Commentaries are crucial when it comes to properly understanding a text. Preachers rightly spend a good bit of their prep time learning from experts through their commentaries. But there aren’t many occasions when the preacher should quote these experts. To read a quote from a commentary, and especially at length, is to radically change the voice of the person speaking—from his own voice to the voice of a scholar. It is to radically change the form of communication—from a spoken sermon to a written book. It is often difficult for the congregation to make that transition, and often difficult for the congregation to understand the point that is being made. It’s far better, on the whole, for the preacher to simply summarize in his own words.

I am closing in on my forty-third birthday and have been a churchgoer all my life. A bit of simple math shows that I’ve probably listened to somewhere around 4,000 sermons over the course of my life (which undoubtedly means I should have far more knowledge of the Bible than I do and should be far holier than I am!). I’ve also preached a few sermons of my own over the past 10 or 15 years. Recently, and largely for my own purposes, I found myself thinking about some of the elements that can make a sermon difficult to listen to. Having jotted them down, I thought I’d share them with you.
They have no obvious outline. Most people today are unaccustomed to listening to extended verbal communication. Preachers can assist listening and comprehension by providing some kind of an outline. It does not need to be a Lawsonesque alliterated masterpiece, but it is helpful to at least allow the congregation to know in advance how the sermon will unfold. A solid outline also helps pull them back when their minds drift. They can be pulled from daydream or confusion when they hear, “This brings us to the second great emphasis of this passage.” (I think it’s usually best to avoid using the word “point,” as in “My second point is…” Try to find a more interesting way of framing a sermon than through “points.”)
They include word studies. A sermon rarely improves from the point the pastor says, “In the Greek this word is…” I suppose there are select occasions when mentioning and explaining a Greek or Hebrew term adds to the congregation’s understanding, but that’s rare. Far more often than not, word studies are the kind of thing a pastor should do in his study and keep in his study. The preacher ought to do his preparatory work in such a way that his sermon shows clear evidence that he has put in full effort and mined the depths of his passage. But he doesn’t always need to explicitly show that work. (And yes, we all already know that dunamis is related to the English “dynamite.”)
They include extended quotes from commentaries. Commentaries are crucial when it comes to properly understanding a text. Preachers rightly spend a good bit of their prep time learning from experts through their commentaries. But there aren’t many occasions when the preacher should quote these experts. To read a quote from a commentary, and especially at length, is to radically change the voice of the person speaking—from his own voice to the voice of a scholar. It is to radically change the form of communication—from a spoken sermon to a written book.
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Written by C. R. Carmichael |
Friday, December 30, 2022
Jesus is almighty to save! That which in itself is impossibility is possible with God. Sin which nothing else can remove is blotted out by the blood of Immanuel. Immanuel, our Saviour, is God with us; and God with us means difficulty removed, and a perfect work accomplished. 

Whether “Baby Jesus” is fodder for a Will Ferrell comedy, numerous cartoon gags or the funny graphic on an ugly Christmas sweater, it is a sad indictment on our culture that so many people today find amusement in the miracle of the incarnate God. In the following mashup from two of his sermons, Charles Spurgeon begs to differ with the idea that the infant born in Bethlehem can be taken so lightly when God’s amazing grace and condescension are powerfully on display to rescue the troubled souls who so desperately need Him.
OH, MY FRIEND, if you make light of Christ, you have insulted the only One who can save you—the only One who can bear you across the Jordan—the only One who can unbolt the gates of Heaven and give you welcome! Let no preacher of smooth things persuade you that this is not a crime. O, Sinner, think of your sin if you are making light of Him—for then you are making light of the King’s only Son…
Instead… BEHOLD the incarnate Son of God born of Mary at Bethlehem! What can this mean for us but GRACE? If the Lord had meant to destroy us, He would not have assumed our nature. If He had not been moved with mighty love to a guilty race, He would never have taken upon Himself their flesh and blood.
It is a miracle of miracles that the Infinite should become an infant; that He who is pure spirit and filleth all things, should be wrapped in swaddling bands and cradled in a manger. He did not take upon Himself the nature of angels, which would have been a tremendous stoop from Deity, but instead He descended lower still; for He took upon Himself the seed of Abraham. “He was made in all things like unto His brethren” although “he counted it not robbery to be equal with God” (Hebrews 2:17; Philippians 2:6).
It is not in the power of human lips to speak out all the comfort which this one truth contains. If any troubled soul will look believingly at God in human flesh, he must take heart of hope. If he looks at the infant Jesus believingly, his comfort will come right speedily.
The birth of Jesus is the proof of the good will of God to men—I am unable to conceive of proof more sure. Jesus would not have come here to be born among men, to live among them, suffer and to die for them, if He had been slow to pardon or unwilling to save us.
— Charles Spurgeon (1834 – 1892)
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The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689) dedicates a whole chapter to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. It affirms the biblical truth that those whom God saves, He keeps, not merely out of hell and for heaven, but He keeps them in the way of faith. He keeps them repenting, believing, and following Christ.

Several years ago a fellow pastor who served with me at Grace Baptist Church told me how he came to study the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints as a new believer. Shortly after he was converted he became involved in his church’s evangelism efforts, eager to be a part of the work of making disciples.
Employing the methods that he had been taught, he noticed that a large percentage of the people who made professions of faith seemed to have no interest in the things of the Lord. Even most of those who agreed to be baptized drifted away from participation in church life after a few months.
When my friend asked his pastor about this phenomenon the answer that he received startled him. “Some Christians start backsliding as soon as they are converted.”
I was reminded of his story recently when I came across comments David Miller made years ago while preaching from Acts 2:42. That verse says, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (KJV).
In his sermon, David explained what the phrase, “continued steadfastly,” meant for those new converts:
I don’t have any background in the biblical languages, and I’m not a scholar, but I do have a homespun definition of what that phrase means. I believe it means they did not backslide right off. They didn’t join the church one Sunday morning during the heat of the revival service and have company come in that afternoon and not be able to make it out to the evening worship service. You’ve encountered the person who comes to church one Sunday and, the next Sunday, they had to go out of town in their new car ten miles to visit with Granny out in the country and she needed help with the noon meal and they couldn’t attend church out there. You know the ones. They stay visiting much longer than they intended and by the time they got home late that Sunday afternoon, about 2:30, they were so worn and weary, they couldn’t make it back to the worship service that evening. And the following Wednesday, they had so looked forward to the mid-week Bible study and prayer time, but the little ten-year-old boy came home with a high temperature of 98.7 and they didn’t think he ought to be out in the night air. Brother, unlike these people, the folks converted in Acts just didn’t backslide right off.
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