“If I Only Had One Sermon To Preach” by Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey

**Each Friday Preaching Truth looks at some aspect of preaching, inviting pastors and scholars to submit articles. Today’s “Preaching Post Fridays” feature is authored by Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, ministerial consultant and itinerant preacher with over 30 years experience.

Dr. Kirksey has served churches in Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina and is the author of two books: Don’t Miss the Revival! Messages for Revival and Spiritual Awakening from Isaiah and Sound Biblical Preaching: Giving the Bible a Voice. You can follow Dr. Kirksey on Facebook.**

Introduction

Dr. Ralph G. Turnbull (1901-1985) published a book titled, If I Had Only One Sermon to Preach.¹ It is a collection of messages from a wide variety of preachers. Several books have been published along these lines before and after.² If someone asked me to submit a sermon for such a compilation, it would be difficult to know exactly which text to select.  There are so many things I would like to preach.  However, there are three principles I would follow from our text, if I had only one sermon to preach.  2 Timothy 4:2-5 reads, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”   

The time described in this passage is much like our own. Today many exchange sound teaching for speculative opinions. Paul warns in 2 Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine . . .” 1 Timothy 1:3-11 reads, “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for man-slayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.”

In his comments on 2 Timothy 4:3, Dr. R.A. Torrey (1856-1928) points us back to 2 Timothy 3:1-7, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” ³

In these times there is an increasing number who exchange scriptural truth for sensational orations. 2 Timothy 4:4 reads, “. . . but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” Rev. A.R. Fausset, M.A. (1821-1910), explains, “[They] like to hear teachers who give them mere pleasure (Acts 17:19-21), and do not offend by truths grating to their ears. They, as it were, tickle with pleasure the levity of the multitude [Cicero], who come as to a theater to hear what will delight their ears, not to learn [Seneca, Epistles, 10.8] what will do them good.”⁴ Acts 17:21 reads, “For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” Someone wisely said, “If it is true it isn’t new, and if it is new it isn’t true.” “Clement of Alexandria tells of speakers tickling . . . the ears of those who want to be tickled.”  Dr. A.T. Robertson (1863-1934) explains, “This is the temptation of the merely ‘popular’ preacher, to furnish the latest tickle.”⁵ 

In many pulpits style over substance rules the day. Not so, in the case of the Apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians 2:1-5, he writes, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” In Acts 20:27-29-30 Paul explains to the Ephesian elders, “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. . . For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” Jeremiah 3:15 reads, “And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

Here are three principles I would follow if I had only one sermon to preach. 

I. First, if I had only one sermon to preach it would be biblically sound. 

Dr. John A. Broadus (1827-1895) explains, one of the “safeguards against improper sensationalism in the pulpit” is “Sound Biblical preaching. That thorough study of God’s Word, which has been urged as a help to freshness, may be, at the same time, an excellent preventive of undue sensation. A man who is truly intent on discovering from the Scriptures the mind and will of God, and bringing these to bear on the questions of his time, is not likely to err greatly in the direction of an unholy opportunism.”⁶ Rev. Curtis C. Thomas emphatically states, “No sermon—topical, biographical, or otherwise—should be devoid of sound biblical preaching.”⁷ Timothy 4:2-5 reads, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 

Dr. Michael Catt writes, “True revival can only spring from the Word of God. That’s because revival is costly. It sifts out the insincere. It is a confrontation with the carnal and fleshly. It demands a response of repentance. There is no other way to get to the heart of people’s issues than through the uncompromising truth and power of God’s Word. Yet many churches have substituted good things for the best thing. They’ve settled for programs, methods, and events in place of sound biblical preaching. The exaltation of God through the exposition of Scripture has been replaced by stuff. These churches do a lot, but do their people hear the Word proclaimed on a weekly basis? Are they responding to the call of God to seek Him with all their hearts?

This is no time for dabbling. We need a focused faith on what God has said and what He demands. Revival will not come through a sports program, a building program, or better Sunday school classes or home groups. All these are good, but nothing can take the place of the Word of God.”⁸

2 Corinthians 4:5-6 reads, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”  

As I state in Sound Biblical Preaching: Giving the Bible a Voice, “The value of sound biblical preaching of God’s inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word can not be overstated because it is His chosen method of communication.”⁹

II. Second, if I had only one sermon to preach it would be theologically straight.

Dr. A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) said, “You can be straight as a gun barrel theologically, and as empty as one spiritually.”¹⁰Dr. H. Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962) warned about preachers who proclaim: “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.”¹¹Rev. Herman Pair explains, “Preaching and teaching a liberal theology is like putting a band-aid on terminal cancer.”  In fact, he paired his comments with our passage.  

2 Timothy 4:2-5 reads, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 

2 Timothy 2:14-26 reads, “Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.’  But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

2 Corinthians 4:2 reads, “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”  

III. Third, if I had only one sermon to preach it would be evangelistically seasoned. 

Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) said he had only one purpose: “I take my text and make a bee-line to the cross.”¹² As I share in a message titled, “See You At the Pole”: “Charles Spurgeon told of his conversion at age 15 on a snowy Sunday when he chanced to stop at a Primitive Methodist chapel, where the speaker appeared to address him directly and read the words: ‘Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.’ [Isaiah 45:22] And then he cried: “Look, look, look! It is only look!’ Spurgeon said: ‘I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard this word ‘Look!’ what a charming word it seemed to me. I saw at once the way of salvation.’”¹³

2 Timothy 4:2-5 reads, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 

Dr. John A. Broadus shares the following on an “Earnest desire to win and save men”: “There is here a subtle danger which needs the most watchful care. Sensational methods are often excused on this plea, and there is real danger of self-deception.”¹⁴ Dr. Richard C. Halverson (1916-1995) explains, “Evangelism is not salesmanship. It is not urging people, pressing them, coercing them, overwhelming them, or subduing them. Evangelism is telling a message. Evangelism is reporting good news.” We must be clear about the good news, the gospel. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 reads, “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” The preacher must preach to felt and unfelt needs.  The greatest need for everyone is to be born again, whether they feel like it or not. I agree with Dr. Adrian Rogers (1931-2005) who stated, “Every one of us will be known for something when we are gone. Do you know what I want them to think of when they think about me? The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I want them to say, ‘That man’s life was centered in the only message that really matters.’”¹⁵

Conclusion

Dr. Vance Havner (1901-1986) confesses, “If I had only one sermon to preach it would be on the Lordship of Christ. When we get right on that point we are right all down the line. God honors the exaltation of His Son.”¹⁶

If I had only one sermon to preach it would be biblically sound.
If I had only one sermon to preach it would be theologically straight. 
If I had only one sermon to preach it would be evangelistically seasoned.

If I had only one sermon to preach, it would be necessary to know what to impart and when to depart, or as someone prayed, “Lord, fill my mouth with worthwhile stuff and nudge me when I’ve said enough.”¹⁷

Dr. Havner also advised, “Don’t ever come to church without coming as though it were the first time, as though it could be the best time, and as though it could be the last time.”¹⁸

Allow me to inquire about your spiritual condition before God. What if this were your last time to come to church? Is there be any unfinished business between you and the Lord? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation? If so, are you in fellowship with Him? 

Allow me to invite you to have a personal relationshipwith God. If you do not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord you can pray a prayer like this:

Dear God, I know that I am a sinner, in thought, in word and in deed. I am a sinner by nature and a sinner by choice. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sin and that he rose from the grave on the third day. I ask Jesus to take over my life and to be my Savior, my Lord, and my King. Thank you for giving me the forgiveness of my sin and everlasting life. Amen.

1. Ralph G. Turnbull, If I Had Only One Sermon To Preach (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1966).
2. If I Had Only One Sermon To Preach, ed. Sir James Marchant (New York, NY: Harper & Brothers, 1928). / If I Had Only One Sermon To Preach: Nineteen Preachers Reveal What Motivates Them, ed. Richard Allen Bodey (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1994).
3. R.A. Torrey, The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, 2 Timothy 4:3. Accessed: 07/23/19 https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tsk/2-timothy-4.html
4. Rev. Robert Jamieson, D.D., Rev. A.R. Fausset, A.M, & Rev. David Brown, D.D., Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary: Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Edinburgh: Collins & Company, 1871), Database © 2005 WORDsearch Corp. 
5. A.T. Robertson, Robertson’s Word Pictures of the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1932,33, 1960). Accessed: 07/23/19 https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rwp/2-timothy-4.html .  
6. John A. Broadus, A Treatise on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, ed. Edwin Charles Dargan (New York, NY: A. C. Armstrong and Son, 1898), 150. Accessed:   https://archive.org/details/treatiseonprepar1898broa.
7. Curtis C. Thomas, Practical Wisdom for Pastors: Words of Encouragement and Counsel for a Lifetime of Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001), 65. Database © 2006, WORDsearch Corp. 
8. Michael Catt, The Power of Surrender (Nashville, TN: B & H Publishing Group, 2010). Database © 2012 WORDsearch Corp. 
9. Franklin L. Kirksey, Sound Biblical Preaching: Giving the Bible a Voice, (Charleston, SC: BookSurge / CreateSpace, 2004), 79. Database © 2008 WORDsearch Corp.  
10. A. W. Tozer, Fellowship of the Burning Heart: A Collection of Sermons by A. W. Tozer, ed. James L. Snyder (Aluchua, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2006), 8.  
11. H. Richard Niebuhr, The Kingdom of God in America (Chicago: Willett, Clark & Company, 1937), 193. 
12. Handbook of Contemporary Preaching: A Wealth of Counsel for Creative and Effective Proclamation, Michael Duduit (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992), 442.  Database © 2006 WORDsearch Corp.
13. Franklin L. Kirksey, “See You at the Pole” Sermon Notes (Numbers 21:4-9). Accessed: 05/06/16  http://www.pulpithelps.com/www/docs/1151-9118 .
14. Broadus, Sermons, 150.
15. Preaching Source, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, TX, J. Dace Clifton, “What Preachers Can Learn From The Personal Library and Study of Adrian Rogers” October 22, 2018. Accessed: 07/24/19  http://preachingsource.com/blog/what-preachers-can-learn-from-the-personal-library-and-study-of-adrian-rogers/ .
16. The Vance Havner Quotebook: Sparkling Gems from the Most Quoted Preacher in America, Comp. Dennis J. Hester(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1986), 136. Database © 2013 WORDsearch Corp. 
17. Croft M. Pentz, The Complete Book of Zingers (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1990). Database ©2005 WORDsearch Corp.
18. A Z Quotes, Vance Havner Quotes, Accessed: 07/22/19  https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1016210.