Rev J R Tallach
(3.) The Holy Spirit.
(The first part of this Theological Conference paper, printed last month, dealt with two of the Preliminary matters: (1.) The general aim of preaching, and (2.) Christ is central to the exercise. The rest of these preliminary matters appear in this article.)
In the Old Testament, the Spirit gave assistance to holy men to publish and preach the Word. Noah was a preacher of righteousness through whose work the Spirit strove with men (Gen 6:3). It is equally evident that the Spirit was the very life of believers in the Old Testament, as David’s prayer makes clear: “Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit” (Ps 51:11,12). It was by the Spirit that David’s lips would be opened and his mouth declare God’s praise.
In the New Testament, the disciples were to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high, before going out to fulfil their great commission for God by declaring the gospel. Their waiting was not in vain, for the Spirit descended at Pentecost and marked His coming with a singular blessing on the preached Word. Three thousand were saved, and they were Jerusalem sinners who had taken Jesus “and by wicked hands” had “crucified and slain” Him (Acts 2:23). The ushering in of the era of the Spirit was marked by this gospel event, an event remarkable for both the nature and number of the converts and the power which accompanied the Word.
We have another reason here for making Christ and Him crucified the great theme of our preaching: the Spirit delights to take of the things of Christ and reveal them to sinners. Peter was filled with the Holy Ghost, as related in Acts 4:8. The Jews took note and were astonished: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus” (v 13). Owen comments: “Things continue still in the same condition, according unto their proportion. Such as is the furniture of men with spiritual abilities and gifts of the Holy Ghost, such is their fitness for the work of the ministry and no other. And if any shall undertake this work without this provision of abilities for it, they will neither ever be owned by Christ nor be of the least use in the employment they take upon them.” (The Works of John Owen, vol 4, p 482 (furniture = preparation)).
Where there is a conscious dependence on the Spirit it will show itself in seeking His guidance in the choice of the passage of God’s Word to be spoken on. We do not know who will be present and we certainly do not know the state of their hearts. We are dependent on the Spirit’s guidance so that what is said may be a word of conviction to the ignorant and unbelieving, a word of rebuke to the backslidden, and a word of comfort to the child of God. In the same way we are entirely dependent on the Spirit to give us a felt understanding of the passage before us. “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor 2:11). Hodge comments, “The point to be illustrated here is the knowledge of the Spirit. He knows what is in God, as we know what is in ourselves.”
The Spirit leads both speaker and hearers into all truth. In the actual delivery of the sermon also there must be a conscious dependence on the Spirit of God so that our preaching would come with His authority. Paul writes, “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and with power; that your faith might not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Cor 2:4,5). This demonstration is a setting forth of truth effected by the Spirit, which is characterised by power. Paul might have persuaded the Corinthians using arguments based on miracles and the folly of idols and addressed to their understandings, but that persuasion would not have lasted. In contrast, Hodge says, “a faith founded on the demonstration of the Spirit is abiding, infallible, and works by love and purifies the heart”.
(4.) Meditation.
There is no movement of the heart till the truth is clearly exhibited to the mind, set strongly in view and deeply pondered. Augustine’s steps in preparation are instructive: reading seeks; prayer asks; meditation finds; contemplation tastes. Luther reckoned that “this exercise suggests more, much more, than all our commentators combined”. Owen speaks of meditation as a very difficult exercise: “Meditation is a duty that, by reason of the vanity of our own minds and the variety of objects which they are apt to fix upon, even believers themselves do find as great a difficulty therein as any”. (The Works of John Owen, vol 9, p 558).
It is one of the privileges as well as responsibilities of the work of a minister that it involves him in revolving spiritual truths in his mind so that the mind might be moulded by these truths. As with food, the preacher digests the Word and makes it his own. “Thy words were found and I did eat them, and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart; for I am called by Thy name O Lord God of hosts” (Jer 15:16). And the roll which Ezekiel was constrained to eat was given with a view to the prophet going to speak God’s word to the house of Israel. “And He said unto me, son of man, cause thy belly to eat and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness” (3:3). Poole suggests that the reference to bowels is an allusion to mercy since the bowels are taken as the seat of compassion.
One of the questions put at the ordination of a minister is: “Are not zeal for the honour of God, love to Jesus Christ, and desire of saving souls your great motives and chief inducements to enter into the function of the holy ministry, and not worldly designs and interests?” (Manual of Practice of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, p 152). The way to drive out “worldly designs and interests” is to meditate on the Word. It was after this had been accomplished, that the command came: “Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with My words unto them” (Ezek 3:4). It is when the subject matter of the Truth is inwrought by meditation that we are able to say in a measure as the apostles: “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). If we are to be of any value in the ministry we must learn to commune with our own hearts and be still.
(5.) Prayer.
The Hebrew word for meditation may be translated prayer. We read that Isaac “went out to meditate in the field at the eventide” (Gen 24:63), and it was equally a time of prayer which that good man was accustomed to spend in seeking the face of God. Certainly meditation will give rise to prayer and prayer to meditation. Daniel was meditating on the word of God in the book of Jeremiah. His meditation was fruitful, for he came to understand that the 70 years of captivity were drawing to an end. This was not merely the discovery of a historical fact, however important; there was stirred up in Daniel the exercise of a broken and contrite heart, for the captivity had arisen as a result of Israel’s sin. It also stirred up the faith which lays hold on the promises, and by which the believer wrestles at a throne of grace.
His meditation led to his prayer of confession and supplication, recorded also in Daniel 9. The priests went about their work in the Holy Place in an atmosphere of incense, and all our preparations to preach ought to be characterised by a spirit of prayer. We need the help of God at every juncture. Doddridge wrote, “The better we pray, the better we study”. When seeking a suitable text we ought to invoke the help of God, whose Word it is, and to seek His Spirit, so that the whole exercise would be to God’s glory and the salvation of ourselves and our hearers. In preparing a sermon, Cotton Mather’s custom was to stop at each paragraph and seek by prayer to be impressed by the spiritual truths contained in it. John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and we ought to pray that the same Spirit would honour us with His presence, so that we might be in the Spirit while in the Lord’s work, that the fear of man would be taken away and a love for souls breathed into our hearts.
The preacher is, as Richard Baxter says, but a dying man speaking to dying men. How can we speak “as the oracles of God” unless the Spirit is sent down from heaven to give divine authority and weight to the Word? We have every encouragement to seek that Spirit: “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 good things to them that ask Him?” (Matt 7:11). Our Father in heaven has an infinitely greater concern for His children and His children’s good than we have for our own offspring. William Gurnall says, “There must be the labour of study before ministers preach, the labour of zeal and love in preaching, the labour of suffering after preaching, and always the labour of prayer to crown the whole with success”. As the Lord went up into the mountain to pray after addressing the multitude (Mk 6:34-46), so must we pray earnestly after preaching for a blessing on the word spoken. Bridges notes this prayer after the sermon as part of pulpit preparation.
If a sinful Jacob prevailed with God, much more must a perfectly holy Jesus, presenting nothing to God but what is becoming the purity and mercifulness of His own nature to grant. If His blood were “without blemish”, His intercession must be without spot, because the one is the sole foundation of the other.
What there was of humility and supplication in [Christ’s] prayers upon earth proceeded from His human nature; what there was of authority and efficacy in His mediatory interpositions proceeded from His divine nature. He was bound to die as He was man, taking upon Him our sins; He had a right to have His death accepted as He was God, assuming and sustaining our nature.
Stephen Charnock