Resources/Articles
Distinctive Preaching
I cannot conceive of there having ever been a time in all of the history of the church that distinctive preaching was not needed. Perhaps there have been periods in which such preaching was more sorely needed than at other times; but if so, the failure of some to preach a distinctive gospel was responsible for the increase of the need for it. And it may be that there was never a time when the need for distinctive preaching was more operative than now.
We have entirely too much preaching that means nothing, and the need of the hour is for men who have the courage to preach a distinctive message. Preaching that is not distinctive enough to make the lost realize they are lost is not the kind of preaching it takes to save men.
Whenever an unfaithful brother, one guilty of sins against the high heaven, or with an ungodly attitude toward the work of the Lord, can sit under a man’s preaching without feeling any discomfort or alarm, there is probably something wrong with the preaching. That man needs to be blasted with the gospel dynamite until he can see his lost condition. As long as your preaching allows him to feel secure in his sins, he will not likely be redeemed from his sinful state. Just so it is with the member of the sectarian churches.
If my preaching allows them to feel safe in denominationalism, there is not much chance to rescue them from its message. My preaching must be distinctive enough to make him see the sinfulness of denominationalism. Then I can have some hope of saving him.
Just remember that in order to save a man, you must make him know that he is lost. By your following some other method, he might decide to change churches because he likes the preacher, or that he might be with some other friends he especially likes, or something of that kind, but changing churches for any such reason is not conversion.
What we want to do is to convert the man that his change may be the result of conviction. Jesus Christ and the apostles did not hesitate to let men know they were lost. Paul called Elymas a “child of the devil” and an “enemy of all righteousness” (Acts 13.10). There was no reason for Elymas to think that Paul considered him in a safe condition. Peter plainly told Simon to repent and pray that God might forgive him (Acts 8.20-23). He let him know that he stood condemned. And Jesus said the Pharisees were children “of hell” (Matthew 23.15). With such worthy examples before us, why should we fail to preach so that men in sin and sectarianism can see that they need to be saved?
