The Type of Preaching that Will Kill a Modern "Revival"

Contemporary Christendom has a rather poor understanding of Biblical revival.  Much could be said on this subject.  But, suffice it to say, Biblical revival is not characterized by some emotional excitement and scores of people repeating a prayer while ultimately continuing on with an unchanged life.  No, Biblical revival is going to be characterized by a deep seated understanding of our sinfulness, our need for repentance, our need for sharing the Biblical Gospel with others and our need to forsake the things of this world.  Revival is not an emotional outburst during a service.  Revival is a permanent, life-changing event that more than often can only be viewed in hindsight. 
 
That said, it seems that almost weekly we are being informed of some new revival that sprang up out of nowhere.  It normally goes like this…“Evangelist John Doe was scheduled to run a ‘revival meeting’ Monday through Friday at the First Christian Church in Anywhere, USA.  The Spirit of God came down powerfully.  People were crying incessantly…coming to the altar…falling out for long periods of time…donating scores of money…leading people in the sinner’s prayer, etc.  Those in attendance have been quoted as saying things like ‘I’ve never felt anything like this’ and ‘I thought I’d been a Christian for a long while but now realize I had never truly felt the Spirit so alive’.  The meeting has now been extended for months with hundreds ‘making decisions’ for Christ.  This may be the modern ‘Great Awakening’”.  At such a report, many in Christendom are often wowed.
 
One thing that seems to be a common theme in these modern “revival” services is the lack of Biblical exposition.  Most of the time, some young, peppy evangelist with “all the right words” is leading such a revival.  Yet oddly, these are his own words – not the Word of God.  Even more puzzling, men who have been pastoring for decades seem anxious to have such a man into their own churches so they and their congregation can experience this new “move of God”.  Why would men who should be looking back over their ministry and seeing the effects of the preaching of the Word of God be so willing to bring in a young evangelist whose knowledge of the Scripture is suspect?  Why would long time pastors desire to have a “revival preacher” who has little regard for the preaching of God’s Word?  I honestly cannot fathom it.  But this seems the norm today.  I think these pastors fail to see that the man is not where the power is.  The power behind the message comes from God alone (Romans 1:16, 1 Corinthians 3:5-7, 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5)
 
Regardless of what one’s view may be of Luther, Calvin, Edwards and others, God clearly used them to change the landscape of Christianity in a major way.  We could, perhaps, even trace the roots of America and the freedoms sought here to the followers of the Reformation, Calvin in particular.  But, I digress.  I have some disagreements with all of these men on some issues…some men more than others…some issues more major than others.  But one thing underscores the ministry of them all – the preaching of the Word of God.  In fact, looking back at every move of God in church history, the preaching of the Bible was paramount.  Where there has been revival, there has been the preaching of the Word of God.  And by the way, not just any type of preaching – sequential, expository preaching is the common method of teaching we see when God moves in an extraordinary way in a community.  Where there is no preaching of the Word of God you can be certain there is no movement of the Spirit of God. 
 
In writing to Timothy, Paul said, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13).  That is, in the public worship service, read the Scripture, teach the people what it means and how it applies to their lives.  We must always keep the Word of God in the center of public (and private) worship because, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  Pastor, you cannot grow your people apart from the preaching of the Bible.  Layperson, you cannot grow in a church where the Bible is not taught.  If ever we are to see true Biblical revival – that is, men and women being trained in righteousness, complete and equipped for every good work – then we must preach that God breathed Word that alone can produce such a revival. 
 
In Nehemiah 8, we find a Biblical example of revival and we can clearly see what brought it on.  As the people were gathered and Ezra stood on a wooden podium in front of them, he “brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law” (Nehemiah 8:2-3).  He preached the God breathed Word and the people listened – on purpose.  Several other godly men along with the Levites “helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading” (Nehemiah 8:7-8).  Again, God’s instruction is read, explained and understood.  This is expository preaching and it is the foundation for true, Biblical revival.  This is not the type of preaching we see in modern revivals.  Sadly, this type of exposition is rare in any setting these days – even inside the assembly of the saints!
 
Again Paul told the young pastor Timothy, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:1-4).  Clearly, Paul tells Timothy of a time when people will not desire the truth of God’s Word but would prefer “myths”, or stories.  At this time, people will hire teachers that will tell them what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear.  In contrast to this, Paul tells Timothy to “preach the word”.  Folks, we live in such a time as Paul wrote about.  The majority of professing Christians do not want to hear verse-by-verse exposition of the books of the Bible.  In fact, I dare say such an approach would kill the modern “revival” services.  Nonetheless, it is our instruction even “in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation” (Philippians 2:15).  If we are to shine as God’s lights here, we must keep the Word of God as our foundation in preaching. 
 
Have you ever considered that when Paul wrote a letter to a church, it was intended to be read from start to finish by that congregation?  It seems apparent that they were not to unroll the scroll and read random comments here and there.  They were to begin with chapter 1 verse 1 (not that there were originally chapters and verses) and read through the end of the letter.  This is the way God inspired it.  This is the way it was intended to be read and understood by the original recipients.  How then could there be a better way for us to teach God’s Word today?  What seems obvious to me is a long way from the norm in our society. 
 
Now I do not mean to say a pastor or evangelist can never preach a topical sermon.  I have often preached topical messages in the church I pastor and certainly I am often assigned topical preaching when I preach elsewhere.  I mean, even this article is a topical sermon, so to speak.  However, anytime we preach topically, we must exercise extreme caution that we are not just proof texting.  That is, we need to be cautious that we aren’t randomly choosing a topic and then grabbing a few verses (often out of context) just to support our position.  Expository preaching can be defined simply as “detailing the meaning of a particular text or passage of Scripture”.  Even more simply, it could be defined as “explaining to people what the Bible says”.  Personally, I think the easiest way to do this is to begin in the first verse of a book and preach through the entire book.  This is my preferred form of teaching.  But even in topical preaching, we must make 100% certain that we are “giving the sense” of God’s Word and not our opinion.  We must be absolutely sure that we are keeping verses in context while relaying to our congregation God’s intended meaning to the initial audience.  If God didn’t intend the passage the way you are preaching it, then you have no basis to preach it the way you are.  A passage cannot mean what God didn’t initially intend it to mean. 
 
If we are honest, most preaching today that is labeled “revival preaching” is a long way from what Ezra did in Nehemiah 8.  Modern evangelism is a far cry from the instruction Paul gave to Timothy.  In fact, Christendom today is characterized by the very preaching Paul warned against – unbiblical mythology.  The average professing believer much prefers a story to Biblical exposition.  Sermons that begin with “God told me this on the way to church this morning” are far more common today than “Open up your Bibles”.  But even in places where the Bible is opened, we must make absolutely certain that we are presenting God’s Word as God breathed it out.  I fear the type preaching the Bible demands is the very type preaching that would halt a modern day “revival” in its steps.  Yet, I fear that the type of preaching the Bible calls for would also empty the pews in most modern day churches.  Regardless of that, pastors are called to preach the Word of God with zeal and authority.  Christian people must seek out a church that values such preaching. 
 
May God help us in this day when the Bible is more available than it has ever been and yet Biblical illiteracy is more common than it has ever been.