Temple Baptist Church - 3-26-2025
1 Cor 1:17-31
Introduction:
A. By way of introduction, let me say that we live in the days of teaching. Teaching can and should be a good thing, but there is also the phenomenon of false teaching. This was prophesied 2,000 years ago and has now come to fruition.
2 Peter 2:1-2 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. (2) And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
1. Paul, through the Holy Spirit, has a work to do in correcting the carnality of these new believers.
2. His first step was establishing their unchanging relationship with the Lord.
3. His second step was to establish unity, as they would not follow Paul if they were following someone else.
4. His third step was to establish the necessity of preaching. Preaching, not teaching. The reason:
a) Teaching informs the intellect by giving spiritual facts to the hearer.
b) Preaching demands a decision.
1) Preaching Enlightens The Sinner.
2) Preaching Edifies And Encourages The Saint.
3) The Great Commission specifically says, “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you!”
B. Today, there is a new kind of “Christianity.” Followers of Christ, His Word, and the pastor are becoming a rarity; those who follow and adhere to God’s Word have become the enemy.
2 Timothy 4:1-4 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; (2) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (4) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Be mindful of whom you listen to! Correct teaching strengthens the believer and enhances their faith, while false teaching confuses and undermines their faith.
C. In verse 17, Paul distinguishes between intellectualism and Spirit-filled preaching.
1. I have nothing against education, but equating education with spirituality or effectiveness in preaching is risky. Holding a doctorate is similar to a pig's squeal—it neither ensures doctrinal correctness nor makes someone a preacher or pastor!
2. I remember a pastor with an earned doctorate who made the statement, “I would rather be a silver trumpet than a tin horn.” That statement has always rubbed me the wrong way. Intellectualism can lead to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which places the clergy above the laity and prioritizes education over a lack of it.
D. Paul stated that he was not sent to preach with eloquence or oratory. Scholastically, he was qualified to give an intellectual dissertation; however, he chose the simplicity of the old gospel story to accomplish the task.
E. There is also a difference between preaching and teaching. One of the phenomena of these last days is false teachers.
2 Timothy 4:1-4 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; (2) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (4) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
F. The pastor/teacher is one of the gifts that God gave to the local church - Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
G. Teaching has become a substitute for preaching because it has no reproof or rebuke.
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap (many, not the one God gave them) to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
Isaiah 30:8-11 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
H. The Two-fold Result Of Substitution Of False Teaching For Biblical Preaching:
1. An Increase In Carnality In The Church – “smooth things”
2. A Decrease In Biblical Conversion. “deceits”
J. What Kind of Preaching do we need?
1. We need Straight Preaching.
a. God’s Message of Salvation - Jonah 3:2,4-9 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.... (JUDGEMENT). And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. (REPENTANCE) So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. (SALVATION) Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
b. God’s Message of Sanctification - Acts 20:26-28 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
2. We Need Bold Preaching - Acts 9:27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
3. We Need Broad Preaching - Acts 20:26-31 Therefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
4. We Need Spirit-Filled, Powerful Preaching - 1 Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5. We Need Biblical Preaching - 2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
6. We Need Compassionate Preaching - Jude 22-23 And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
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