A young man had been preaching in the presence of a venerable divine and after he was done he went to the old minister and said,
“What did you think of my sermon?”
“A very poor sermon, indeed,” he said.
“A poor sermon?” said the young man, “it took me a long time to study it.”
“Yes, no doubt of it.”
“Did you not think my explanation of the text a very good one?”
“Oh yes,” said the old preacher, “very good, indeed.”
“Well, then, why do you say it is a poor sermon? Didn’t you think the metaphors were appropriate and the arguments conclusive?”
“Yes, they were very good as far as that goes, but still it was a very poor sermon.”
“Will you tell me why you think it a poor sermon?”
“Because,” he said, “there was no Christ in it.”
“Well,” said the young man, “Christ was not in the text. We are not to be preaching Christ always—we must preach what is in the text.”
So the old man said, “Don’t you know, young Man, that from every town and every village and every little hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London?”
“Yes,” said the young man.
“Ah,” said the old divine,“and so from every text in Scripture there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures that is Christ. And, my dear Brother, your business is when you get to a text, to say, ‘Now what is the road to Christ?’ and then preach a sermon running along the road towards the great metropolis—Christ. And,” he said “I have never yet found a text that had not a road to Christ in it—and if I ever do find one that has not a road to Christ in it, I will make one! I will go over hedge and ditch but I would get at my Master, for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savor of Christ in it.”
where they launched an attack at the Lion’s Gate.“