It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe, is a statement by the Apostle Paul, which expresses the mind of God as to the employment of this means unto the blessed end of the salvation of sinners. And the Lord Jesus Christ devoted much of His public ministry, as is seen from the four Gospels, to preaching and teaching the gospel in its fullness as to doctrine, experience and practice having an application to the salvation of sinners. The divine Redeemer also gave Himself continually to prayer which no doubt concerned much more than His preaching, yet was also related to this prominent part of His public and holy activities.
Thus the Lord Jesus is the great example for all those who are truly sent to preach the gospel. “And how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things” (Rom. x: 15). And those who are truly sent are converted and commissioned men, having the Spirit of Christ and the graces of the Spirit, including the Spirit of grace and of supplications. They can do nothing without Christ, and have need of divine guidance and help to be workmen that need not be ashamed, “rightly dividing the Word of God” in their labours as to meditation and study regarding the Word of God, from whence they derive the gospel they are to preach to sinners and saints. The constant need of this divine guidance calls for prayer to their Lord and Master to grant unto them the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, whose Office it is, to guide into all truth. In this, as in every other matter, their sufficiency is of God.
It is a solemn and onerous thing to have laid upon one the constant duty of serving the Lord Jesus by way of proclaiming the whole counsel of God, His gospel, to all classes of men. This ought to be done with clarity, faithfully and without fear of man and in love to precious souls on their way to Eternity. The preacher, as such, is accountable to God, that he seek to please not men, but God, who trieth over hearts. How much the preacher requires to resort, before duty, to the throne of grace, for strength, wisdom, power and unction from on high! The Lord Jesus spake as one having authority and not as the scribes; and He can give a measure of this authority to His servants as they endeavour to hold forth the Word of life to their hearers. And then, even worldly men may have to testify that the preacher is no formalist but speaks forth the words of truth and soberness.
Then all who are humble and devoted servants of Christ in the Gospel are deeply exercised in these days as to the spiritual dearth everywhere. How few are turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God through Christ, even where all the saving truths of the gospel are regularly declared. Thus ministers of the gospel are made continually aware of the fundamental fact, that God alone can give “the increase.” Yet they must preach on, as Paul declared, “Woe is me, if I preach not the gospel.” But also they have need of seeking more and more a “wrestling” spirit, in secretly imploring the God of all grace to send the Holy Ghost with the preaching of the Word. Then sinners in our congregations and communities, presently dead and indifferent, will be convinced of their sins and brought to flee from the wrath to come, unto the crucified and risen Redeemer, and be by faith joined unto Him, unto their salvation. Then also shall the poor and needy, who fear the Lord and wait upon Him, be fed with food convenient for them, be comforted in their trials and encouraged on their pilgrimage journey to a better country, even an heavenly. These things the divine power of the Holy Ghost alone can accomplish; yet by means of the preaching of the Word of the truth of the gospel. How applicable in this connection, therefore, are the Words of Christ which encourage to prayer: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
Again all the Lord’s people, especially those privileged with the ordinance of the gospel, will surely be exercised in prayer in the behalf of preachers of the gospel, that the Lord will endue them with power from on high, that their own needy souls will be spiritually benefited and that others will be brought under the power of the truth. Paul in writing to the Romans asks for their prayers: “Now I beseech you brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me: That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints . . .” (Rom. xv: 30, 31). Everything which tends to hinder believers as to the performance of this spiritual duty should be guarded against. In remembering the Sabbath Day, Christians are not limited to an outward conformity to the religious exercises of that day, but have a special call to secret prayer with special reference to the preaching of the gospel of Christ. And this applies to all occasions when believers go to and come from hearing the Word.
The Church must of necessity devote regular and stated times for the public ordinances of divine worship, including the preaching and exposition of the truth. Therefore there should be a careful and constant application to the Lord in prayer, in secret, for the divine blessing to accompany the public means of grace and salvation. How can the Christian, in the neglect of prayer, expect a blessing in the house of God? This is not a legal observation but one which enters into the spiritual state of the soul as before God in relation to the privilege of the preaching of the Word.
And so, when and where there is the faithful preaching of the truths of salvation and humble and earnest prayer for the power and the blessing of the Holy Spirit; then it may be expected, in the sovereign mercy of God, that experiences calling for praise will follow. In the Acts of the Apostles chapter iv, we read that when Peter and John were let go by their enemies, “… they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord thou art God. . . . And now, Lord behold their threatenings; and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word . . . and when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together: and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. . . .” Here we see preaching, prayer and the blessing of the Holy Ghost all linked together. May the Lord thus come today to His Church and people, in the midst of an evil generation, to revive His people and to build up Zion to His own praise.