Learning About Preaching From Jeremiah: God’s Preacher Declares The Whole Counsel of God

Jeremiah was commissioned by God to be His prophet (Jeremiah 1:5). As such, Jeremiah was not free to speak about only topics he wished to address. His mission was not to tell jokes or spin yarns. He had a divine message to proclaim (Jeremiah 1:9).

From this divine message, Jeremiah was not free to pick and choose what parts he wished to deliver. Note what he was told: “…Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak” (Jeremiah 1:7). Did you catch it? God said, “…whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.” Later in the chapter Jeremiah informs us God said to him, “Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee…” (Jeremiah 1:17). The words “whatsoever” and “all” are instructions for the preacher to preach the whole counsel of God.

To drive home his point regarding the necessity of preaching the whole counsel of God, brother Winkler asked the class, “Do you believe a preacher can preach the truth all of his life and still endanger souls?” The answer he was seeking is “Yes!” Many in the religious world preach faith in Christ and repentance of sins, yet fail to declare all God said in regard to “the obedience of faith” (cf. Romans 16:26) including baptism (cf. Acts 16:30-34).

To the elders of the church at Ephesus Paul said, “…I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house” (Acts 20:20). A few verses later he further said to them, “…I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (v. 27). Why was it “profitable” (v. 20) for Paul to declare all of the counsel of God to the Ephesians? As he left them, never to see them again (v. 25), he said to them, “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified” (v. 32). God’s counsel, contained in “the word of his grace” made it possible for them to live a life pleasing to God here and hence be able to live with God in the hereafter.

Why do men today fail to preach all the counsel of God? Take a few moments and consider the following ten reasons:

They want to take the easy way out. It’s not easy to preach against worldliness in a congregation filled with worldly minded people.
They lack courage.
They submit to pressure.
They are enamored by audience response.
They desire to please men rather than please God.
They have an aversion to getting “personal” in their preaching.
They have an unhealthy and unbalanced aspiration to be known as a certain type of preacher.
They have elders who do not expect and demand they preach the whole counsel of God.
They have an obsession of avoiding criticism.
They do not have a genuine and deep love for the truth.