Turn Your Eyes on Jesus

As I prepare for communion tomorrow, I have been reminded, by the late Ed Clowney, of the importance of Christ-centered preaching that keeps eyes focused on Jesus. God's sheep need sights and sounds of the Good Shepherd more than anyone or anything else. A timely quote, therefore, should not be out of place.

"Salvation is of the Lord" (Jonah 2.9) is the great text of the Bible and reminds us that we must not sacrifice the objective reality of what God does in salvation in order to stress the subjective reality of our knowledge of the Lord and experience of His mercy. If we mistakenly think that focusing on our experience is more practical or reaches men where they live, we will overlook the overwhelming Gospel fact that salvation is God's work. We do not kindle faith by describing it but by describing Christ.

('Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures' in "Thy Word is Still Truth" edited by Lillback & Gaffin, p.1051)