Preach the Word!

In February 2007, I sat on the balcony of the convention center in Long Beach, CA. My wife and I, along with a few young adults from our church, gathered with over a thousand others for a college-aged conference called Resolved. I do not know what kind of conferences college students typically go to, if they go to any, but this was not a typical one. We gathered to hear men preach long sermons for four days, and it was the most exciting conference I had ever been to. From that balcony that first night, I heard a sermon preached by Rick Holland, titled, “Sinners in the Pierced Hands of an Angry God,” from Romans 5:6–11. I was gripped, not by stories, jokes, emotion, or film clips. The audience was not whipped into a frenzy. I was gripped as the pastor faded into the background and the word of God came into the foreground. I heard God speaking, not audibly from heaven, but still quite literally as verse by verse, line by line, and even word by word, the words of the word of God were rightly explained to a heart made ready by the Spirit of God. This was God speaking and I was on holy ground. That was the first time I remember hearing anyone preaching that way. This was expository preaching.

Expository preaching is an unfortunate title for what, in my opinion, should just be called preaching. The adjective “expository” is added to note that it is a kind of preaching that derives its message directly from the revealed word of God. Expository does not mean “to expose” as if something were concealed. Rather it means “serving to explain.” Expository preaching is explaining the message of God like Ezra, who “set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). Whenever man’s opinions, philosophies, preferences, and suggestions dominate the moments of preaching, it is no longer true preaching. True preaching simply says, “Thus saith the Lord,” and then saith what the Lord saith.

The Old Testament prophets had no license to stand with God’s authority and proclaim what they thought was the best course of action for the nation of Israel. They were constrained to speak exactly what God had given them to speak, no more and no less (cf. 1 Kings 22:13–14). The commissioned apostles of the New Testament had been entrusted with the gospel and the right interpretation and application of the saving actions of Jesus Christ. As they preached the word of God, they had no freedom to insert their contributions to the gospel message (cf. Acts 20:27).

The Apostle John, when he was given the final Revelation, included the curse on anyone who would add or take away from the book (22:18–19). This, then, is the modern preacher’s mission: to accurately proclaim what God has already spoken in his word. Or, as Paul puts it, “preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:2).

How can someone have the audacity to say absolutely, “This is what God says,” and “This is what God means”? That is a bold claim. One can only say that if one absolutely knows what God says and what God means. Expository preaching rests atop a robust doctrine of Scripture. It is there that we have the words of God. We believe it is the message of God to us, inspired, inerrant, and profitable to equip us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16). Those who preach now are simply teachers who instruct what God had already revealed. That is why those who teach and preach in this way must be confident that they are “rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). To speak on God’s behalf is a task never to be entered lightly. God takes his truth seriously and will judge those who teach it with stricter judgment (James 3:1). Yet, it is through the ministry of the word, rightly taught and rightly applied, that we hear God speak.