In the second half of my interview with Mark Dever, he describes a defining moment early in his preaching when he received the caring and insightful critique of a church elder named Bill Behrens. After Mark delivered this particular sermon, the elder kindly noted one absence: the gospel.

But Mark is not alone.

I’m reminded of the correction given to a young preacher named Martyn Lloyd-Jones (then in his 20s). After Lloyd-Jones preached as a visitor in a certain church, one of the town’s local pastors approached him to correct him on his neglect of the cross. Later in life, Lloyd-Jones reflected on this correction and wrote,

I was like Whitefield in my early preaching. First I preached regeneration, that all man’s own efforts in morality and education are useless, and that we need power from outside ourselves. I assumed the atonement but did not distinctly preach it or justification by faith. This man set me thinking and I began to read more fully in theology.

If a preacher like Lloyd-Jones needed this correction, if Mark Dever needed this correction, how much more do all pastors need this correction!

Here’s my personal experience.

Years ago in England I was preaching a series on the life of David, commending his example and comparing him to Solomon. Throughout the series I compared and contrasted David and Solomon and drew from their lives relevant lessons for pastors.

At the end of the seminar, I was approached by a godly older man named Henry Tyler (who himself served under Lloyd-Jones). Although Henry is now with the Lord, my memory of him remains fresh.

Henry approached me after the second of the seminar’s two sessions and—with characteristic care—he provided me with specific encouragement. Of course I was encouraged that this older, more knowledgeable, more experienced pastor would take the time to encourage me.

After having encouraged me, Henry wisely and appropriately transitioned to a concern and critique. With a warm smile on his face, he raised his right hand and pointed heavenward and said to me, “C.J., remember—one greater than Solomon has come!”

In that moment I heard more than Henry Tyler’s voice. I was immediately arrested and affected by this statement. To this day I can remember the very place where I stood momentarily frozen by the correction.

Everything I taught in those sermons was clearly rooted in Scripture. Yet I failed to draw attention to the story line of Scripture. I had not drawn attention to the One greater than David. I failed to preach the gospel.

This brief and insightful critique altered my preaching from that day forward.

Never assume the gospel

We must never assume the gospel. We must always assume that those we serve need to hear the gospel yet again. Any sermon we preach is incomplete and insufficient until we explicitly reference Christ and him crucified.

In the book A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life, J.I Packer writes,

The preachers’ commission is to declare the whole counsel of God; but the cross is the centre of that counsel, and the Puritans knew that the traveller through the Bible landscape misses his way as soon as he loses sight of the hill called Calvary.

Every sermon must have a sighting of the hill called Calvary, because each passage of Scripture points us to the cross. In Christ-Centered Preaching, Bryan Chapell writes,

In its context, every passage possesses one or more of four redemptive foci. Every text is predictive of the work of Christ, preparatory for the work of Christ, reflective of the work of Christ, and/or resultant of the work of Christ.

And because every text of Scripture points us to the cross, every topic should likewise point us to the cross. Thomas Jones says, “No doctrine of Scripture may faithfully be set before men unless it is displayed in its relationship to the cross.”

The message of the cross is central to the commission of the preacher, is to be on display in every sermon, is cultivated from every text of Scripture, and is embedded within every topic and doctrine intended to nourish the church.

Cross-eyed

Whether it’s a pastor’s personal reading of Scripture or the weekly preaching of Scripture, we must never lose sight of Calvary. In every sermon there must be some sighting of Calvary.

My prayer for Sovereign Grace pastors is that they build churches who gather together in anticipation of a Calvary sighting. I pray that even as Scripture is read before the sermon, our churches would await with anticipation that point in the sermon where Calvary will be made visible. And the more apparently obscure the passage, the more excited they would be that from this passage, at some point during the sermon, their spiritual sight will be pointed toward the hill called Calvary.

So never lose sight of Calvary, and never let those you serve lose sight of Calvary. In each sermon let there be a sighting of the hill of Calvary and what was accomplished there by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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Notes:

• Martyn Lloyd-Jones quote is from Iain H. Murray, D. Martyn Lloyd Jones: The First Forty Years (1899–1939) (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1982), p. 191.
• J.I. Packer quote is from A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1990), p. 286.
• Bryan Chapell quote is from Christ Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004), p. 275.
• Thomas Jones quote is also from Christ Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon, p. 271.