The issue of preaching and what it is remains an enormous problem in the world today, though it appears to be so bad in the United States. There is a lot of exposition, so to speak, but so little of Christ and of grace. There is a lot of yelling and ranting about sin, though there is so little preaching about sin of the heart. There is a fair amount of talk about Jesus in some circles, but there is no real preaching on who Christ really is and what He has really done. There are many who are liberal and do something they call preaching, but a true liberal cannot preach the true Gospel of the true Christ. There are many conservatives who are preaching doctrine, moralism, and perhaps things that are politically correct, but there is little of the true Gospel of the true Christ.
If the liberals cannot preach Christ in truth and cannot preach the Gospel in truth, then of course there they are not truly preaching. If the conservatives are focused on doctrine, moralism, and things that are politically correct then they are not preaching the true Christ or the true Gospel either. Christ came to save sinners to the glory of God and not make people more moral as such, though a person truly converted will become more moral, though not always in the politically correct way. It is possible to preach doctrine, even true doctrine, without preaching Christ. It is so possible to preach morality and not even mention Christ. The issue, then, is not whether one is liberal or conservative, but whether one preaches the true Christ and the true Gospel of the true Christ.
It appears to my aching ears and hungry soul that a person can be a preacher and be given to the exposition of Scripture and go through book after book verse by verse and miss the real message of that book. It appears that one can preach orthodox doctrine and still miss the point and heart of that doctrine. It certainly appears that one can even preach the external morality that Christ taught and still miss Christ Himself and the internal morality that He taught. One can even preach a certain internal morality and still miss the point that internal morality must come by grace alone. One can preach about anything that the Bible teaches and miss the Christ of the Bible.
Paul said he preached nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified and Jesus, while on the road to Emmaus, began “with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). The central message of the Scriptures is the glory of God manifested and declared by and in Jesus Christ. The central message of the Scriptures is not doctrine, morality, and politically correct thing, but instead it is Christ and that meaning the glory of God in Christ. True doctrine must point to the greatness and glory of God in Christ. We cannot just know the intellectually grasped propositions of the doctrine; we must see Christ in that doctrine. We cannot just know about morality, we must see how true morality is all about Christ from the beginning to the end.
The Gospel of the grace of God in Christ Jesus is perhaps the core of the core of the Bible. The Gospel is not just a little canned message that sinners are to be given in order to pray a prayer, but the Gospel is the good news of God on display in His majestic glory in Christ Jesus and how He delivers sinners from bondage to sin, the devil, and self to be His instruments of glory. The Gospel is not of what sinners can do for God, including being good little boys and girls, but it is all about the greatness and glory of God. Orthodox doctrine can be preached and miss the point of orthodox doctrine if it is not primarily about the glory of God in Christ. A “sermon” can be all about the text of Scripture and miss the primary point of all Scripture.
To a certain mindset doctrine can be viewed as a wonderful system of philosophy. To another mindset the Bible can give a wonderful morality. This list can go on and on. But if we are to think the thoughts of God after Him and if we are to have the mind of Christ, then we must view the glory of God in the face of Christ as the point of all doctrine and morality. Apart from the glory of God in Jesus Christ there is no true preaching in line with Scripture. Apart from the glorious Gospel of the grace of God in Christ Jesus there is no true biblical preaching in line with Scripture even if a person gives wonderful expositions as such. Apart from the glorious Gospel of the grace of God in Christ Jesus there will never be an ounce of true morality. Apart from the glorious Gospel of the grace of God in Christ Jesus the point and beauty of true doctrine will not be preached. True preaching is virtually lost in America because we don’t know Christ Himself. There is a lot of knowledge about some facts of Christ, but where is knowledge of Christ Himself? Apart from knowing Christ Himself, there is no true preaching of Christ. Apart from the true preaching of Christ, there is no true preaching of the Gospel and no true preaching at all.
God Loves... Himself 
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