June 26th, 2024
by Raef Chenery
by Raef Chenery
Reformed Experiential Preaching was a common method of preaching among the Puritans as well as later Reformed preachers beyond the Puritan era. The target of the experiential sermon is the entire of life of the hearer. Rather than focusing simply on doctrinal ideas that are to be known in the mind, experiential preaching aims to forge those doctrinal ideas into the heart and life of the believer. This style of preaching corrects the error that Charles Bridges described of laying too little stress upon “that life and power, that vital, experimental, and practical influence, which forms the character, and regulates the conduct of an established Christian.”
The term experiential has, throughout history, also been referred to as experimental, which finds its roots in the Latin experimentum, meaning trial. Experiential preaching ought to cause one’s hearers to examine their souls, as if on trial, to discern whether or not they bear the marks of authentic Christianity. Christianity is an all-of-life faith that it is to be lived, experienced, felt, and enjoyed by the power of the Holy Spirit. As Charles Spurgeon said, “Brother, if the truth be in you it will flow out of your entire being as the perfume streams from the every bough of the sandalwood tree; it will drive you onward as the trade wind speeds the ships, filling all their sails; it will consume your whole nature with its energy as the forest fire burns up all the trees of the wood.”
What follows below is a shorter section from a lengthier paper I wrote on the nature of Experiential Preaching. In that paper I considered five separate qualities of an experiential sermon. irst, experiential preaching is Biblical and Christ Centered. Second, experiential preaching is discriminatory. Third, experiential preaching is targeted at the heart. Fourth, experiential preaching is applicatory. Fifth, experiential pleads with its listeners for a faithful response. Here in this post, I want to only consider the second aspect, that of experiential preaching being “discriminatory.” I’ll do so by examining how the Puritan Thomas Boston exemplified discriminatory teaching in his excellent work Human Nature In Its Fourfold State.
Experiential Preaching is Discriminatory
“Discriminatory Preaching” may be defined as preaching wherein the author separates his readers into various classes, discriminating between the distinct listeners, in order to pin the text to each person’s specific condition. William Perkins, considered by many to be the father of Puritanism, famously instructed preachers to consider seven unique categories of listeners when preaching: unbelievers who are ignorant and unteachable, those who are teachable but ignorant, those who have knowledge but have never been humbled, those who have been humbled but may still be yet unconverted, those who already believe, those who are backsliding, and a mixed congregation of believers and unbelievers. Perkins’ seven categories are: unbelievers who are ignorant and unteachable, those who are teachable but ignorant, those who have knowledge but have never been humbled, those who have been humbled but may still be yet unconverted, those who already believe, those who are backsliding, and a mixed congregation of believers and unbelievers. Charles Bridges likewise provided nine distinct categories of hearers to consider when preaching. He instructed ministers, “It is important to ascertain the stage of the Christian life; the degree of strength or weakness, of faintness or overcoming in the spiritual conflict; of advancement or retrogression in evangelical holiness…” While engaging with discriminatory preaching, the listener is invited to discern which category they belong to, and is provided with specific instruction to assist them in that particular condition.
Discriminatory preaching must therefore clearly distinguish between the believer and unbeliever. It particularly labors to leave no hypocrite comforted by false promises that are not theirs to hold. Rather, by providing tests of self-examination, discriminatory preaching stirs the listener to put themselves on trial, to determine the truth of their soul’s condition. As Boston writes, “The neglect of self-examination leaves most men under sad delusions as to their state, and deprives many saints of the comfortable sight of the grace of God in them.” I will consider both Boston’s ability to separate his readers into classes, as well as his use of putting the soul on self-examination, as two separate functions of discriminatory preaching below.
Preaching Towards Separate Classes of Listeners
While Human Nature does not specify a preaching grid as neatly divided as William Perkins’ seven classification of listeners, it is clear that Boston did intentionally tailor sections of each chapter towards particular people, often stating these intentions directly. He very often will use a phrase like, “I shall now conclude, addressing myself in a few words, first, to saints, and next to sinners. To you that are saints, I say…” And then later, “And now, sinners, what shall I say to you?” Elsewhere on his discussion of the kingdom of heaven, Boston concludes with a similar separation, “I shall conclude my discourse on this subject with a word of application. 1. To all who claim a right to this kingdom. 2. To those who have indeed a right to it. 3. To those who have no right thereto.”
The most common place this discrimination occurs for Boston is when he transitions from doctrinal explanation to practical uses. While I will examine the role of application in Boston’s writing with greater depth in a later section, it is helpful here to consider how Boston discriminates very effectively when creating various applications. For example, when concluding his discussion on the doctrine of the state of innocence, he writes of three separate classes of nonbelievers to whom this particular doctrine provides a reproof, “1. To those who hate religion in the power of it… 2. It reproves those who put religion to shame, and those who are ashamed of religion… 3. It reproves the proud self-conceited professor.” In this example, Boston’s exemplary discriminatory language leaves even the unbeliever challenged to discern what kind of unbeliever they are.
Later in his discourse on the mystical union between Christ and believers under the state of grace, Boston paints a vivid portrait of the heart and life of a hypocrite. He explains that hypocrites of Christianity can indeed appear to grow, but it is a false growth. “They grow like rickety children, who have a big head but a slender body; they get more knowledge into their heads, but not more holiness into their hearts and lives.” This deformed growth is contrasted with the beautifully proportionate growth of the true believer. The listener is challenged to ask what sort of growth they have experienced, in order to discern if they are a hypocrite or a true believer.
Likewise, when discussing the state of nature, Boston moves to provided proper uses of the doctrine of the total corruption of the soul and body. In his second use he directs his fiery language towards the unbeliever, “Well may we lament your case, O natural man! For it is the saddest case one cane be in out of hell… Your soul is a mass of darkness, rebellion, and vileness, before the Lord.” Here, Boston has separated the unbeliever from the believer and spoke directly to their condition. He refused to hold back any punches. The unbeliever is left considering their state in all of its pollution. “Ah! What a miserable spectacle is he that can do nothing but sin! You are the man, whoever you are, that are yet in your natural state.”
Preaching Towards Self-Examination
Boston is excellent at drawing his readers towards deeper reflection upon the condition of their own soul. Over and over again the work of self-examination is celebrated. He will often employ phrase like, “Try yourselves by these.” Or elsewhere, “By what is said, you may try whether you are in the state of grace or not.” This is particularly powerfully employed after some of his more beautifully written sections such as when he writes on the eternal state. After painting a picture of the everlasting joys of heaven, Boston writes, “It is necessary that all of us impartially try and examine whether, according to the laws of the kingdom contained in the Holy Scriptures, we can verify and make good our claim to this kingdom.” Boston continually completes his discussion on particular doctrines with an appeal to self-reflection, “Now, if you would improve these things to the knowledge of your state, I would advise you… to set apart some time, when you are at home, for a review of your case, to try your state by what has been said.” The listener is invited to put their life on trial before the standard of God’s Word not just in the moment of the sermon, but at home as well.
In perhaps Boston’s most extended section on self-examination, he assists the reader to discern whether or not they have truly undergone regeneration. In rapid fire, he lists out dozens of insightful questions designed to cause the reader to pause and ask whether or not they truly have been born again? “Were your eyes ever turned inward to see yourself, the sinfulness of your depraved state… Were you ever led into a view of the exceeding sinfulness of sin? Have your eyes seen King Jesus in His beauty… What change is there on your will?… Are your desires going out after God? Has your conscience been enlightened? Is your memory sanctified?” The believer hears these questions and can discern at least a seedling of a positive response within their souls. The hypocrite however, is left gasping for air at the realization that the answer to the questions are negative.
Another method employed by Boston to put the soul on trial is his use of addressing various doubts that believers endure. Boston pastorally comforts struggling and doubting Christians by addressing their doubts directly according to the Word of God. In his discussion on the doctrine of Regeneration, Boston imagines the listener expressing four such doubts they might feel, “1. I doubt if I be regenerate, because I know not the precise time of my conversion. 2. If I were a new creature, sin could not prevail against me as it does. 3. I find the motions of sin in my heart more violent since the Lord began His work on my soul. 4. I find pulse of my affections beats stronger to the creature than to the Creator.” With each of these, the reader is invited to dig deeper and ask serious questions of the soul, “Ask yourself, as in the sight of God, whether you would part with Christ for the creature, or part with the creature for Christ?” This is not simple work, it is a probing work. It is the work of a soul determined to discover its true condition, determined to see if a seed of faith resides within.
Closing Remarks
O how we need more discriminatory preaching in our pulpits today. As a pastor, it is our responsibility to help our congregation and all our listeners, discover whether or not the text truly applies to them or not. Far too many hypocrites sit comfortably in our pews, never being forced to reconcile the vast chasm that exists between their heart and the Biblical text. This can only be done if we are willing to carefully, compassionately, prayerfully, and boldly, bring our people to the point of testing their own souls, and putting themselves on trial before the text, to see if indeed they bear the marks of a Christian. For the true Christian, effective discriminatory preaching will reveal the seeds of the gospel implanted in their soul and offer pathways to ongoing maturity. And for the deceived hypocrite, the one taking the title Christian but having no real new birth, no gospel transformation of the soul, effective discriminatory preaching will bring them to the point of recognizing they are yet to truly believe on Christ and take hold of the Gospel. It ought to bring them to the point of despair, in order that Christ in his mercy will heal them of their misery, and offer them true life!
See full article on bottom of this page.
The term experiential has, throughout history, also been referred to as experimental, which finds its roots in the Latin experimentum, meaning trial. Experiential preaching ought to cause one’s hearers to examine their souls, as if on trial, to discern whether or not they bear the marks of authentic Christianity. Christianity is an all-of-life faith that it is to be lived, experienced, felt, and enjoyed by the power of the Holy Spirit. As Charles Spurgeon said, “Brother, if the truth be in you it will flow out of your entire being as the perfume streams from the every bough of the sandalwood tree; it will drive you onward as the trade wind speeds the ships, filling all their sails; it will consume your whole nature with its energy as the forest fire burns up all the trees of the wood.”
What follows below is a shorter section from a lengthier paper I wrote on the nature of Experiential Preaching. In that paper I considered five separate qualities of an experiential sermon. irst, experiential preaching is Biblical and Christ Centered. Second, experiential preaching is discriminatory. Third, experiential preaching is targeted at the heart. Fourth, experiential preaching is applicatory. Fifth, experiential pleads with its listeners for a faithful response. Here in this post, I want to only consider the second aspect, that of experiential preaching being “discriminatory.” I’ll do so by examining how the Puritan Thomas Boston exemplified discriminatory teaching in his excellent work Human Nature In Its Fourfold State.
Experiential Preaching is Discriminatory
“Discriminatory Preaching” may be defined as preaching wherein the author separates his readers into various classes, discriminating between the distinct listeners, in order to pin the text to each person’s specific condition. William Perkins, considered by many to be the father of Puritanism, famously instructed preachers to consider seven unique categories of listeners when preaching: unbelievers who are ignorant and unteachable, those who are teachable but ignorant, those who have knowledge but have never been humbled, those who have been humbled but may still be yet unconverted, those who already believe, those who are backsliding, and a mixed congregation of believers and unbelievers. Perkins’ seven categories are: unbelievers who are ignorant and unteachable, those who are teachable but ignorant, those who have knowledge but have never been humbled, those who have been humbled but may still be yet unconverted, those who already believe, those who are backsliding, and a mixed congregation of believers and unbelievers. Charles Bridges likewise provided nine distinct categories of hearers to consider when preaching. He instructed ministers, “It is important to ascertain the stage of the Christian life; the degree of strength or weakness, of faintness or overcoming in the spiritual conflict; of advancement or retrogression in evangelical holiness…” While engaging with discriminatory preaching, the listener is invited to discern which category they belong to, and is provided with specific instruction to assist them in that particular condition.
Discriminatory preaching must therefore clearly distinguish between the believer and unbeliever. It particularly labors to leave no hypocrite comforted by false promises that are not theirs to hold. Rather, by providing tests of self-examination, discriminatory preaching stirs the listener to put themselves on trial, to determine the truth of their soul’s condition. As Boston writes, “The neglect of self-examination leaves most men under sad delusions as to their state, and deprives many saints of the comfortable sight of the grace of God in them.” I will consider both Boston’s ability to separate his readers into classes, as well as his use of putting the soul on self-examination, as two separate functions of discriminatory preaching below.
Preaching Towards Separate Classes of Listeners
While Human Nature does not specify a preaching grid as neatly divided as William Perkins’ seven classification of listeners, it is clear that Boston did intentionally tailor sections of each chapter towards particular people, often stating these intentions directly. He very often will use a phrase like, “I shall now conclude, addressing myself in a few words, first, to saints, and next to sinners. To you that are saints, I say…” And then later, “And now, sinners, what shall I say to you?” Elsewhere on his discussion of the kingdom of heaven, Boston concludes with a similar separation, “I shall conclude my discourse on this subject with a word of application. 1. To all who claim a right to this kingdom. 2. To those who have indeed a right to it. 3. To those who have no right thereto.”
The most common place this discrimination occurs for Boston is when he transitions from doctrinal explanation to practical uses. While I will examine the role of application in Boston’s writing with greater depth in a later section, it is helpful here to consider how Boston discriminates very effectively when creating various applications. For example, when concluding his discussion on the doctrine of the state of innocence, he writes of three separate classes of nonbelievers to whom this particular doctrine provides a reproof, “1. To those who hate religion in the power of it… 2. It reproves those who put religion to shame, and those who are ashamed of religion… 3. It reproves the proud self-conceited professor.” In this example, Boston’s exemplary discriminatory language leaves even the unbeliever challenged to discern what kind of unbeliever they are.
Later in his discourse on the mystical union between Christ and believers under the state of grace, Boston paints a vivid portrait of the heart and life of a hypocrite. He explains that hypocrites of Christianity can indeed appear to grow, but it is a false growth. “They grow like rickety children, who have a big head but a slender body; they get more knowledge into their heads, but not more holiness into their hearts and lives.” This deformed growth is contrasted with the beautifully proportionate growth of the true believer. The listener is challenged to ask what sort of growth they have experienced, in order to discern if they are a hypocrite or a true believer.
Likewise, when discussing the state of nature, Boston moves to provided proper uses of the doctrine of the total corruption of the soul and body. In his second use he directs his fiery language towards the unbeliever, “Well may we lament your case, O natural man! For it is the saddest case one cane be in out of hell… Your soul is a mass of darkness, rebellion, and vileness, before the Lord.” Here, Boston has separated the unbeliever from the believer and spoke directly to their condition. He refused to hold back any punches. The unbeliever is left considering their state in all of its pollution. “Ah! What a miserable spectacle is he that can do nothing but sin! You are the man, whoever you are, that are yet in your natural state.”
Preaching Towards Self-Examination
Boston is excellent at drawing his readers towards deeper reflection upon the condition of their own soul. Over and over again the work of self-examination is celebrated. He will often employ phrase like, “Try yourselves by these.” Or elsewhere, “By what is said, you may try whether you are in the state of grace or not.” This is particularly powerfully employed after some of his more beautifully written sections such as when he writes on the eternal state. After painting a picture of the everlasting joys of heaven, Boston writes, “It is necessary that all of us impartially try and examine whether, according to the laws of the kingdom contained in the Holy Scriptures, we can verify and make good our claim to this kingdom.” Boston continually completes his discussion on particular doctrines with an appeal to self-reflection, “Now, if you would improve these things to the knowledge of your state, I would advise you… to set apart some time, when you are at home, for a review of your case, to try your state by what has been said.” The listener is invited to put their life on trial before the standard of God’s Word not just in the moment of the sermon, but at home as well.
In perhaps Boston’s most extended section on self-examination, he assists the reader to discern whether or not they have truly undergone regeneration. In rapid fire, he lists out dozens of insightful questions designed to cause the reader to pause and ask whether or not they truly have been born again? “Were your eyes ever turned inward to see yourself, the sinfulness of your depraved state… Were you ever led into a view of the exceeding sinfulness of sin? Have your eyes seen King Jesus in His beauty… What change is there on your will?… Are your desires going out after God? Has your conscience been enlightened? Is your memory sanctified?” The believer hears these questions and can discern at least a seedling of a positive response within their souls. The hypocrite however, is left gasping for air at the realization that the answer to the questions are negative.
Another method employed by Boston to put the soul on trial is his use of addressing various doubts that believers endure. Boston pastorally comforts struggling and doubting Christians by addressing their doubts directly according to the Word of God. In his discussion on the doctrine of Regeneration, Boston imagines the listener expressing four such doubts they might feel, “1. I doubt if I be regenerate, because I know not the precise time of my conversion. 2. If I were a new creature, sin could not prevail against me as it does. 3. I find the motions of sin in my heart more violent since the Lord began His work on my soul. 4. I find pulse of my affections beats stronger to the creature than to the Creator.” With each of these, the reader is invited to dig deeper and ask serious questions of the soul, “Ask yourself, as in the sight of God, whether you would part with Christ for the creature, or part with the creature for Christ?” This is not simple work, it is a probing work. It is the work of a soul determined to discover its true condition, determined to see if a seed of faith resides within.
Closing Remarks
O how we need more discriminatory preaching in our pulpits today. As a pastor, it is our responsibility to help our congregation and all our listeners, discover whether or not the text truly applies to them or not. Far too many hypocrites sit comfortably in our pews, never being forced to reconcile the vast chasm that exists between their heart and the Biblical text. This can only be done if we are willing to carefully, compassionately, prayerfully, and boldly, bring our people to the point of testing their own souls, and putting themselves on trial before the text, to see if indeed they bear the marks of a Christian. For the true Christian, effective discriminatory preaching will reveal the seeds of the gospel implanted in their soul and offer pathways to ongoing maturity. And for the deceived hypocrite, the one taking the title Christian but having no real new birth, no gospel transformation of the soul, effective discriminatory preaching will bring them to the point of recognizing they are yet to truly believe on Christ and take hold of the Gospel. It ought to bring them to the point of despair, in order that Christ in his mercy will heal them of their misery, and offer them true life!
See full article on bottom of this page.
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