Preach to the ignorant, the doubters, and the sinners

I often hear the question, «How do you apply the text in an expository sermon?»

There may be several questionable assumptions behind this question. It is likely to arise from a listener who remembers «expositional» sermons he has heard (or perhaps preached himself) that were not unlike some Bible lectures in seminary—well-structured and precise, but with little in the way of divine relevance or pastoral wisdom. These expositional sermons may have had little or no application. On the other hand, the respondent may simply not be able to recognize application when he hears it.

William Perkins, a prominent 16th-century Puritan theologian from Cambridge, advised preachers to imagine different types of listeners and think of applications for each—hardened sinners, doubters, exhausted saints, young enthusiasts, and so on.

Perkins’ advice is very helpful, but I hope we are already doing this. I want to approach the topic of application a little differently: there are not only different types of listeners, but also different types of applications. When we take a passage from God’s Word and explain it clearly, convincingly, even persistently, we have at least three different types of applications, reflecting three different kinds of challenges we face on the Christian path.

1. First, we are fighting ignorance.
2. Second, we struggle with doubt, often more than we realize at first glance.
3. Third, we still struggle with sin—whether through outright disobedience or sinful negligence.

As preachers, we seek to see change in all three areas, both in ourselves and in our listeners, every time we preach God’s Word. And all three issues provide grounds for various kinds of legitimate application.

Ignorance

Ignorance is the fundamental problem of a fallen world. We have alienated God from ourselves, cut ourselves off from direct communion with our Creator. It is no wonder that informing people of the truth about God is a powerful form of application—something we desperately need.

This is no excuse for cold or dispassionate preaching. I can be just as enthusiastic (or perhaps more so) about declarative sentences as I am about imperative appeals. The gospel commands of repentance and faith mean nothing without declarative statements that relate to God, ourselves, and Christ. Information is vital. We are called to teach the truth and to proclaim the great message of God. We want the people who hear our sermons to move from ignorance to a knowledge of the truth. Such sincere informing is application.

Doubt

Doubt is different from ignorance. When we doubt, we question ideas or truths that we know. This issue is not uncommon among Christians. In fact, doubt can be one of the most important issues to be carefully examined and thoroughly addressed in our preaching. A preacher should not talk about doubts only to unbelievers in order to do a little apologetics before conversion. Some people who listen to sermons week after week may know all the facts about Christ, God, or Onesimus that the preacher mentions; but they may struggle with doubts about whether they really believe those facts to be true. Sometimes people are not even aware of their doubts, let alone able to articulate them clearly.

Yet when we begin to examine the Scriptures closely, we often discover hidden questions, uncertainties, and hesitations that make us realize with sadness that the gravitational pull of doubt is somewhere out there, in the distance, distracting us from the path of the faithful pilgrim. To such people—and to such parts of our own hearts—we seek to prove and insist on the truth of God’s Word and the urgency to believe it. We are called to call our listeners to trust in the truth of God’s Word. We want those who listen to our sermons to move from doubt to sincere faith in the truth. This urgent, profound proclamation of truth is application.

Sin

Sin is also a problem in this fallen world. Ignorance and doubt may be specific sins or the result of other sins, or they may be something else. But sin is certainly more than just ignorance or doubt.

Be assured that the people listening to your sermons have struggled with disobedience to God during the past week, and they will almost certainly struggle with disobedience again in the week that is just beginning. The sins will be varied. Some will show disobedience through action; others through inaction. But whether they are sins of active disobedience or sins of inaction, they are all disobedience to God.

Part of preaching is calling God's people to a holiness of life that reflects the holiness of God Himself. So part of applying a passage of Scripture is to discern its meaning for our actions this week. As preachers, We are called to call God's people to obedience to His Word. We desire that our hearers move from sinful disobedience to joyful, wholehearted submission to God according to His will as set forth in His Word. Such a call to obedience is certainly an application.

Gospel

The main message we must carry every time we preach is the Gospel. Some people don’t yet know the good news of Jesus Christ. And some of them may have been hearing your sermons for a while—distracted, asleep, dreaming, or otherwise not paying attention to you. They need to be told the Gospel. They need to be told.

Others may have heard, understood, and perhaps even accepted the truth, but now have difficulty with doubts about the issues you raise (or imply) in your sermon. Such people need to be called to faith in the truth of the good news of Christ.

And people may hear and understand, but not be quick to repent of their sins. They may even accept the truth of the gospel message, but they are unwilling to renounce their sins and trust in Christ. For such listeners, the most powerful application you can make is to call them to hate their sins and flee to Christ. In all our preaching, we should seek to apply the gospel by informing, exhorting, and persuading.

One of the common problems we preachers face when applying God’s Word in our preaching is that people who are struggling in a particular area assume that you are not applying Scripture in your preaching because you are not addressing their specific problem. Are they right? Not necessarily. While your preaching may improve if you address each category more frequently or thoroughly, it is not wrong to preach to those who need to be informed or encouraged to leave sin, even if the person you are speaking to is not very aware of that need.

Last remark

Proverbs 23:12 says, «Incline your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of wisdom.» In English translations, it seems that the words translated «inclination» in the Bible almost always (perhaps always?) refer not to the work of the preacher (as the homiletic teaches), nor even to the work of the Holy Spirit (as the systematic rightly teaches), but to the work of the hearer of the Word. We are called to apply the Word to our own hearts and to dedicate ourselves to this work.

This is perhaps the most important application we could make next Sunday for the benefit of all of God's people.