Critical Speeches

Introduction

I have to admit I get a little overwhelmed at times. And this being one of those times when we have sung some wonderful things together on a Sunday night. I think Linda Shale’s song’s got to be my absolute favorite now. But I guess I’m overwhelmed because of your commitment to things of a spiritual nature. We’re not perfect. And sometimes we feel like we’re fumbling along spiritually. But you’re doing something tonight, even that a lot of people in their quote, Christianity wouldn’t think about doing. Your commitment on a Sunday night. After all, you were already here on Sunday morning. A commitment on Sunday night to be with the Lord’s people and to encourage each other. Older people, younger people. It is a truly a remarkable thing, the expression of your faith.

And don’t take it for granted as to how important what you’re doing is.

I want to tell you that for at least tonight and maybe even next Sunday night, Lord willing. You know, this thing hasn’t been written yet, but it’s just a thought at this point, a few things on the page. I want to talk to you about preaching. I want you to have a better insight as to the nature of preaching, not just so you’ll understand me better, this guy who stands before you each week and preaches, but you’ll understand even your own role better. You know, you look at Acts chapter 8 and verse 4, and the believers that were being persecuted by men like Saul of Tarsus as he was creating havoc in the church. It says, they went everywhere. Those who were scattered went everywhere doing what?

Preaching the word. And so there’s a sense, while you’re not going to be up here, perhaps preaching in a public way to a massive audience like I sometimes get to do, you’re still to be about the business of preaching. And there are some things that go with that, with your confession in the world, that certainly the things I’m going to say have a relevance to. And tonight I want to take you to perhaps an unfamiliar text in Isaiah 50 to begin. We’re going to be looking at several passages tonight. I don’t know to what extent that I will delve into all of these. I certainly cannot read all of these. I’m sure I would lose half of you if I did in regard to all of the verses I’m going to reference tonight.

But I want to start in the section that could be called, among many things, the key to hearing God. And when you read this, before we read this section together, beginning in Isaiah 50 and verse 4, I want you to see that ultimately it is not Isaiah the prophet who completely fills this call. Though he is a servant of God, and certainly his work in this time in Israel around the 700 BC mark is involved in this message, but it is ultimately God’s servant, the ultimate and ideal servant who was coming, the suffering servant a few chapters later in chapter 53 that is under consideration here. Jim McGwigan in his commentary says these verses are not intended to speak exclusively of Christ, but neither should he be excluded.

He says the servant is the speaker in these verses. The central part of his commission is to teach. He confesses that his sufficiency is from God. It is Jehovah who gives him the speech of a disciple, one who is taught. And that equipment or equipping is for the benefit of others. If a message from God can change the person when they learn, in whatsoever state they are therein to be content.

The speaker of God’s word, the preacher, the ultimate servant, must understand at the very beginning his role as a disciple, as a learner. A failure to appreciate and grasp that role in relation to God will lead to failure. He gives me the tongue of disciples that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. That’s the importance of the preaching that we do. The message that we deliver that is truth that comes from the Holy Spirit and empowered by God. It can sustain the weary one, and people get weary in our world. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not disobedience. Disobedient. This text stresses human responsibility to say yes to God.

When God speaks, I must be in the position in my mind to say yes, and I was not disobedient. The ESD says, I was not rebellious, nor did I turn back. But I did give my back to those who strike me. Unflinching in the face of hostility. And my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard.

It doesn’t matter what the audience might do in their response to this message. My obligation is to utter it. For the Lord God helps me. He who vindicates is always near. Therefore I am not disgraced.

Therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Preaching the word is never disgraceful, regardless of how the message of truth or its messenger are treated. Others may forsake ridicule and malign, but as the servant goes deeper and deeper into his trial, it says, He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up to each other who has a case against me. Let him draw near to me. Behold, the Lord God helps me. Who is he who condemns me? Behold, they will all wear out like a garment, and the moth will eat them. That reminds me of Psalm 73, where Asaph talks about those who are fat, those of whom he is envious, the wicked that seem to be prospering, and he says, ultimately they are cast down.

When I come to the sanctuary of God, it all begins to make sense. I perceive therein, and thou wilt despise their form. Ultimately, everyone who stands in opposition, regardless of their strength, regardless of their intimidation, regardless of their threats, regardless of their ridicule, everyone who stands opposed to God wears out like a garment. Sometimes when I’m helping Sherry with the laundry, I’ve noticed in recent days that our towels are developing holes. It’s like, what are we doing to the towels? Well, you know, you keep using towels and washing towels and clothes for that matter, and say, the shirts I like to wear to bed at night have to be comfortable. And the really sad thing is they don’t last forever. You wear them, you wash them, you wear them, you wash them, and they wear out.

1. Critical Speeches at Critical Junctures

That’s God’s enemies. Ultimately, they wear out like a garment, he says. And so, this is a little treatise from Isaiah 50 about preaching and being steadfast in our declaration of God’s message. It’s that important. The weary one is sustained with a word. Now that’s the introduction as I talk about preaching. But here’s really the thought that I want to share with you tonight, as I mentioned, the sermon is entitled Critical Speeches. Something I didn’t realize until last week in the study that I was engaged in with preachers up in Fort Worth. And I guess I knew this intellectually, but I never really put it all together. How that at critical junctures in the history of the nation of Israel, God sent spokesmen who made an impassioned appeal to God’s people in those critical moments to remember their covenant commitment to God.

It’s interesting that in all of those special moments, speeches were uttered, messages were delivered. And preaching, of course, is so much a part of our experience as Christians in the 21st century. Why is that? I think some of these Old Testament examples, and I almost gave it away. Some of these Old Testament examples show us the significance of preaching. I want you to think of the momentous occasions in Israel’s history and the speeches that unfold. Spee number one, and this is the one I want to spend the most time with, because it’s the one we were studying. Moses delivers a speech just before the conquering of the land, just before that great event at Jericho, and the crossing of the Jordan River that preceded it, the failing at Ai, and then the ultimate conquest of the rest of the land of Canaan.

Forty years since they had been powerfully delivered out of Egypt by the ten plagues, 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, all of that death, there were funerals every week. I mean, you think about it. A whole generation, everybody 20 years old and upward, perish. A lot of death. And here is this young, fledgling nation, who had a few decades earlier received the law at Sinai. And Moses, their great leader, a now aged man at 120 years, stands on the brink of conquest, but he will not be a part of what unfolds. But what he will do is he will speak. And in Deuteronomy chapter 1 and verse 5, it says, across the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law. And so what he does in the book of Deuteronomy is he reminds them of the law delivered at Sinai.

He summarizes it. In some places, he expands upon it and explains what it means when they come into the land, how this law was to be kept. And that’s what the book of Deuteronomy is. It’s Moses’ final address to his people. And then something interesting in Deuteronomy 31. Moses, when he would speak these messages, would then write them. And notice in Deuteronomy 31 and verse 19 now, therefore, write this song for yourselves and teach it to the sons of Israel. Put it on their lips, in order that this song may be a witness for me against the sons of Israel. So he was to teach this song and write it in verse 22. So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the sons of Israel.

How many times have I turned with you to Deuteronomy 32? Particularly the first few verses where it says, For I proclaim the name of the Lord, verse 3, ascribe greatness to our God, the rock. His work is perfect. All his ways are just. A God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is he. And here’s a lengthy song. Some of it’s very positive, reminds them of the things God has done in the past, and some of it seems to be a little bit negative. And foreshadows the times in Israel’s history when they would be unfaithful to God. And you read Deuteronomy 32, and you’re going, what’s that all about? What’s this song about? First of all, it blows the new song away in terms of length.

You know, sometimes you’re singing some of these songs and singing. I love it when we sing eight or ten songs, and somebody says, We’re going to sing the new song, and you’re going, I’m not going to make it. That’s too long. And by the time you get to the third verse, it thrills my soul. And you don’t sound like your soul is thrilled. This is a very long song. I would like to have heard Israel sing this song. I want you to think about something. Each of them does not have their own personal copy of the law. And even what Moses is delivering and then writing down, it’s not like a son, go over to the coffee table and get the law and let’s read it tonight.

They couldn’t do that. So how were they going to remember the covenant? Sometimes they were to get together, and that’s in the book of Deuteronomy as well, and the law was supposed to be read to them. On at least at every seven-year basis. Well, that’s not much.

So how were they supposed to remember the aspects of this covenant that Moses was? How are you supposed to remember this sermon? I mean, sometimes we get to Wednesday night, and Mike tells us, what did Tony say about this Sunday? And we’re going, I don’t remember. That was three days. But you know, there’s some songs that we sing. Have you ever noticed? If you put your book down, that you can probably remember a lot of that song. Because we sing it with the tune. And for some reason, our minds latch on to that, and we can remember those hymns. That’s what Deuteronomy 32 is. They were to teach this song. They were to sing this song in their homes and in their lives. And it would be a continual reminder of the covenant that they had with God and how they must trust in him for their deliverance as they are doing now and trust in him for the conquests that will follow.

And so here was a critical speech that Moses delivered, and that really contains all the book of Deuteronomy. Now, Moses probably wrote the first five books of the Old Testament, but there has to be at least parts of Deuteronomy that he didn’t write. I mean, it’s not impossible, but it’s pretty unlikely that he wrote about his own death in Deuteronomy 34. In fact, there’s also a hint in Deuteronomy 34 and verse 6 when it says God buried Moses, and there’s a dispute about that in the book of Jude. He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Paor, but no man knows his burial place to this day. So, sometime later, an editor inspired of God arranged Moses’ writings in the book of Deuteronomy.

Interesting bit of regard to inspiration. We’re going to be talking about inspiration in our study on Sunday mornings coming up as we talk about the Bible as a tool and how to use it. So here’s one of those speeches. Now put your thinking cap on. Can you think of any other speeches that take place? The next one. Well, obviously post conquest. Where Joshua, after every man has gone to his tent and they are abiding in the land that flows with milk and honey. Joshua now is approaching the end of his life. He has replaced Moses, and so he delivers his final speech. And I’ve quoted that. Interesting. And here’s the theme of all of this. Isn’t it interesting that these are things we often quote and often read from?

Because they are impassioned appeals at critical junctures in the history of the nation of Israel. And so we quote them and read from them because they are these impassioned appeals. That can help us as well. You look at Joshua 23. I love verse 10. It’s the first one I turn to. One of your men puts to flight a thousand. For the Lord your God is he who fights against you. Or he who fights for you, rather. I knew that didn’t sound right. He who fights for you. He says in Joshua 23 10. And then 24 15. Oh, how many times have we heard that? Choose you this day who you will serve. Verse 14 says, Fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourself today who you will serve.

Whether the gods which your father served, which were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But it’s for me and my house. And the people said, No, we’re going to serve the Lord. And Joshua says, But you won’t be able to serve the Lord. Because he’s a jealous God. The song of Deuteronomy 32 suggested the same problem that Israel was going to have. And he said, You’re not going to be able to do it. But they said, No, but we will serve the Lord. And they did serve the Lord all the days of Joshua. And all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, which is pretty remarkable. That as a nation, perhaps not every person within the nation, but as a nation, they were typically faithful to God for that whole era.

It’s pretty remarkable. Next speech. You got it? Figured out. How about the request for a king? The judges’ period had its dismal moments. And then ultimately the people don’t trust in God as they’re delivered. It’s interesting that he has just delivered them from the Philistines. Remember when they lost the Ark of the Covenant, and that goes to the Philistines, and Dagon falls down and his head falls off in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant. God is saying, Dagon, the God of the Philistines, is nothing. And so they say, Here, would you take this thing back? We don’t want it. And so the Ark of the Covenant comes back, and all this happens, and the people don’t trust in God as their deliverer. The judge’s system hasn’t been working because they as a people haven’t been faithful.

And so they want to be like all the nations surrounding them. So they said, we need a king. Okay, Samuel feels rejected, but God says, I want you to deliver a message to the people. And that’s recorded in 1 Samuel chapter 12. And we’re not going to read that. In fact, what I’m going to do here is give you this skeleton and say, why don’t you go home and read all of these? Not the whole book of Deuteronomy necessarily. But read portions of the book of Deuteronomy, Joshua 23 and 24, 1 Samuel 12, all back to back to back, to see the nature of these impassioned appeals. The next one. Another momentous occasion in Israel’s history. The dedication of the temple. And what’s interesting about this one is that Solomon, it’s really the essence of it is a prayer.

Solomon is praying to God about this great occasion with God filling the temple with his glory, and yet Solomon realized that’s not really the essence of God because God is in heaven. And so he says, When we pray to this place, hear thou in heaven and forgive. And a very long prayer unfolds there in 1 Kings chapter 8, which is recorded as teaching for the nation. Again, at a momentous occasion. And then one more. Dramatic and momentous occasion. Critical speech. Post exilic. When they come from Babylonian captivity. Again, after a dismal moment and a dip in their spiritual lives, and things are terrible. They’re sent off to Babylonian captivity. They come back. The people need to be acquainted again with the law. So Ezra stands before the people from nine to midday.

And the people stand. Wow. They stood for a long time. As Ezra delivered the words of the law and gave the sense of the reading. And the people wept because of their sins and transgressions. But Ezra said, This is not a day for weeping. Because you’ve understood the words of the law. Alright. Well, that’s your brief history lesson. Now I want to make it relevant. I want to talk to you about preaching the gospel today. Encouraging discipleship today while it is called today. And I want to look at just a few passages and make a few comments, and I’ll be done tonight. Psalm 40, verses 8 through 10. David says, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Thy law is within my heart. I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation.

Behold, I will not restrain my lips. O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hidden thy righteousness within my heart. I have spoken of thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. What an awesome message. About the nature of preaching and what emanated from the lips of David. And that’s what our business is as those who preach. I want to take you to an interesting statement. This is what we’re all about in 1 Timothy 3 and verse 16. This is poetically arranged. And by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. Then look at this. He who was revealed in the Spirit, was vindicated in the Spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory.

You know what 1 Timothy 3 16 is? It’s the summary of the message of the gospel in a single verse. This is what God has done. It is based in a historical fact of Jesus’ appearance and his death and his resurrection, attended by the spirit realm, as it says, vindicated in the spirit, beheld by angels, and then proclaimed among the nations. This statement is sublime.

Extraordinary and confessable. A six-fold analysis of the great truths that undergird all that we are about. Remember last Sunday when I talked about why people fall away completely. Do you remember? This is my chance to review Mike. What was one thing that always is at the base of people falling away? Remember what the first point was? Unbelief. Unbelief. Somewhere along the way, people’s confidence in this message gets eroded. They stop believing. They develop an unbelieving heart, the Hebrew writer does. Hebrew writer says, and I’ll tell you what comes of this. Ultimately, the one who is in unbelief has to silence the message. Ultimately, they have to tune it out. And ultimately, that’s why you’ll have a person arriving at unbelief who ultimately will feel compelled to leave us.

2. It Rivets Our Attention to the Unseen Realities

Because they cannot withstand the message anymore. Let me tell you why I think preaching is so much a part of our experience as Christians together. I want to share five things with you. What is it that the preaching of the gospel does for us? Number one, it rivets our attention to the unseen realities. That’s the benefit of being here and hearing messages from God’s Word. There is so much in our world that militates against thoughts of this realm. And one thing that happens every time we come to this place is your thoughts and your mind are directed to the unseen realities that are ultimate in our existence. Number two. Not only does it rivet our attention to the unseen realities, it solidifies the foundation for successful and godly living.

3. It Solidifies the Foundation for Successful and Godly Living

Sometimes we’re not told anything that we didn’t already know before, but those convictions are emboldened. We are reminded that this is what works. This is the most successful way to live our lives. And young people, don’t ever lose sight of that. This is about successful living. Successful because it is the best way to live here. It has promise of the life that now is and the life that is to come. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 8. We’re continually being reminded here of the wisdom that works in relationships. What works in the workplace and at school, the kind of behavior that holiness calls us to display. Number three. It yields sobriety in thinking and conduct. I don’t know how you experience assemblies either on Sunday or Wednesday, but when I walk away from these, I am more sober than at any other point in my life.

4. It Yields Sobriety in Thinking and Conduct

Is that what’s happening for you today? I hope so. Because that’s what preaching is designed to do. I am more sober right now, today, than at any other time that I will experience this week. Let me tell you why that is. Not because when I leave here, I’m going to start drinking alcohol occasionally and losing my sobriety in that fashion. But sobriety isn’t just about staying away from a mind-numbing substance that causes us not to think clearly and impair our judgment. Sobriety is about a proper perception of myself and of others and the world in which I live. That’s what sobriety is. And so when you walk out of here realize, okay, this is what God called me to be as I live in the world.

5. Preaching Stimulates Us in the Direction of Productive Action

This is the way he called me to think. This is the way he wants me to respond to other people. And I’m reminded that this isn’t permanent. That the Lord could well return. His coming could be imminent, and I need to be ready. And so you’re thinking about your soul. How, what must I do to be in a right or continue a right relationship to God. And so I’ll tell you why it’s important. The preaching of the gospel, whether it’s a message we’ve heard a hundred times before, is sobering. And we need that to please the Lord and avoid the darkness that can destroy us. And number four, preaching stimulates us in the direction of productive action. Preaching challenges me to act. It doesn’t allow me to remain in neutral spiritually or on autopilot.

Preaching drives me to respond, to work on certain areas of my thinking and conduct. Perhaps excel in ways that I have not done before. At the essence of the message of preaching is that we need to change. That’s where it began when we became a Christian, and we must continue to make changes and develop. So often I think we can find ourselves in spiritual ruts and complacency, thinking that, you know, I’ve come a long way. I’ve made a few changes in terms of conduct from the time that I obeyed the gospel, and I’ve been through a lot of assemblies and I’ve learned a lot of passages, said in a lot of Bible classes, and yet some of the hardest work of Christianity. We only piddle at.

You realize that. You’ve been piddling spiritually?

6. Preaching Stabilizes Us With Memorable Messages

To me, the greatest, most monumental work we ever do in the kingdom has to do with the way our mind thinks. How we regard other people, how we treat other people, how we act in relation to other people in every relationship. Setting our affections on things above and not on things of this earth, that passage you’ve heard so many times in Colossians 3, that is an everyday challenge for us. Preaching stimulates a response. And finally, preaching stabilizes us with memorable messages.

But some sermons you do. Some songs you remember better than others. And if not the sermons themselves, what their title were was the message that was delivered to you. I get a lot out of the fact that Christina tells me, I’ve listened to your sermon Waiting on the Lord four times this week. It’s like, wow, I can’t believe somebody would like to listen to me preach a sermon four times. And I think it’s interesting that she would say that because I’ve been preaching that one in meetings. And certainly it’s helping her, it’s helping others. And then there’s the sister in Baytown who says she’s listened to my sermon. It’s hard to be lost to work and from work hundreds of times. She had quit listening to it for a while, and now she’s listening to it again.

I don’t know what it is. I quit preaching that sermon in meetings. I used to preach it a lot in meetings. She’s listened to it more than I preached it. And I don’t know what it is about that particular sermon that she needs to hear over and over again. But that’s what preaching does. And it may not be me. Who is the messenger of a sermon that particularly resonates with you in your circumstances? But the importance of preaching is that it provides memorable messages. And helpful messages because after all, as we’ve already seen in other passages that we’ve quoted, thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. The psalmist says in Psalm 119 and verse 11. How shall a young man keep his way pure by keeping it according to your word?

Verse 9.

Conclusion

And I must tell you, there are times, as I said at the beginning, that I feel somewhat inadequate to do what I do. And I just want to tell you, I’m thankful for your patience.

And the way that you listen. And the way that you supported me and encouraged me in this work. I want to thank you for your monetary support. I don’t know why that’s been on my mind for the last several days, but I want to thank you for how you’ve supported me materially to be able to assist you in this way of preaching. I want to preach a message that gives you everything you need to know about pleasing God and going to heaven. And this message is the most important message that there is. And I’m honored to be able to deliver it in the way that you listen to it when it is delivered. And I want to conclude tonight with Romans 16 25 through 27. I don’t know if I just haven’t been paying attention or what.

Maybe I’ve cut off of my reading before I got to the end of Romans. But as he speaks of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, amen. And I love these doxologies at the end of his messages. Now to him who is able to establish you, according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested. And by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith to the only wise God through Jesus Christ be the glory forever. Amen. And I commend to you the message of the gospel.

And is it producing in your heart and in your life the obedience of faith? The commandment of God can bring you blessing and eternal salvation. If you’re subject to the gospel, do you need to respond to the saving of your soul? Won’t you do so now as we stand?