The Conclusion of a Sermon

Driving home: But though we're speaking of the same thing, there is a major distinction to be found between the peroration of a secular rhetoric, in secular rhetoric, and the conclusion of a biblical sermon.

Martin uses the analogy of an airplane taking off, cruising, and landing to illustrate the necessity and skill required for a sermon's introduction, body, and conclusion. Landing, he notes, is often the most difficult part, just as concluding a sermon effectively is challenging.

Now, having given just that brief word about the terminology of the conclusion, secondly, by way of introduction, just a word about the necessity of the conclusion. And this is one of those points where our observations are drawn primarily, though not exclusively, from general revelation. In the summary statements of some of the sermons recorded in the book of Acts, I believe it can be demonstrated that the preachers were conscious of the necessity of a conclusion. But one would be stretching the thing and really resting the scriptures if he were to attempt to build his case primarily upon the...

4:33 - 5:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Develop finely chiseled concepts of the goals or function of the conclusion to guide construction and self-criticism.

Martin quotes a French master of the pulpit who compared many preachers to a hunting dog chasing its tail until tired, then flopping where it began, illustrating how preachers often conclude sermons without a clear purpose, merely running out of energy.

mind in such a way that it feels this necessity of having the truth to which it has been exposed brought to some kind of a neat, wrapped-up state in what we call the conclusion or the peroration. Now then, with those introductory matters behind us, as we address ourselves to the subject, we shall first of all consider the goals or the functions of the conclusion. That's the first of the three main divisions of our lecture today, the goals or functions of the conclusion. Now, unless there is precise thought on this subject of the function of the conclusion, we will probably be found grasping at...

7:27 - 8:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Develop finely chiseled concepts of the goals or function of the conclusion to guide construction and self-criticism.

Martin compares a sermon without an apt conclusion to a 'bridge to nowhere' in Lancaster County, which empties into an open field. This illustrates how a well-constructed introduction and body can be rendered ineffective if the sermon doesn't lead to a meaningful destination.

He had to be done, but for the life of him, he didn't know how to be done, so he just chased his tail, as it were, around in a circle until he was out of mental and spiritual and verbal strength and energy and finished. Or our sermons may be like that famous bridge to nowhere in Lancaster County, nearby where my folks live. It's an engineering bureaucratic boondoggle. There is an exit ramp and a bridge, but it empties into an open field, and they have dubbed it the bridge to nowhere, because it literally goes nowhere. And a sermon that is not marked by an apt conclusion can in a real sense be ...

8:49 - 9:48 Read in full sermon

The point: If the sermon's subject is encouraging, exhort hearers to feel the warmth of that encouragement; if it evokes shame, press it home; if it reveals God's love, evoke appreciation.

Martin recounts an encounter with Dr. Merrill Tenney after preaching, where Tenney quoted John 5:35 ('He was a burning and a shining light') to emphasize the need for both 'heat' (emotion) and 'light' (knowledge) in preaching, reinforcing the sermon's goal of imparting both.

If the text or subject, should be productive of encouragement, then exhortation and admonition to be holded in that light and to feel the warmth of that encouragement ought to be the goal in our conclusion. If shame and conviction should be felt in the light of the issues treated, then it should be pressed home in such a way to the consciousness of our hearers that shame and conviction are felt. If new dimensions of appreciation of the love of God, should be evoked, then we ought, in the conclusion, to seek to evoke that appreciation of those new dimensions of the love of God. A sermon is not ...

14:51 - 16:00 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The preacher stood there as an attorney from heaven to indict and prosecute the sinner. The pleading has been heard the argument for his conviction has been concluded and the sinner only hears the sentence of condemnatio…

Martin reads an extended passage from D.M. Palmer's biography of James Henley Thornwell, describing Thornwell's preaching style, particularly his powerful and logical conclusions that drove truth home to the conscience, serving as an example of masterful peroration.

It's a description that Palmer makes of Farnwell as a preacher. At the end of this excellent biography and it is a heartwarming you'll laugh you'll weep you'll go down on your knees if you've not read this The Life and Letters of James Henley Farnwell by D.M. Palmer I encourage you to do so.

26:41 - 27:01 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The preacher stood there as an attorney from heaven to indict and prosecute the sinner. The pleading has been heard the argument for his conviction has been concluded and the sinner only hears the sentence of condemnatio…

Martin shares a humorous anecdote about James Henley Thornwell kissing the earth upon returning to the South after a trip abroad, illustrating Thornwell's deep love for his home region.

You'll find some very humorous things about Farnwell not only the theologian the saint the preacher but the real lover of the South after he made his first trip abroad when he landed back in New York and by carriage was making the final part of his trip when he crossed over into the South he asked the carriage to be stopped and he got out and he kissed the earth.

27:01 - 27:25 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The preacher stood there as an attorney from heaven to indict and prosecute the sinner. The pleading has been heard the argument for his conviction has been concluded and the sinner only hears the sentence of condemnatio…

Martin briefly mentions Thornwell's humorous justification for his addiction to expensive cigars, further illustrating the preacher's personality.

And then you'll find some very humorous things with regard to his justification of his addiction to expensive cigars and the rest. Well be that as it may I don't want to digress so much but as a saint and a preacher he stood head and shoulders above men who were giants in the land even that day. And here we have a description of Farnwell the preacher particularly as his preaching was drawing to its peroration or its conclusion. Eschewing all efforts to work upon the superficial emotions or to play upon natural sympathies he addressed himself in earnest to present the whole truth of God and to ...

27:27 - 28:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not skimp on the labor connected with a well-prepared conclusion, as it is crucial for the sermon's lasting impression.

Martin uses the analogy 'stale bread with good meat makes a bad sandwich' to emphasize that a poor conclusion can ruin the impact of a well-prepared sermon body, even if the introduction was weak.

next in importance is not the introduction but the conclusion you may start poorly but if you give them something worth while you'll gain their attention but then you can lose much of it by an injudicious conclusion so the most forgivable thing is a poor introduction that's the most forgivable thing but that doesn't mean we should skimp on labor connected with the introduction or with the conclusion and Dabney recognized that preachers had this tendency and so he warns on page 175 with respect to this very dangerous very dangerous very dangerous I would urge that the conclusion be always the s...

60:06 - 61:36 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not skimp on the labor connected with a well-prepared conclusion, as it is crucial for the sermon's lasting impression.

Martin quotes Dabney's imagery of a speaker 'endeavoring to cover his retreat by noise' when he has nothing more to say, likening it to a soldier banging a drum while retreating, illustrating the futility of a poorly prepared or empty conclusion.

next in importance is not the introduction but the conclusion you may start poorly but if you give them something worth while you'll gain their attention but then you can lose much of it by an injudicious conclusion so the most forgivable thing is a poor introduction that's the most forgivable thing but that doesn't mean we should skimp on labor connected with the introduction or with the conclusion and Dabney recognized that preachers had this tendency and so he warns on page 175 with respect to this very dangerous very dangerous very dangerous I would urge that the conclusion be always the s...

60:06 - 61:36 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin plays an excerpt from an A.W. Tozer sermon, highlighting its unusual yet effective conclusion and Tozer's unique preaching style. He then shares an illustration from a…

Martin plays a 13-minute excerpt from an A.W. Tozer sermon on 'Forward with Christ in Total Commitment,' demonstrating Tozer's unique style, his use of resume, and an unconventional yet effective conclusion that leaves a lasting impression.

those are my suggestions of the do's and the don'ts now what I want us to do is well this will be like a break I'm going to play Tozer for you and then we'll have a little discussion after that all right are you weary of sitting or should we take a little break take a little break now and then we'll come back and we'll hear 13 minutes of Tozer that I hope will be a blessing from many standpoints not the least of which is uh to say the least an unusual conclusion to a sermon all right so let's take five it's 1230 now let's reconvene at 25 till okay what you're going to hear is an excerpt of Toz...

66:02 - 67:30 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He said, Lying all day before God with a wound of compassion and yearning after God and the next morning to wake up and look upon the face of Jesus. That's Christianity. This let's-go-play business, that's heresy.

Martin recounts a sermon by Pastor Nichols based on a mystic's prayer for three wounds (contrition, compassion, yearning after God). Nichols concluded with the story of a young miner who died after a day of prayer and fasting, powerfully defining 'Christianity' as yearning after God and then looking upon the face of Jesus.

And humor is the ability to see the grotesque in something and you get a little flavor of that. But I hope you found that a blessing in content as well as an exposure to a different model and how things can be done sometimes that on the surface seem to break, break the rules, but really don't. One of the, I think, a classic illustration of how a conclusion can be constructed, and Pastor Nichols reminded me of that in our little break, is often by a telling illustration that brings home the truth with tremendous power and drives it home. There's a sermon he preached, not from a text of the Bibl...

84:50 - 85:35 Read in full sermon