God Loves… Himself

He bore what? The sins of all His people. The curse and wrath of His divine Father due to their crimes, with which He was charged as their Surety. He bore up under all these weights, and by His sufferings, sacrifice and death, He made a full atonement for sin, obtained a complete victory over sin, Satan, death and hell. He satisfied divine justice perfectly, and bore away for ever out of the sight of God, the sins of all His church and people. And God beholds His children clothed in the immaculate righteousness of His beloved Son, and completely cleansed from all their sins through the inestimably precious sacrifice and blood-shedding of Jesus. The God-man bore the curse of the broken law to deliver us from it. He is now in glory making a presentation of Himself continually in the holiest of all, as the finished righteousness and atonement of His people. And “if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” of intercession. (Samuel Eyles Pierce, Letters)

In the letter just above that Samuel Eyles Pierce wrote to a friend we really see something of what it means to preach Christ. As with preaching Christ, or at least what should be preaching Christ, it sets out Christ as the answer to every aspect of man’s desperate need. It deals with what the hearts of poor sinners long for and does not allow them to think that they can contribute anything at all. When the hearts of poor sinners cry out for relief, it is Christ alone who can deal with their sin and cleanse their conscience. It is the complete and full atonement of Christ that sinners need to hear about and be encouraged to flee to Christ. The evil one will indeed fire his darts of doubt at true believers, but the preacher of Christ should point sinners to Christ who alone has satisfied divine justice, but He also did this perfectly. There is nothing lacking in this sacrifice and there is nothing that a sinful man can to contribute to what Christ has done. However, since God is aiming at His own glory, this is not bar to the forgiveness of even the worst of sinners. How sinners should and must be encouraged to flee to Christ with their doubts, their weakness, their inability, and their sin.

Not only, however, is Christ the perfect sacrifice for sin, He also gives a perfect righteousness. In this we can see an aspect of God-centeredness in this great salvation. It is not just that man can feel better because of what Christ has done in his or her place, but it is how God beholds His children that is vital. Regardless of how men think or feel about themselves, it is how God sees them that is the most important. God beholds His children in Christ which Scripture pictures as being clothed in the white linen or righteousness of Christ. This is what each sinner must know and this is what each believer needs to hear. It is important that believers know that they are in Christ and Christ is in them. It is important for believers to know that they are viewed by God as being in Christ. It is important for believers to know that their lives are hidden in Christ. When God beholds His beloved children, He sees them as in Christ.

Sinners are not comforted and driven to Christ by stating the facts and then giving them more facts, they need Christ Himself. They must be instructed and urged to flee to Christ alone and ask Him to cleanse them and give Himself to them. How men need to hear that for those who are in Christ all of their sins were suffered for by Christ on the bloody cross. How men need to hear that God sees them as having all of their sins washed away and that they are cleansed perfectly by Christ. They can do nothing and should not try to make up for their sins or earn their own righteousness. God sent the Son to be the One that sinners can have a perfect standing before the Father.

This is where preaching Christ should be personal and direct. While this is a glorious message in and of itself, the preacher must take pains to preach to the hearts of sinners and get to their hearts with the application of Christ if He is pleased to do so. Preachers must have some experience of what it means to be seen of God in Christ in order to preach this in an experiential way. Preachers who only know the doctrinal facts will only be able to preach the doctrinal facts. This is why preachers should seek the Lord that they may know Him and know about what the practice of the teaching is. How can a person describe with feeling what it means to stand before God as a vile sinner and yet in Christ be perfect? Ah, only the preacher who knows this by experience can truly preach this. Preachers should seek Christ and know these things in order to preach them. This cannot be taught in any grad school or seminary. Only Christ can teach this in the inner man.

He bore what? The sins of all His people. The curse and wrath of His divine Father due to their crimes, with which He was charged as their Surety. He bore up under all these weights, and by His sufferings, sacrifice and death, He made a full atonement for sin, obtained a complete victory over sin, Satan, death and hell. He satisfied divine justice perfectly, and bore away for ever out of the sight of God, the sins of all His church and people. And God beholds His children clothed in the immaculate righteousness of His beloved Son, and completely cleansed from all their sins through the inestimably precious sacrifice and blood-shedding of Jesus. The God-man bore the curse of the broken law to deliver us from it. He is now in glory making a presentation of Himself continually in the holiest of all, as the finished righteousness and atonement of His people. And “if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” of intercession. (Samuel Eyles Pierce, Letters)

The weightiness of what Christ has done should not be lost on the one preaching or on the listeners. The cross of Christ is not just something that happened a few years ago and we can admire His sacrifice, but this is the supreme manifestation of the glory of God. The cross was primarily about the glory of God and this should give us a different view of the cross than if we looked at it from man’s point of view. Christ died to purchase sinners for the Father. This changes everything. Christ was sent by the Father to be the bearer of the curse and wrath of the Father in the place of sinners. Again, this changes everything.

What people must hear, at least I will argue, is that if Christ suffered and died out of love for the glory of the Father and to purchase sinners for the Father, then there can be no doubt that He made the fullest atonement possible. He did not leave one sin unaccounted for. Christ was sent to be the surety for the people He was sent to be the surety for. There was not and is not one sin left out of His work. He came out of love for the Father and He was a complete and perfect sacrifice.

Sinners must come to see that this Gospel is quite apart from them in one sense. The cross was a place where there was a divine transaction that is seen and accomplished. When preachers simply mention Christ, they are not really preaching Christ at all. When ministers mention or even talk a little about the cross of Christ, they are not truly preaching the cross of Christ at all. The cross was where the divine transaction is on display. The cross is where the love of the Father for the Son and the love of the Son for the Father meet. The cross is where all the attributes of God are set out and put on display for God to delight in Himself and for sinners to delight in Him.

The Father sent the Son as the only One who could be a perfect atonement for sin and fully bear the wrath of the Father and fully satisfy the wrath and perfect justice of the Father. As one sent from the Father, He could bear up under all of the weight of that wrath and fully satisfy the wrath of the Father. It was at the cross that He obtained a complete victory over sin, Satan, death and hell because He was sent to do those by the Father and as God in human flesh He alone could do that. In this divine justice was fully satisfied and all that God held against His people was carried away and born completely out of His sight, no longer to return.

This is all to say that there are poor and weak sinners in local churches and outside of local churches. There are poor and hungry sinners who long to feed upon just a crumb of His glory, yet they hear nothing of the glory of God unless it is used to get them to do a supposedly good work. These poor sinners who are weak and hungry need to hear that Christ is their surety. They need to hear that Christ has fully satisfied the wrath of the Father and that they are to rest in Christ by grace alone. There is nothing left for them to do (in this sense) and they are to feast upon the glory of God in the face of Christ. Yes, those very weak people need to know that Christ has taken all their sins away and they will never be asked to answer for those sins before God in terms of eternal judgment.

I would guess that there are poor and weak sinners in many places (hopefully) in our land and they need to hear the fullness of Christ and what He has done. The glory of God demands that preachers set forth His glory in Christ at the cross, yet the glory of God in His people also demands it. Oh how preachers need to die to self that they may truly preach Christ instead of speaking words about Christ in order to make them look good or feel good. It is Christ that must be declared if God and His Gospel is going to be preached. Preachers must learn to deal with their own hearts and learn what it means to preach Christ after they have learned what Christ means to their own hearts and most of all for the glory of God.

He bore what? The sins of all His people. The curse and wrath of His divine Father due to their crimes, with which He was charged as their Surety. He bore up under all these weights, and by His sufferings, sacrifice and death, He made a full atonement for sin, obtained a complete victory over sin, Satan, death and hell. He satisfied divine justice perfectly, and bore away for ever out of the sight of God, the sins of all His church and people. And God beholds His children clothed in the immaculate righteousness of His beloved Son, and completely cleansed from all their sins through the inestimably precious sacrifice and blood-shedding of Jesus. The God-man bore the curse of the broken law to deliver us from it. He is now in glory making a presentation of Himself continually in the holiest of all, as the finished righteousness and atonement of His people. And “if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” of intercession. (Samuel Eyles Pierce, Letters)

The above quote from the Letters of Pierce gets at part of what Paul meant when he determined to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. This is what sinners need to hear, that is, what sinners who know something of the depths of their sin need to hear. Those that the Spirit has opened their eyes and has shown them their sins and the guiltiness of those sins are not satisfied with what goes by the gospel in our day. These people feel the weight of being under the wrath of God and their conscience knows what being guilty in the presence of God really means. These people know that they are worthy of nothing but everlasting torment in hell and they want a real Savior and a real satisfaction for their sins or they will not sleep.

When Christ is truly preached to a people who know and feel their need for Christ, the desperate need for a Savior is satisfied. These are the people who see Christ as a full and eternal Savior and have no need of their own puny works to add. These are the people whose eyes are opened and they behold the glory of God in Christ in taking away their sins. People need to know that under the Law there is nothing the curse and wrath of God, but Christ took upon Himself that curse and that wrath in the place of His people. There is no more wrath for those who are in Christ, though indeed there is the training of the Father, but Christ took all the wrath and fully satisfied the demands of perfect justice in the place of sinners.

When Christ is preached, this should become personal so that sinners are instructed to look to Christ for their sins. Believers need to look to Christ and they should be encouraged to look to Christ as He is the perfect sacrifice for sins. However, their looking to Christ is not some worthy act of their own, but they are to look to Christ and His perfect work as the basis for their very faith itself. When God gives them faith, they can see that the whole of salvation is Christ and Christ alone. When men really see and feel their sin, they know down in their heart that they can do nothing to take away that sin. They must be taught and encouraged to flee to the only One who is the only Surety for sins. Only Christ can fully make that payment and only Christ can pay the least part as well. Here we behold the glory of the free-grace of God as well. There is nothing that sinners can do to make themselves the least bit worthy of having this Christ.

When Christ is preached, sinners should be exhorted to look to Christ alone as their Surety for all of their sin. Believers are subject to many sins and the attacks and darts of the evil one. They will only find comfort in Christ fully satisfying the wrath of the Father in their place. They will learn by the inward teaching of God that Christ bore all the weight of their sin. Here is where sinners learn freedom from sin and a true living and walking by grace. They do not become holy because they are grateful and so live a little better in their own strength, but they are declared holy by God on the basis of the work of Christ and it is also the work of Christ that they can share His holiness. When Christ is preached people will learn that all holiness is found in Christ and that they have no holiness of their own to work for. What sinners need is Christ Himself in all of His offices. There is no morality apart from Christ and there is no satisfaction for the sin of sinners apart from Christ. This should teach us that unbelieving sinners and believing sinners must hear more and more of Christ! They need to have more and more of Christ!

They doat about the letter of the law, but are strangers to the spirituality of it; and, as far as the glorious gospel of the blessed God, they cannot preach it. They may talk about the one God, about the Holy Trinity, and the trinity in unity; about the divinity of Christ, and the unity of two natures in him; about the ancient settlements of eternity, and preach up what they may call the important doctrines of election and predestination, particular redemption, and effectual vocation, regeneration, justification, and sanctification, efficacious grace, and final perseverance, and yet at the same time be as destitute of the gospel of Christ as Satan himself. Men may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and be nothing (I Cor 13:1-2). Yea more, be destitute both of the law and of the gospel; and be no more than the letter of the law and the word of the gospel. But the law is spiritual, and that is more than letter; and the gospel of the kingdom stands in power, and power is more than word. (William Huntington, 1745-1813)

John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

If it is true that apart from Christ, that is, that apart from abiding in Him and Him abiding in the person and so all true spiritual fruit must come from Him, then it is clear that true spiritual preaching is impossible apart from Christ. Now it is true that virtually all people with any semblance of belief in the Bible and of Christ would agree with the previous statement, but that does not mean that they understand what it means. It means that all “preaching” that is not the fruit of abiding in Christ and of Christ abiding in the preacher is not spiritual preaching and has no spiritual fruit. What comes from the preacher is from the preacher rather than coming from Christ.

We know from the Scriptures that no one can come to the Father apart from Christ, yet no one can come to Christ unless the Father is drawing that person. We also know that all those who have truly seen Christ have seen the Father. We can see the clear teaching of this truth from the passages below and many others. Part of this clear teaching below gives us some idea of what Jesus is teaching regarding the Father being the vinedresser and Himself as the true vine.

John 14:8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father ‘

John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 “It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

We must be drawn by the Father to the Son and yet when we truly behold the Son we behold the Father. This is at least part of what it means to preach Christ. In preaching Christ we are to preach Him in such a way where the Father is pointed to as being one with the Son and it is the glory of the Father that is being seen in the shining forth of Christ who was sent by the Father. We are to preach Christ with the view that the Father may draw sinners to Himself through the preaching of Christ. But it must be stressed over and over and in different ways that the mention of Christ and even talking about Christ is not the same thing as preaching Christ. It is not enough to mention the cross, but the cross must be preached. It is not enough to mention the Gospel here and there, the Gospel must be preached.

Once again the point should be clear that it takes Christ to preach Christ. It takes Christ as the vine working in His branches to bear spiritual fruit and there is no other place to obtain spiritual fruit. For there to be true preaching, then, the preacher must have Christ and must know Christ. True preaching does not just require the preacher to intellectually know doctrine, to know stories, and also to be moral; but the preacher must abide in Christ and Christ must abide in him in order for the preacher to preach Christ and bear spiritual fruit. That which is said to be “preaching” and yet is not from the heart of a man who is abiding in Christ and what the man says is not the spiritual fruit that comes from Christ is not true preaching.

They doat about the letter of the law, but are strangers to the spirituality of it; and, as far as the glorious gospel of the blessed God, they cannot preach it. They may talk about the one God, about the Holy Trinity, and the trinity in unity; about the divinity of Christ, and the unity of two natures in him; about the ancient settlements of eternity, and preach up what they may call the important doctrines of election and predestination, particular redemption, and effectual vocation, regeneration, justification, and sanctification, efficacious grace, and final perseverance, and yet at the same time be as destitute of the gospel of Christ as Satan himself. Men may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and be nothing (I Cor 13:1-2). Yea more, be destitute both of the law and of the gospel; and be no more than the letter of the law and the word of the gospel. But the law is spiritual, and that is more than letter; and the gospel of the kingdom stands in power, and power is more than word. (William Huntington, 1745-1813)

John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Preaching Christ is either a fruit of the Spirit or it is a fruit of the flesh. It is clear from Galatians 5 that love, joy, peace, patience and so is a fruit of the Spirit. In other words, if one is to preach with joy and love then one must have the Spirit work those things in the soul. It is not just a matter of preaching sound words or orthodox words, the soul that preaches must preach by the power of the Spirit which is to say with the work and fruit of the Spirit. If the text of Scripture just above (John 15) is correct, then there can be no preaching unless the preacher is abiding in Christ and Christ is abiding in him.

Huntington’s comments above have a powerful implication as well. A person can preach a lot with all mysteries and knowledge, yet be destitute of the spiritual application of the law and of the gospel of the kingdom. This is another way of stating John 15 which teaches us that apart from Christ we can do nothing (spiritual or truly good). In other words, for us to do anything spiritual at all it must come from Christ first. All spiritual fruit is from Christ and that means that true spiritual preaching must come from Christ as well. The preacher can fill the brain with all sorts of information, even if the information is correct and orthodox, but apart from the preaching being the fruit that comes from Christ that preaching is dead.

This should awaken and alarm preachers. They can give themselves to reading history, theology, and to commentaries, but unless their preaching is spiritual fruit which can only come from abiding in Christ and His abiding in them, their preaching is the fruit of the flesh. A sharp mind can figure out many of the external teachings of the Bible, and this can be seen by the Pharisees and by many men who have been ministers for years before they were either converted or they apostatized. It is not that hard to make up speeches from the Bible and about the Bible, but preaching as a fruit of the Spirit is something far different. Preaching that is the fruit that comes from the Vine is something that no natural man can attain.

While it may sound radical and even mystical, it takes Christ to preach Christ. It takes a man who is abiding in Christ and has Christ abiding in him to preach Christ. It takes a man who receives all from Christ by grace alone to truly preach Christ. It takes Christ as the person’s life to preach a true and living sermon. A sermon that is the fruit of the Spirit is a spiritual sermon and is fruit that glorifies God in and through Christ. A sermon that comes from Christ Himself will be to the glory of the Father through Christ. The Lord Jesus was the very manifestation of the Father and strove to manifest and glorify the Father in all He did while on earth. There will no nothing different (in that sense) in the preaching of those He dwells in and works to glorify the Father through. Preaching, then, does not depend on how smart or even how orthodox a man is, but instead it depends on how humbled and broken the man is in order to receive all from Christ so that the preaching is truly Christ Himself working His words and Person in and through the human instrument who is said to preach.

They doat about the letter of the law, but are strangers to the spirituality of it; and, as far as the glorious gospel of the blessed God, they cannot preach it. They may talk about the one God, about the Holy Tirinity, and the trinity in unity; about the divinity of Christ, and the unity of two natures in him; about the ancient settlements of eternity, and preach up what they may call the important doctrines of election and predestination, particular redemption, and effectual vocation, regeneration, justification, and sanctification, efficacious grace, and final perseverance, and yet at the same time be as destitute of the gospel of Christ as Satan himself. Men may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and be nothing (I Cor 13:1-2). Yea more, be destitute both of the law and of the gospel; and be no more than the letter of the law and the word of the gospel. But the law is spiritual, and that is more than letter; and the gospel of the kingdom stands in power, and power is more than word. (William Huntington, 1745-1813)

It is so hard to communicate what it means to preach Christ in our day. Many think that they are preaching Christ when they preach morality because they are preaching what they think is the morality of Christ. Others think that they are preaching Christ when they preach doctrine because they think that they are preaching the truths of Christ. Others think that they are preaching Christ when they are preaching a text of Scripture. Others think that they are preaching Christ when they use the word “Christ” or when they speak of Christ or perhaps mention the cross of Christ at the end of a sermon.

The Gospel cannot be preached apart from the preacher having Christ as his life and of Christ teaching that man in the inward man. It does sound rather mystical to many, but this is simply to say that we must have spiritual knowledge of Christ and be taught of Christ. If that is mystical, then Christianity is mystical. If preaching is as Calvin said, then preaching is really a man that God has prepared to be His mouthpiece and He speaks through that man. When a man that God has prepared to preach and that man preaches, then in one very real sense when that man preaches God is speaking. That does not mean that the sermons are “God-breathed” or inspired as the Scriptures are, but that the man is speaking forth from God.

We can use an analogy to point this out. The work of the Spirit is to illuminate. However, the Spirit must not just illuminate the text; He must bring light into the soul and thus illuminate the person as well as the text. The same thing is true of preaching. The preacher must be taught something of the text, yes, but he must also be taught in the inward man and that only happens by conformity of the soul to Christ. When Christ teaches a man, He does not just teach him what the text says, but He teaches the man a spiritual meaning and in that the man will be conformed Himself. The man who is to preach must know something of the meaning of the text, but more important is that the man be conformed to Christ by Christ Himself.

We can also see this illustrated by the Gospel itself. The Gospel is not just a message as such, but it is the message of Christ and the work of Christ. The Gospel is not just words of Christ and what He does, it is about what He actually will carry out in the soul of sinners that He calls to Himself. We see this in the following text: “For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6). It is not just that God promises light, but He shines in the heart to give that light and be that light in Christ. In order to preach this, then, the preacher must have the light of God in the soul and know something of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ in order to preach the Gospel. The Gospel is not just relating the facts; it is also proclaiming the glory of God from a heart that has had God work those truths in the soul.

Preaching Christ is not just giving a lecture about biblical facts, it is the soul of a man that has been conformed to Christ by Christ and His message declaring the Christ who is his life and declaring that in a spiritual way. Preaching Christ, then, comes from a heart that God Himself has taught in illuminating the text, illuminating the inward part of man, and then teaching the man by conforming the whole soul to Christ. Only the man can preach who preaches his own heart when he is preaching Christ who is his life and also has been conformed to Christ. This is not some mystical way of doing things, it is the work of Christ in the heart. In beholding Christ and His glory a man is conformed to Christ from glory to glory. Preaching, then, is when a man who has been conformed to Christ and His glory is relating the Christ of Scripture and his own heart as he beholds that glory and testifies to it.

They doat about the letter of the law, but are strangers to the spirituality of it; and, as far as the glorious gospel of the blessed God, they cannot preach it. They may talk about the one God, about the Holy Tirinity, and the trinity in unity; about the divinity of Christ, and the unity of two natures in him; about the ancient settlements of eternity, and preach up what they may call the important doctrines of election and predestination, particular redemption, and effectual vocation, regeneration, justification, and sanctification, efficacious grace, and final perseverance, and yet at the same time be as destitute of the gospel of Christ as Satan himself. Men may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and be nothing (I Cor 13:1-2). Yea more, be destitute both of the law and of the gospel; and be no more than the letter of the law and the word of the gospel. But the law is spiritual, and that is more than letter; and the gospel of the kingdom stands in power, and power is more than word. (William Huntington, 1745-1813)

There is “preaching” that is talking about Christ, but there is preaching that is full of Christ. There is “preaching” that is about a false Christ, but there is true preaching that is full of the true Christ. There is preaching that is nothing more than a lecture or an energetic lecture, but there is true preaching that is from Christ Himself. There is “preaching” that is from the religious self, but there true is preaching that is from the life of Christ who dwells in the soul of man. There is “preaching” that is from the fleshly self, but there is true preaching from the spiritual self. This is to say that just because a man stands up in front of people and delivers and orthodox message about the Bible is not to say that the man has truly preached.

While this is most likely repetition from things before, it is still a vital need in the professing Church. A very learned man can stand in front of a congregation and give a very learned lecture on a particular doctrine, and while that may be true and even fine, it is not the same thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified. A man may stand in front of a congregation of professing believers and may give them a heated and even tearful message, but that is not the same thing as the true preaching of Christ and Him crucified. The preaching of Christ is a spiritual message from a spiritual man, that is, from a man who has the life of Christ in him and is preaching by the power of the Spirit of God.

The power of preaching is not the power of a powerful intellect. The power of preaching is not the power of good speaking skills. The power of preaching is not because one lives a moral life. The power of preaching is not because a person has a great knowledge of the Bible. The power of preaching is a spiritual power and nothing less than that. Each and all of the things listed above (and more), except spiritual power, can occur by the speaking of an unbelieving person. There must be a huge difference between the truly spiritual man preaching by the power of the Spirit and the unbeliever preaching by the power of self and self-love.

It should be easy to see, then, that there should be a major difference in the “preaching” of a man powered by the spirit of self and self-love than the one truly preaching by the power of the Spirit of Christ. The doctrines of grace can be preached by the unbeliever and be preached by the power of a vast knowledge and powerful speaking and personality. However, only the true believer who is taught of the Spirit can preach Christ and Him crucified in the midst of these great doctrines of grace. The unbeliever has no true taste or experience of these doctrines in a spiritual manner, but instead can only be guided by his mind, talent and feelings.

The true believer who is under the power of the Spirit can preach out of love for God, for people, and for the truth of God which is what the people of God need to hear. The unbeliever cannot preach out of love for God, His people, and a true love for the truth. The reason for this is that the unbeliever cannot love God because the unbeliever is not born of God and does not know God (I John 4:7-8). When the Spirit works the fruit of love in the preacher then there is a true love for God and a true love for human souls in the preacher and that as a fruit of the Spirit will have the power of love and the power of the Spirit attending the preaching. A powerful personality apart from Christ and His Spirit cannot preach Christ crucified because that person is only moved out of love for self. A powerful intellect cannot truly preach Christ because Christ cannot be known only by the intellect. The true preaching of Christ can only be done when the preacher has been taught of Christ and His Spirit and then preaches by the life of Christ in him and the power of love by the Spirit.

They doat about the letter of the law, but are strangers to the spirituality of it; and, as far as the glorious gospel of the blessed God, they cannot preach it. They may talk about the one God, about the Holy Tirinity, and the trinity in unity; about the divinity of Christ, and the unity of two natures in him; about the ancient settlements of eternity, and preach up what they may call the important doctrines of election and predestination, particular redemption, and effectual vocation, regeneration, justification, and sanctification, efficacious grace, and final perseverance, and yet at the same time be as destitute of the gospel of Christ as Satan himself. Men may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and be nothing (I Cor 13:1-2). Yea more, be destitute both of the law and of the gospel; and be no more than the letter of the law and the word of the gospel. But the law is spiritual, and that is more than letter; and the gospel of the kingdom stands in power, and power is more than word. (William Huntington, 1745-1813)

In this particular section it is clear that Huntington is saying that a person can have some form of belief in the doctrines of grace and yet be destitute of the Gospel of Christ. Having a belief that what is true is true is not a guarantee that one is converted. This is most likely shocking to some, even many, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ does not tell us that if one believes the things that are true are true that one is converted. This points us to a great error in modern preaching. The speaker assumes that faith is simply a matter of intellectual belief and as such speaks to people in order to inform them and try to get them to believe facts.

As Huntington pointed out earlier, however, a person can be a stranger to the spirituality of the law when that same person goes on and on about the letter of the law. In the same way a person can go on and on about the letter of the Gospel or about the letter of the doctrines of Christ, yet that person can be a stranger to the spirituality of those as well. It is possible for men to be able to speak of justification in the letter of it and the doctrine of it and yet not be justified. This may sound strange to some, but it is possible to believe that the doctrine of justification is taught in the Bible and that it is true and yet not be a true believer, that is, one that has been regenerated by the Spirit and as such be a true believer who is justified. One is not justified by believing that what is true is true, but one is justified by Christ Himself.

Oh how the Scriptures teach us these things and yet we don’t want to admit them. If it is true that men may speak with the tongues of men and of angels and still be nothing, then men may speak of the things of Christ from a pulpit in truth and be nothing. If it is true that mean may have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and be nothing, then it is true that men can have a great understanding and knowledge of the Bible and the doctrines of the Bible and be unconverted themselves and unable to preach the Gospel. The disciples walked with Christ for three years and yet they did not understand Him until He revealed it to them. It is not the academic understanding of Scripture that is a true and spiritual understanding of Scripture and thus men are able to preach from the heart, but it is only the spiritual knowledge that Christ gives that enables men to preach from the heart and to the souls of men.

Since the heart of the law is spiritual, and we might add that in the New Covenant it is internal, the heart of Christ is also internal and He is the life of the soul in the New Covenant. As the law cannot be truly preached apart from love and apart from spiritual things, so Christ cannot be preached apart from love and spiritual knowledge of Him. We are told that we are to worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24), so surely Christ is to be preached in that manner as well. It is not enough to preach the truth, Christ must be preached in and to the inward part of man as well. The Gospel of Christ is the Gospel of the kingdom of God and that is the reign and rule of God. The reign and rule of God is with power and it is far more than just the power of words, so the Gospel of the kingdom of God is also with power and not just words that are true. The Gospel is not just good news about facts, it is good news about what God does in sinners and how Christ saves sinners. It is about what God actually has done and continues to do, it is not just about historical facts. True preaching recognizes that and preaches the living Christ.

They doat about the letter of the law, but are strangers to the spirituality of it; and, as far as the glorious gospel of the blessed God, they cannot preach it. They may talk about the one God, about the Holy Tirinity, and the trinity in unity; about the divinity of Christ, and the unity of two natures in him; about the ancient settlements of eternity, and preach up what they may call the important doctrines of election and predestination, particular redemption, and effectual vocation, regeneration, justification, and sanctification, efficacious grace, and final perseverance, and yet at the same time be as destitute of the gospel of Christ as Satan himself. Men may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and be nothing (I Cor 13:1-2). Yea more, be destitute both of the law and of the gospel; and be no more than the letter of the law and the word of the gospel. But the law is spiritual, and that is more than letter; and the gospel of the kingdom stands in power, and power is more than word. (William Huntington, 1745-1813)

The quote from above shows many things concerning true preaching if we care to look at it. While many think of the law in terms of letter and spirit, it is also true that preaching can be in accordance with words and spirit. Preaching can also be in terms of the letter of Christ and of the spiritual nature and work of Christ. Until a preacher is preaching in a spiritual manner, that is, by analogy as in letter of the law versus the spiritual nature of the law, that preacher is not preaching the gospel of the glory of Christ.

It is a far different thing to speak and preach on the 6th commandment if one thinks of murder as limited to the actual killing of another human being in a non-lawful manner rather than hatred in the heart and using vicious words toward them. In that sense it is a far different thing to speak of the two natures of Christ in a wooden way and only speak of them in the doctrinal sense than it is to speak of them in a spiritual way. It is one thing to speak of the doctrines of grace according to the words and a physical sense, yet it is a far different thing to speak of grace in a spiritual sense (according to the spirit). The Scriptures speak of a spiritual knowledge, which is to say that there is a knowledge that goes far beyond the dictionary definition of a word.

The hope is that in using the letter of the law and the spirit of the law (or spiritual nature of the law) as an example that it will set forth what it means to preach Christ. As a person cannot truly preach about any commandment from the letter of the law approach, so no one can truly preach Christ from the letter of the text approach. It is not enough to give a definition and tell what the word means and then how that applies to Christ, one must go into the truth of the spiritual nature of Christ and the spiritual meanings of the work of Christ. The preaching of most modern preachers is of no more benefit to the people than reading a commentary. The goal appears to be to give the people information and when that is accomplished they think they have preached. No, they have only given a lecture that any unbeliever could give if the unbeliever had the inclination to do so. Unbelievers can give solid lectures about the Bible as long as they do not have to say anything spiritual.

While there may be some stronger words said here, it is not meant to mock or demean. If anyone reads these words and God uses them to be awakened that there is more than just words and morality to a sermon and to Bible study, then the real intent will be understood. It is easy for an unbeliever to produce a lecture on regeneration as taught in the Bible. What the unbeliever cannot do is preach on regeneration from an understanding that being regenerated gives. What the unbeliever cannot do is preach on regeneration from the experience of regeneration. When preachers attempt to preach Christ in a way that an unbeliever could do, they are not truly preaching from the heart and they are not truly preaching Christ.

It is a sad thing in our day when there is orthodoxy but Christ is not preached. It is a sign that God has turned us over to hard hearts and has sent a spiritual famine in the midst of a lot of information about the Bible. We have Bibles and commentaries and so much in our day, yet in the midst of plenty we are in a severe famine. Men are preaching and teaching the texts of Scripture and they never get beyond a physical or external meaning. The people will not and cannot be spiritually fed unless there is spiritual teaching. Unless Christ is being spiritually preached then He is not truly being preached at all, He is only being spoken about in a way that any unbeliever could speak about if s/he wanted to. In fact, it is most likely the case that there are vast numbers of preachers who are unconverted because they are not preaching Christ at all. This is not a small issue, but it is vital.

If Luther was correct that the church stands or falls on whether it preaches the Gospel or not (justification), then we must see that when Christ is not preached in truth (in a spiritual manner), the Gospel is not being preached. The Gospel of God is when God shines forth His glory in the face of Christ and that is not a physical light, that is a spiritual light. The Gospel is not just information about some physical truths of Christ, but instead it is the truth of Christ and the glory of Christ and that must be spiritual because of the divine nature of Christ. But again, if the church (spiritual and invisible Church as well as any local church) stands of falls on the doctrine of justification, then the Gospel must be preached in the spiritual sense for a church to be a church and for one who takes the name of “preacher” or “minister” to be a true preacher who ministers the true Gospel.

I Cor 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. 18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.” 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men… 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD”.

The doctrines of the Reformation flowed from Scripture, but they were also illuminated by the non-biblical way that Rome had taken things and applied certain teachings. Rome focused on baptism and the mass instead of Christ. Rome thought it had grace given to it (the Church) and it could dispense grace as it pleased. Rome had Christ bound (so to speak) in its traditions and in its sacramental system. It basically repeated some of the great errors of the Pharisees. Whenever man tries to step in and take control of the truth and then interpret it according to his own fallen reason, the supernatural aspects of it are taken away and man is now in control (he thinks) of his own salvation.

Paul lived in a day where men were wise in their own eyes and others looked for miracles and power. That is really nothing new and so he took the Pharisees and the Judaizers on. Paul was called out and chosen by God to preach Christ, the cross, and a free-grace in the face of legalism and man-centered approaches. Luther, though in a different way, was called out by God to stand up to Rome and preach Christ, the cross, and free-grace in the face of legalism and Arminianism. In our own day the same theories of men are running free again and are finding little resistance. It seems as if many in our day have fallen into the notion that they must not stand against Arminianism and as such they are not going to stand against legalism in all of its forms either.

Paul was sent to preach the Gospel and He was sent to preach Christ and Christ crucified. Luther preached Christ, though indeed he is known for justification by grace alone through faith alone, but that was his way of preaching Christ. In the modern day it is rare to find someone who truly preaches Christ. Some will preach doctrines about Christ, but that is not preaching Christ. Some will speak of Christ or speak of the cross here and there, but that is not preaching Christ. It is not preaching Christ when one gives a learned discourse or a learned lecture on a subject. It is not preaching Christ to tell people how to keep the law or how to be moral. It is not preaching Christ to fill people with stories of Jesus and His miracles and healings. Some try to preach Christ as if they were giving an academic lecture. Christ is not preached in those ways.

Paul was sent to preach the Gospel (the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of the glory of God, the Gospel of God) and he was not sent to baptize. Paul was sent to preach the Gospel, though not in cleverness of speech. He gives us the reason why he was not sent to preach with cleverness of speech. If he did so, the cross of Christ would be made void. In this context, it appears to be impossible to preach the Gospel if one does so with clever speech. The Gospel is opposed to baptism and the Gospel is opposed to preaching the Gospel with clever speech. The Gospel of a crucified Savior must be preached plainly and clearly. This is another way of saying that it takes a crucified man to preach a crucified Christ.

Here is one conclusion that we can draw. Uncrucified men cannot preach the Gospel of a humble Christ. Uncrucified men cannot preach the Gospel of the broken Christ. Uncrucified men cannot preach the Gospel of the glory of God when in fact they are seeking their own glory. The Gospel is all about Christ and how Christ saves sinners to the glory of God. When men preach in a way or with the intent (regardless of how hidden it is to themselves or others) where the glory comes to men or the glory of Christ is hidden to some degree, those men are not preaching Christ but are preaching things about Christ in order to declare themselves. It does not matter how well men can speak and how well they know their doctrine, until they die to themselves they will not preach Christ. A man who has not died to self will only preach Christ for the sake of self. Regardless of how well his speaking gifts are and how well he knows orthodox doctrine, apart from death to self he will only preach for self.