Posted on 10/04/2002 11:30:35 PM PDT by RnMomof7
Hellfire And Brimstone Preaching
Years ago, after a service, people would get up off the benches, and come out the old meeting house doors, telling to each other who they enjoyed that "hellfire and brimstone sermon." Now days the people politely arise from their padded pews, step lightly over the carpet, exchange some pleasantries with their friends, and as they pass out the doors of their lovely place of worship, they compliment their preacher for the beautiful uplifting lesson that he has so eloquently delivered. (And the man knows he'd better continue to give those "uplifting" chapel talks if he wants to stay long there). Back a few years ago when Christians "knew their Bible" and the preachers preached hard against sin, there were a few who didn't like it, but the majority of truly converted children of God appreciated it. Where is the hard preaching!?!
One time Jesus said, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." We are then told that, "Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?" (John 6:53,60,61). Jesus knew that His preaching offended some, but he didn't change His preaching. When John the Baptist "saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance" (Matthew 3:7,8). When John saw Herod married to his own brother's wife, he said to Herod, "It is not lawful for thee to have her" (Matthew 14:4). Peter told the Jews on Pentecost day (Acts 2:23), "Him... ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain."
There are people in the church who whine and grumble about how hard some gospel preachers preach. Some "Christians" even move from one congregation to another in order to escape hearing hard preaching. These same people seem to sit around criticizing the "hard preachers." From this attitude, which causes problems among God's people, there raise several questions: First, what is hard preaching? Second, is hard preaching wrong? Third, why would a Christian be opposed to hard preaching? Fourth, why would a preacher preach hard?
Everyone has an answer for this question. The answers will vary and will be influenced by the sermon content, as well as the hearer's attitude toward the preacher. But Webster defines hard as "Opposed to soft; carried on energetically or persistently; earnest; displaying severity." Preaching is commonly defined as, "A sermon; the delivery in public of a public message." Therefore, hard preaching is basically a message from the Bible that is presented energetically, persistently in words that some may think are harsh or severe.
Is it wrong to preach the word energetically and persistently? NO! The area of disagreement seems to center around the words used by the preacher in his preaching. Is there a place for severe words in preaching? Jesus thought there was; He said, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" (Matthew 23:33). Read Matthew 23 and see how many times Jesus called His hearers "hypocrites". He never held back to spare the feelings of his listeners. On another occasion, Christ said, "Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition," and then tells them that their worship is rendered in vain (Mark 7:9). The Master very strict when He said, "...no one cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 6:60,61)! Others were offended at His preaching. The Bible says, "Then came the disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, when they heard this saying" (Matthew 15:12). Jesus knew the effect of His severe words, but He continued to employ them.
Stephen evidently believed in severe words, too. He said, "Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you" (Acts 7:51). This hard sermon cost Stephen his life!
John, the apostle of love, used severe words when he said, "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4). Language could not be clearer. From the example of Jesus, Stephen, John and many others, hard preaching is not wrong. The key to hard preaching is speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).
There may be several reasons, but here we notice a few: First, a Christian may not understand that hard preaching must be done. Second, he may be personally soft and passive in every area of his life. It may be that he will not take a stand on anything, or tell anybody that they are wrong, because he doesn't want to offend anyone. Third, he may be living in sin himself and doesn't want those sins brought to his attention. Someone said, "Our attitudes will determine our destiny." Fourth, he may be looking for an excuse to leave the church, or possibly cause trouble among God's people. Fifth, he may be trying to get rid of the preacher or at least shut him up. There may be other reasons why a Christian may be opposed to hard preaching, but they are all wrong.
Unless a preacher demonstrates otherwise, we believe that gospel preachers preach hard because it is the will of God for them to do so. The faithful gospel preacher's commission is, "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and doctrine." And Paul warns, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Timothy 4:2-4). Therefore, in order to be pleasing unto God and save his own soul, the preacher must preach hard (1 Timothy 4:16). A reading of the New Testament letters to Christians, will reveal many hard things that the preacher must use in his preaching. In so doing, he will preach the "whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27).
There are certain subjects that some preachers won't preach on. Other preachers, succumb to direct pressure in a congregation, and others attempting to pacify infantile members refuse to deliver a much needed lesson. God's prophet was pressured in 1 Kings 22:13, "And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good." But his reply was, "As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak" (v. 14).
Some demanded of Isaiah, "Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits" (30:10). Did you hear it? In other words, "We aren't interested in the truth, we just want to feel good, even if you have to tell us lies. Brother, let's beware of a constant diet of "smooth things". No doubt the psalmist had reference to literal honey when he said, "Hast thou found honey? Eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it" (Proverbs 25:16). Too much "sweet talk" is also nauseating to those who realize we must all appear before Christ's judgement seat.
Preacher, can you say with Paul, "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house" (Acts 20:20)? And with Paul can you say that you are "...pure from the blood of all men. For [you] have not shunned to declare.... all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:26,27)?
Today, perhaps as never before, there is great need for hard preaching, and the support by God's people of that kind preaching. God's record shows that it will strengthen the saint and save the sinner.
As I understand from Calvin's Commandos here at FR, "Hellfire and brimstone" preaching would be a worthless enterprise for a Calvinist:
1. The elect are predestined to go to Paradise, and don't need to be scared into it.
2. There is nothing the non-elect can do to get into Paradise (i.e.; they are consigned to Hell), and strong preaching won't do them any good. They can take the sermon to heart, live a righteous life, and still can't get into Heaven.
I am out of town until Sunday afternoon; I look forward to your answer.
Hi, I don't know if you know me, as I only occasionally post, but I'm one of those "commandos" you mention. Since it doesn't look as if anyone tried to answer you, let me give it a swing.
First of all, I'd like to say that for Calvin the "doctrine of election" was not a primary concern--rather a behind the scenes thing, something only God the Father (of the Trinity) really knows. It wasn't even discussed in his monumental work the Institutes until like book 2 or 3 (out of 4 books). The famous "5 points" of Calvinism, while orthodox, were formulated a generation after Calvin, and were simply the 5 replies to the the followers of theologian Arminius. People get messed up when they think that's what Calvinism is all about...
To your point however--I know you won't be satisfied with my answer, but I think its one that's in the Bible and one that makes sense (even if not fully comprehendable). The answer is this:
God while foreordaining the end....also foreordains the means.
Application is this: While God draws people to himself, they are NOT passive, they themselves must freely choose to believe--and God uses preaching (as described by Paul in Romans 10) to bring people to belief. It's God's grace and choice which makes people believe...and that same grace and choice, makes those same people behave well too...if they don't, well, it shows that maybe (God knows...) their belief is conterfeit.
Therefore your 2 points are wrong:
1) The elect (those who ultimately will go to heaven) often are scared in a way into belief... and scripture says "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom" (Proverbs 1:7) but it doesn't STOP there either for "perfect love drives out all fear." (I John 4:18)(Keep in mind the ultimate "fire and brimstone" sermon was preached by America's greatest Calvinist, the 18th Century's Jonathan Edwards) From these I get that fear of God is an entrance way...not an end.
2)No one except God knows who the "non-elect" are, we only know (most of the time) who the non-believers are, and ANYONE can make it to heaven, by trusting Jesus and His perfect work, INSTEAD of their own goodness. Even the best, kindest, most loving man or woman, can't do enough to EARN a place with God, it must be accepted as a gift. A "non-elect" simply won't take a sermon to heart, and ultimately won't live a "good" life... In that way one can get clues as to who the "real" believers are, in that they love like Jesus loves. Still, God alone knows!
If that doesn't make sense, that's OK, as my arguments won't convince you--unless you are "quickened" (to use an old word) by God's Holy Spirit, and I'll leave that with Him.
In that way us Calvinists are different than many of the typical "fire and brimstone" types in that we endeavor to tell people what's true, then leave the results up to God. This means I for one will not use pressure sales tactics in sharing the good news of Jesus--I'll do my best, but then trust God as to how they respond.
I just saw this post...It was a young Priest..He read the gospel and then likened it to the frustration of a parent trying to teach good table manners..Some times it takes right away, some times it lasts for a minute and sometimes they never get it..but he reassured them if they keep trying the kids will learn
That Sunday I was the Lector so I was sitting on the altar as he was speaking...my face must have registerd my shock.One of the most significant parables on evangelization and it was reduced to table manners..
He's saying the sower parable, seeds and soils, represent a process in which the person "improves his soil over time."
I don't get that impression from Jesus' interpretation at all.
Excellent post AR...One plants and one waters but it is indeed God that gives the increase:>)
I was a 30 something agnostic on my way to full blown athethism when I was saved...so I will not "count" you as a non elect..ya may not believe today, ...but God has His time and His way and if you are His He will make that live inside of you..
Before we are saved we are drunk with sin. Like the drunk that is driven by the alcohol to continue to sin . It lies to us and tells us we are not drunk..we " can handle it" The alcohol ( or sin nature) drives the decisions we make. When the Holy Spirit taps us on the shoulder we become drunk with the Spirit of God instead .God's grace intoxicates us with His "new desire and power" we just naturally turn to Him!
Both the decision to turn from God and the decision to turn toward God are our decisions
What he did is typical of stretching the gospel to make it life application instead of just preaching the word and letting God illuminate the message He wants heard by each individual
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.