​Just Preach Whatever the Lord Lays on Your Heart

Expository preaching seems simple enough to defend. By definition, to preach expositionally simply means to “to preach the Bible as originally intended in context.”  That seems reasonable. More than that, such a “method” seems to be obviously proper for any man who opens God’s Word and preaches to a congregation. When we, as Bible teachers, read a passage of Scripture…that is, when we take a text…we are at least implying that our topic is completely derived from the passage we just read.  And honestly, that is a reasonable expectation from the audience. 
 
It doesn’t seem to matter how often one may correctly define expository preaching. There seems to be a constant, willful refusal to accept the above definition. Some demand that expository preaching always means preaching verse-by-verse through a book of the Bible. And though expository preaching is not defined that way in even one homiletical book that I’ve ever read, for just a moment I want to address a complaint often waged against sequential expository preaching (preaching through books of the Bible).  It has been said…repeatedly…that preaching through books of the Bible limits the leadership of the Spirit. It has even been suggested that the preacher is “led of the Lord every time he stands to minister.”  In context, this statement suggests that every time the preacher stands in the pulpit, he is given some type of supernatural insight to some topic that is needed by the congregation.  It is this idea that I want to quickly deal with.
 
First things first, I am not in any way dismissing the work of the Holy Spirit in sermon preparation.  I am not. If a man is to ever rightly handle the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15), the Spirit certainly must play a role.  God’s Spirit teaches spiritual things to us.  Without the Spirit of God, we can only (wrongly) interpret the Bible naturally (1 Corinthians 2:14). Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13).  Do not let it be suggested that I am negating the work of the Spirit in sermon preparation – I am not whatsoever. 
 
That having been said, I have continually searched the Bible for the instruction, “Preach whatever the Lord lays on your heart.” It simply is not there. And, neither is any other suggestion similar to it. Such an idea may be completely accepted today. That does not mean it’s in the Bible. Such instruction may be common among the Lord’s own. That, however, does not make it to have Scriptural warrant.  Of the number of men I have heard spend five minutes explaining how the Lord gave him his message that he simply must preach, the majority preached a message that most certainly was not given to them by God – as it was full of unscriptural points.
 
The preacher is not left without Scriptural instruction, whatsoever.  In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he wrote, “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. 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” (2 Timothy 3:16-4:2).  If a preacher teaches the Word properly (exposition), he is teaching that which has been “breathed out by God” and that which is “profitable” for the congregation.  And in case we missed it, this refers to “All Scripture”. 
 
God’s men have a charge. We are to herald the King’s message. We have no authority to change the message.  We have no authority to alter the message. We have no authority to only share some of the message.  We have no authority to add anything to the message.  It is the King’s message – and it remains His message. We are simply to share it as He has given it. If this limits our ministry, then so be it – it needs to be limited. If this ties us down, then we need to be tied down. If preaching the King’s message as the King wrote it doesn’t feed the Lord’s sheep, what will?  Doesn’t the King know best?  Didn’t He give His message in the most profitable way for His own? The shepherds need to be committed to feeding the sheep with the food the King has provided…in the way He has provided it. 
 
Men, we are not prophets. Prophets “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). We are not receiving revelation. On the contrary, “we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:19-20). God has spoken in finality through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2)…in the Bible.  There are certainly those in the religious world today that do not believe revelation has ended. However, they are the ones on the wrong end of theological debate. Those who have the idea that the Holy Spirit is still giving revelation have a plethora of theological problems – a misunderstanding of preaching only being one of them.  One needs only to look at their “preaching” to see the many problems associated with such a movement.  Let us not stand arm in arm with such people…people devoid of truth. 
 
May this generation of preachers rise up to the call of Scripture.  May God’s men stand in the pulpit week after week preaching His message to His people. May we give our best effort in preaching His word properly and accurately – including relying on the Holy Spirit to dig out the meat of Scripture that is so desperately needed by this generation.  May we never blame the leadership of the Holy Spirit for our refusal to “preach the word.” May we never use the Holy Spirit as a crutch to preach our own ideas…our own pet peeves. The message of the King has been written. He has set men in His churches to lead them – by His completed message. Let those of us that lead do so with the authority of the King. However, we will only preach with God’s authority when we preach God’s Word as He gave it.  Whatever you do, don’t share what’s on your heart unless what’s on your heart is preaching the Word.