There are preachers and preaching! One can find most every type of preacher and he can
hear many kinds of preaching. But the important question is, "What kind of preaching
is most profitable to the soul of man?" Considering all things — Heaven and hell, God
and man, time and eternity — what kind of preaching will prove profitable in the end?
God and man see things differently. Unless man sees a thing as God sees it and
places the same valuation upon it that God does, he is in error. Man rejoices to hear
the kind of preaching that pleases the greatest number. But does God rejoice in that
kind of preaching? Man likes a preacher who winks at evil, but is God pleased with
that kind of preacher? Man appreciates the preacher who succeeds in raising money
through high-powered methods, but is this God's standard for a preacher?
Fortify Against Winds Of Doctrine
Jesus cautioned men to, "Take heed what ye hear..." (Mk. 4:24). Man is
given the responsibility of discriminating between truth and error. God does not want
us to be moved from the truth. God revealed the plan of salvation to man and placed
certain teaching agencies in the church that men should no longer be "children
tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine..." (Eph. 4:11-
15).
There are those who are swept off their feet by every wind of doctrine that
chances to blow upon their unstable souls. This results from a failure to discern
between truth and error — between profitable and unprofitable
preaching.
Believe Not Every Teacher
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of
God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world." (1 Jn. 4:1). Many
believe just about anybody who professes to preach the truth because of that
profession. What a mistake! One may profess to be a teacher of God's word
while, in reality, he is a false teacher (Mt. 7:15). Teaching the truth
is the only thing that can make one a teacher of the truth. God does not require us to
hear all who profess to teach the truth, but He would have us turn away from all who
are not teaching His word. Let us demand of teachers that they present a "Thus saith
the Lord" for what they teach. Teachers who are unwilling for their hearers to try
their teaching by the word of God prove themselves to be false.
Unprofitable Preaching
We call attention to some kinds of preaching that are unprofitable to the soul of
man. These are the kinds that harm instead of help the hearer; kinds of preaching that
carry a message of condemnation rather than a message of salvation.
- The kind of preaching that subverts the hearer (2 Tim.
2:14).
This kind of preaching only deceives the hearer, leaving him in a deluded
state. His heart is so filled with the opinions of men that he is blinded to the truth
of God.
If a man who pretends to tell sinners what to do to be saved stands before an
audience in which are unsaved people and so preaches so that a sinner who hears and
understands the sermon can walk away without knowing what to do to be saved, that
preacher has not helped his hearer. The hearer has been "subverted".
- The kind of preaching that causes divisions.
"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof
cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt
minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such
withdraw thyself." (1 Tim. 6:3-5).
Those who persist in forcing speculative theories regarding the second coming
of Christ and other matters are described in this passage and such teaching is grossly
unprofitable to the soul of man.
- The kind of preaching that scratches the itching ears of the
hearer (2 Tim. 4:1-4).
Preaching to please man is the same thing as giving "agreeable advice" to a
young person. If a younger person appeals to an older man for his advice in solving a
problem of youth and the man advises the youth in a manner that is pleasing to the
youth, knowing that he is not advising him wisely, he has not helped the young person,
but rather harmed him. So it is with preaching. He who preaches merely to
please men harms men.
- The kind of preaching that excites the hearers.
Much modern pulpit work consists of telling death-bed stories and graveyard
tales to stir up the emotions of the hearers.
The effect of this kind of preaching is no more lasting than the excitement
and the excitement is usually over when the preaching is over. Therefore, it is not
lasting regardless of the apparent good that is done at the time of the preaching.
Preaching The Word Is Profitable Preaching
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may
be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Man's worldly wisdom may be increased by hearing more theological
dissertations and speculative theories, but they are not helpful to his soul. To do
his soul eternal good, the word of God must be preached to him because it is
profitable for the following reasons:
- Teaching.
God's teaching is addressed to man as he is. The sinner can understand what
the will of the Lord is. In the conversion of a sinner, the first thing needful is for
him to be taught — not persuasion, excitement or nagging, but teaching, good,
solid Bible teaching. Christ's religion is a teaching and taught religion (Mt.
28:19). He must be taught that God loves sinners, that he is a sinner, and that he
must obey the Saviour.
- Reproof.
This word means to "rebuke to a sense of guilt" — to convict the
sinner of his guilt of sin. The word of God is profitable for this. No other form of
teaching is.
- Correction.
This is a more specific word than "conversion". To convert a person is to
change him from one thing or way to another.
A person may be converted from a wrong religious way to another religious way
that is wrong. But to correct a person is to take him out of a wrong way and
place him in the right way. This can be done only through teaching the scriptures and
insisting that the sinner obey the same. When he obeys the commandments taught in
God's word, he has not only been converted, but he has also been corrected.
- Instruction in righteousness.
"Righteousness" is "right doing. " The scriptures are profitable for teaching
one who has been changed from a wrong way to the right way how to live while walking
in that right way.
Conclusion
In the next chapter of Second Timothy, Paul exhorts the preacher to "preach the
word" (2 Tim. 4:2), because it is profitable.
This is the work God has appointed for the preacher in converting the sinner.
He is not to tell him to "pray until he gets salvation". He is not to pray for God to
save the sinner without obedience on the sinners part. The preacher is not to lead the
church in casting a vote to decide the worthiness of one for fellowship in the church
whom they believe has already been saved! The work of the preacher is to "preach the
word". This, and this alone, is profitable preaching.
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