your congregation well enough that you can confidently give an accurate appraisal of their spiritual condition? The key to accomplishing this goal is of course the same as in the first: The shepherd must spend time with the sheep of his flock! Now this is not just the job of just one man; biblically, the elders of a church are all called to shepherd the flock (1 Peter 5:1-3). But just as the elders are to set an example for the church, so too a pastor needs to be modeling this to the other elders.

Let me be quick to admit that I have not done as good a job at this as I would like. But it is my goal and my desire that in 2012 I would spend more time with the people whom God has entrusted to my care. I pray that I would know them better and that they would better know my love for them in Christ Jesus. May all who are called to be shepherds have a similar commitment.

A Word for Preachers...John Owen on the Principal Duty of Pastors

"The first and principal duty of a pastor is to feed the flock by diligent preaching of the Word...This feeding is of the essence of the office of a pastor, as unto the exercise of it, so that he who doth not, or can not, or will not, feed the flock is no pastor whatever outward call or work he may have in the church."

John Owen, Works, vol. 16

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...John Owen on Christ's Work in Us

"The spiritual life which I have is not my own. I did not induce it, and I cannot maintain it. It is only and solely the work of Christ. It is not I who live, but Christ lives in me. My whole life is His alone."

John Owen