Benjamin Keach on Preaching

Here is another quote sent to me from my brother, Scott. This comes from Tom Nettles’ book The Baptists. Keach (1640-1704) was a leading Baptist pastor even suffering fines and imprisonment for his beliefs. Nettles is commenting on what Keach said and would say today concerning preaching. The quote begins with Nettles words and then moves to a quote from Keach himself.

"He would likely comment on our preaching. As he did in his own day, he would criticize much as unworthy of the majesty of its purpose. 'There is too little of it,' he might say, 'because you seem to have no confidence in its glory.... I am sure the devil has no greater delight than to know that preachers consort with his purpose of elevating the world above the Word. As long as anything appears more agreeable and palatable than the feast of grace set forth in Scripture, you forfeit the ordained means of grace and threaten to fill the church with mere professors and not true Christians.'" (189)

This is relevant to the previous post. That kind of advertising is not usually linked with this sort of preaching. If we present the Bible simply as a self help manual we have missed it. Does the Bible speak to the issue of our families? Certainly! But not simply in dosing out some tips on living. The Bible speaks to families in an inherently theological, Christological way and we mishandle the Bible if we fail to connect with this theological basis- and the Bible's directives on family and life in general will not make sense without the overall theological framework.