Archive for October 15, 2010


Oct 15

Follow-up to Sunday’s Sermon: Colossians 1:3-8

2010 | by Trent Hunter | Category: Sermon Follow-Up

In Sunday’s message, Thank God for Gospel Growth, Ryan preached from Colossians 1:3-8 where Paul tells his readers that he thanks God for them and for how the gospel “is bearing fruit and growing” among them (6). As Timothy Keller puts it, “The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s of Christianity, but it is the A to Z of Christianity.”

This quote from C.F.W. Walther in his 1929 work, Law and Gospel, shows us the kind of reading and preaching of Scripture that leads to fruit-bearing, gospel-growing life.

The Word of God is not rightly divided…

  • When the Word of God is not rightly divided when the Gospel is preached first and then the Law; sanctification first and then justification; faith first and then repentance; good works first and then grace.
  • When the Word of God is not rightly divided when the Gospel is preached first and then the Law; sanctification first and then justification; faith first and then repentance; good works first and then grace.
  • When the preacher describes faith in a manner as if the mere inert acceptance of truths, even while a person is living in mortal sins, renders that person righteous in the sight of God and saves him; or as if faith makes a person righteous and saves him for the reason that it produces in him love and reformation of his mode of living.
  • When the Gospel is turned into a preaching of repentance.
  • When the preacher speaks of certain sins as if they were not of damnable, but of a venial nature.
  • When an attempt is made by means of the demands or the threats or the promises of the Law to induce the unregenerate to put away their sins and engage in good works and thus become godly; on the other hand, when an endeavor is made, by means of the commands of the Law rather than by the admonition of the Gospel, to urge the regenerate to do good.

For more reading on how the gospel grows us and grows in us, check out Monergism’s page on gospel-centered living.