Expository Preaching Blog #10 – “Don’t Trust Me!”

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When my wife became a Christian at age 18, she was one of a family of 10. One day a friend of hers invited her to go to church with him. She heard the gospel for the first time and accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior that day. The pastor of the church where she got saved baptized her a few weeks later as a new believer. He was the first Christian leader she ever knew well. He is still a good friend of ours now 50 years later.

One of the first pieces of advice that he gave her was about Bible study. She listened to his preaching Sunday after Sunday. But he told her, “Don’t trust me, look it up for yourself!” And that is what she did and what she does faithfully unto this day.

Every Christian is able to read and understand the Bible for themselves. They can study it and learn from it every day of the week. Some Christians don’t really believe that. They think that they can only understand the Bible by listening to preachers, reading Christian books and going to Bible studies. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Actually listening to preachers, reading Christian books and going to Bible studies can teach false things about the Bible. No human teacher or author is 100% trustworthy. You must compare everything they say with what the Bible says directly.

In my 50 years of preaching I have never had someone challenge me on what I preached in a sermon as error. Once a man in my congregation disagreed with me on an issue. After one sermon that man in the church told another man in the church, “He believes that, he really believes that!” The other man simply replied, “Well, that is what the Bible says!” They did not come to me or put me in the middle. The second man read, understood and believed the Bible for himself. He did not require someone else to tell him what the Bible said and what he believed.

There is a good illustration of this in Scripture. In Acts 17:10&11 gives us the story of Paul preaching in Berea. He preached to the Jews there in the synagogue. They listened and received what he said but they “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” If these people read the scriptures and checked out what the Apostle Paul said to them, how much more we should read the Bible for ourselves and check to make sure what we are hearing is right. If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. You can do this on your own, any time, any place.

Yes preaching should be a primary focus of every church and main services. But we only have human preachers who are fallible. BUT we have an inspired Word of God that is infallible!

 

Rev. David Johnson

Former Pastor

First Baptist Church of Austin, MN

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