Gottesblog

The discussions below on preaching, 3rd use of the Law, exhortation, etc., have also served to reinforce the connection in my mind between these issues and the need to do a lot of teaching from the pulpit.

Thought experiment time. Take a fresh look at the excerpt of a sermon I posted below. Do you read it differently if I tell you that our own David Petersen wrote it?

Things are often clearer when we see examples. So here is an example of the last paragraphs of a sermon (not mine) that I think does a great job of ending a sermon with exhortation to faithful, godly living. These paragraphs come after some solid, direct, Fordesque Gospel: not talking about the Gospel but actually preaching the Gospel.

Jesus said that "repentance and the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His Name" (Luke 24) among all the nations. That's our job. That's what we preach.

Does God promise both temporal and eternal rewards to our good works? What! Are you kidding? I mean, if you believed that, you'd be a Gospel denying Romanist or a Fundy TV evangelist, right? Law driven! Bad!