Mr Edwards, how should we preach? (ii)

See part one here.

6) Plead for a Response
Edwards said 'sinners should be earnestly invited to come and accept of a savior, and yield their hearts unto him, with all the winning, encouraging arguments for the that the Gospel affords.' If we believe that responding to the Gospel is a matter of life and death, then we must urge people who are listening to us to respond. History proves, a Piper puts it that 'God has been pleased to give awakening power from preaching that does not shrink back from the loving threatening of the Lord, and that lavish the saints with the incomparable promises of grace, and that pleads passionately and longingly that no one hear the word of God in vain.'

7) Probe The Workings Of The Heart
Sereno Dwight said of Edwards 'his knowledge of the human heart and its operations has scarcely been equaled by that of any uninspired preacher.'  But this knowledge didn't come from a psychology text book, it came from his time alone with the Bible. If we want to know the heart, we must know the One who made the heart, after all. Dwight also wrote that 'much of his insight into the human heart came from his thorough acquaintance with his own heart. Edwards knew his Bible, and he knew himself, so he knew his listeners.

8) Yield To The Holy Spirit In Prayer
How poor and half hearted my prayers for my own preaching often are. Almost an afterthought once outlines and handouts have been prepared! This was not so for Edwards who said 'ministers...should walk closely with God, and keep near to Christ; that they may be enlightened by him. And they should be much with him by prayer, who is the fountain of light and love.' If i believed less in myself and more in the Lord, i would pray more over my preaching. Good preaching is born of good praying.

9) Be Broken And Tenderhearted
Matthew 11:29 describes Jesus as 'gentle and lowly in heart.' He was a refuge for the weary and the hopeless. Jesus, for all His power, was tender. So power and persuasion and pleading in preaching is not mutually exclusive with tenderness and vulnerability. Again, not a hipster vulnerability that the times demand of us, but a vulnerability born of knowing the great promises and penalties of God. We catch the heart of this in his words; 'all gracious affections...are brokenhearted affections. A truly Christian love...is a humble, brokenhearted love. The desires of the saints, however earnest, are humble desires. Their hope is a humble hope; and their joy, even when unspeakable and full of glory, is a humble, brokenhearted joy.'

10) Be Intense
Something very great is at stake when we preach. You'd something was wrong with the man who could call his wife or children out of a burning building with no urgency or passion. How much more of the stand-offish preacher? It should be impossible to be blase about the realities we study and speak about. If they are impressed on our heart, and if we love our people, it will be. On this topic Sereno Dwight said; 'the power of presenting an important truth before an audience, the overwhelming weight of argument, and with such intensity of feeling, that the whole soul of the speaker is thrown into every part of the conception and delivery; so that the solemn attention of the whole audience is riveted, from the beginning to the close, and impressions are left that can not be effaced.