Claude Ramsey- Spirit Empowered Preaching

Be thankful for you sticking around. I'm glad nobody left after I preached that I know what so, thank you. I get the privilege to introduce a guy that a lot of you will know and I've come to love this dear brother.

He's has an infectious infectious affectious smile and love and posture a man with a humble heart and his name is Claude Ramsey and so when I first started with truth and love network he and Robert begin to have conversations and different things about this and Big John went along right that right in that same time frame and brother Claude just was somebody that Just made you feel at home, you know, and it wasn't long that it become very clear That he was a man of God that has a genuine Shepherd's heart.

It's what I thought of and I thought about Claude. I thought about Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 15 says I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will feed you with knowledge and Understanding so there's a lot of stuff I could say.

But I think that's one of the highest compliments that I could give this brother is that it is a man of God. He loves the Lord. He loves his people and I'm very thankful to call him a friend. Let's pray for brother Claude as he comes father.

Thank you so much for our brother Praise as he stands behind this sacred desk today that a fresh and new that you will empower him and anoint him with your Holy Spirit that he will be clear and that the message will be clear and Equip us your church today by the speaking of this pastor a man of God that has a shepherd's heart.

Equip us through his words through your words the understanding. We thank you Lord in Jesus name. Amen.

The Need for the Holy Spirit in Preaching

As we rejoiced in Jonathan's message and Particularly in that it Was an answer to prayer I think about this morning how that All that Jonathan touched on in that sermon reminded of what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 48 Actually verse not yes, I'm 48 9 Through 14 the psalmist said this we have thought on your steadfast love.

Oh God in the midst of your temple as Your name Oh God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. And he makes this declaration let Mount Zion be glad let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments and Then the psalmist says this this is a song of Korah.

He said walk about Zion. Go around her number her towers. Consider well her ramparts go through her citadels that you may tell the next generation That this is God. Not just God but our God forever and ever.

He will guide us forever and ever. That's what we have thus far Tasted this morning that we have just entered into the city of God. So speak by the preaching and the proclamation of the word there. So thank God so much for that truth.

And before we go into the message, let's pray one more time God I just want to come and ask you this. Please help me not to mess up Simplicity the purity and the power of your word. I Pray God that you would give me Freedom liberty in my tongue.

That I may speak forth the words of life that you would give me clarity in my mind that it might not be Hazy or foggy or cloudy but that we may preach Exactly what you have set forth in your word and help us today Holy Spirit because you are the one who will lead us.

You are the one who will guide us into all truth and all righteousness and it is that for which we beg you today Show us Christ. Help us today to worship you in the spirit and in truth. As we try to set forth the significance and the importance of the necessity of the Holy Spirit in Preaching of the word for it's in Jesus name.

I pray Amen Again I Was sitting back there and about halfway through the message. I thought maybe I'll just get up and say What Jonathan said? See the tape rewind play turn it up crank it up. Nevertheless our task this morning is to preach on the necessity of the Holy Spirit.

In.

Preaching and as we focus on this topic today I'm going to follow much the same pattern that Jonathan late laid for us in his sermon. We're going to do a little bit of laying of groundwork. Then we'll read the text.

I'm not going to ask you even to stand for the reading of the God of God's Word today because there's a whole lot of. But I do want to encourage you to follow along to track along with us. So Sinclair Ferguson said this about preaching.

He said all truly effective preaching shares one thing in common. And that is this that it is attended by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now we live in a day and in a time, of course in the mainstream church world where Entertainment has captured the mind and Entertainment has captured the hearts of many in the mainstream church world.

And I don't want to use these terms as just random or general. We want to be specific this morning and we want to identify these terms because they are so very important. So let's define entertainment and we're going to define Worship as we go along here at the beginning first of all entertainment.

Entertainment is defined as following it is simply the action of providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment. The action of providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment now. Certainly, we should enjoy the preaching of the Word of God.

But we were not here to be entertained by Jonathan. But Jonathan preached the Word and the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit did works in our hearts already this morning but that was. Let's make sure that we don't confuse these two because a Sermon can be as dull and seem as dry as a dirt bag of dirt is.

But my friend if it's the Word of God the Word of God is going to do its work. So let's not confuse Entertainment with enjoyment. So if entertainment is being is providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment.

We must look at the flip side and understand what worship is. Worship. No, by the way before we get to that. Let me let me tell you what Thomas Watson said about. Particularly about how to hear sermon so we don't go at it like we're wanting to be entertained.

Thomas Watson one of the old Puritans said this in his work called gleanings. He said when you come to preaching he said lay aside the dispositions which may render the preach word ineffectual. He said some go to hear the word preached not so much to get grace as To enrich themselves with notions because they have itching ears.

So when we come To the assembly when we succumb to the gathering when the Word of God is preached and Proclaimed we need to come because we need grace. Man these men of God could stand and preach like Jonathan said for the next 12 hours and if they were in the word it would be okay.

Now most of us couldn't stand our flesh couldn't stand that but he would be okay. Going on Tom Thomas Watson went on to say this. They like the melody of the voice and they like the novelty of the opinions.

Much like the folks at Mars Hill if you read in Acts chapter 17. You'll find there at Mars Hill. The people were gathered there every day for one reason just to hear or to tell of some new thing. Watson said this is why me how many people come to preaching.

Much like the folks at Mars Hill. He said but this this is to love the garnishing of the dish more than the food. For example who likes parsley if you've got a plate full of meatloaf of mashed potatoes.

The garnish means nothing. We want the meat and that is the desire when we come to this Table if you would of the sermon being given its desire their desire Watson said is to be pleased rather than to be edified.

So Watson said lay aside prejudice. He said the Sadducees were prejudice against the doctrines of the resurrection. Sometimes prejudice is against the truth preached and sometimes Prejudice is against the one preaching.

But if a patient has an ill opinion of his physician, he will not take any of his medicines. However, good they may be. So we do not come to the sermon looking to be entertained or looking to be amused.

We come to be fed with the very bread of God. We come to drink of the very water of life. This is why we proclaim this is the Word of God when the scripture is read because guess what this is the Word of God and Jesus said man shall not live by bread alone.

But by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Almighty God.

So.

Entertainment being defined. Let's define worship again. Very simple. Very plain very straightforward. What is worship. Worship is praising and adoring God? For who he is and for what he has done. That's a simple enough definition.

Worship is praising and adoring God my friends when we come to preach preachers teachers. Proclaimers of the gospel when you're doing it in the church house or out on the streets our aim and our goal Is to proclaim what thus says the Word of the Living God.

It is to proclaim to lift up high. So it's significant here it's significant that we understand that both believers and unbelievers are all worshipers. The question is who or what are they worshiping?

And it's easy to ask that question and aim it outward and say who or what are they worshiping? But I would ask you today who or what are you worshiping? Are you worshiping the true and the Living God?

Because there is. There is in an objective Truthful sense of the word true worship and false worship. True worship and false worship. What is the difference between these two? True worship. True worship can be defined as being and this is my simple definition.

True worship is aimed at God. True worship is focused on God. Now not just any God because we're not worshiping a false God, but we worship the maker of the heavens and the earth. Not just any God, but the self-existent God.

Yahweh the eternal self-existent one. We do not worship just any God. But the God who made the heavens and the earth and who sent his only begotten Son into this world. To die for our sins that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life.

Not just any God that it is that we worship. But we worship the God who was made flesh and who dwelt among us. Not just any God that we worship. But we worship the God as we heard it heard Jonathan say and we read it in the text of scripture.

The God who promised not to leave us comfortless. The God who Adopted us into his family and made us children of the living God. It's not just any God that we worship. But we worship the one who sent the comforter the Holy Spirit.

To as Jonathan so eloquently put it to abide in us. He's not just around us as Jonathan stated he is in us. So what is false worship? False worship on The other hand is given when someone gives praise and adoration To the creek creature or to a created being that is false worship.

How can you know if you are a true worshiper? Are you worshiping the living God. The one who made the heavens and the earth. The one who sent his son to die. The one who gave gives the Holy Spirit Unto his people that we can be sure and that we can be certain that we are the children of the living God.

About right now. You may be asking yourself I thought your topic was the necessity of the Holy Spirit in preaching. Hang with us. We're gonna get there. What do these have to do with the topic of the necessity of the Spirit's power in Preaching and my reply is this this is what it has to do.

This is what this groundwork has to do with the sermon with our text today with our topic the work of the Holy Spirit. In preaching is of paramount importance and it bears great Significance to understanding who why and what we worship.

It's important that we know this who we worship why we worship him and what it is and how it is worship is accomplished. A Question here of a pool of importance might be this and this is on the minds of many a young preacher coming up nowadays.

I'm getting older so I can refer to the young preachers. But in many in the minds of many a young preacher and in our day and in our time. That the whole goal is to grow a big church and they figure I'll just I can do it this way.

I can do it that way. I've seen this. I'll take a little bit of that. I'll take a little bit of that and I'll throw it all together and I'll have a purpose driven Church. Did you know that a large church can be grown without the power of the Holy Spirit and.

And the problem here is this that that is not the church if it is not built and Founded upon the Word of the Living God. It is not a church. It is a gathering of people. For whatever reason that they may think they are gathering if they are not gathered in the name of Christ.

It is not the church for the church's whole purpose in being here is to worship God. To seek God above all things. So it is possible to build a big church without the power of the Holy Spirit, but that will not be a gospel church.

The gospel church is built by the power of the Holy Spirit of God and so the aim and the goal of the gospel church in this world the aim and the goal of the Gospel preacher and the gospel teacher is to proclaim God's Word in such a way that the hearts focus that your hearts that your minds focus on.

The that our spiritual gaze as it were were aimed toward Christ. When when you think about your church this week you think about your some of you are pastors. Some of you are lay members. When you lay members when you think about your church this week and you think about your pastor.

I don't let the pastor do anything other than preach the Word to you preach. Tell him. Preach. I'm praying for you. What are you praying for me for that the Lord will fill you with His Spirit and with His Word.

That the Lord will do such a work in your heart that you can't help but get up and proclaim What the says the Word of God? So in a very real sense preaching in the power of the Spirit. And I again I love how the Lord Works things according to the counsel of his own will and by providence allows us to identify these things.

Jonathan you mentioned it preaching is a miracle itself. Preaching is a miracle itself. John Piper said this. So what makes preaching unique is that it's a miracle. It's not just after miracles. It is a miracle in itself.

Piper said one of my books is called expository exaltation. He said that gives you my two-word definition of preaching one. Expository to exaltation. Expository means you better see what you say in the book and number two you bet.

Concerning exaltation you savor and you leap over what you've seen in the book. Too many folks in our day and in our time Have become so afraid of being called a charismatic or Pentecostal. They'd rather be called one of the chosen frozen rather than find that middle line where you're in the Spirit of God.

And you're not ashamed to be called a child of God and you're an idiot. If you're ashamed of rejoicing in what God has done. Piper went on to say that can't happen by human means preaching, but it has to happen.

It has to happen in the preacher this miracle. It has to happen in the people or we are wasting our time. I want to bring about the seeing the savoring the showing of Christ for who he really is as Valuable as he really is as beautiful as glorious and as great as he really is.

I want that Piper said I want that to happen in me. I want it to happen in my hearers. That's what preaching is. So no it doesn't happen apart from the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit.

That.

Identifies us with God and it is the Holy Spirit that identifies us with the Word of God. And it is the Holy Spirit that identifies us with other believers. If I walked up to a total stranger at Walmart and tried to give them a hug. Do you think that's gonna be well-received?

No, it's not. But friend for a brother and sister in Christ, I don't care if you're an introvert or not. Guess what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna give you a hug and I'm not gonna be concerned about whether you like it or not or whether you want to do It.

You can go around the you can go around the other side of the bench if you don't want a hug. But friends it is the Holy Spirit who does this work. This identification with the Father this identification with the Word this identification with one another.

So Holy Spirit empowered preaching unlike powerless preaching produces good spiritual fruit. Holy Spirit empowered preaching produces good spiritual fruit. The Holy Ghost He makes new creatures of men and women.

The Holy Ghost makes people who once hated God to be lovers of God. The Holy Ghost makes folks who were hell-bound to have a whole new Direction and to be like one of the old preachers said to be now heaven-bound with a hammer down.

That's what the Holy Ghost does. That is the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. The Holy Spirit not only regenerates, but he sanctifies. And one day thanks be unto God we will be glorified by the power of God.

Holy Spirit, amen, Shirley. Holy Spirit empowered preaching is simple and it's plain. Richard Baxter said this preaching is a work which requires greater skill and Especially greater life and zeal than any of us commonly bring to it.

It is no trifling matter to stand up in the face of a congregation and deliver a message of salvation or Damnation as from the Living God in the name of the Redeemer. It is no easy thing to speak so plainly that the most ignorant may understand us and so Seriously that the deadest heart may feel and so feels convincingly that contradicting Cavaliers, that's an old term may be silenced.

But certainly Baxter said certainly if our hearts were set upon the work of the Lord as they ought to be. It would be done more vigorously than by most of us. It is alas, how few ministers preach with all their might or speak about Everlasting joys and torments in such a manner as may make men believe that they are in earnest.

Plain language. Preach like you mean it. Preach like you know it you don't. I'm not talking about preach like you've got the knowledge in your head. But preach like you've got your heart in your mind Connected up and that the power of the Lord so thrills and fills your heart in your mind that you cannot help.

But proclaim this in his work and we're going to get to the text of Scripture shortly. You want to be turning their first Corinthians chapter 2 is where we're going to begin or first Corinthians chapter 1 is where we're going to begin.

But in the work of his in his work William Perkins work the art of prophesying in the calling of the ministry. William Perkins states this that there is a twofold value to preaching a twofold value to preaching with the unction of the Holy Spirit particularly.

Preaching number one is instrumental in gathering together all of God's elect. Preaching is instrumental in gathering together all of God's elect. Preaching is like that Trumpet blast that calls the gospel troops to formation.

And number two Perkins said preaching drives away the wolves from the fold of the Lord. We should not be concerned men as you stand in your Pulpits from week to week and you teach from week to week if you offend men and you upset upset the women.

You make the babies cry. Simply because you are standing on the Word of God. It's going to be okay. Keep preaching the word, right? We're not called to cater to the masses. We're not called to weaken and to water down the gospel message that set forth in the Word of God.

We are to proclaim the Word of God as it is to men as they are and.

The gospel.

My brothers and sisters does two things the gospel either softens the heart or it hardens the heart. And Ain't it good to know that you can say my heart has been softened by the gospel. Matter of fact, not only has my heart been softened by the gospel.

But I had a stony heart and God took that heart of stone out of me. And he put a heart of flesh in me where I can feel him and know he's real. We supposed to say reform folks supposed to say something like that that we can feel him.

Amen, we should say that When another one of the old songs, I'm glad when he saved me gave me something I could feel. Preaching is not an act of the individual whereby he hopes that the listeners will be entertained or amused.

All that to get to hear. Preaching is not an act of the individual whereby he hopes that the listeners will be entertained or amused. But rather preaching is a heralding of the greatest message that this world has ever heard.

Preaching is that announcement of all announcements that declares. Great is the mystery of godliness. Why. Because he Jesus was manifested in the flesh. He Jesus was vindicated by the Spirit. He Jesus was seen by angels.

He Jesus was proclaimed among men among the nations. He Jesus was believed on in the world. He Jesus was taken up in.

To glory.

This is that message Perkins went on to say this that the preaching of the word the Holy Spirit empowered preaching is the weapon which is shaken the foundation of ancient heresies. Now what are heresies but false doctrines?

That are brought into God's church most times by the usual suspects and sadly at times by unsuspecting victims.

Of these.

Damnable heresies. These heresies that deny the authority and the veracity of Scripture. These are key. These heresies that deny the truth and the veracity of the Scripture. These Heresies my friend that will call into question.

What has God said? How do we know what God has said. The good news is he's given us the book. And it doesn't change. You can carry a bag full of sharpies and mark out everything that you don't like. But Jonathan knows me sitting beside you look at his.

His isn't marked out. It's underlined. Just to invent just to accentuate the fact that this is there. It doesn't change.

So.

Concerning these heresies we are called. This is why then is that we need the necessity of the Holy Spirit in preaching is so very important. Because these heresies are still around we are called to earnestly by Jude to earnestly contend for the faith.

Now this is very plain language and I know this is rudimentary. But I'm not that fancy. We are called to contend for the faith. That means to stand up for the truth of God's Word. That means to defend it.

That means to take a lick for it. And if you've got it, if you've got to raise the sword up and give them a lick back. But it is the power of God. So this mission this task of Contending for the faith is a task again that can only be accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So.

We speak today on the necessity of the Holy Spirit in preaching because. Again, it is a message that the church itself needs to hear.

Worship.

Worship. Remember the definition worship is praising and adoring God for who he is and for what he has done. Preaching.

Is.

Worship, please. Please don't get so confused. We should sing it's an act of worship. But my friend preaching is worship. Preaching is worship matter of fact. It's the very heart and the very soul of the worship service as we use that term.

It is preaching. What is preaching? It is magnifying and lifting up the Word of God. Preaching is lifting up the God of the Word. Preaching is exalting and magnifying the characteristics and the nature and the attributes of Almighty God.

Preaching according to the word is the ordained means of Communicating both to the lost world and to God's church. What the Lord has said and so certainly. Except the Holy Ghost does his work of opening blind eyes and deaf ears.

Unless the Spirit of God so changes the disposition of the man's hearts and of our minds. Then all we do would be pointless. But there's a point. And that point is the Word of God. Because the Word of God is quick and it's powerful and it's sharper than any two-edged sword.

It cuts to the division of the soul and the spirit and of the joints and of the marrow. And it is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of your heart. And the Bible says this no creature. No creature Is hidden.

The scripture says No, no creature is hidden from his sight. But all are naked and open and exposed to the eyes of him to whom and here's the one of the keys of that verse to whom we give an.

Account.

You do not listen to the preaching of the word in a neutral position. You receive it or you reject it. There is no in between. And guess what you can't unring a bell if you hear it now you're accountable.

Well, that's one of the most frightening things for a preacher. Stands before congregation and and we understand and we know the weight and the burden of what it is to present these truths to a congregation and to know oh How awful it is to know that they are gonna wait go away those folks who reject God's Word.

But in the preaching of God's Word what God does is that God the Holy Spirit calls men. He calls women he calls boys and he calls girls to give an account of their standing before a holy God and. This accounting is not based on subjective truth.

But it's based on objective truth and that's the objective truth of God's Word. So preaching is prophetic in nature. Preaching is prophetic in nature. The prophets role is to speak to man on behalf of God.

So when I when I use the word prophet, I'm synonymously using this term Preacher so the preachers task is to present both the good the bad and the ugly. To the lost and to God's people. This is why we need than this.

This is why the necessity of the Holy Spirit in preaching because again We can't do it ourselves. A man will be a fool to stand in his own power. There are plenty of fools who stand in their own power.

But my friend we must recognize that we are weak and that we are small and that we are little but God is great. God is good and that God is holy and God is able to take as we're gonna read in a text here in a minute the Weakness and the foolishness of men and turn them for his glory and for his honor.

So the preachers task is to present the good the bad and the ugly. To the people lost and saved people the preacher doesn't get to pick and choose who he preaches to. Think about Ezekiel think about the task God gave Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37.

Go preach to these dead bones. They're not fresh dead. They're so dead that all that's left is bones. Yeah, very dry. Matthew Henry said to prophesy upon dry bones seems as great a penance as to water a dry stick.

And yet.

Henry said whether they will hear or whether they will forbear we must discharge our trust. We must prophesy as we are commanded in the name of him who raises the dead and in the name of him who is the fountain of life and So the Holy Spirit this is his work.

He empowers the man of God to stand and proclaim what thus says the Lord to those who will receive it or to throws Those who will throw dead cats at him. The work of the Holy Spirit is connected.

Connected.

Important point the work of the Holy Spirit is connected to the preaching of the Word. If we as preachers and teachers and Proclaimers of the gospel are not preaching and not teaching the Bible then we should not Expect the Holy Ghost to accompany the preaching.

1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18. This is our text. 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18. This is the Word of God for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are saved it is the power of God for it is written. The Lord said I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning. I will thwart.

And then Paul begins to bring in these questions. Where is the one who is wise they were in the midst of a society? And here's the thing folks the more things change the more they stay the same. There are a lot of people who think they are so wise in the church world.

And by the way again, this is an old person speaking to young people if you're watching this on the Internet understand that just because you know a Lot about a whole but a little bit about a whole lot about a little bit of what the scriptures teach.

Don't assume that you're the expert on things. The important thing for the young men of God to do is to get underneath. Sound elders go to Eden Chapel sit under Johnny and Gary and Aaron they're fantastic men of God but through you are to receive instruction in that way to be learned and grow in the faith and Then share that accordingly.

But here going on in the text notice. He says where's the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? This age this age is the same age that this age was that he was talking to them in. People are the same they want to argue and they want to fuss and they want to pick and they want to Dissect every little piece of scripture and have their own ideas and thoughts.

But my friends we must go to the word. Where is the where is the debater of this age? And then Paul begins laying this out. Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world. For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom.

God gave the world wisdom and By that same wisdom. They're denying God. Does that sound wise? The answer is no that sounds foolish. But he said it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

For the Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Which to the Jews is a stumbling block and to the Gentiles it is folly or foolishness.

But to those who are.

Called.

To those that have been born again by the Spirit of God. Whether they're Jews or whether they're Greeks it is Christ the power of God and it is Christ the.

Wisdom of God.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is Stronger than men. And then the Apostle Paul tells tells makes a very strong Statement here and it would do us all good to pause here to say law and consider this.

For consider your calling. Now there are three callings. Basically, there's a calling to salvation. There's your calling to sanctification and a calling to service for the Christian. Consider your calling.

Paul is speaking to them here primarily about salvation. He said consider your calling brethren that not many of you were wise. According to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth.

Boy, I Wonder if that would have been popular owner if that would have been on the New York Times bestseller list. You are not as smart as you think you are. You are not as strong as you think you are.

Your family ain't as great as you think they are. But God did not choose the mighty. God did not choose the wise. God did not choose the noble. The scripture says according to worldly standards. But God chose what he is foolish and the most foolish idea.

To a lost person is this that God could save the world By sending his son to die on the cross for your sins. It's foolishness to the world to think that this Christ who died on the cross. Who gave up the ghost who was laid in the grave to say to them that on the third day?

He arose from the grave. That's foolishness, but you know what that is to the same person. That is the power of God. That is the power of God. God chose what is low. God chose what is despised in this world even things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are he said and for this reason so that no human being might boast in the presence of.

God.

Think about that proud Pharisee in the Gospels Lord. I thank you that I am NOT like this Publican over in the corner. I can see him holding his jacket. I thank you God that I you should be proud God because I tied to you of my possessions.

I do this for you, and I do that for you Lord. You sure sure are lucky to have me. It comes down to that when you really boil it down. It's pride and it's arrogance and it's foolishness. When we stand before the Lord we're not going to say I deserve to be here in your presence Lord.

Third day put it best. I know how to say it when we stand before Christ. All we can say is I trust in Jesus. That's right. I trust in Jesus. So no human beings Might boast in the presence of God and because of him the cause of God you are in Christ Jesus.

Who became to us wisdom from God? He makes the foolish wise. That wisdom is in Christ. He becomes to us Righteousness our righteousness is not our own. It is an alien righteousness given to us. Accounted to us on behalf of Christ.

He is to us Sanctification again the work of the Holy Spirit. He is sanctification and he is redemption. There's glorification. There's gonna day. There's gonna be a day. Thank God. And God cashes in So to speak or cashes out.