Tag Archives: Preaching

Christ Ought to Be All in a Ministry

Posted on by under J. C. Ryle

I might tell you how Christ ought to be all in a ministry. The great work which ordained men are intended to do, is to lift up Christ. We are to be like the pole on which the brazen serpent was hung. We are useful so long as we exalt the great object of faith, but useful no further. We are to be ambassadors to carry tidings to a rebellious world, about the King’s Son, and if we teach men to think more about us and our office than about Him, we are not fit for our place. The Spirit of Christ, will never honor that minister who does not testify of Christ —who does not make Christ “all.”

original emphasis, J. C. Ryle (1816-1900)

“Preacher, You Don’t Preach the Old Fashioned Gospel!”

Posted on by under Abraham Booth

At this, the devout Pharisee and the decent moralist are highly offended. Such doctrines being advanced, they think it incumbent upon them to stand up in defence of what they call an holy life: and to support the sinking credit of good works, as having a considerable efficacy in procuring our acceptance with God. This many persons frequently do, much more by talking about their necessity, than by performing them. Now they think it their duty to rail at the preacher as an avowed enemy to holiness; nor will they spare to give him the honourable title of, A friend of publicans and sinners. Now innumerable slanders are cast on the doctrine of grace, as being licentious; and on the ministers of it, as opening the floodgates of all iniquity. For they suppose that every thing bad may be justly expected from those who openly disavow all dependence on their own duties; and whose hope of eternal happiness arises, not from services which they perform, but from grace which the gospel reveals – not from the worth which they possess, but from the work which Christ has wrought. Thus they despise the gospel under the fair pretence of a more than common concern for the interests of holiness.

Binding and Loosing in Heaven and on Earth

Posted on by under Colin Marshall, Martin Luther, Tony Payne

The Ministry of the word belongs to all. To bind and to loose clearly is nothing else then to proclaim and to apply the gospel. For what is it to loose, if not to announce the forgiveness of sins before God? What is it to bind, except to withdraw the gospel and to declare the retention of sins? Whether they [that is, the Roman Catholic Church] want to or not, they must concede that the keys are the exercise of the Ministry of the word and belong to all Christians.

Martin Luther in Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, The Trellis and the Vine (Kingsford NSW Australia: Matthias Media, 2009), 58.

Preaching Is…

Posted on by under G. Campbell Morgan, Wilbur M. Smith

Preaching is the declaration of the grace of God to human need on the authority of the throne of God, and demanding, on the part of those who hear, but they show obedience to the thing declared.

G. Campbell Morgan in Wilbur M. Smith, Peloubet’s Select Notes on the International Bible Lessons for Christian Teaching: 1958 (Boston: W. A. Wilde Co., 1957), 377-78.

The Law-Driven Sermon

Posted on by under Paul Tripp

When I hear an essentially law-driven sermon, asking the law to do what only the grace of Jesus Christ can accomplish, I am immediately concerned about the preacher. I wonder about his view of himself, because if you have any self-consciousness about your own weakness and sin, you find little hope and comfort for yourself and your hearers in that kind of sermon.

Paul David Tripp (1950 –   )

HT: Reformed Quotes

The Reason I Get up in the Morning

Posted on by under Paul Tripp

No matter what is or isn’t working in my ministry, no matter what difficulties or battles I am facing, the expansive glory of God gives me reason to get up in the morning and do what I have been gifted and called to do with enthusiasm, courage, and confidence. My joy isn’t handcuffed to the surrounding circumstances or relationships; I don’t have to have my heart yanked wherever they go. I have reason for joy because I am a chosen child and a conscripted servant of the King of kings and Lord of lords, the great Creator, the Savior, the sovereign, the victor, the one who does reign and will reign forever. He is my Father, my Savior, and my boss. He is ever near and ever faithful. My passion for ministry is not about how I am being received; it flows out of the reality that I have been received by him. My enthusiasm is not because people like me, but because he has accepted and sent me. My passion is not the result of my ministry being as glorious as I thought it could be, but because he is eternally and unchangeably glorious. So, I preach, teach, counsel, lead, and serve with a gospel passion that inspires and ignites the same in the people around me.

Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 122-123.