I’ll never forget the first time I heard the gospel preached. On one hand, I was mesmerized—he spoke straight to me, as if I was the only person in the room. On the other hand, I thought it must be a trick. Perhaps seminary trained him to preach in such a way that everyone felt singled out, like the eyes of the Mona Lisa following each person who walks by.
Eventually, I realized the gospel had gripped me. His sermons were neither expositional nor rich doctrinally. But the preacher knew God saves by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and he made that clear every time he spoke. Week after week, he preached that simple message, and eventually I believed it. Like Lydia by the riverside, God used his gospel to open my heart.
Now I’m the preacher. I do work through books of the Bible. I labor to feed God’s sheep sound doctrine. We regularly have non-Christians in attendance, and I desperately want them to hear the gospel that saved me so many years ago. I also recognize it’s not just non-Christians who need the gospel—it’s Christians, too.
We should preach the gospel in every sermon because
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