What is an Experimental Sermon Anyway?
Diagnosis and cure
An experimental sermon lets the man, woman, or child who hears it know where he or she stands.
The result of the experimental sermon is to “distinguish the Christian from the non-Christian so that people can diagnose their own spiritual conditions and needs. The preacher applies biblical truth to help his hearers test whether they belong to Christ and have his Spirit (Rom. 8:9; 2 Cor. 13:5)”1
Do you see how it is on you, the hearer or reader of the sermon, to conduct the experiment? The preacher is more like the lab technician.
At the same time, it is incumbent on the preacher to be ready with the remedy, should the experiment fail, that is, if a person discovers that he or she does not belong to Christ and have His Spirit.
Fortunately, the preacher has a proven cure, and an experimental sermon will apply that cure (and reapply it, in subsequent sermons, as often as indicated).
Once the diagnosis is given, the therapy can begin. It should continue for the rest of one’s earthly life.
The same sermon can do both: diagnose and apply the remedy.
Here is an example from J. C. Ryle:
“Every believer ought to be a home-missionary — a missionary to his family children, servants, and friends. Surely, if we can find nothing to say to others about Jesus, we may well doubt whether we are savingly acquainted with him ourselves.”2
Here, Ryle both tests and applies a cure. Notice the test (“Surely, if we can find nothing to say…”) comes after the application (“Every believer ought to be…”).
Here is my attempt to test and apply from last week’s sermon:
“May I ask you, is there another name that you place above Jesus’ name? Or, if not above, at least on the same level as His? Would you consider removing that name (or names) from your lips?”
The test: what name (or names) do you value more than Jesus’ Name? The cure: devalue or deny them altogether.
Diagnosis and cure will run together. Listen for them the next time you hear me or another preacher. If you don’t hear both, it’s not an experimental sermon.
Joel R. Beeke, Reformed Preaching: Proclaiming God's Word from the Heart of the Preacher to the Heart of His People (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 26.
J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on John, vol. 1 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), 51.