Utumishi Blog

Which of the following is the gospel sermon and which is the moralistic sermon?

Sermon 1

+ Here is what the text says
+ Here is how we must live in light of that text
+ Now go and live that way

Sermon 2

+ Here is what the text says
+ Here is how we must live in light of that text
+ Now go and live that way
+ But we can’t do it on our own, we need Jesus in our life
+ Now with Jesus, with the Spirit, with God’s help we can live rightly

Easy, #1 is moralistic, #2 is gospel. Or is it? Not quite. Despite all the talk of human inability, despite all the talk of Jesus and God’s strength, sermon 2 doesn’t actually give us the gospel. It might talk about ‘grace’ but it means grace as a spiritual boost to help you do the right thing, not grace in the sense of the sovereign salvation of God centred on Christ’s death in the place of sinners.

It’s really easy to slip into a #2 style sermon – especially when you’re preaching the OT Law or the Prophets or doing a topical talk. It’s an improvement on #1 in that we realise ‘hang on we can’t do this’ and we have this sense we need to talk about Jesus and grace… but it falls short of the gospel. It doesn’t give us Christ crucified. It ultimately ends up with Judgement Day and our eternal destiny still being in the balance and depending on whether we have (with God’s help) sufficiently kept the Law.

What we need, as Tim Keller explains very helpfully on page 4 of his paper on preaching is something more like this:

+ Here is what the text says
+ Here is how we must live in light of it
+ But we simply cannot do it
+ Ah – but there is One who did!
+ Now, through faith in him, you can begin to live this way

It’s not just that we need some help; we absolutely cannot do it. We are dead and finished. Then it’s the fourth element that is key: Real grace. The Great Exchange. Jesus taking the punishment and curse for all our failure and depravity and clothing us with his perfect life. Union with him. Our eternity secure in him. And then the last step flows naturally out of that (as Keller explains on p5 with helpful worked examples). It is not a ‘Oh, but we do still need to do the Law stuff ‘ stuck on the end – it should flow naturally out of the gospel of point 4. It is as we look with faith at the crucified king that our desires are captured, our pride is cut down, the stranglehold of sin is broken, our worldview is turned upside down and inside out, and we see our new identity as blood-bought, beloved, children of the Father.

Let’s make sure it’s really gospel preaching.