Biblical Preaching

Nehemiah 8:8 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

This text is my favorite description of Biblical preaching. They opened the Word of God. They read it clearly, distinctly. They gave the sense, made people understand what was being said. They caused them to understand what they were reading. Tell me this isn’t beautiful. There is so much said and unsaid here. They were talking about what the Word of God said. They were explaining it. Therefore they were not giving a political or moral opinion unless it was clearly stated in the Scripture. The message started with the Word of God and stayed with the Word of God. They were only reading and understanding. That is so much different than what we call preaching today. To read the book of the law, which they did for hours, meant that they read more than cherry-picked passages. It meant that they were getting a reading of the Word. They were getting what God said not what the speaker thought. They even had people standing with them on the platform to make sure that what they were saying was what was in the text. So it was real Biblical preaching. Do you attend a church that reads the Bible, doesn’t just close it, but explains what was read. Would the message you hear each week come from the Bible, stay with the Bible, and end in the Bible? We need Biblical preaching. We need less human opinion and more just give me the Bible.