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Listen "How Do I Grow in My Faith? (Hebrews 10:5-18)"
Episode Synopsis
https://youtu.be/mx-NMpAcFoA?si=BWkyMztF3NeUC4CM
Introduction: Expository Preaching
This morning, we have come to the middle section of Hebrews chapter 10. Similar to what we saw last week in Hebrews 9 is jam-packed with all sorts of doctrinal lessons and implications. Lots of theology is being taught. Like I said last week, Hebrews chapter 9 and into chapter 10, this section of Scripture is like a giant squid with hundreds of tentacles and arms reaching into every theological topic, debate, and subgenre of theological study. It is nearly impossible to discuss any topic of theology without having some need or obligation to consult this particular passage of Scripture. Yet again, rather than giving you 10 or 12 sermons from this passage, which we easily could, we will do just one.
Quick side note on my philosophy of preaching and what we're hoping to cultivate here at Horizon City. We are committed to expository preaching. We're going through books of the Bible over several weeks or months and looking verse by verse, passage by passage. We believe in expository preaching. But there are different flavors of expository preaching out there. So people say they're expository. That doesn't necessarily mean they're all the same. There are different philosophies, different approaches, and there are some that are not necessarily bad; they're just different.
Then there are some that I would say are not so good. There are various categories in that way. The particular flavor that I have when it comes to expository preaching is, in layman's terms, what we would call the one-point sermon. One main point, then any subpoints or sub-ideas, are simply reinforcing or expounding upon that one point. The philosophy is simply that people only remember one thing. By the time you leave, you've forgotten most of what I said. The reality is you're not going to remember most things.
Some preachers take the approach that they're going to give you a lot of different points, and they just hope you remember one or two, and everyone's going to remember a different one. Kind of like the adage, you throw enough stuff at the wall, eventually something will stick. That's the philosophy. I don't think that's necessarily bad or wrong. It's just different than my approach. My approach is I want to give you a one-point sermon, and I want to drill it over and over and over again.
The hope is that you remember the one thing that we want to drill home. When we're doing expository preaching, the hope is that the one point of the sermon matches the one point of the passage that the original author intended. So when the writer of Hebrews is writing these verses in the middle part of chapter 10, he has a particular point in mind. The hope would be that my one-point sermon matches the one point that he was making in the middle part of Hebrews, chapter 10.
If he is making a point and I am making a different point, then I'm not accurately representing what the writer of Hebrews was seeking to articulate. I think I've seen that in sermons. I've probably been guilty of it at times in my life. Where you take a passage of scripture and you manipulate it. You use the scripture as an excuse to say what you want to say rather than accurately representing what the original author intended to say. So the goal is not, What am I getting out of this? The goal is, What did the writer of Hebrews intend to communicate to his audience? We want our sermons to be in line with that.
That's our overarching goal. In addition to that, when it comes to our philosophy of preaching, we also want our sermons to then take that one point that the author made, and we want to connect it to Christ in one way or another. We want to go, how does this one point from this passage shed light on Jesus? What does this one point give us that we didn't know before about the person and work of Christ?
One way we do this is to have communion every single week. In sermon prep,
Introduction: Expository Preaching
This morning, we have come to the middle section of Hebrews chapter 10. Similar to what we saw last week in Hebrews 9 is jam-packed with all sorts of doctrinal lessons and implications. Lots of theology is being taught. Like I said last week, Hebrews chapter 9 and into chapter 10, this section of Scripture is like a giant squid with hundreds of tentacles and arms reaching into every theological topic, debate, and subgenre of theological study. It is nearly impossible to discuss any topic of theology without having some need or obligation to consult this particular passage of Scripture. Yet again, rather than giving you 10 or 12 sermons from this passage, which we easily could, we will do just one.
Quick side note on my philosophy of preaching and what we're hoping to cultivate here at Horizon City. We are committed to expository preaching. We're going through books of the Bible over several weeks or months and looking verse by verse, passage by passage. We believe in expository preaching. But there are different flavors of expository preaching out there. So people say they're expository. That doesn't necessarily mean they're all the same. There are different philosophies, different approaches, and there are some that are not necessarily bad; they're just different.
Then there are some that I would say are not so good. There are various categories in that way. The particular flavor that I have when it comes to expository preaching is, in layman's terms, what we would call the one-point sermon. One main point, then any subpoints or sub-ideas, are simply reinforcing or expounding upon that one point. The philosophy is simply that people only remember one thing. By the time you leave, you've forgotten most of what I said. The reality is you're not going to remember most things.
Some preachers take the approach that they're going to give you a lot of different points, and they just hope you remember one or two, and everyone's going to remember a different one. Kind of like the adage, you throw enough stuff at the wall, eventually something will stick. That's the philosophy. I don't think that's necessarily bad or wrong. It's just different than my approach. My approach is I want to give you a one-point sermon, and I want to drill it over and over and over again.
The hope is that you remember the one thing that we want to drill home. When we're doing expository preaching, the hope is that the one point of the sermon matches the one point of the passage that the original author intended. So when the writer of Hebrews is writing these verses in the middle part of chapter 10, he has a particular point in mind. The hope would be that my one-point sermon matches the one point that he was making in the middle part of Hebrews, chapter 10.
If he is making a point and I am making a different point, then I'm not accurately representing what the writer of Hebrews was seeking to articulate. I think I've seen that in sermons. I've probably been guilty of it at times in my life. Where you take a passage of scripture and you manipulate it. You use the scripture as an excuse to say what you want to say rather than accurately representing what the original author intended to say. So the goal is not, What am I getting out of this? The goal is, What did the writer of Hebrews intend to communicate to his audience? We want our sermons to be in line with that.
That's our overarching goal. In addition to that, when it comes to our philosophy of preaching, we also want our sermons to then take that one point that the author made, and we want to connect it to Christ in one way or another. We want to go, how does this one point from this passage shed light on Jesus? What does this one point give us that we didn't know before about the person and work of Christ?
One way we do this is to have communion every single week. In sermon prep,
In God we trust