“The Reformation Pulpit” March 21, 2009

The Reformation Pulpit! (email March 21, 2009)

What's wrong with the modern pulpit?

The Method & Manner of Preaching the Gospel must be thoroughly biblical!
The Content of the Gospel Message Preached must be thoroughly biblical!
The Emphasis of every part of the Gospel Message Preached must be thoroughly biblical!

The Biblical Right of Private Judgment!

God has ordained that preachers are to be His instruments in instructing the Church of Jesus Christ. However, that instruction must be personally and biblically-examined by each Christian!

Christians cannot ignore the God-ordained importance of their own pastors, the great Creeds and Confessions and Bible Scholars of Church History!

RC Sproul-Knowing Scripture
“Two of the great legacies of the Reformation were the principle of private interpretation and the translation of the Bible into the vernacular. . . . Private interpretation never meant that individuals have the right to distort the Scriptures. With the right of private interpretation comes the sober responsibility of accurate interpretation.”

Gal 1:,8: “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”

I Cor 10:15-“I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say.”

I Cor 14:29-“Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.”

Acts 17:11-“These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”

Calvin on Acts 17:11: “Therefore, let this remain as a most sure maxim, that no doctrine is worthy to be believed but that which we find to be grounded in the Scriptures. The Pope will have all that received without any more ado, whatsoever he doth blunder out at his pleasure; but shall he be preferred before Paul, concerning whose preaching it was lawful for the disciples to make inquisition?. . . . Nevertheless, we beware of the seducing subtilty of men; neither do our minds throw themselves headlong with a blind rage to believe every thing without advisement.

Matthew Henry-Acts 17:11: “They searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so. Their readiness of mind to receive the word was not such as that they took things upon trust, swallowed them upon an implicit faith: no; but since Paul reasoned out of the scriptures, and referred them to the Old Testament for the proof of what he said, they had recourse to their Bibles, turned to the places to which he referred them, read the context, considered the scope and drift of them, compared them with other places of scripture, examined whether Paul's inferences from them were natural and genuine and his arguments upon them cogent, and determined accordingly.”

Martin Luther: Of the Office of Preaching
THE SERMONS OF MARTIN LUTHER, VOL. III, PAGE 379, 380-SECTION IV. THE HEARERS HAVE THE RIGHT TO EXAMINE AND JUDGE A SERMON

“Remember well that the sheep have to pass judgment upon that which is placed before them. They should say: We have Christ as our Lord and prefer his Word to the words of any man . . . . We want to examine and judge for ourselves whether the pope, the bishops and their followers do right or not.”

J. C. Ryle: “Warning to the Churches” -p. 99: “We are far toot ready to think, that because some great minister or some learned man says a thing,-- or because our own minister, whom we love, says a thing,-- it must be right, without examining whether it is in the Scripture or not. Most men dislike the trouble of thinking for themselves.”

Charles Hodge: Syst. Theology, Vol 1, p. 184:
“What Protestants deny on this subject is, that Christ has appointed any officer, or class of officers, in His Church to whose interpretation of the Scriptures the people are bound to submit as of final authority. What they affirm is that He has made it obligatory upon every man to search the Scriptures for himself, and determine on his own discretion what they require him to believe and to do.”

AW Pink-Practical Christianity-The Right of Private Judgment-p. 181
“Those Bereans sat in judgment upon the teaching of the apostles! They are commended for doing so! Not only was it their privilege and duty, but it is recorded to their honour. But mark how they discharged this duty. They brought all that they heard from the spoken discourse to the test of the written Word. They did not judge by their own preconceptions, views, prejudices, feelings, or partialities, but by God’s Word. If what they heard was in accord therewith, they were bound to receive and submit to it; but if it was contrary thereto, they were equally bound to refuse and reject the ministry that taught it. That is recorded as an example to us! It reveals how we are to exercise this privilege of private judgment. The apostles claimed to be sent of God, but were they really preaching the Truth? The Bereans gave them a ready hearing, but took the trouble to examine and try their teaching by the Scriptures, and searched them daily whether they were so.”