by Arthur W. Pink
by Arthur W. Pink
Philologos Religious Online Books
Philologos.org
by Arthur W. Pink
June, 1937
Experimental Preaching
Our principle object in these articles is, under God, to open the eyes of preachers (to quite a number of whom this magazine is sent) to see the necessity and importance of taking up some of the soul-exercises which occasion so much concern to their most interested hearers, and to offer some suggestions along what lines this may be accomplished. Incidentally, we are endeavouring to make them of interest and profit to the general reader as well. Much skill and spiritual wisdom are required to speak on those subjects which more immediately affect the experience of Christians, and those are acquired only by the anointing of the Spirit and a careful analysis and diagnosis of our own inward life. It is just as requisite for the preacher to make a study of the human heart, as to be assiduous in the reading of books, otherwise he will not know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.
To know what our spiritual state really is, and what our practical acquaintance with Christ actually amounts to is most desirable and profitable, for it arms us against our spiritual enemies, puts a stop to doubting, and causes us to glory in the Lord. But to describe clearly and declare fully the influences and operations of the Spirit within us, as they truly are, is a very difficult task. It is much easier to preach the doctrine of grace, than to describe the effects of it when applied to the heart of God. It is to those portions of the Word which treat most directly and largely with the exercises of the heart that the preacher should turn, both for guidance and material. Much in the Book of Job and in the Lamentations will afford help; but it is in the Psalms more particularly that the Spirit has recorded the varied breathings and traced out the diverse experiences of “the living in Jerusalem.”
True Christian experience may be defined as the teaching of God in the soul, an inward acquaintance with Divine things. It is a feeling sense of their reality, in contrast from a mere notional and theoretical knowledge of them, so that we know them not “in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance” (1 Thess. 1:5). It is the Spirit's application of the Truth to the soul, so that what is written in the Word is now inscribed on the heart. This supplies demonstration of what before was intangible and unreal, the Divine verities have become known realities. The soul can now say of God, “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee” (Job 42:5). He knows that God is holy, for he has been made painfully conscious of the exceeding sinfulness of sin; he knows that “the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18), for he has felt the same, scorching his own conscience. He knows that He is “the God of all grace,” for he has “tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:3).
Christian experience is the teaching of God in the soul and the effects this produces. Those effects may be, broadly, summed up in two words, pain and pleasure, sorrow and gladness, mourning and rejoicing. The natural world adumbrates the spiritual: as there is a continual alternation between spring and autumn, summer and winter, so there is in the history of the soul. He who gives rain and sunshine, also sends droughts and biting frosts; likewise does He grant fresh supplies of grace and then withhold the same, and also sends grievous afflictions and sore tribulations. Herein is His high sovereignty conspicuously displayed; as there are some lands which enjoy far more sunshine than others, so some of His elect experience more of joy than sorrow; and as there are parts of the earth where there is far more cold than heat, so there are some of God's children who are called on to suffer more of adversity—both inward and outward—than of prosperity. Unless this be clearly recognized we shall be without the principle key which unlocks the profoundest mysteries of life.
But while there is great diversity in the lot of different Christians, there is an underlying unity. In incidentals there is infinite variety, but in fundamentals there is a real agreement. This may be illustrated by the analogy furnished from the members and groups of the human family. What differences of form, feature, and complexion, distinguishes individuals one from another! Where, out of all mankind, can we find two persons precisely alike? Nevertheless, how much greater is their resemblance than their dissimilarity. Take any man, black or white, red or yellow, and then place him by the side of a horse or cow, and it at once appears that an impassable gulf separates the lowest man from the highest animal. Yet of any two men, taken at random from the remotest nationalities, and their greatest contrast is but as nothing when compared to their general resemblance. The differences are but superficial and on the surface.
Let us now apply the above illustration to the spiritual family of God. Here too there are many variations, yet an underlying oneness; differences of specie, yet but a single genus. Each of the twelve tribes of Israel had its distinctive individuality, yet they formed a single nation. Peter was quite different from Nathanael, and Thomas from John, yet they were equally dear to Christ and equally gave proof they belonged to Him. The differences are patent because they lie on the surface, as freckles and wrinkles are seen on the face; whereas bones and muscles, arteries and nerves—the real stamina of the body—are unseen. Some believers have more faith than others, some more courage, some more gentleness. Some believers have a lighter burden to carry. Allowance must be made for temperament, heredity, environment, privileges, etc.; yet notwithstanding, all have the same cast of spiritual features, speak the same language, evidence the same stock, and stand out as distinct from the unregenerate as men differ from beasts.
“We must not make the experience of others, in all respects, a rule to ourselves, nor our own a rule to others; yet these are common mistakes. Though all are exercised at times, yet some pass through the voyage of life much more smoothly than others” (John Newton). Excellent counsel is contained in those words, and some of God's dear children would be spared many an heartache if they would but heed it. There are some who know the very hour and place where they were first converted, but there are others who cannot even single out the year when their hearts were first really turned to the Lord, and because they cannot, they grieve, and doubt the reality of their conversion. This is very silly, for God does not deal with all of His people in the manner he dealt with the dying thief and Saul of Tarsus. Moreover, the genuineness of conversion is not to be determined by its suddenness or drastic character, but rather by its lasting effects and fruits.
“The wind bloweth where it listeth . . . . so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). The figure which Christ there employed is very suggestive. Sometimes the wind blows so softly it is almost imperceptible; at other times it comes with hurricane velocity and power. It is so in connection with the new birth. In some cases there is long travail and much hard labour, in others the deliverance is speedy and easy. There is no uniformity in the natural realm; nor is there in the spiritual. If “order” be Heaven's first law, endless variety and diversity is surely its second. As we have said above, considerable allowance must be made (in our calculation and consideration) of what is termed the “accidentals” of life, though of course there are no accidents in a world where everything has; been ordained by God. Those reared in a godly home, and who have sat under sound preaching from earliest days, can hardly expect the Spirit's application of the Word to produce so drastic a conscious change as those who were comparative strangers of the Truth when God first meets with them.
The same thing is true of the experiences which follow conversion. Some long retain their newborn peace and joy, while others quickly come under a cloud and are shut up for years in “doubting castle.” It is often due to the lopsided and deficient teaching they sit under, for there are some preachers who, if they do not plainly say so, at least convey the impression that it is sinful for any one to be joyful in this world. There is a class of spiritual dyspeptics who are never happy unless they are miserable, and the influence of such is very chilling upon those who are still enjoying their “first love.” But more generally the blame for losing his assurance lies at the young convert's own door: failure to separate from worldly companions will grieve the Spirit and cause Him to withhold His witness; while neglect of private prayer and daily feeding on the Word will give the Enemy an advantage which he will be quick to seize.
But even where there is a complete break from ungodly companions, and where the means of grace are diligently used, the joy of conversion is usually short-lived. Nor is this surprising: deeper discoveries of our depravity must sober those with the most exuberant spirits, and cause groans to mingle with their songs. At conversion sin is only stunned, and not killed, and sooner or later it revives and seeks to recover its lost ground, and gain complete mastery again over the heart. This presents a painful problem to the babe in Christ, for unless he has been previously instructed, he naturally thought he was completely done with sin when he gave himself to the Lord. It was his sincere and deep desire to henceforth live a holy life, and the sight he now obtains of his corruptions, his weakness in the face of temptations, the sad falls he encounters, awaken serious doubts in his heart, and Satan promptly assures him that he has been deceived, that his conversion was not a genuine one after all.
It is at this stage that the distressed and fearing young saint is in need of real help. Alas, only too often he is hindered and stumbles. Some will laugh at his fears and say “to the winds with your doubts.” The absurdity of such a course may be exposed by drawing an analogy. What good would it do to jeer at one who has a splitting headache or a raging toothache? Would it afford him any relief to say, You are foolish to harbour the thought that all is not well with you? Or to tell the poor sufferer that he is simply heeding the Devil's suggestions? “Physicians of no value” are all such Job's comforters. They do not understand the malady, nor can they prescribe the remedy; and if we yield ourselves to their guidance, being blind themselves, they can but lead us into “the ditch.” Beware, my reader, of those who mock at souls in despair.
“Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people” (Isa. 62:10). This word to God's servant is most pertinent to the case we are now considering. To “gather out the stones” from the path of experience of a tried saint is as much a part of the minister's work as it is for him to “lift up a standard.” Now that which is stumbling our young convert is the discovery of his (unsuspected) inward corruptions, the power which sin still has over him, and the fact that earnest prayer seems to produce no change for the better. Only one who has himself known these stumbling stones in his own soul is qualified to take them out of the way of others; in fact the preacher knows nothing in reality of any branch of the Truth, except as he has felt its necessity, suitableness and power in his own experience. We must ourselves be helped of God before we can be of service to His needy people.
It is the preacher's business to point out that corruptions are no evidence of grace, yet that grace manifests corruptions, causes its recipient to strive against them, and groan beneath them. The sighs of a wounded spirit, the cries for deliverance from the ragings of indwelling sin, the sinkings of soul amidst the turbulent waves of depravity, are evidences of spiritual life, and he who sneers at such is a Pharisee, despises a poor publican. Many of God's people are greatly harassed with temptations, frequently buffeted by Satan, and deeply exercised over the workings of sin in their hearts; and for them to learn that this is the common experience of the regenerate strengthens their hope and moves them to renew their struggles against their spiritual foes. It means much to a sorely tried and deeply perplexed Christian to learn that his minister is “also his brother and companion in tribulation” (Rev. 1:9).
Much wisdom and grace are needed here if the preacher is to be both faithful and helpful. On the one hand, he must not lower God's standard to his own poor attainments, nor must he give any countenance to failure. Sin in the believer is as vile in God's sight as sin in the unbeliever, and the allowance of it doubly reprehensible, for in the case of a believer it is against more light, fuller knowledge, greater privilege, deeper obligations. Unbelief is not to be pitied, doubtings are not to be condoned, falls are not to be excused. Sin must be frankly confessed to God, failures penitently acknowledged, all that is of the flesh condemned by us. On the other hand, the minister must be much on his guard lest by unnecessary roughness the bruised reed be broken and the smoking flax be quenched. Feeble knees are to be strengthened and not ignored, and the hands which hang down are to be lifted up. Patience, too, must be exercised, for as old heads do not grow on young shoulders, neither are raw recruits as well versed in spiritual warfare as the veterans of Christ's army.
There are some godly ministers who have failed to express themselves consistently with their own actual experience and with that of other holy persons, and thereby the faith and hope of gracious souls are weakened and dismayed, and occasion is given unto unbelief to more completely prevail over them. Perhaps some ministers are fearful that if they speak too plainly and freely about their own failures and falls, the impression will be conveyed that Divine grace is an empty expression, rather than a powerful deterrent to sin. But such a fear is quite needless: surely none should hesitate to be as frank as was the Apostle Paul in Romans 7—and none was more jealous of the glory of Divine grace than he! But we suspect that in some instances it is pride which dominates, causing the preacher to be ashamed of acknowledging his own vileness, fearful lest his people will cease to look up to him as a spiritual giant.
Here too these are two extremes to be guarded against; whilst we are far from advocating that the preacher should make it a practice of referring to his own spiritual ups and downs in every sermon, yet we are convinced that he has failed in discharging an important branch of his duty if he never makes reference to his own experiences. The servant of God is not only a herald, but a witness as well, and how can he feelingly testify to the longsuffering of God, unless he affirms that He has exercised infinite patience to such a wretch as himself? In like manner, he should bear personal witness to the ceaseless conflict between the two natures in the regenerate, the ragings of sin against grace, the surgings of unbelief against faith, the eclipses of hope by doubtings. True, this should always be done in a spirit of humiliation and self-loathing, never minimizing the sinfulness of sin, and still less glorying in his “putrefying sores.”
There should be a balance preserved between describing how a Christian ought to live and how the Christian does live—how far short the falls of measuring up to the standard which God has set before him, that “in many things we offend all” (James 3:2). There should also be a balance preserved between the reproving of failure and a setting forth of the gracious provisions which God has made for the meeting of the same. There must be no hesitation in proclaiming the sufficiency of Christ to deal with the most desperate cases, His compassion for the most wretched sufferers, His readiness to hear the feeblest cry which goes up from a penitent heart. The groaning saint is to be exhorted unto cultivating the freest possible dealings with the Friend of publicans and sinners, and assured that He is as ready and willing to minister unto the needy now as when He tabernacled here on earth, for He is “the same yesterday and today and forever” and “His compassions fail not.”
As the young convert, distressed by the discovery of the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of his heart, is to be informed that that is no proof he is still unregenerate, so he is to be told that the ragings of sin within him are no occasion why he should turn away from the Throne of Grace, but rather a reason why he should go boldly thereto, that he may “obtain mercy.” While he is to be frequently exhorted unto keeping his heart with all diligence, and the necessity, importance, and method thereof explained to him, he is also to be warned that his most diligent efforts therein will meet with very imperfect success. He is to be instructed that the spiritual warfare to which God has called him, the good fight of faith in which he is to be daily engaged, is a lifelong task, and that sincerity and faithfulness therein, rather than victory, is what God requires. The wounds which he receives in this warfare are so many reasons for him to constantly have recourse to the Great Physician.—A.W.P.
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