Practical Sermons (excerpt from P.T. Lecture #16)

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Pastor Martin expounds on the intensely practical nature of biblical preaching, drawing from passages like 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and Titus 1:1. He argues that Scripture's purpose is not merely informational, emotional, or rhetorical, but to lead people to have concrete dealings with God, encompassing conviction, comfort, and a full range of Christian experience. Martin emphasizes that true biblical preaching must always aim to elicit practical volitions and actions of the will in hearers, even if the immediate results are unmeasurable, requiring faith from the preacher.

3 illustrations in this sermon

Truth According to Godliness

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Preacher vs. Newscaster

The point: Do not traffic in truth merely as a newscaster reports events; aim for an ultimate assault upon the conscience, affections, and will.

The analogy of a newscaster merely reporting events is used to contrast with the preacher's role, emphasizing that a preacher's task is not just to report biblical facts but to apply them practically.

So we must not traffic in truth as the newscaster does in reporting the major events of the day. He's just reporting events. I'm just reporting facts that are in the Bible. No.

1:37 - 1:50 Read in full sermon

Distinguishing Practical Preaching from Merely Informational, Emotional, or Rhetorical

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Electric Probe for Affections

In this part of the sermon: Martin contrasts truly practical preaching with that which is merely informational (injecting facts), exclusively emotional (agitating feelings), or merely rhetorical (dazzling…

This metaphor describes preachers who aim only for emotional agitation, trying to 'get an electric probe into the area where the affections are stirred and give them a toad,' highlighting the inadequacy of merely emotional preaching.

If I can carry on the imagery, he tries to get an electric probe into the area where the affections are stirred and give them a toad. That's his. And then others, they seem to be merely rhetorical. They want to dazzle the eyes of the mind and tickle the ears with the lovely sounds that come out of their voices.

3:32 - 3:54 Read in full sermon

The End of Preaching: Eliciting Responses and Volition

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Dabney on Eloquence and Practical Volition

The point: Never forget that a sermon, as a sacred oration, must have an intensely practical end in view, beyond mere information, emotion, or rhetoric.

Martin quotes Dabney at length, who distinguishes eloquence from fine arts like music by its immediate end: to produce 'some practical volition' and 'actions of the soul' in hearers, reinforcing the sermon's central argument about practical preaching.

But with this practical concern that people will have dealings with God in the full range of what that means, from conviction to comfort to consolation to the response of faith and awe and love, and the full range of all that constitutes wholesome, full-orbed Christian experience, so many men seem to be utterly ignorant that the end of preaching is to see such responses elicited from the people of God. So if the Bible is being preached biblically, it cannot help but be preached practically. If it is preached biblically, it cannot help but be preached practically, for it was given for those pra...

3:56 - 4:53 Read in full sermon

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