Preaching the person of Christ and not the blessings of Christ

Sinclair Ferguson:

... it needs to be stressed that in our preaching the work of Christ must never be abstracted from the person of Christ. We do not preach "the atonement" as such, or "salvation," redemption," or "justification" as such, but Jesus Christ and him crucified. The blessings were accomplished by Christ and are available only in Christ, never abstracted from him. We must learn to avoid the contemporary plague of preaching the benefits of the gospel without proclaiming Christ himself as the Benefactor in the gospel. We do not offer people abstract blessings (peace, forgiveness, new life) as commodities. Rather we preach and offer Christ crucified and risen, in whom these blessings become ours and not otherwise. We preach the person in the work, never the work in its blessings apart from the Savior himself. 

(Nicole, Roger R., Charles E. Hill, and Frank A. James. The Glory of the Atonement: Biblical, Historical & Practical Perspectives : Essays in Honor of Roger Nicole. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2004. Print. 437)

Ten Commandments for Preachers

Here is an interesting mention that I came across on Justin Taylor's blog:

Ten Commandments for Preachers

Sinclair Ferguson asks:

What Ten Commandments, what rule of preaching-life, do I wish
someone had written for me to provide direction, shape, ground
rules, that might have helped me keep going in the right direction
and gaining momentum in ministry along the way?

Here is an outline of his answers:

1. Know your Bible better.


2. Be a man of prayer.


3. Do not lose sight of Christ.


4. Be deeply trinitarian.


5. Use your imagination.


6. Speak much of sin and grace.


7. Use the “plain style.”


8. Find your own voice.


9. Learn how to transition.


10. Love your people.

You can read the whole thing here.

Sinclair on John

From Sinclair Ferguson's John Owen on the Christian Life I came across these instructions that that the author, Ferguson, summarized from Owen's writings:

Duty is man’s responsibility to God, and there are 4 reasons Owen thinks it should be so:
1. Duties are consistent with the new nature – we have a disposition towards it
2. Duties cannot be performed without the Spirit’s help
3. Duties are defined in Scripture
4. Duties must be performed by faith

We have a duty to mortify sin, which consists of three things:
1. A cherishing and improving of the principle of grace
2. Frequent exercise in all God-given duties
3. Application of the principle, power and actings of grace in opposition to sin

The first summary, speaking of duties, undermines much of what we associate with duty; duty is not a great self-generated effort to do what is right. Rather, it is the working out of a God-generated disposition with a Spirit-fuelled ability in a faith-filled context.

The second summary is also an eye opener. The mortifying of sin begins with grace as a principle, and continues with the exercise of that grace in duties and in opposition to sin.

I read this book a few years ago and am enjoying re-reading the significant quotes I recorded.

Sinclair Ferguson on Union with Christ