"I would never preach a sermon - the Lord forgive me if I
do - which is not full to overflowing with my Master. I know one who said I was
always on the old string, and he would come and hear me no more; but he said if
I preached a sermon without Christ in it, he would come. Ah, he will never come
while this tongue moves—for a sermon without Christ in it—a Christless sermon?
A brook without water? A cloud without rain? A well which mocks the traveller? A
tree twice dead, plucked up by the roots? A sky without a sun? A night without
a star? It would be a realm of death—a place of mourning for angels, and
laughter for devils! O Christian, we must have Christ!" (C H Spurgeon, Sermon: A Bundle of Myrrh, 8 March 1864)
"It is to feed sheep on Christ that men are called to churches and congregations, whatever they may think they are called to do. If you think that you are called to keep a largely worldly organisation (miscalled a church) going with... sub-Christian drugs or stimulants, then the only hope I can give you is to advise you to give up the hope of the ministry... [rather] than cluttering the church with a lot of worldly claptrap in the delusion you are doing a job for God." (William Still, The Work of the Pastor)
"To the evangelical preacher, then, I would address one simple but pointed question, a question every one of us should ask ourselves as we prepare to preach: How does this passage of Scripture, and consequently my sermon, testify to Christ?" (Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the whole Bible as Christian Scripture)
"We never 'arrive' or 'have cracked it' when it comes to preaching Christ. But as we come to know the Scriptures more intimately, as we see patterns deeply embedded in the Bible and - just as crucially - as we come to know Christ himself more intimately and to love him better, we shall surely develop the instinct to reason, explain and prove from all the Scriptures the riches of grace which are proclaimed in Jesus, the Christ, the Saviour of the world." (Sinclair Ferguson, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament)
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