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Thursday, March 5, 2015

Why Biblical Inerrancy is the basis for effective preaching - The contents of inerrant scripture were revealed for effective preaching


2 Timothy 3:16-4:2 "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 4:1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction."

Introduction:
Today I want to continue on from where we left off yesterday, namely drawing some connections between a consistent affirmation of the inerrancy of scripture and its practical application in Biblical preaching to the 21st century church. In other words, we aim to simply ask the question: why is Biblical Inerrancy the basis for effective preaching? We saw yesterday that the cost of effective preaching demands we retain the Biblical teaching of the character of scripture as being Divinely inspired and therefore inerrant. Today we consider the second reason why effective, expository preaching needs to be connected to Biblical inerrancy, namely...

The contents of inerrant scripture were revealed for effective preaching. 
2 Timothy 3:15-17

To affirm the inerrancy and infallibility of the scripture in all its words and parts practically leads to an equal conviction regarding a particular type of preaching - what is called "expository preaching". Expository preaching literally means "exposing" the listener to the original intents and purposes of the Biblical text as it was inspired by the Holy Spirit superintending over the Biblical authors. The preacher who gives himself to expository preaching places a high premium over getting the message right from the words of the Bible itself. 

Dr. John MacArthur in his book: "Preaching, how to preach Biblically", page 17, notes from reflecting on the truths of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and 2 Timothy 4:1-2: "Should not that magnificent truth determine how we preach? Paul gave this mandate to Timothy: 'I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His Kingdom: preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction" (2 Tim. 4:1-2). Any form of preaching that ignores that intended purpose and design of God falls short of the Divine plan." 

God is The talking God. Why would God choose to reveal His will in words, lest He intended for His truth to be preached and explained by preachers called by Him to feed His people. (Romans 10:10-17; 1 Corinthians 1:17-21; 1 Peter 5:1-5) As God revealed His words, making what was unknown known (2 Peter 1:20-21); and as this revelation was put into writing, superintended by the Holy Spirit to be free from error (Proverbs 30:5; John 10:35; 2 Peter 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:16-17); the time would come when the completed documents would need to be taught and preached to generations of Christians in the church. (Ephesians 4:11-13) 

What is the nature of the words of the Bible? To summarize Bryan Chapell in his book: "Christ-Centered Preaching", page 27, we can note the following:

1. The Word of God creates. Gen 1:3; Ps 33:9

2. The Word of God controls. Ps 147:15-18

3. The Word of God convicts. Jeremiah 23:28-29

4. The Word of God performs its purposes. Isaiah 55:10-11

5. The Word of God overides human weaknesses. Philippians 1:18 

More tomorrow....