Preaching the Word of God means preaching doctrine.  It is inescapable.  The late Ernest Reisinger wrote these words concerning the importance of doctrinal preaching:

Some may call the doctrines dry bones. We must ask what kind of a body would that be which has flesh and blood but has no bones? Of course, if the preacher presents doctrine in skeleton nakedness, apart from a vital relationship to life and experience, it is the fault of the preacher and not the fault of true doctrinal preaching.

Sound doctrinal preaching must always be practical and experimental, applied to the necessity and capacities of the hearers. In fact, the two should never be separated any more than flesh and bones should be separated. If they are separated there is death for sure.

They should always blend together in order to compliment and establish each other, and be pervaded by the unction of the Holy One.

The doctrinal preacher need not be concerned that good people will not attend to his sermons. I have generally found that good people will attend if the preacher gives them something to attend to.

Read the entire article entitled “The Priority of Doctrinal Preaching” here.  You can also read our review of Robert Smith’s Doctrine that Dances, and our article, Doctrinally Rich Evangelism.

Tim Keller has also recently written an article concerning this issue entitled, “The Importance of Hell,” that is posted on his church’s website. Keller discusses the following four key reasons that this doctrine is important to the Christian faith:

1. It is important because Jesus taught about it more than all other Biblical authors put together.

2. It is important because it shows how infinitely dependent we are on God for everything.

3. It is important because it unveils the seriousness and danger of living life for yourself.

4. The doctrine of hell is important because it is the only way to know how much Jesus loved us and how much he did for us.

He closes with this:

We must come to grips with the fact that Jesus said more about hell than Daniel, Isaiah, Paul, John, Peter put together. Before we dismiss this, we have to realize we are saying to Jesus, the pre-eminent teacher of love and grace in history, “I am less barbaric than you, Jesus–I am more compassionate and wiser than you.” Surely that should give us pause! Indeed, upon reflection, it is because of the doctrine of judgment and hell that Jesus’ proclamations of grace and love are so astounding.

Read the entire article here.

Recently, I’ve read some debates revolving around doctrine and evangelism in the blogosphere (ie. JD Greear, Timmy Brister) and in scholarly journals (The Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry).  The unfortunate issue in debates on doctrine and evangelism is that most seem to focus either on preaching (and teaching) strong doctrine or on being evangelistic.  The fact of of the matter is that true biblical evangelism must be doctrinally rich and sound and that true doctrinal preaching should move its hearers to biblical evangelism.  In Nine Marks of a Healthy Church,pastor Mark Dever writes:

Love for god is the only sufficient motive for evangelism.  Self-love will give way to self-centeredness; love for the lost will fail with those whom we cannot love, and when difficulties seem insurmountable.  Only a deep love for God will keep us following his way, declaring his gospel, when human resources fail.  Only our love for God-and more important his love for us-will keep us from the dangers which beset us.  When the desire for popularity with me or for success in human terms, tempts us to water down the gospel, to make it palatable, then only if we love God will we stand fast by his truth and his ways.

Further, Robert Smith Jr. asserts in Doctrine That Dances,

The ultimate goal of all doctrine is not to be informed about Bible facts but to be transformed by being in relationship with the person of Jesus Christ.

So, doctrinal preaching is not something other than evangelical preaching, but is instead evangelical preaching with an undergirding structure that safeguards evangelism from becoming something less than orthodox.  I was once informed by a rather prominent youth speaker that he was not “concerned with all of that theology stuff, kids don’t need me to tell them they are bad, I just want to tell people about Jesus.”  Without all of that “theology stuff,” however, we have something much less than the Christian gospel.  David Dockery summarizes it well when he says, Christian faith should be both living and confessional!  One can no more eat choice beef from a boneless cow and one can no more work safely in a skyscraper that has no structural steel than one can practice and communicate the Christian religion without basic Christian affirmations or doctrine. 

It is for these reasons that I continue to teach and preach doctrinally and why I strongly encourage approaches to evangelism that are rich in their theology and doctrinal heritage.  Tell The Truth: The Whole Gospel to the Whole Person by Will Metzger is a book that explains the gospel and instructs in evangelism methods with a strong commitment to the truths of God’s Word and the doctrines of the church.  Metzger’s book is not for the faint of heart, it is evangelism training on steroids, but it is GOOD and has stood the test of time. 

As Great Commission Christians we must be dedicated to Doctrinally rich evangelism that results in converted disciples, not inflated church rolls and baptism numbers.  Metzger shows that reformed theology is not somehow unevangelistic, but rather in the heritage of men like Spurgeon and Edwards, the doctrines of grace should spur us on to greater evangelistic zeal, not through catchy and trendy methods, but rather as a result of the overflow of God’s grace in our lives.  I encourage doctrinally centered ministry and I encourage Metzger’s book as a great resource for churches seeking doctrinally rich evangelism.

This book review is also found on the Book Review page, but I have found it to be so beneficial to me in my preaching, that I thought it was worth bringing a little extra attention to it here.  I hope you find this brief review helpful.