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Why do we sing the hymns? Why do we continue to have a traditional worship service when so many others are moving in another direction? Why do we preach through books of the Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, explaining the original meaning and context?
That type of preaching, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, is called expository preaching. And these are some of the subjects we're gonna be covering this morning. So the title of this morning's message is The Importance of Expository Preaching and Why We Sing the Hymns.
Let's begin by reading Nehemiah chapter eight, starting in verse one. Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the water gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel.
So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the water gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand.
And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. So Ezra the scribe stood on the platform of wood, which they had made for the purpose. And let me just stop there. Why do churches have a platform or a designated space to where we read and teach and preach the word?
Well, you see that that practice is rooted in the scripture itself. And I don't know if Ezra had a pulpit. It doesn't say he did. I envisioned him having some sort of desk or table for him to pick up a scroll and put one down.
I don't know about that, but we see that he would read the word of God.
From that platform.
And look at verse eight. It says, so they read distinctly from the book in the law of God and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. Now turn, if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter four.
1 Timothy chapter four. So Ezra stood on the platform and he read the word of God while the people listened.
We saw that.
Not only that, he and the Levites, they helped the people to understand what was being read. In other words, they explained it to them. They taught it to them. They expounded upon it. And here in 1 Timothy chapter four, Paul is instructing Timothy, who is a young pastor.
And he says in verse 11, 1 Timothy chapter four, verse 11, he says, these things command and teach. Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word and conduct and love and spirit and faith and purity.
Until I come, he says, give attention to reading, to exhortation and to doctrine. And Paul says pretty much the exact same thing in 2 Timothy chapter four, where he says to Timothy, he says, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort all long suffering and doctrine.
So the first reason why we preach through the Bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse is because that is what we are supposed to do. The Bible says to preach the word. It doesn't say just pick the parts of the Bible that you like and just stick with those.
So that's reason number one. And that leads into reason number two, why expository preaching is important. Number one, it's what we are supposed to do. And number two, it ensures that Christians get God's message and not man's message.
There's a guy that I hear on the radio from time to time and he's very eloquent and he gives a lot of great advice. He pastors a very large church and there's a lot of positive things I could say about him.
But one thing, every time I listen, it's just hard not to notice. I don't think I've ever actually heard him read Bible verses and then explain what they mean. I don't think I've ever heard that. So here's the thing.
If you want pop psychology and you want self-help, you could go talk to a licensed counselor, right? If you want financial advice, you can go talk to a financial advisor. If you want advice about health, you can talk to a dietician or a fitness trainer.
But if you wanna hear the Bible taught and preached,.
Where do you go?
You go to a church. And yet so many are not preaching the word. And really, believe it or not, this isn't something we're used to here, but believe it or not, expository preaching is actually quite rare these days.
So if pastors, this is the question I asked, if pastors and Bible teachers don't preach the Bible,.
Who will?
I think the answer is pretty clear.
Nobody will.
This is becoming more and more common as time goes on. So that is the importance of expository preaching. So when churches abandon expository preaching, something has to fill the void, right? You take that out, something has to come in to take its place.
So if there's no expository preaching, what takes its place? Well, usually if the Bible is preached at all, it's topical sermons and sermon series. Maybe there'll be a four, six, eight week series on a particular subject.
Now, is there anything wrong with that? Well, no, not necessarily, because I think it's safe to say just about every pastor on earth preaches topical sermons. Would you agree with that?
I think it's important.
Because there's things that need to be addressed. The Lord will lay something on the pastor's heart. So there's nothing wrong with topical sermons. We do it all the time. Nothing wrong with that. Same with a sermon series.
There's nothing wrong with doing a sermon series, but here's the thing. If that's all there is, if it's always a topical sermon, if it's always a sermon series, the danger is it is very easy for certain subjects to be either intentionally avoided or unintentionally avoided.
There was a famous televangelist on TV years ago, and he proudly stated, he said, I don't preach on certain subjects.
Subject of hell.
He said, I do not preach on that subject. There's a famous televangelist today. Again, he says, I don't teach on sin and those subjects. I don't preach on it. And you know, I really wonder what would Jesus say about that?
If Jesus could come and hear that statement, I don't preach on this. I don't preach on that. You've all heard the statement. Jesus preached more about hell than he did about heaven. Jesus taught about some of these things.
So if a pastor says, I refuse to preach on it, what do you think Jesus would say?
Well, I don't know.
I don't know exactly what Jesus would say to some of these positive only preachers, but I get the impression it wouldn't be positive if you understand what I'm saying. So would Jesus approve? Would the apostles approve?
I don't think so. And I can't help but wonder if they refuse to preach on those subjects, what else are they avoiding? Well, expository preaching, it forces us. It forces us to cover certain subjects that we might not have covered otherwise.
And to be honest, there might be some subjects that just wouldn't come to mind. It's not that I'm intentionally avoiding something, but if I'm going through chapter by chapter, verse by verse, I am going to be touching on whatever the Bible says.
And this is important. I think expository preaching gives the Holy Spirit a voice in the local church. Because if you ignore the word, if it's just my message, then are you really hearing from the Holy Spirit?
So I've told you this many times, speaking of man's message, I give my opinion, you know that. We can't talk for too long without giving our viewpoints and our opinions. And I've told you this before, I'll tell you again, if you disagree with me on some secondary issue, some third tier issue, if you agree with my opinion, or if you disagree with it, feel free to disagree.
That is fine. This church for a long time has tried to preserve Christian liberty. And if you want to disagree with something, some issue that's off to the side, go right ahead. But every member of this church is required to believe what?
The fundamental teachings of the faith. To believe the Bible. Someone who comes in and visits for the first time or a few times, they don't have to believe it, but church members do. And really all saved Christians are to believe the essential doctrines of Christianity.
We're not going to agree 100 of things, 100 of the time, and that is okay. But what keeps us unified here? And in a sense, I think expository preaching is one of the things that keeps us unified because it shows that we have a high view of scripture.
We have a high view of this book. If we ignore this book, we'd have a very low view of it. So one of the things that keeps us unified is our love for Christ and our commitment to believing that the Bible is the inerrant and infallible word of God.
If this is truly the word of God, how can we not go through it chapter by chapter, verse by verse? And really our love for Christ and our love for his word, all the people here agreeing that this book is the word of God, that is the glue that keeps us together.
There's people in this church that are different. You have different personalities, different interests. What's the glue that keeps us together? You say, well, it's Christ. Christ is the glue.
I agree with that.
But how do you know anything about Christ? Tell me something about Christ that you didn't get from this book.
You can't do it.
Because this is how we know who Christ is and what he did. My friends, this is where the mainline denominations.
Went wrong.
And I'm not saying this to be critical, it's just the fact. This is where they went wrong. They started to question or critique the word of God. They weren't really sure if it was inerrant, that everything was true.
And once they did that, the glue that held them together was taken away. Now, if you go to Europe, there are many large churches and cathedrals that once contained congregations of hundreds, if not thousands.
Many of those churches today, they're empty. Some of them are being turned into museums and that should break our heart. And it's starting to happen here in the United States. So we preach through the Bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse, because number one, that's what we're supposed to do.
Number two, it ensures that God's message is communicated and not man's message. And number three, the word of God grows people spiritually. So turn, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter one. 1 Peter chapter one.
In the scripture reading this morning, we read Matthew 4, 4. You remember what Jesus said? He said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And you see there that Jesus compares the word of God to what?
Well, he compares it at times to food, right? Give us this day our daily bread. In 1 Peter chapter one, Peter does the same thing. And he says here that we have been born again through the word of God.
Let's read 1 Peter chapter one, starting in verse 23. Peter says, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides forever, because all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
And the grass withers and the flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word by which the gospel was preached to you. Therefore laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby.
So the third reason of why expository preaching is important is it causes us to grow. It causes us to grow spiritually. When you have a little baby, what does the little baby need? The little baby needs milk or maybe formula these days,.
But it's milk, right?
So the little baby has the milk and that's all the baby can handle. So a new Christian, someone who doesn't really know all the ins and outs, they need the milk of the word. But once you start to grow, then you get into what?
You get into the solid food. You get into the meat of the word as we grow and we learn more. And that's what the scripture does. It is food for our souls. It is food for our spirit. So it's important to hear expository preaching.
And it's important for you to read the Bible on your own. It's important for you to have a devotional time where you set aside some time every day for reading the Bible and prayer. And let me encourage you to go even a little further, study the Bible for yourself.
You might say, well, I just, I can't figure it out or I don't know that I can do that. You can do it. Just start small, start small. Take a New Testament book. Find out who wrote it, why they wrote it, who they were writing to.
Ask all of those questions when studying who, what, when, where, why, how. Does this apply to me? How does it apply to me? Cross-reference, compare scripture with scripture. And remember one thing, because I know a lot of people these days have studied Bibles and commentaries are out there.
There's an abundance of commentaries. Just remember the notes in the study Bible, the notes are not the Bible. So the notes can be wrong. Sometimes commentaries can be wrong, but they can be very helpful.
And when studying the Bible, I know it's common for us to say, well, here's what this verse means to me. A lot of people say that. Just remember one thing. The real question is what does it mean, right?
Not so much, what does it mean to me? I understand that. I probably say it too, but the real question is what does it mean? So study the scripture, show yourself approved by God. So this is why we have expository preaching at Morris Corner Church.
And it is so important, so important to preach through a book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Now I want to move to the second part of the message. So the message is the importance of expository preaching and why we sing the hymns.
So why do we do what we do here at Morris Corner Church? Why do we sing the hymns? Well, you could say, well, it's just something we've always done. Isn't that true? We've always sung the hymns. And it's actually true that it wasn't that long ago that I think just about every church in America sung the hymns.
But as you know, that type of thing is changing. It's really changing at a rapid rate. You know why congregational singing is so important? Because we're all involved. We're all involved together in the worship of God.
We're all taking part. So it is so important to sing the hymns and sing them together. So important. So let me just start off. Before I go any further, let me just say this, because I don't want anyone to misunderstand me.
I do not have an issue with choirs, solos, praise. I think you know that, but just in case. I don't have an issue with any of that stuff. The Bible gives us no explicit commandment about this. So again, to protect Christian liberty, we wouldn't say that that's wrong or that's wrong or different types of music is wrong necessarily.
So I want you to understand that. So I don't take issue with that, but there is one thing I do take issue with. And this is the idea that traditional worship or formal traditional worship, I take issue with the idea that some people have that traditional worship is dead.
I went to an event where the worship was very contemporary. I would call it ultra contemporary. There wasn't an organ or a King James Bible anywhere in sight. Okay, it was a contemporary worship service.
And I was talking to a woman and she said to me, she said, why visited this church? And I went in and I couldn't believe it. She said, they still sing the hymns. She said, that church was dead. This was a pastor's wife who told me this.
And I thought, wow.
I mean, you say, well, that's just one person. That's just one person. That type of attitude is out there, believe it or not. You know, we're just stuck in the past or something. So some people have the idea that they're talking about spiritual life.
They think, there are those people out there that think, unless you have a rock band and you're swinging and swaying with the music, then you don't really have any spiritual life. Well, I always go back to the same thing.
What does the Bible say about this? I can't help it. That's what I always think. Well, what does the Bible say about that? You have an opinion, I have an opinion. What does the scripture say? Is that really the test of spirituality?
Now, what's the test of spirituality? I think about it. Shouldn't the fruit of the spirit be the test of spirituality? Love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Isn't that the test? But many have the idea that, unless you're dancing or swaying or getting highly emotional in worship, then you don't really have any spiritual life. And I'm not here to critique those who do get a little more excited and emotional than we do.
But I think about this in the Bible because I think, okay, where are they getting this from? What does the scripture say? Where can I find an example in the Bible where the people were getting kind of loud and emotional and sort of out of control?
The thing that I automatically think of is the worship of the golden calf. That's what the Bible says, that the people, they worship the golden calf and they rose up to play.
And you remember the story,.
Moses heard the commotion all the way up the mountain. And he came down and he wasn't very happy about it. Then David, King David, what did he do? He danced before the Lord, right? With all of his might.
Presumably, that was his expression of worship. And whatever you think about it, one thing I know for sure, that event led to his divorce. So back in Nehemiah chapter eight, where we started, it says that the people, they bowed their heads to the ground.
It says they worshiped. Yeah, they called out a few amens, but that was really the extent of it. Other than that, they just stood there and they listened and they listened for hours. They were doing this for hours.
Hey, listen, you're only here for an hour and you get to sit down. You're getting out of it easy, okay? 1 Corinthians 14, the apostle Paul warns the church not to be acting out. Don't act in such a way where people would walk in and they would see a big commotion because they're going to think you're crazy, Paul says.
He tells the church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 14, he said, let all things be done decently and in order. And that's sort of been a motto here at Morse Corner Church for a long time. Let all things be done decently and in order.
It sort of keeps us from having some of these problems that the Corinthian church had. So worship in the Old Testament, it was done decently and in order. Remember Jesus, when he sat with the disciples at the last supper, what did they do?
They sat calmly and they talked about things that were really important. They didn't yelp and shout and roll on the ground and do laps around the church. And I know you think, well, you're exaggerating.
People don't really do that. Yes, they do. Go online, watch the video. Yes, they do. It's actually quite common. The pastoral epistles, 1 Timothy, Titus,.
What do they give us?
Church order, how to behave in the house of God. So I firmly believe we're not perfect, okay? We're not perfect, but I firmly believe we do these things because we're doing it God's way. Now, listen, if you want to shout out an amen,.
Go ahead and do that.
If you want to shout out a hallelujah,.
If you want to raise your arm while we're singing the music, go ahead and do that. Just don't let someone tell you that you have to be highly emotional in order to be spiritual because they're not necessarily the same thing.
So why do we sing the hymns? I always like to have a proof text, right? You say there is no proof text for the hymns. Hold on a second. Matthew 26, 30 says that Jesus and the apostles.
Sung a hymn.
So there you go, it's in the Bible.
Amen, yes.
I know people say, well, it's a tradition. It's part of being traditional. I wouldn't disagree with that. But what's really important is our motivation and the content of what is in the song. That's what is really important.
So I don't judge people who do it differently. That's not the point. But motivation and content, that is what matters. You know, a lot of churches, they do have a praise band or a rock band. They have electric guitar.
Hey, I like electric guitars. I like amplifiers. I like that stuff. I'm not sure about it in church, okay? But some do it, some churches have a rock band. You know why they do that? They do it to appeal to people on the outside.
They do it to try to bring people in. Matter of fact, some mega churches now are actually having rap music in their services in order to try to attract unbelievers. Their attitude is, well, the apostle Paul said, "'I become all things to all men "'so that by all means I might save some.'".
Okay, maybe that's in context, maybe it isn't. But I would agree with this. If the desire is to reach people, that's a good desire.
If that's the desire, then it's a good desire. But if the motivation is just to bring as many people in as possible, no matter what the cost, that is something else. So two points to remember here. In trying to reach people, and this is true, what you win them with is what you win them to.
If you win them with the world, what have you done? You've won them to the world,.
Which they're already won to the world,.
So you haven't really accomplished much. And really, churches are not entertainment centers. We have a good time here. We have fun, we enjoy it, but a church is not an entertainment center. You do not come here, hopefully, to be entertained.
If you want entertainment or if you want fun and games, you can go to Chuck E. Cheese. If you want fun and games, you can go to Six Flags. But if you want worship or a house of worship, you go to a traditional Bible preaching church.
Number two, the church is the assembly of believers. In trying to reach people, we need to remember the church, what is the church? It's not the building, okay? It's not the pews, the carpet, the walls, the pulpit, the stained glass.
The church is the assembly of believers. So church services should be geared towards the saints. That's what church is. And when churches gear worship or gear their service to those on the outside, that either shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what the church is, or at worst, it is an overturning of what Christ has ordained.
You know, we could talk about other things. You know, why do I dress up? You know, do you think I like wearing a shirt and tie? Do you think I wear a shirt and tie at home? If you were to show up to my house Monday evening, do you think I'm gonna have this shirt and tie?
I'm not gonna be wearing this, okay?
Why do I do that?
Why don't I just roll out of bed and come in here with whatever jeans and a T-shirt and sneak? And I don't, again, I don't judge anyone.
For what they're wearing.
Why do I do this? I just do it out of, it's a matter of reverence and respect, right? If someone invites me to a wedding, I dress up out of respect. If I go to a funeral, I dress up out of respect. Is God any less worthy of reverence and respect?
That's just me, and this is not a commandment so people can do what they want, but that's why I do what I do. It's just a matter of trying to show God that I have respect for his house.
That's all it is.
Other things. Why do we have a fixed pulpit and a cross front and center here in the church? When you walk in, front and center, you have the pulpit and the cross, right? What does that do? It sends a message.
It sends a message. If you walk in, and I'm not passing judgment, I'm just saying, if you walk into a church and front and center, there's a drum set in a spinning globe, that does send a message. So what message should the church be sending?
Now, at this point, before we close, some people are gonna really like this sermon. There'll be a few who probably don't, but that's okay. Going back to the subject of hymns, I want to compare, this should be a fun exercise, hopefully.
Just a little exercise comparing a traditional hymn with a modern praise and worship song. And I will let you be the judge, okay? Just remember, I'm not saying that modern music is bad. I am not saying that.
Again, music, this is a secondary issue. It's not a gospel issue, but it is a relevant issue in the church today. So here are two examples. Again, you be the judge. Here are the lyrics of a popular praise song by an extremely popular artist.
These are the words. This is the air I breathe. This is the air I breathe. Your holy presence living in me. That part's pretty good. I'm desperate for you. I'm lost without you. I'm lost without you. I'm desperate for you.
I'm lost without you. I'm lost without you. I'm lost with, you understand the point yet? Very repetitive. Sometimes they're called 7 -11 choruses, seven words sung 11 times. And believe it or not, there are songs I've heard, it's three words sung like 35 times.
But there's very little, little to no scriptural or theological content.
Yeah.
And it's funny with some of these songs, I know some of you have noticed this. If you were to just change one word in the song, it could very easily be about someone's boyfriend.
Or girlfriend.
So here are a few lines from a hymn. Alas, and did my savior bleed and did my sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head for sinners such as I? Was it for sins that I have done? He suffered on that tree.
Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree. At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day.
Well, my opinion, there's no comparison. So you may have noticed again, that praise song had little to no scriptural or theological content. That hymn, however, essential parts of the gospel message were in that song.
So why do we sing the hymns? That's why, that is why. Now, on the other hand, are we willing to accept new songs? Are we just stuck in the past or we refuse to change our ways? No, we are willing to accept new songs.
We do all the time. And there's a lot of good music coming out these days. You've got to sort through it a little bit, but it is out there. So if it's glorifying to God, then amen. And we will accept it.
So in conclusion, why do we do the things that we do here at Morris Corner Church? Well, we have expository preaching and we sing the hymns because I am convinced that this is the way that we can bring the maximum amount of glory to God.
Why do we have topical sermons? Well, we do it because the word, we have a high view of scripture and we want to know what the scripture says. We want the Holy Spirit to have a voice here in the local church.
Do we have topical sermons? And I want to just clear this up because I know someone's going to point this out. This technically is a topical sermon.
I understand that.
But we're starting the new book, Expository Preaching, next week. Yes, we sing the hymns. We're not against other music. The only music I'm against is bad music. That's the only music I'm against. And who knows, the day might come where we have a praise team here at Morris Corner Church.
Again, I know some of you wouldn't like that. Some of you would, but you know what's important is not that someone has an idea and we force it upon the church. It has to be of God, really. It has to be of God.
But I can tell you one thing, as long as I'm the pastor, I will never abandon the hymns and I will never abandon expository preaching. So that's why we do the things that we do. It's not just because of tradition.
It's not just because people did it in times past. There are real reasons to stick to the old path,.
The old ways.