All Scriptural Sermons Ought to Be Evangelistic (J.I. Packer)

“Insofar as the preaching at our Sunday services is scriptural, those services will of necessity be evangelistic. It is a mistake to suppose that evangelistic sermons are a special brand of sermons, having their own peculiar style and conventions; evangelistic sermons are just scriptural sermons, the sort of sermons that a man cannot help preaching if he is preaching the Bible biblically. Proper sermons seek to expound and apply what is in the Bible. But what is in the Bible is just the whole counsel of God for man’s salvation; all Scripture bears witness, in one way or another, to Christ, and all biblical themes relate to him. All proper sermons, therefore, will of necessity declare Christ in some fashion and so be more or less directly evangelistic. Some sermons, of course, will aim more narrowly and exclusively at converting sinners than do others. But you cannot present the Lord Jesus Christ as the Bible presents him, as God’s answer to every problem in the sinner’s relationship with himself, and not be in effect evangelistic all the time. The Lord Jesus Christ, said Robert Bolton, is ‘offered most freely, and without exception of any person, every Sabbath, every Sermon, either in plaine, and direct terms, or implyedly, at the least.’ So it is, inevitably, wherever the Bible is preached biblically. And there is something terribly wrong in any church, or any man’s ministry, to which Bolton’s generalization does not apply.”

—J.I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Westmont, IL: IVP Books, 2012), pp. 62-63.

Expository Preaching (with Mike Bullmore)

What does it mean and look like faithfully to preach the Bible itself rather than use the Bible as a launchpad for our own message? In this episode, Kirk sits down with seasoned pastor Mike Bullmore to talk about what’s called “expository preaching” and why it’s so important.

Access the episode here. (Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more.)

The Helvetic Confession’s High View of Preaching

“The preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God. Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached … we believe that the very Word of God is proclaimed, and received by the faithful … and that now the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that preaches….”

—The Second Helvetic Confession (Chapter I)

“Concerning the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven which the Lord gave to the apostles … all properly called ministers possess and exercise the keys or the use of them when they proclaim the Gospel; that is, when they teach, exhort, comfort, rebuke, and keep in discipline the people committed to their trust. For in this way they open the Kingdom of Heaven to the obedient and shut it to the disobedient. … Christ’s ministers discharge the office of an ambassador in Christ’s name, as if God himself through ministers exhorted the people to be reconciled to God. … Therefore, they excercise the keys when they persuade [men] to believe and repent. Thus they reconcile men to God. Thus they remit sins.”

—The Second Helvetic Confession (Chapter XIV)

“Ministers, therefore, rightly and effectually absolve when they preach the Gospel of Christ and thereby the remission of sins, which is promised to each one who believes, … and when they testify that it pertains to each one peculiarly. … The remission of sins in the blood of Christ is to be diligently proclaimed, and that each one is to be admonished that the forgiveness of sins pertains to him.”

—The Second Helvetic Confession (Chapter XIV)