Preaching the Cross

Prominent authors call pastors to pursue gospel-saturated, preaching-centered ministries.
Table of contents

This has two big obstacles standing in the way: Our pride will not delight in his glory, and his righteousness will not suffer his glory to be shamed and held in contempt. Where is there any hope for preaching?

Where is there any hope for the validity of the message that God intends to reign in the gladness of his people? Can the pride of man ever be broken? Can the righteousness of God ever relent in its opposition to those who hold his glory in contempt? Is there a basis for the validity of preaching and the humility of preaching?

The Ground of Preaching

There is, and it is the cross of Christ. I want to look to a key text in just a moment, but first, let me try to outline how I see the cross beginning to overcome these obstacles. It overcomes an obstacle in God, namely, his righteousness, and it also overcomes, subjectively, an obstacle in me, namely, my pride. In doing so, the cross becomes the ground of the objective validity of preaching and the ground of the subjective humility of preaching.

First of all, the cross is the ground of the validity of preaching. The most fundamental problem in the task of preaching is how a preacher can proclaim hope to sinners in view of the unimpeachable righteousness of God. That is the fundamental problem of how you can hold out and proclaim hope to sinners in view of the unimpeachable righteousness of God. Now, of course, the people of our day, nor the people of any day, have ever thought this is the problem. They do not believe this is the main problem in the world or in preaching.

International Bible Teaching Ministries

I remember listening to a tape by R. But it was a great sermon. Let me outline it for you. It was on Luke They come to Jesus, just amazed that this horrible thing would happen, and Jesus responds in his typically unsentimental words. Jesus is the most unsentimental man that lived, as far as I can tell.

Now, Sproul, in a very powerful way, pointed out this age-old difference between the way natural man sees the problem of relating to God, and the way the Bible sees the problem of relating to God. Man-centered humans are amazed — just amazed — that God should withhold life and joy from them. The God-centered Bible is amazed — just staggered — that God would withhold judgment from sinners. The Bible must dictate the fundamental issues to be dealt with, and the most fundamental is how can you preach hope to sinners in view of a holy and righteous God.

The fundamental problem of preaching, whether man-centered humans agree or like it, is how to preach hope to sinners.

Preaching the Cross

Now, the solution and the ground of validity in this preaching is the cross. I direct your attention now to Romans 3: I believe this is probably the most important passage of Scripture in the Bible on all counts. We do not delight in the glory of God. We delight in frogs, which today would be motorcycles or videos or computers or anything other than God. Now, what this amazing passage says is that the fundamental problem of preaching has been overcome by the cross.

Without the cross, the righteousness of God would demonstrate itself only in the condemnation of sinners. There is a way for God to demonstrate and uphold his righteousness apart from the cross, namely, hell. Without the cross, there could be no valid preaching, because there could be no hope for sinners. It took the infinitely costly death of the Son to repair the dishonor that my sin has brought upon the glory of God. Therefore, when I hear contemporary prophets of self-esteem use the cross as a testimony and witness to my worth, I seethe.

You hear it everywhere. You are, therefore, of infinite worth. Let me just choose a bland word: Oh, how wretched I must be if it took the death of the Son to repair the glory of God upon which I have heaped so much contempt with my life of godless pride. We have turned everything on its head today. Evangelicals in America today seem to have stood the universe on its head, including the cross, and I hope that what you see in all this is that God achieved in the cross a warrant and a ground for preaching and that preaching to sinners can now be valid.

You can hold out hope that the goal of preaching will come true, namely, the glory of God incredibly in the gladness of sinners. Today, I hope you see how that can be. Without the cross, there would be an irreconcilable contradiction in preaching, namely, that God should be glorified and that sinners should be satisfied.


  • Preaching the Cross.
  • Cold Front (Pindone Files Book 1).
  • Critical Questions in Christian Contemplative Practice.

It cannot be without the cross vindicating both the glory of God and opening a way for the forgiveness and life of sinners. The cross is the absolute foundation of everything you will ever say. The best verse to paraphrase that overwhelming statement is Romans 8: Every offer you give to marriages and children and parents and workers comes from the cross. Point number two, the cross is the ground of the humility of preaching. The cross is the ground of the humility of preaching in that it is the power of God whereby the pride of my heart is crucified.

Frankly, it has had a very profound effect on my own heart because these texts are for preachers.

Preaching the Cross

The cross is not only a past event of substitution, it is also a present experience of execution. Now, the point where Paul makes this crucifying power come to bear with most force is on the preacher in these chapters. The great obstacle to the aims of preaching in Corinth were pride — boasting. They were so infatuated with oratorical skill, with intellectual prowess, and with philosophical airs that they could not receive the word of the cross. It was a stumbling block and an offense to them.

Disability Is No Accident

I belong to Paul. I belong to Apollos. I belong to Cephas. The obstacle to the aims of preaching in Corinth was pride, boasting, jealousy, and strife. Now, the goal of preaching is stated by Paul here in 1 Corinthians 1: The people will not rise to a level that is higher than their teacher. They will follow the example of their leaders. And there is more where that came from; this chapter is a great encouragement to pastors.

It makes you want to study, practice and teach.


  1. Regional Development Reconsidered (Advances in Spatial Science);
  2. Unresolved Tensions: Bolivia Past and Present (Pitt Latin American Series)!
  3. The Ground of Preaching: The Cross of Christ | Desiring God.
  4. Why Literature Matters in the 21st Century?
  5. Wunder einer Winternacht: Die Weihnachtsgeschichte (German Edition).
  6. Mastering Incoming Sales Calls.

    7. Sproul also provides a helpful explanation of the important distinctions between the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification and the Protestant doctrine and in so doing shows why it is so important to understand and proclaim the biblical distinctives. Mohler demonstrates careful and thoughtful biblical fidelity by placing a priority on exposition that is not consumed with culture but rather the gospel, with a view towards sinners being rescued from sin.

    Dever mixes exhortation throughout to stir our hearts to faithful, gospel-centered ministry. This is just a refreshing book for those who love the gospel, particularly those who are in ministry. I would recommend it for pastors and seminary students, but not to the exclusion of every Christian who enjoys ministry this should pretty much be everyone. I am regularly looking for books to go through with other guys in an early morning coffee house setting, I think this would be such a book.

    You can pick this book up at The Westminster Bookstore or on Amazon.