Which of the following is the gospel talk?
Talk 1
+ Here is what the text says
+ Here is how we must live in light of that text
+ Now go and live that way
Talk 2
+ Here is what the text says
+ Here is how we must live in light of that text
+ Now go and live that way
+ But we can’t do it on our own, we need Jesus in our life
+ Now with Jesus, by grace, enabled by the Spirit we can live rightly
Talk 3
+ Here is what the text says
+ Here is how we must live in the light of that text
+ But we simply cannot do it
+ Ah - but there is One who did!
Well Talk #1 is pretty obviously moralistic. Talk #2 looks a lot more like the gospel... But not quite. Despite all the talk of human inability, despite all the talk of Jesus and grace and God’s enabling, Talk #2 doesn’t actually give us the gospel. This is grace as a spiritual boost to help you do the right thing, not grace in the sense of the sovereign salvation of God through Christ’s death in the place of sinners.
It’s really easy to slip into a #2 style talk – especially when you’re preaching the OT Law or the Prophets or doing a topical talk. It’s an improvement on #1 in that we realise ‘hang on we can’t do this’ and we have this sense we need to talk about Jesus and grace… but it falls short of the gospel. It doesn’t give us Christ crucified. It ultimately ends up with our eternal destiny still being in the balance, depending on whether we have (with God’s help) sufficiently kept the Law.
Talk #3 gets us to the heart of the gospel, the substitution of Christ for sinners. While we deserve nothing but hell, he took all our sin on himself and stood under the terrible fiery waterfall of the wrath of God until he had made a complete satisfaction. As we look to him, hanging there on the Cross, made sin for us, we are completely forgiven. And not only that, we are clothed in his righteousness, clothed in his beautifully obedient, loving, holy life. The Great Exchange. Freedom. Our eternity completely secure. Praise God!
But there's a problem if our talk stops there. Talk #3 is much better than the first two talks but it gives me little clue on what it means to live as a believer now. The force of the exhortations and commands in the text is effectively neutered. Do this - I can't - Jesus has - Relief. But that's not how the NT authors preach the gospel to us. I think for example of one of my favourite gospel verses:
He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24)
Beautiful gospel. But look how the sentence continues:
...so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness
So what we need, as Tim Keller explains very helpfully on 'Preaching in a secular culture' is something more like this:
+ Here is what the text says
+ Here is how we must live in light of it
+ But we simply cannot do it
+ Ah – but there is One who did!
+ Now, through faith in him, you can begin to live this way
And, as Keller explains and has wonderfully demonstrated in his own preaching over the years, is that last step (sanctification) flows naturally out of the one before (the Cross). It is as we look with faith at the crucified king that our desires are captured, our pride is cut down, the stranglehold of sin is broken, our worldview is turned upside down and inside out, and we see our new identity as blood-bought, beloved, children of the Father. This involves getting into the complexity of sanctification - it's not simple but it's beautiful, because it's about the end for which we were saved, it's about the purpose of the Cross, it's about the bridegroom getting a bride.
The most powerful example of this kind of preaching I've experienced was Ken Mbugua preaching through Leviticus at Emmanuel Baptist, Nairobi. Each sermon was best part of an hour and it was like being on a rollercoaster. He would start by showing us the goodness of the Law - how wonderful it would be if we lived in a society where we loved our neighbours and returned people's lost stuff and didn't have to worry about locking our doors - how beautiful and good that would be. And then he would show us how we completely fail to keep this Law - how our heart is so wrong and ugly and guilty and deserving of the wrath of God. And he'd keep going with that point till you were longing for him to move on but he'd stay there, turning the knife, pinning you to your seat. Then, when you're feeling totally convicted and hopeless he'd show us Jesus, living the beautiful Law and taking our place and dying our death and drinking the cup of wrath to the dregs. And you feel the load lifted and the joy coming. And then he wouldn't stop there but remind us of that beautiful Law that we started with, which Jesus fulfilled and which he's saved us for - the Law that's now inscribed on our hearts by the Spirit; the way of love that we walk yoked together with the One who is this holy love; the life of growing into the Head and pleasing our Bridegroom by loving our neighbours in these very specific and practical ways.
Let’s make sure we're fully preaching the gospel that saves and transforms.
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