Category Archives: Articles

How to diagnose a sermon

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The excellent Issues, Etc* radio programme has this very handy diagnostic for reviewing sermons:

  1. How often is Jesus mentioned? Keep a simple running tally. It’s a problem if He is mentioned only a few times, or tucked in at the beginning or the end. If He is mentioned, even only once, go on to step 2.
  2. Is Jesus the subject of the verbs, the one doing the action? If He is, go on to step 3.
  3. What are the verbs? What is the preacher telling you what Jesus did, does, and will do for you? Is the Jesus that is presented one of pop therapeutic deism, who helps, inspires and gives examples? Or is He instead the Jesus of Scripture who lives, suffers, dies and rises again, all for you?

I find this to be a very helpful tool for evaluating the sermons that I hear week by week. Perhaps you will too.

* Disclaimer: the Issues, Etc programme has a Confessional Lutheran perspective. I am not a Confessional Lutheran and would differ from the show’s position on a number of important doctrinal points. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the hosts properly distinguish between Law and Gospel, and faithfully proclaim the true Gospel of Christ crucified for sinners and raised from the dead. I am therefore happy to commend the programme.

Does God have two wills?

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If it is true that the Bible teaches that God unconditionally (i.e. not on the basis of foreseen faith) chooses those who are to be saved, and it does, does the Bible contradict itself when it says that God ‘desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth’ (1 Timothy 2:4)?

Put another way, if God really desires all men to be saved, why does He only choose some of them actually to be saved, while eternally condemning others?

In his article, Are There Two Wills in God? John Piper addresses this apparent problem head-on. He gives a cogent and coherent Bible-based explanation of how divine election and God’s desire for all to be saved are two harmonious and consistent truths.

Saying a prayer doesn’t make you a Christian

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A big lie in evangelical circles is that you can be saved by saying a prayer. But it is not what we do that saves us, it’s what God does for us. This is comforting; if our salvation depended upon our work, then we would be lost indeed. Our obedience to God is evidence of our salvation, not the cause of it.

I’ve only recently come across Paul Washer, but I like what I see of him in this video. It’s well worth 59 minutes of your time to watch. Paul isn’t afraid to preach the whole Gospel, having properly prepared the way by crushing us with the Law. He understands that the message of the cross doesn’t make sense unless our desperate sinful condition is first explained.

Why ‘Better Than Sacrifice’?

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In 1 Samuel 15, we read God’s instruction to King Saul to punish the city of Amalek by utterly destroying it. Not one man, woman, child, ox, sheep, camel or donkey was to be spared. Saul carries out the command – almost. But, he does not execute Agag, king of the Amalekites, and he spares the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, lambs and ‘all that was good’.

The prophet Samuel confronts Saul with his sin, and pronounces God’s judgment with these words:

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