KANSAS CITY, Mo—Midwestern Seminary welcomed R. Albert Mohler Jr. to campus on October 29–30 to deliver the annual Spurgeon Lectures on Biblical Preaching.
Mohler, who serves as president of Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, preached from two Old Testament passages, drawing out their applications for expositional preaching.
President Jason Allen expressed his gratitude for Mohler’s friendship over the years and his service to the Church, saying, “Dr. Mohler is one who faithfully and regularly stands behinds the pulpit and preaches the Word.” Allen added, “It’s always good to have gifted lecturers. It’s always even better to have your friends. Dr. Mohler is not just a dear friend to me personally but a dear friend to many of us in the room today.”
Words That Will Not Fall
In his lecture on Tuesday, Mohler preached on God’s call of Samuel in 1 Samuel 3, emphasizing the preacher’s responsibility to hear and speak God’s words.
Mohler began with an exposition of the passage, which presents Israel as a nation who did not know God’s voice. Mohler showed how, in this context of silence, God spoke to the boy Samuel and entrusted to him a message of judgment on the unfaithful priestly line, thus establishing him as a prophet.
Mohler applied the narrative to encourage expository preaching, focusing on the text’s statement that God let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.
“I’m not a prophet,” Mohler said. “I’m merely a preacher. The Lord does not speak through me the way He spoke through the prophets, but I am to be the conduit whereby His Word is preached. It is His Word that He will not allow to fall to the ground.”
Addressing preachers in the room, Mohler continued, “So how can you build a ministry? How can you preach a sermon in such a way that your words will not fall to the ground? Stick to the text. Preach the text.”
Mohler gave examples of preaching that falls to the ground, both in heretical teaching that denies God’s Word and in forms of evangelical preaching that fail to exposit God’s Word.
Contrasting Charles Spurgeon’s faithful example, Mohler said, “Spurgeon would want us to know the power is in the Word of God. So we preach that Word in season and out of season, and insofar as we preach the Word, I say this not on the authority of Charles Spurgeon, but on the authority of God and His Word: None of those words will fall to the ground.”
True Instruction
Mohler’s second lecture addressed the character of the preacher as one who must fear the Lord. He preached from Malachi 2:4–7, which contrasts God’s covenant with Levi against the unfaithful priests who corrupted the covenant by their false instruction.
Mohler noted how God’s condemnation of the priests who corrupted His covenant, coupled with His gift of life and peace to Levi, encourages preachers today to pursue holiness and fear of God. He said, “We should evidence a godly fear because the one true and living God is a holy God. He will defend His name. He will expose sin.”
Mohler continued, “The preacher dares to stand in front of a congregation and present the truth of God, the gospel, and all that is revealed in Scripture to the best of his ability.”
He encouraged preachers in the room to have a godly fear of both sin and false teaching, that they might represent God truthfully in their life and instruction. Drawing from Malachi 2:6, Mohler reminded preachers that giving true instruction means faithfully expositing the text of God’s Word.
He added, “It should be the mark of our ministry that we walk with the Lord in peace and uprightness and that we turn many from iniquity.”
Mohler concluded his lecture by pointing to Christ, foreshadowed in Malachi as the perfect priest who would bring salvation from sin. “If we turn the page of Scripture, we find the fulfillment of the promise,” he said. “That’s what we get to preach.”
The Charles Spurgeon Lectures on Biblical Preaching were established in 2013 as part of Midwestern Seminary’s stewardship of Charles Spurgeon’s personal library. The annual two-day lecture series brings notable speakers to campus to equip preachers and gospel ministers among Midwestern Seminary’s students, denomination, and the church at large.
Highlighting the special occasion, Allen noted that Mohler previously gave the Spurgeon Lectures in 2014, making him the first presenter to give the lectures twice.
To watch this year’s Spurgeon Lectures, click here.
