From rebel to legalist?

It's rare that I quote an entire post from another blog. But this post from Biblical Preaching's Peter Mead is so short and insightful, that I want to share the whole thing:

Preach Grace Not Moralism

Tim Keller makes a critical point. Too often as preachers we preach a gospel that moves people from rebel to legalist. We so easily preach so that younger sons become older sons, but somehow miss the glory of the father’s prodigious grace in humiliating himself for the sake of both sons.

Let us be careful to distinguish rebellious sin and moralistic self-righteousness (still sin), from true grace. We cannot overstate the danger of preaching that turns worldly rebels into pew-filling moralists, but fails to preach the unique distinctive of grace that only the Christian gospel has to offer.

Amen. I also recommend Peter's one-paragraph post on preaching to ordinary people (But you'll have to follow the link to read that one).