Category Archives: holiness

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Help from Jonathan Edwards for Preaching on Sin: What I’m Learning from Reading Edwards’s Early Sermons

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Edwards sure thought a lot about sin!

In his sermon, Way of Holiness, Jonathan Edwards lists “reasons why none that are not holy can be in the way to heaven, and why those who never are so can never obtain the happiness thereof.” (p. 474, Kimnach)

Edwards’s fourth reason taught me much about the nature of sin and its affect on all of us. Take a moment and check this against your own understanding of sin and how you normally explain it to your congregants. If you’re like me, you will say something like, “Wow! My definition is a bit light!”

“The nature of sin necessarily implies misery. That soul that remains sinful must of a necessity of nature remain miserable, for it is impossible there should be any happiness where such a hateful thing as sin reigns and bears rule. Sin is the most cruel tyrant that ever ruled, seeks nothing but the misery of his subjects….Sin is a woeful confusion and dreadful disorder in the soul, whereby everything is put out of place…” (pp. 475-476, Kimnach)

The last part is extremely insightful. Unlike anything I’ve read in theologies.

This kind of analysis helps me whenever I try to communicate the meaning of sin. My definition or understanding of sin isn’t as robust as Edwards’s. What I’m learning from Edwards’s preaching is that he is working so hard to convince his listeners that they should avoid sin at all cost.

If your preaching portion for this coming Sunday contains explicit or implicit references to sin, maybe Edwards’s keen understanding may help you help your congregants. I know, as we do this our Lord will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Challenging False Professions Of Faith: What I’m Learning From Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Sermons

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Your “Text” is one warns the saints of their need for holiness.

This post comes from my reading Edwards’s sermon, The Way of Holiness. He will make sure that those who profess faith in Christ display a faith that results in holiness.

Edwards’s text was Isaiah 35:8 “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it.”

We might be tempted to stay in the future with this prophetic Text, but Edwards cannot do that. In the Doctrine section of the sermon he immediately highlights the common misconception that holiness isn’t necessary for entrance into heaven. He writes (and read!):

“Everyone hopes for heaven, but if everyone that hoped for heaven ever got there, heaven by this time would have been full of murderers, adulterers, common swearers, drunkards, thieves, robbers, and licentious debauchers. It would have been full of all manner of wickedness and wicked men, such as the earth abounds with at this day.” (pp. 470-471, Kimnach).

All the stats tell me that more and more people claim faith in Christ but their lifestyle shows no transformation. It’s a good time to speak for God whenever He makes holiness a prerequisite for being a child of God.

This is especially important if you shepherd a church that holds tightly to the doctrine of eternal security. Our listeners will tend to water down any of those warnings, any of those conditions (e.g., Colossians 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard). Many of our listeners believe that their profession of faith expressed when they were young makes them secure, without any evidence.

Edwards’s would reply: “What a wretched place would the highest heavens have been by this time if it were so….the royal palace of the Most High…would be turned into a mere hell. There would be no happiness there for those that are holy.” (p. 471)

In interpreting Isaiah, Edwards is practicing what I call ecclesiological exegesis. Isaiah is functioning for the church by showing a future that mirrors the status of every genuine Christian: holy and clean.

Does your preaching portion for this Sunday include a Word from God that challenges the professions of your listeners? Mine does: Psalm 80:18.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus as we faithfully challenge our listeners to display genuine faith (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

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The One Sermon We Should Preach To Ourselves Every Day

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Or, at least, I think I’m preaching to the choir about preaching the Gospel to ourselves.

Two things contributed to this post about preaching the Gospel to ourselves.

First, after taking a 4-plus year writing rest due to research for a Ph.D. degree, I am back to putting some finishing touches on a writing project that is several years in the making. The working title is,

Preacher as Soul-Watcher: Why You and Your Parishioners Need Your Sermons.

One key Scripture that presents a theology of preaching in the local church is 1 Timothy 4:16 which instructs us:

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (emphasis added)

Second, a couple of times within the past two weeks I have quoted Jerry Bridges who taught that we should preach the gospel to ourselves every day. I recently learned that Bridges was quoting former professor, Dr. Jack Miller.

Bridges had a profound influence on pastor Milton Vincent who wrote a little paperback, A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God’s Love.

Milton writes:

“Over the course of time, preaching the gospel to myself every day has made more of a difference in my life than any other discipline I have ever practiced.” (p. 6, where he also cites Bridges’ book, The Discipline of Grace, as the source of the concept)

That’s saying something.

In part 1 of the book, Vincent lists 31 reasons why we should preach the Gospel to ourselves every day. Thirty-one!

How about #9 for a sample:

9. Resting in Christ’s Righteousness

“On my worsts days of sin and failure, the gospel encourages me with God’s unrelenting grace toward me. On my best days of victory and usefulness, the gospel keeps me relating to God solely on the basis of Jesus’ righteousness and not mine.” (p. 20)

I’m thinking we can relate to both, can’t we?

One way we can keep a close watch on ourselves is to preach the Gospel to ourselves every day. I have no doubt that that spiritual discipline will help ensure that our Lord receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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What An Odd Way to Preach the Gospel: Jesus’s Strongest Instruction, “Be perfect…”

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Feeling the heavy weight of the command, “Be perfect…,” seems like anything but Good News!

If you have had or will have the privilege to preach through Matthew’s version of Jesus’s famous, Sermon on the Mount, brace yourself for having to explain His strongest instruction. It’s the last verse of chapter 5:

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Wow! No pressure there, right?!

Years ago I stumbled upon a commentary on Peter’s epistle–his name is Kelly, I think. I will never forget reading his take on New Testament commands. He referred to them as something like the Gospel in imperative form.

I am sure other authors have said similar things. And seemingly everybody quotes Augustine on similar matters. But this really has stuck with me through the years. And it is such a helpful preaching angle for our congregants.

I am enjoying reading Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s two volumes on the Sermon of the Mount. His understanding of this was also helpful. He calls Jesus’s command in Matthew 5:48 the best compliment Jesus could give His followers.

Isn’t that a great way to put it?

Can you see the Gospel in such a command?

So, when preaching any command, I am always thinking about how the command portrays some aspect of the nature of our salvation or transformation-in-Christ. And in the case of being perfect?

Along with telling our listeners how impossible it is–and depending on our theology, there is a sense that it is impossible on earth–tell them the great news that Jesus came to create followers who can obey His strongest instruction. If you can strike that wonderful balance or paradox, you will do justice both to our sinful selves and Christ’s marvelous power to save.

And you might notice that this prevents our parishioners from leaving church as good moralists, trying harder in their own efforts to be perfect Christians.

And while you explain how that is possible, our Lord will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

P.S. Do you have your preaching portion for Sunday? Does that preaching portion contain any imperatives? Can you see the Gospel in that imperative form?

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More On Preaching Holiness: Preaching Through Numbers

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One huge benefit of preaching through Numbers is the emphasis on the holiness of God and His people. My current ministry setting is a very conservative faith-family that is used to such concepts and, yet, they still tell me how much being reminded of holiness is helping them. I have a colleague who preaches in a very different setting and he tells me how challenging it is to preach certain doctrines.

Well, frankly, you can’t preach through Numbers without spending time on the holiness of God. So much of the theology of Numbers 5:1–6:21 hinges on God’s own holiness. It’s the only way to explain the bizarre instructions on dealing with lepers, etc. (5:3 “…putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp”), and with those who are “breaking faith with the Lord” (5:6, plus the strange way to handle jealousy in a marriage in vv. 12-31; watch for puzzled looks if you read that section aloud in church!), and the Nazirite vow (6:2ff.).

It all begins with the holiness of God. Then we can move to being a holy people.

Finally, the instructions–though often strange-to-us–provide direction for our desire to remain a holy people. So, there is actual removal (5:3, similar to the discipline prescribed in 1 Corinthians 5), confession and restitution/repentance (5:7-10).

What a great section of Scripture! What’s more important than the holiness of God and being holy because He is holy?!?

The difficulty, as you know, however, is trying to navigate through all the OT specifics that we do not directly apply to our situation. In a 45 minute sermon, for instance, you really have to stay focused providing only the details that are absolutely necessary to convey the theology about God’s holiness and ours.

If you do that, our Lord will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21). You’ll be challenged, but, like every other through-the-Book series, it’s entirely worth it.

Randal

P.S. You may recall that the main title of this series is taken from 14:8 “he will bring us into this land.” Each Sunday titles look like this:

“he will bring us into this land”: (subtitle)

This one was:

“he will bring us into this land”: But We Must Separate Ourselves To God

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The Potentially Fatal Holiness Of God: Preaching Through Numbers

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I was pretty sure Numbers wasn’t represented on the list of top Bible verse about God’s holiness, but it certainly could be. One of the great things about preaching through the book of Numbers is that it provides opportunities to teach faith-families about God’s potentially fatal holiness.

Take, for instance, Numbers 3:1–4:49. God certainly will bring us into this land (from 14:8), but it involves navigating His fatal holiness. Before God’s people begin their trek, they must learn how important it is to have God in the center of their camp and how to keep from getting killed by holiness-at-close-range.

So, you can teach the seriousness of God’s presence (in vv. 3:7-10, 38; 4:15, 17-20). The Levites are assigned the task of guarding Aaron and the whole congregation. Priests and people must approach God on His terms. The threat of death is sprinkled throughout the section (cf. 4:15, 19-20). The “holy things” cannot be mishandled “lest [those who do] die” (4:15).

I probably don’t have to say that we don’t know much about the holiness of God to this degree!

You can also teach about the price to enter God’s presence (vv. 3:11-13, 40-51). In this section the Lord declares to Moses that He has taken the Levites “instead of the firstborn…among the people of Israel….for all the firstborn are mine….They shall be mine: I am the Lord” (3:12-13).

[Anyone interested in showing how the Christ-event makes Numbers function for the Church will want to show God providing His own Son to pay the steep price.]

Finally, you’ll want to consider some segment that provides an opportunity for congregants to respond to being able to enter God’s presence.

I practice faith-first application so before I get to the “be holy, for I am holy,” part, I will talk about Christ as outlined in brackets above. Then, once I’ve established that Christ makes His holiness available to all who believe, it’s time to make sure everyone in the house consecrates themselves by faith, in the power of Christ’s Spirit (cf. Lev. 11:44-45). God’s holiness demands and creates our holiness in those who believe.

I am finding that, in a day and age when many professing Christians profess faith, some haven’t connected their faith with actual holiness. The book of Numbers provides excellent theology to combat this spiritual disease.

I hope you’ll have an opportunity to preach Numbers so God receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

 

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The Connection Between My Devotional Life And My Sermon Delivery

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The image asks a good question for us soul-watchers: what’s our inspiration for preaching and teaching God’s Word?

Ultimately our inspiration comes from our own relationship with our Savior and our understanding of our responsibility to shepherd people. I’m inspired to preach because I love God and others.

In the book, Preaching That Matters, Carroll lists uncommon prep practice #2 as: “Personal Spiritual Growth Activities. Here’s her reason for listing this second (the first uncommon prep practice is discerning a clear sermon goal of what the sermon is asking of the people):

“Several pastors recognized that they had been neglecting their own spiritual lives, substituting professional responsibilities for personal spiritual disciplines. [Any of us convicted yet?!] Those who made changes in this area of sermon preparation spoke of resulting increases in their sense of integrity, inspiration, and invigoration.” (p. 59, emphasis added).

Maybe the first helpful thing is to note that this area of taking care of ourselves spiritually is considered by Carroll as an “area of sermon preparation.” Part of my preparation to preach this week is preparing myself spiritually to be a worshiper.

The changes in our preaching that result from a vibrant spiritual life will, no doubt, vary from pastor to pastor. The ones emboldened above did catch my eye, though: increased integrity, inspiration, and invigoration. Much Bible exposition could use an added dose of these, including my own.

For me personally, the Sundays I preach from a foundation of a vibrant spiritual life result in an added sense of confidence and humility. I know God is going to speak to us through me and I know I don’t deserve the privilege.

My current personal spiritual growth activities are: reading Hebrew and Greek (sounds very spiritual, right?), The New City Catechism out loud, and Jonathan Edwards’ early sermons [see recent posts on an analysis of his preaching].

I’m not so much interested in what yours are, but I am interested in helping us see the connection between our devotional lives and our preaching. All for His glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

 

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A couple of weeks ago I began the frightening task of preaching through Judges. In 6:22 Gideon realizes he has seen the angel of the Lord: “Alas….I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” Dale Ralph Davis comments:

“There is nothing amazing about grace as long as there is nothing fearful about holiness.”

Judges (Beanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Focus, 2000), 97
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Monitoring Our Level Of Obedience

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There are times preaching through the Gospel of Luke (and many other places throughout the Scriptures, for that matter) when we are forced to monitor our spiritual progress. For instance, in Luke 11:28 Jesus says, “Blessed…are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” The rest of the paragraph describes in general terms, through the imagery of light and darkness, what it’s like when we allow Jesus’ teaching to enlighten every area of our sin-infected hearts.

I found it helpful to create a slide that lists some prominent sins. I wanted us to ask if we commit these sins just as much as the non-Christian. You don’t have to use a slide. You could use a handout or simply read the list to your hearers. The key is to somehow help the faith-family monitor their level of obedience. Are we hearing the word of God and keeping it? How do we know?

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Take the same list and transform it into LifePlus character traits. It’s easy now to ask which list, or, more likely, which one(s) on the two lists best describe us.

The Bible forces us to evaluate our lifestyle to help us be sure our faith in Christ is living. This approach is not the only way, but I’ve found I can get a lot of mileage out of these contrasting lists.

If you desire to stay away from moralistic preaching, simply remind everyone that Jesus died in literal darkness (Luke 23:44ff.) so we could be “full of light” (Luke 11:34). The second slide describes the genuine Believer. It’s the difference between a morally restrained heart and a supernaturally changed heart.

Preach well for the sake of God’s reputation in the Church and in the world.

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Isaiah 62:11–63:6 Responding to Prophecy

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One of the ways in which Isaiah 62:11-12 and Isaiah 63:1-6 function for the Church is by urging us to evaluate whether the future name of God’s people (“The Holy People”) is appropriate for us in part now. All along the study of Isaiah, Christians have been challenged to make sure a profession of faith is matched with corresponding holiness and righteousness. In Isaiah 63:1-6 the scene shifts from total deliverance to total destruction. It’s a warning for any of us Christians. Despite our profession of faith, we do not want to be caught on “the day of vengeance” (cf. Isaiah 63:4) on God’s bad side. So, this section provides the best news ever (Isaiah 62:11-12), the worst news ever (Isaiah 63:1-6), and leaves us readers with the decision to embrace the best news and so avoid the worst news. This means embracing the Savior pictured in this section. In Isaiah 63:3 the prophetic vision of our Redeemer shows Him stained with the blood of God’s enemies, including those who were in church. There was a time in history, of course, where our Redeemer was stained with His own blood as He gave His life for us. Faith in Christ is the starting point for a holy life and assures us that on His Day we, too, can be called “The Holy People” (cf. also 2 Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 12:14 to see the necessity of holiness-in-process).