I often hear the question: “How is the text applied in an explanatory sermon?”
Behind this question there may be many questionable assumptions. Who asks perhaps remembers that he heard (or perhaps preached) that it was no different from some bible conferences given at the seminary?well structured and precise, but showing little pious urgency or pastoral wisdom. These explanatory sermons may have had little or no application. On the other hand, the interrogator may simply not know how to recognize the request when listening to it.
- William Perkins.
- The great 16th-century Puritan theologian at Cambridge.
- Asked preachers to imagine the different types of listeners and think of applications for each of them: cobbled sinners.
- Undecided interrogators.
- Weak saints.
- Young enthusiasts.
- Etc.
Perkins’ advice is very helpful, but I hope we are already doing it. I want to approach the subject of the application in a slightly different way: not only are there different types of headphones, but there are also different types of applications. Taking a passage from God’s Word and explaining it clearly, movingly, and even urgently, there are at least three different types of application that reflect three different types of problems encountered in the Christian pilgrimage. Second, we fight doubt, often more than we initially think. Third, are we still at war with sin? either by acts of direct disobedience or by sinful negligence. As preachers, our goal is to see transformations in these in three ways, both in ourselves and in our listeners, every time we preach God’s Word. And each of the three problems leads to a different kind of legitimate application.
Ignorance is a fundamental problem in a fallen world. We are taking away God, we are excluded from direct communion with our Creator. Is it not surprising, then, that informing people about God’s truth is, in itself, a kind of powerful application?And one we desperately need.
This is no excuse for cold or passionless sermons; I can feel as stimulated (and even more) by indicative statements as by imperative orders. and Cristo. La information is vital. We are called to teach the truth and proclaim a great message from God. We want the people who listen to us to move from ignorance to knowledge of the truth. This frank and sincere information is an application.
Doubt is different from ignorance. In case of doubt, we take ideas or truths that are familiar to us and question them; this kind of questioning is not uncommon among Christians; In fact, doubt can be one of the most important problems that we must carefully explore and question forcefully in our preaching Handling Doubt is not something the preacher does only with non-believers in a brief pre-conversion apology. Some people who sit down to listen to sermons week after week may know all the facts the preacher mentions about Christ, or God, or Onesime; but they can fight intensely to see if they really believe these facts are true. Sometimes people are not even aware of their doubts, let alone are able to describe them as doubts.
But when we begin to look closely at Scripture, we find ourselves in the shadows, subreptitiously, questions, uncertainties and hesitations, which make us sadly aware of this gravitational force of the doubt that surrounds us, moving away from the path of the faithful pilgrim. For these people, perhaps in these areas of our hearts, we want to defend and urge the truth of God’s Word and the urgency of believing in it. We are called to urge listeners to recommend the truth of God’s Word. We want people who listen to our messages to go from doubt to a firm and direct faith in truth. This preaching of urgent and penetrating truth is an application.
Sin is also a problem in this fallen world, ignorance and doubt can in themselves be specific sins, the result of specific sins or none of that, but sin is certainly more than negligence or doubt.
Rest a confident that the listeners of your sermons will have fought against disobedience to God over the past week, and that you will almost certainly fight disobedience to God in the week that has just begun. Sins will be varied. Some will be disobedience through action; others will be disobedience by inertia; However, whether by commission or omission, sins are disobedience to God.
Part of preaching is to incite God’s people to a holiness of life that reflects the holiness of God Himself. Therefore, part of the job of applying the scripture passage is to draw the implications of this passage for our actions this week. We are called to urge God’s people to obey His Word. We want our listeners to be transformed from sinful disobedience to joyful and joyful obedience to God, according to His will revealed in His Word. This exhortation to obedience is certainly an application.
The main message we must apply each time we preach is the gospel, some people do not yet know the good news of Jesus Christ, and some of them may be sitting under your preaching for a while, distracted, drowsy, daydreaming, or unpaid. Attention. They need to be informed of the gospel, you have to tell them.
Others may have heard, understood, and perhaps even accepted the truth, but now they are dealing with doubts about the same problems it addresses (or assumes) in their publication. These people should be invited to believe the truth of Christ’s good news.
And in the same way, people may have listened and understood, but they are slow to repent of their sins; they can even accept the truth of the gospel message, but they do not want to give up their sins and trust in Christ. The most powerful application you can make is to urge them to hate their sins and run toward Christ. In all our sermons, we should seek to apply the gospel by informing, exhorting, and exhorting.
A common challenge preachers face when applying God’s Word in our sermons is that some people who encounter problems in a marked area will think that you are not applying Scripture in your preaching because you are not addressing their particular problem. they good? Not necessarily. While your preaching may improve if you begin to address each category more frequently or in its entirety, it is not wrong for you to preach to those who need to be informed or who need to be urged to forsake sin, even if the person speaking is not as aware of this need.
One last note. Proverbs 23:12 says, “Apply your heart to teaching and your ears to the words of knowledge. “In English translations, it seems that the words translated by?Apply? In the Bible, almost always (perhaps always?) They refer not to the work of the preacher (as homily teaches us) or the Holy Ghost (as the systematic one correctly teaches us), but to the work from which the Word hears. We are called to apply the word to our own hearts and be diligent in this work.
This is perhaps the most important request we can make next Sunday, for the benefit of all of God’s people.
By Mark Dever. Excerpt from www. 9marks. org. Copyright © 2007 9Marks. Used with permission. Original: Preach to the ignorant, the doubtful, and the sinners.
Translation: Vin-cius Silva Pimentel? Faithful Editor © All rights reserved. Original: Preach to the ignorant, undecided, and sinners (Mark Dever)
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