April 2, 2024 • 20 mins
Every faithful preaching should consists of exposition of God's word, exalting Christ, and proclaiming the gospel. But what is expository preaching? Can we preach Christ from the Old Testament? What about discriminatory preaching. Is it good for the church? We discuss these and more questions in this episode # 22.
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(00:01):
Since the Word of God, the preaching of it, is a means of grace,
how can you prepare a sermon that is faithful, that glorifies the Lord?
This in All Things Reformed Podcast. My name is Zee Chunga. I'm joined by Pastor Confex McAleer.
(00:24):
Music.
In the book of Nehemiah 8, 2 to 8, jump some lines there.
The Bible says, So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly.
(00:45):
Both men and women and all who could understand what they heard.
The Levites helped the people to understand the law. Oh, they gave the sense
so that the people understood the reading.
This portion of scripture is happening in a worship service in the believers in the Old Testament.
(01:13):
And it particularly says that the priests and the Levites, they made sense of
the law so that the people that gathered could understand.
In the previous episodes, we talked about marks of a faithful church.
And the first one was faithful preaching of the Word of God.
(01:36):
We gather again today looking at faithful preaching itself. Yes.
And what constitutes a faithful preaching in a faithful church?
Yes. Let's pick it from there. Yeah, let's expand on that.
Yeah, this is very, very important because how does God build and grow His church?
(01:59):
It's through the Word that is faithfully preached. It has pleased the Lord to
use the foolishness of preaching, as Apostle Paul says, to save souls,
to build his church, to glorify himself in the world.
So preaching is so central to the Christian life.
(02:20):
And this is why, as you rightly say, we should spend time trying to understand
what is this faithful preaching all about?
And we revisit this topic to expand on it more.
And I would like us to discuss especially three things, what is called expository preaching.
(02:42):
Preaching that is Christ-centered and gospel-saturated.
Those three things should always be in every faithful preaching.
Let's start with expository preaching, coming from the word exposition.
Yes, exposition. Exposing. Yeah. What are we exposing?
(03:02):
Yes. So we are exposing the word of God.
Now, the Bible is so big, right? There are so, so many passages there.
For you to be faithful in explaining that word of God, you cannot just preach
the entire Bible in one sitting.
(03:22):
It cannot. You will not be faithful in that because there will be a lot.
And very rarely will we preach the entire passage faithfully and cover everything as well.
Maybe if you are very well gifted and maybe it's a straightforward chapter,
but otherwise, for most preachers, it's just impossible to faithfully explain
everything that is there in a chapter in one sermon. Let me give you a pop quiz. Yes.
(03:48):
We are going through a series at Christ Presbyterian Church.
And we're looking at the book of Genesis. Yes. And the first sermon you preached
from was the very first verse of the first book of the Bible. Genesis 1, verse 1.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
(04:10):
Tell me a typical process of how you prepared to expose that verse.
Yeah, that verse. Yeah. Yeah. So again, as every preacher knows and every Christian
should know, because we are dealing with the Word of God.
Yes, the Lord has given us the gifts. He has given us the skills.
We do learn the skills and we thank God for that.
(04:31):
But above all, more importantly, is the Holy Spirit himself,
the one who inspired this world.
So the first step is when you decide on a passage, and actually I'm thinking
that you are praying as well as a preacher to say, okay, what passage do I preach from?
And now when you are preaching, expository preaching, that is related to what
(04:51):
is called Lectio Continua.
And that means you're going through the books of the Bible, one book by another,
chapter by chapter, verse by verse. so that makes it easier for you because
you don't have to wake up Sunday morning and say, where will I preach from?
Because if you are going book by book, you know that maybe after Genesis,
you're going to Exodus or you're going to the New Testament so you know already how you flow.
And then you know that if you finish chapter one, you're going to chapter number
(05:13):
two or if you preach from verses one to two today, you know that next might
be maybe three to four, maybe three to five, so that makes it easy.
But even as you are thinking about that, you are praying to the Lord and the
Holy Spirit particularly to say, this is your word, Lord, would you please help
me be faithful in explaining this to your people?
Because I have a responsibility this coming Sunday to stand in front of your
(05:36):
people and explain this word.
So would you please help me? So you start there and you look at the passage. So you read the passage.
And so like for me, how it works is when I preach on Sunday,
Monday is a day off for me.
So I do my devotions, just personal devotion, nothing to do with preaching.
(05:57):
I don't do anything related to my preaching this coming Sunday on Monday.
It's just personal devotion. And then on Tuesday morning, I do my personal devotion.
So I read another book of the Bible, not the one that I'm preaching from.
So right now, reading the book of Revelation for my personal devotion,
but I'm preaching from Genesis.
So the first thing that I do Tuesday morning, I do my personal devotion.
(06:20):
And after my personal devotion, then I come to the book that I'm preaching. Right.
So, I know. So, when it come to Genesis 1, I knew, okay, I will be studying
to preach from this book.
So, when I read Genesis chapter number 1, I read the entire chapter,
but that verse just stood out to me. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
And I said, wow, there's a lot that can be explained in here.
(06:44):
And I started thinking, so it's just meditation. So during the day when I have
a chance, I'm thinking of Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
And I'm thinking, oh, there are a number of things there. There you see the
self-existence of God in the beginning.
There, the author of Genesis is showing us God has no beginning,
right? In eternity, in eternity past.
(07:05):
But also there you are seeing that, oh, well, in the beginning, time has to be created.
Then God is outside time. And so you're seeing so many things.
And then you realize, well, hey, there's a Lord here. Actually,
this can be a sermon on its own.
You realize that. It's only one verse, but this can be a sermon on its own.
I think from this verse, I can speak about this. I can speak about this.
(07:27):
I can speak about this. I can speak about this.
Well, if I'm to be faithful and explain to the people that the Lord has called
me to minister to, then let me just focus on this.
So you see, that is being done prayerfully as well and as you're meditating.
So you decide, okay, this is what I'll preach from. And then you develop,
okay, what are the key things that I'm seeing from here?
You draw them out. Usually my sermons are three-point sermons.
(07:50):
So you see, ah, there are three main points. These are the ones.
And then you develop them further. And then you come up with that sermon.
But all this is being done with prayer for sure. And what principles are used
in interpreting passage that you're going to preach so that you're faithful?
Yes. So for sure, first, understand what that book is all about.
(08:12):
Because every book of the Bible has a major theme, has a context.
So go to historical context.
What was happening for this book to be written? So there are resources that
can help you understand that. You can do a lot of reading for sure.
Who wrote the book? What was happening and all that? So that will help you.
And then the second thing that you should ask yourself is, okay,
(08:35):
what type of genre is this book?
Because there are different genres in the Bible. There is poetry there,
like Psalms and Proverbs.
There are poetry.
And then there are narratives, like Genesis is a narrative. It's like a story that is being told.
The way you explain and interpret Genesis is not the same way,
(08:58):
because with poetry, there are some similes, and then there are prophecies.
Again, prophecies are not literal. There are some things that you need to understand.
So understand what type of genre is this book that I'm preaching from.
That will help you as well.
So you have understood what was going on, the type of genre,
Jonah, and you've gone there, historical context,
(09:19):
literal context, and then you find, okay, so what is the major thing that this
person is teaching in this particular passage in the light of the entire theme of this book?
So you identify that, and then when you have all done all that,
then you bring it to the present.
Okay, now we've gotten what was going on at that time, the purpose,
(09:42):
the reason for writing this. Now, how does that apply in our context?
Is there anything that we can benefit from this? So you're bringing it to our
context, and now that begins your application process.
So you're thinking, and as a preacher, you need to know your congregation very well.
You are seeing what your people are going through. And sometimes when I'm preaching,
(10:06):
I'm preparing to preach, I come to a passage and say, well, yeah,
this exactly speaks to this brother or sister in our church.
And how can I apply this in their context? How can I encourage them?
Then that means application, coming up with application.
So that's the process just to... That was expository, I appreciate.
Yes. So we draw meaning from the actual text. Yes.
(10:28):
You don't come to a passage with your own thoughts and meaning,
and they say, ah, yeah, now I'm going to kill it. Yeah.
So you don't start from, okay, I have a message for Christ's Christian Church.
I want to speak to them about obeying leadership because I'm having problems
with them obeying leadership.
(10:49):
Of course, that's not true for Christ Missionary Church, but just saying as a general example.
So you don't start from there and start looking to find, because eventually
what you're going to do is, most likely, you are going to make a passage,
speak what you want to speak, and you're not being faithful.
But what you begin with is, what is God saying here?
(11:09):
And what does this mean to us in our context?
So that's the faithful preaching. So yeah, you are focusing on that passage.
You are letting God speak and then applying it to your context.
Right. You talked about a second
value there being that faithful preaching has to be Christ-centered.
Yes. Yes.
(11:30):
How does this work? Yeah. And again, every sermon has to be Christ-centered
because all scripture is about Jesus Christ.
And he says it himself. Yeah. Luke 24, when Christ has risen from the dead on
the walk to Amos, he meets Creopas and his friend.
And Creopas and his friend are so much worried about Christ.
(11:53):
Oh, well, he was a good man. We had hoped that he's the Messiah.
But now it has been three days since he was killed. They are discouraged.
And you notice there in Luke 24, Luke writes to say, and beginning at Moses.
Now, beginning at Moses, that means Genesis.
Beginning from Genesis all the way to Malachi, because by this time they don't
(12:14):
have a New Testament, Christ explains everything about himself from these books of the Bible.
So really you are seeing that, and again, sadly I've met some people say,
well, there's no Christ in the Old Testament.
That is not true. Christ himself explained about himself, preached about himself
from Genesis all the way to Malachi.
(12:35):
So there is a lot of Christ in the Old Testament.
So what we are saying, the entire Old Testament is about Christ.
The same with the New Testament. Even more clear.
If that is true, then it means every sermon will be Christ-centered,
will point people to Christ.
Christ because he's the living word and the written word proclaims the living word.
(13:02):
Christ is the center of the world.
I know that Charles Spurgeon has spoke about preaching Christ in every sermon.
Of course, you know, typical Spurgeon, I mean, he had his own way of explaining things.
You know, I'm willing to climb over a bush, to climb over a tree and all over
(13:22):
until I find Christ and preach Christ.
And I think that's what a preacher does, should do. When you come to a passage,
if you cannot see Christ right away, be willing to climb a tree, to go over the bushes,
whatever, until you find Christ, where he is hidden in that passage,
and bring him out to the people.
That should be a goal of every preacher. Because really, as we say.
(13:50):
If you go to a mosque, they don't send on Christ. And I don't know what they
do, but I know for sure there is preaching there.
But they can preach their sermon and finish it without mentioning Christ. Yes, we understand.
Christ is not the center of Islam. You can go to a Jewish temple synagogue.
They preach there as well. They can preach and not mention Christ.
(14:11):
You understand they are Jews. Christ is not the center of Jewish religion.
Judaism is not. But Christianity. Christianity at the center of Christianity
is Christ himself. Christianity, Christ.
And there's no way we can preach without pointing people to the center, Christ himself.
The third one is gospel saturated. What is gospel?
(14:32):
Yes. So a very, very important question that all of us should be clear on, especially preachers.
Because sometimes you can find preachers that may not fully understand the gospel.
Gospel but really what the gospel is we go back to genesis that god created everything perfect,
(14:53):
man was sinless but in genesis 3 sin came and man sinned against god and because
he sinned against god he deserves the wrath of god the punishment of god but
god being rich in mercy he says,
i will provide a way of salvation i will send my son so jesus christ comes as
(15:14):
the son of god lives a perfect life on behalf of this sinner who was not able
to live the perfect life.
And then he goes and dies on the cross to receive the punishment that was supposed
to go to this sinner and then rises from the dead and then ascends up to heaven.
So that this sinner who has failed to keep the commandments of God,
(15:35):
when he looks to Christ and believes in Christ, he's counted as the one who
has kept the law of God perfectly because Christ has kept the law.
And this sinner who deserves the wrath of God, when he believes in Christ...
He doesn't have to experience the wrath because Christ was already punished
for his sin. And that is the gospel, that we are sinners. We are unable to save ourselves.
(15:56):
God has provided a way of salvation in Christ through his perfect life,
death, and resurrection.
And really, every message that a preacher preaches should be gospel saturated,
should preach Christ and him crucified. That's what Apostle Paul said.
I preach Christ and him crucified. The cross is at the center of my preaching.
(16:19):
I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
I can tell you this, see, if the preacher is going to preach Christ,
definitely he will preach the gospel.
And if the preacher is going to preach the gospel, he will definitely preach Christ.
So, gospel saturated and Christ-centered really go hand in hand.
How should a preacher reach out to the unbelieving audience in their sermon? Yes.
(16:46):
Yeah. So, you know, another element that is very, very important in preaching
is what is called discriminatory preaching.
Is that good? Yeah, that's what I wanted to say. The word discrimination is not a good term.
It's not a good word. People, we don't like it. We don't want to discriminate
against anyone, for sure. But discriminatory preaching, really what it does is it differentiates.
(17:14):
When you as a preacher stand out and you look at the people that you're preaching
to, you should always discriminate to say there are believers in here and there
are unbelievers in here.
So that's categorizing. Yes, categorizing. The term the Puritans that use is
discriminatory preaching. Yeah.
(17:34):
All right. So you discriminate or you categorize people into those groups.
And as a preacher, make sure that your sermon speaks to believers who know Christ.
They should be encouraged in their faith. Maybe they should be rebuked of some
sin in their own lives and all that.
But also, remember the other group that doesn't know Christ.
(17:54):
Challenge them that they are under the wrath of God. They are under the condemnation of God.
And if they remain the same, God is going to pour his wrath on them.
And they don't want that. So then challenge them to say, even though that is
the case, there is a way of escape. There is a way of salvation.
Jesus Christ is the way of salvation. So you challenge Constantinian believers
(18:15):
to say, look to Christ, believe in Christ for your salvation.
What happens in a case where you do not discriminate?
Everyone receives the same message. Yeah. Everyone hears that God loves them
and Jesus died for them. Yeah. And they have eternal life.
What's the problem with that? Yeah. Yeah, no, so the main, main problem is you're
giving false hope, especially to unbelievers.
(18:36):
Because what I've seen most of the time is if you're a general,
usually you're preaching to your church.
And every preacher, you have to believe that most of the people in your church are believers.
Because most of those people have made professional faith and they come to the
Lord's table and all that. So you believe that most of them are believers.
But you cannot be so naive to think all of them are believers.
(18:57):
They aren't believers in there. Sadly, even some of them that have made professional
faith might not be true believers. They've just made that professional faith from the word of mouth.
So if you just speak to all of them as believers, this person who is not a believer
will start having a voice. Oh, yeah.
We are all God's children. God loves all of us.
He's not challenged of his sin anymore, and he's living his life being deceived
(19:19):
that God loves him and all things.
Yeah, God loves him in a general way, but he's still under the condemnation
of God if he doesn't repent of his sin.
So he has that sense, and then might die in his sin, only to be shocked when
he stands before the throne of God, that there is condemnation coming,
and he can't escape it at this time.
So, yes, that's very, very serious. It's a matter of life and death.
(19:42):
So we should discriminate. We should categorize people to say,
well, friend, if you're not in Christ, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This also is where we'll leave it for today. Please email us your thoughts about
the program and any questions you may have.
(20:04):
You can email us on atreformed at gmail.com.
Atreformed, one word, at gmail.com. You can also inbox us on All Things Reformed podcast page.
Music.
Since the Word of God, the preaching of it, is a means of grace,
how can you prepare a sermon that is faithful, that glorifies the Lord?
This in All Things Reformed Podcast. My name is Zee Chunga. I'm joined by Pastor Confex McAleer.
(00:24):
Music.
In the book of Nehemiah 8, 2 to 8, jump some lines there.
The Bible says, So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly.
(00:45):
Both men and women and all who could understand what they heard.
The Levites helped the people to understand the law. Oh, they gave the sense
so that the people understood the reading.
This portion of scripture is happening in a worship service in the believers in the Old Testament.
(01:13):
And it particularly says that the priests and the Levites, they made sense of
the law so that the people that gathered could understand.
In the previous episodes, we talked about marks of a faithful church.
And the first one was faithful preaching of the Word of God.
(01:36):
We gather again today looking at faithful preaching itself. Yes.
And what constitutes a faithful preaching in a faithful church?
Yes. Let's pick it from there. Yeah, let's expand on that.
Yeah, this is very, very important because how does God build and grow His church?
(01:59):
It's through the Word that is faithfully preached. It has pleased the Lord to
use the foolishness of preaching, as Apostle Paul says, to save souls,
to build his church, to glorify himself in the world.
So preaching is so central to the Christian life.
(02:20):
And this is why, as you rightly say, we should spend time trying to understand
what is this faithful preaching all about?
And we revisit this topic to expand on it more.
And I would like us to discuss especially three things, what is called expository preaching.
(02:42):
Preaching that is Christ-centered and gospel-saturated.
Those three things should always be in every faithful preaching.
Let's start with expository preaching, coming from the word exposition.
Yes, exposition. Exposing. Yeah. What are we exposing?
(03:02):
Yes. So we are exposing the word of God.
Now, the Bible is so big, right? There are so, so many passages there.
For you to be faithful in explaining that word of God, you cannot just preach
the entire Bible in one sitting.
(03:22):
It cannot. You will not be faithful in that because there will be a lot.
And very rarely will we preach the entire passage faithfully and cover everything as well.
Maybe if you are very well gifted and maybe it's a straightforward chapter,
but otherwise, for most preachers, it's just impossible to faithfully explain
everything that is there in a chapter in one sermon. Let me give you a pop quiz. Yes.
(03:48):
We are going through a series at Christ Presbyterian Church.
And we're looking at the book of Genesis. Yes. And the first sermon you preached
from was the very first verse of the first book of the Bible. Genesis 1, verse 1.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
(04:10):
Tell me a typical process of how you prepared to expose that verse.
Yeah, that verse. Yeah. Yeah. So again, as every preacher knows and every Christian
should know, because we are dealing with the Word of God.
Yes, the Lord has given us the gifts. He has given us the skills.
We do learn the skills and we thank God for that.
(04:31):
But above all, more importantly, is the Holy Spirit himself,
the one who inspired this world.
So the first step is when you decide on a passage, and actually I'm thinking
that you are praying as well as a preacher to say, okay, what passage do I preach from?
And now when you are preaching, expository preaching, that is related to what
(04:51):
is called Lectio Continua.
And that means you're going through the books of the Bible, one book by another,
chapter by chapter, verse by verse. so that makes it easier for you because
you don't have to wake up Sunday morning and say, where will I preach from?
Because if you are going book by book, you know that maybe after Genesis,
you're going to Exodus or you're going to the New Testament so you know already how you flow.
And then you know that if you finish chapter one, you're going to chapter number
(05:13):
two or if you preach from verses one to two today, you know that next might
be maybe three to four, maybe three to five, so that makes it easy.
But even as you are thinking about that, you are praying to the Lord and the
Holy Spirit particularly to say, this is your word, Lord, would you please help
me be faithful in explaining this to your people?
Because I have a responsibility this coming Sunday to stand in front of your
(05:36):
people and explain this word.
So would you please help me? So you start there and you look at the passage. So you read the passage.
And so like for me, how it works is when I preach on Sunday,
Monday is a day off for me.
So I do my devotions, just personal devotion, nothing to do with preaching.
(05:57):
I don't do anything related to my preaching this coming Sunday on Monday.
It's just personal devotion. And then on Tuesday morning, I do my personal devotion.
So I read another book of the Bible, not the one that I'm preaching from.
So right now, reading the book of Revelation for my personal devotion,
but I'm preaching from Genesis.
So the first thing that I do Tuesday morning, I do my personal devotion.
(06:20):
And after my personal devotion, then I come to the book that I'm preaching. Right.
So, I know. So, when it come to Genesis 1, I knew, okay, I will be studying
to preach from this book.
So, when I read Genesis chapter number 1, I read the entire chapter,
but that verse just stood out to me. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
And I said, wow, there's a lot that can be explained in here.
(06:44):
And I started thinking, so it's just meditation. So during the day when I have
a chance, I'm thinking of Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
And I'm thinking, oh, there are a number of things there. There you see the
self-existence of God in the beginning.
There, the author of Genesis is showing us God has no beginning,
right? In eternity, in eternity past.
(07:05):
But also there you are seeing that, oh, well, in the beginning, time has to be created.
Then God is outside time. And so you're seeing so many things.
And then you realize, well, hey, there's a Lord here. Actually,
this can be a sermon on its own.
You realize that. It's only one verse, but this can be a sermon on its own.
I think from this verse, I can speak about this. I can speak about this.
(07:27):
I can speak about this. I can speak about this.
Well, if I'm to be faithful and explain to the people that the Lord has called
me to minister to, then let me just focus on this.
So you see, that is being done prayerfully as well and as you're meditating.
So you decide, okay, this is what I'll preach from. And then you develop,
okay, what are the key things that I'm seeing from here?
You draw them out. Usually my sermons are three-point sermons.
(07:50):
So you see, ah, there are three main points. These are the ones.
And then you develop them further. And then you come up with that sermon.
But all this is being done with prayer for sure. And what principles are used
in interpreting passage that you're going to preach so that you're faithful?
Yes. So for sure, first, understand what that book is all about.
(08:12):
Because every book of the Bible has a major theme, has a context.
So go to historical context.
What was happening for this book to be written? So there are resources that
can help you understand that. You can do a lot of reading for sure.
Who wrote the book? What was happening and all that? So that will help you.
And then the second thing that you should ask yourself is, okay,
(08:35):
what type of genre is this book?
Because there are different genres in the Bible. There is poetry there,
like Psalms and Proverbs.
There are poetry.
And then there are narratives, like Genesis is a narrative. It's like a story that is being told.
The way you explain and interpret Genesis is not the same way,
(08:58):
because with poetry, there are some similes, and then there are prophecies.
Again, prophecies are not literal. There are some things that you need to understand.
So understand what type of genre is this book that I'm preaching from.
That will help you as well.
So you have understood what was going on, the type of genre,
Jonah, and you've gone there, historical context,
(09:19):
literal context, and then you find, okay, so what is the major thing that this
person is teaching in this particular passage in the light of the entire theme of this book?
So you identify that, and then when you have all done all that,
then you bring it to the present.
Okay, now we've gotten what was going on at that time, the purpose,
(09:42):
the reason for writing this. Now, how does that apply in our context?
Is there anything that we can benefit from this? So you're bringing it to our
context, and now that begins your application process.
So you're thinking, and as a preacher, you need to know your congregation very well.
You are seeing what your people are going through. And sometimes when I'm preaching,
(10:06):
I'm preparing to preach, I come to a passage and say, well, yeah,
this exactly speaks to this brother or sister in our church.
And how can I apply this in their context? How can I encourage them?
Then that means application, coming up with application.
So that's the process just to... That was expository, I appreciate.
Yes. So we draw meaning from the actual text. Yes.
(10:28):
You don't come to a passage with your own thoughts and meaning,
and they say, ah, yeah, now I'm going to kill it. Yeah.
So you don't start from, okay, I have a message for Christ's Christian Church.
I want to speak to them about obeying leadership because I'm having problems
with them obeying leadership.
(10:49):
Of course, that's not true for Christ Missionary Church, but just saying as a general example.
So you don't start from there and start looking to find, because eventually
what you're going to do is, most likely, you are going to make a passage,
speak what you want to speak, and you're not being faithful.
But what you begin with is, what is God saying here?
(11:09):
And what does this mean to us in our context?
So that's the faithful preaching. So yeah, you are focusing on that passage.
You are letting God speak and then applying it to your context.
Right. You talked about a second
value there being that faithful preaching has to be Christ-centered.
Yes. Yes.
(11:30):
How does this work? Yeah. And again, every sermon has to be Christ-centered
because all scripture is about Jesus Christ.
And he says it himself. Yeah. Luke 24, when Christ has risen from the dead on
the walk to Amos, he meets Creopas and his friend.
And Creopas and his friend are so much worried about Christ.
(11:53):
Oh, well, he was a good man. We had hoped that he's the Messiah.
But now it has been three days since he was killed. They are discouraged.
And you notice there in Luke 24, Luke writes to say, and beginning at Moses.
Now, beginning at Moses, that means Genesis.
Beginning from Genesis all the way to Malachi, because by this time they don't
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have a New Testament, Christ explains everything about himself from these books of the Bible.
So really you are seeing that, and again, sadly I've met some people say,
well, there's no Christ in the Old Testament.
That is not true. Christ himself explained about himself, preached about himself
from Genesis all the way to Malachi.
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So there is a lot of Christ in the Old Testament.
So what we are saying, the entire Old Testament is about Christ.
The same with the New Testament. Even more clear.
If that is true, then it means every sermon will be Christ-centered,
will point people to Christ.
Christ because he's the living word and the written word proclaims the living word.
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Christ is the center of the world.
I know that Charles Spurgeon has spoke about preaching Christ in every sermon.
Of course, you know, typical Spurgeon, I mean, he had his own way of explaining things.
You know, I'm willing to climb over a bush, to climb over a tree and all over
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until I find Christ and preach Christ.
And I think that's what a preacher does, should do. When you come to a passage,
if you cannot see Christ right away, be willing to climb a tree, to go over the bushes,
whatever, until you find Christ, where he is hidden in that passage,
and bring him out to the people.
That should be a goal of every preacher. Because really, as we say.
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If you go to a mosque, they don't send on Christ. And I don't know what they
do, but I know for sure there is preaching there.
But they can preach their sermon and finish it without mentioning Christ. Yes, we understand.
Christ is not the center of Islam. You can go to a Jewish temple synagogue.
They preach there as well. They can preach and not mention Christ.
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You understand they are Jews. Christ is not the center of Jewish religion.
Judaism is not. But Christianity. Christianity at the center of Christianity
is Christ himself. Christianity, Christ.
And there's no way we can preach without pointing people to the center, Christ himself.
The third one is gospel saturated. What is gospel?
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Yes. So a very, very important question that all of us should be clear on, especially preachers.
Because sometimes you can find preachers that may not fully understand the gospel.
Gospel but really what the gospel is we go back to genesis that god created everything perfect,
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man was sinless but in genesis 3 sin came and man sinned against god and because
he sinned against god he deserves the wrath of god the punishment of god but
god being rich in mercy he says,
i will provide a way of salvation i will send my son so jesus christ comes as
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the son of god lives a perfect life on behalf of this sinner who was not able
to live the perfect life.
And then he goes and dies on the cross to receive the punishment that was supposed
to go to this sinner and then rises from the dead and then ascends up to heaven.
So that this sinner who has failed to keep the commandments of God,
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when he looks to Christ and believes in Christ, he's counted as the one who
has kept the law of God perfectly because Christ has kept the law.
And this sinner who deserves the wrath of God, when he believes in Christ...
He doesn't have to experience the wrath because Christ was already punished
for his sin. And that is the gospel, that we are sinners. We are unable to save ourselves.
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God has provided a way of salvation in Christ through his perfect life,
death, and resurrection.
And really, every message that a preacher preaches should be gospel saturated,
should preach Christ and him crucified. That's what Apostle Paul said.
I preach Christ and him crucified. The cross is at the center of my preaching.
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I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
I can tell you this, see, if the preacher is going to preach Christ,
definitely he will preach the gospel.
And if the preacher is going to preach the gospel, he will definitely preach Christ.
So, gospel saturated and Christ-centered really go hand in hand.
How should a preacher reach out to the unbelieving audience in their sermon? Yes.
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Yeah. So, you know, another element that is very, very important in preaching
is what is called discriminatory preaching.
Is that good? Yeah, that's what I wanted to say. The word discrimination is not a good term.
It's not a good word. People, we don't like it. We don't want to discriminate
against anyone, for sure. But discriminatory preaching, really what it does is it differentiates.
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When you as a preacher stand out and you look at the people that you're preaching
to, you should always discriminate to say there are believers in here and there
are unbelievers in here.
So that's categorizing. Yes, categorizing. The term the Puritans that use is
discriminatory preaching. Yeah.
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All right. So you discriminate or you categorize people into those groups.
And as a preacher, make sure that your sermon speaks to believers who know Christ.
They should be encouraged in their faith. Maybe they should be rebuked of some
sin in their own lives and all that.
But also, remember the other group that doesn't know Christ.
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Challenge them that they are under the wrath of God. They are under the condemnation of God.
And if they remain the same, God is going to pour his wrath on them.
And they don't want that. So then challenge them to say, even though that is
the case, there is a way of escape. There is a way of salvation.
Jesus Christ is the way of salvation. So you challenge Constantinian believers
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to say, look to Christ, believe in Christ for your salvation.
What happens in a case where you do not discriminate?
Everyone receives the same message. Yeah. Everyone hears that God loves them
and Jesus died for them. Yeah. And they have eternal life.
What's the problem with that? Yeah. Yeah, no, so the main, main problem is you're
giving false hope, especially to unbelievers.
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Because what I've seen most of the time is if you're a general,
usually you're preaching to your church.
And every preacher, you have to believe that most of the people in your church are believers.
Because most of those people have made professional faith and they come to the
Lord's table and all that. So you believe that most of them are believers.
But you cannot be so naive to think all of them are believers.
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They aren't believers in there. Sadly, even some of them that have made professional
faith might not be true believers. They've just made that professional faith from the word of mouth.
So if you just speak to all of them as believers, this person who is not a believer
will start having a voice. Oh, yeah.
We are all God's children. God loves all of us.
He's not challenged of his sin anymore, and he's living his life being deceived
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that God loves him and all things.
Yeah, God loves him in a general way, but he's still under the condemnation
of God if he doesn't repent of his sin.
So he has that sense, and then might die in his sin, only to be shocked when
he stands before the throne of God, that there is condemnation coming,
and he can't escape it at this time.
So, yes, that's very, very serious. It's a matter of life and death.
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So we should discriminate. We should categorize people to say,
well, friend, if you're not in Christ, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This also is where we'll leave it for today. Please email us your thoughts about
the program and any questions you may have.
(20:04):
You can email us on atreformed at gmail.com.
Atreformed, one word, at gmail.com. You can also inbox us on All Things Reformed podcast page.
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