“Self-centered preaching produces self-centered hearers.”
Beeke, Reformed Preaching, p. 34
Far Worse Actually
“In haste I ordered a copy of The Defense of the Faith . . . and breathed a sign of relief after I read it. I guess I was Van Tillian. There are worse things, I suppose.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 52
When There Is No War
“There are times that make artificial sins and artificial heresies, lest they should find no enemies to fight with. It is bad to cry, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace. It is just as bad, in some ways it is worse, to cry, ‘War, war!’ when there is no war.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 219
A True Summons
“Reformed experiential preaching uses the truth of Scripture to shine the glory of God into the depths of the soul to call people to live solely and wholly for God.”
Beeke, Reformed Preaching, p. 24
A Designated Place
“When Jesus cleanses the Temple, He drives out the merchants and moneychangers from the Court of the Gentiles. The Gentiles had a court at the Temple, designated for them to worship the true God, and without becoming Jews first.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 46
At the Latest
“If a preacher holds anything to be true and knows that his people think he is unwilling to speak his mind upon that point, he had better preach on it next Sunday morning.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 218)
Gentile Believers
“In the Old Testament, Gentiles were under no obligation whatever to become Jews. They could be saved without becoming Jews, and many of them were saved without becoming Jews. The Jews were not the believers of the Old Testament, but were rather the priestly people of the Old Testament. They served in this function for the sake of the Gentile nations.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 45
Islam in Narnia
“I should mention in passing that the entire culture of the Calormenes is obviously a stand-in for Islam. This is most explicit at the beginning of chapter 4 of The Horse and His Boy when Lewis describes Tashbaan as having numerous minarets—and a minaret is a tower attached to a mosque.”
The Light Behind the Sun, p. 42
No Sugar Coating
“Men are not won by making belief seem easy, nor are men alienated by the hardness of belief, provided only that the hardness seems to be something naturally belonging to the truth, and not something gratuitously added to it.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 214
No Other Way
“If this broad and inclusive approach were true, then Christ died for nothing. With a sorrow deeper than any man has ever experienced, Christ asked His Father to have the cup pass from Him if there were any other way (Matt. 26:39). If the Father could have said something like, ‘Well, the Rig Veda has some promising developments,’ then why did Jesus have to die? Jesus had to die because there was no other way to save us.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 34