Our intuition tells us that if we just hear more practical preaching (that is, moving exhortations to follow Jesus), we will improve. When this becomes the main diet, however, we do not find ourselves improving. We neither mourn nor dance. But bring me into the chamber of a holy God, where I am completely undone, and tell me about what God has done in Christ to save me… and the flickering candle of faith is inflamed, giving light to others.

Softening the seriousness of God’s law and the fact that we stand before God’s judgment as transgressors may seem kinder, but it is not. In fact, it is cruel. Instead of ending all attempts to rise up to God in self-confidence and giving people a Savior who has accomplished everything for our rescue, this easy-listening legalism perpetuates a life of constant anxiety.

The great difficulty is to get modern audiences to realize that you are preaching Christianity solely and simply because you happen to think it true; they always suppose you are preaching it because you like it or think it good for society or something of that sort. Now a clearly maintained distinction between what the Faith actually says and what you would like it to have said or what you understand or what you personally find helpful or think probable, forces your audience to realize that you are tied to your data just as the scientist is tied by the results of the experiments; that you are not just saying what you like. This immediately helps them to realize that what is being discussed is a question about objective fact—not gas about ideals and points of view.