"The first duty of the gospel preacher is to declare God's law and to show the nature of sin." - Martin Luther
I don't always agree with Luther, but on this point I couldn't agree more. You can see the effects of the false "gospel" that is being preached today when you look at such statistics as divorce and sexual impurity in the church.
The problem with the modern "gospel" is that... no one is being saved by it! When I say being saved, I do not mean that no one is asking Jesus into their heart. I'm saying, they're not being regenerated, transformed, or delivered not only from past sins committed but also from the power of sin now! I suppose some might be saved, not as a result of such preaching but by the power of God in spite of bad preaching, but the truth is no one needs salvation if they aren't aware that they have broken God's law!
And once they have come into the Church, if they were never instructed about what they were escaping (sin as defined by the law of God), then they continue to live in the very bondage that the gospel would free the from.
The preaching of the gospel must begin with the law. Most of our job is showing the sick that they truly are sick, or else they won't be needing a cure! Only after a man has seen himself to be truly bankrupt and guilty before God can he hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Christ.
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