# A Word On Preaching and the Law by John Murray



## Backwoods Presbyterian (Mar 30, 2011)

> ‎"When the proclamation of God's Law is neglected, the significance of the Gospel is correspondingly reduced in our presentation and in the apprehension of men...If our emphasis on the judgment of God upon sin is minimal, correspondingly minimal will be our esteem of salvation and of the Saviour".


 -- John Murray (pg. 144 of Vol. 1 of his "Collected Works")


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## BobVigneault (Mar 30, 2011)

To preach a God without wrath toward sin and the sinner is to preach an unholy god which is no god at all, it is an idol.


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## Herald (Mar 30, 2011)

BobVigneault said:


> To preach a God without wrath toward sin and the sinner is to preach an unholy god which is no god at all, it is an idol.


 
Amen.

Sent from my most excellent Motorola Atrix


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## discipulo (Mar 30, 2011)

Great Quote Rev Glaser. 

Saddly evangelicalism became a living example of that consequence stated by Murray of neglecting the Preaching of the Law. With the bad excuse of being focused in Grace, evangelicalism offers an unclear gospel at best.

How can Grace be fully proclaimed appart from proclaimimg God's Holy Law? The whole book of Romans, nay, the whole Scripture teaches us that.

Thank God for the Churches that faithfully confess and preach Law and Gospel, in order that The Gospel may be truly proclaimed!


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## Semper Fidelis (Mar 31, 2011)

discipulo said:


> Saddly evangelicalism became a living example of that consequence stated by Murray of neglecting the Preaching of the Law. With the bad excuse of being focused in Grace, evangelicalism offers an unclear gospel at best.



I think that is because, even when they were focused on "judgment" that revivalist tradition that has dominated American Evangelicalism for more than a century had a deficient understanding of the Law and the Gospel. Semi-pelagian notions of the nature of man must ultimately depreciate the Holiness and Wrath of God and grant to man an inherent ability to "shape up" and respond. In the tradition of the "decision", there was a time when "hellfire and brimstone" were effective "measures" to motivate men and women to decide for Christ. It wasn't necessarily an embrace of the grace of a God who was at full enmity with man and solved the problem by regeneration and adoption but a man exercising his will to make a good choice by the avoidance of bad consequences.

Today, it might be argued, that people are motivated by an appeal to their egos. It no longer motivates people to hear about "hellfire and brimstone" but the idea that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life does motivate. Whatever works is best. At the end of the day, if it motivates the person to make the "right decision" then this is the key figure of merit.

In either schema, there was no real terror of the Law and fleeing to Christ in the "hellfire and brimstone" days and now there's no real understanding of grace during the "Jesus is my homeboy" days.


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## py3ak (Mar 31, 2011)

That's a good point, Rich. Depending on personality and circumstances, it might be quite possible to browbeat someone into a sort of sham repentance; but there need not be any more reality to the confession extorted by browbeating than there is in the conversion effected by flattery.


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## Jack K (Mar 31, 2011)

py3ak said:


> That's a good point, Rich. Depending on personality and circumstances, it might be quite possible to browbeat someone into a sort of sham repentance; but there need not be any more reality to the confession extorted by browbeating than there is in the conversion effected by flattery.


 
I like the way you put it. "Conversion by browbeating" and "conversion by flattery." Those are good little phrases. Good ways to summarize these two non-gospel methods that seldom lead to any true conversion at all. I'll have to remember those.


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