When Sincerity Isn’t Enough

Why Handling the Gospel Precisely Matters

You can be a sincere doctor and still harm a patient if you mishandle the medicine.

Intentions do not neutralize dosage.

You can care deeply. You can mean well. You can even cry while prescribing.

But if you mix the wrong ingredients or adjust the formula incorrectly, what was meant to heal can wound.

The same is true in preaching.

A preacher can love Jesus, love people, preach passionately, quote Scripture faithfully — and still damage consciences if the gospel is not handled with covenant precision.

And the damage often doesn’t show up immediately. It shows up quietly — in anxious believers, exhausted Christians, and churches that feel heavy instead of free.

The Gospel Is Medicine for the Conscience

The human conscience is fragile.

It is always asking one question:

Am I safe with God?

The New Covenant answers that question decisively:

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1).

Peace is not a future possibility. It is a present verdict.

When the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, the conscience rests. Not because it performed well — but because Christ did.

That is the dosage.

That is the medicine.

Where Things Go Wrong

The harm rarely comes from denying grace outright.

It comes from subtle shifts.

From:

Christ finished it.

To:

Christ finished it — but check yourself carefully to make sure you really qualify.

From:

You are righteous by faith.

To:

You are righteous — if your fruit confirms it strongly enough.

That small adjustment moves assurance off of Christ and onto self-evaluation.

Now the believer becomes the examiner.

Am I hot enough? Have I changed enough? Is my repentance deep enough? Is my love intense enough?

And the conscience that was meant to rest begins monitoring symptoms instead of trusting the cure.

That is when peace starts to thin out.

Law and Gospel Must Not Be Blended

Jesus spoke words that were sharp.

Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 7:21).

He warned about narrow gates and wide roads. He rebuked lukewarm churches. He confronted religious confidence.

But those warnings had covenant context.

Before the cross, He was exposing self-righteousness. In Revelation, He was disciplining churches He loved.

When those texts are lifted out of their covenant setting and applied as ongoing salvation tests, they become spiritual diagnostics instead of revelatory exposures.

Law exposes.

The cross secures.

If we preach exposure without anchoring identity in the finished work, we leave believers suspended between fear and performance.

And fear is a terrible foundation for holiness.

What Happens When Assurance Is Unstable

It is rarely the rebellious person who is harmed most.

It is the tender believer.

The one who loves Jesus but struggles. The one who feels weak some weeks. The one whose growth is slow and uneven.

When fruit becomes the measuring rod of salvation security, sensitive consciences spiral.

Instead of hearing:

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1),

they hear:

There might be condemnation if you’re not hot enough.

And that changes everything.

Joy fades. Freedom tightens. Rest disappears.

And eventually, some simply give up trying to measure.

Grace Is Not Cheap — It Is Complete

The fear behind many intense sermons is understandable.

No one wants cultural Christianity. No one wants empty religion. No one wants lukewarm hearts.

But the cure for lukewarmness is not intensified self-scrutiny.

It is renewed sight of Christ.

We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Transformation flows from revelation, not from threat.

Identity produces fruit — fruit does not secure identity.

That order must never reverse.

The Proper Dosage

Here is the right handling of the medicine:

You are perfectly righteous because of Jesus. His obedience is yours. His death was sufficient. His resurrection settled the verdict.

From that unshakable position, the Spirit works.

Fruit grows. Desires change. Love deepens.

But the foundation never moves.

If sanctification fluctuates, justification does not.

If growth is slow, righteousness is not.

If intensity wanes for a season, sonship does not.

That is grace from start to finish.

Why Precision Matters

A sincere preacher can still wound the church — not because he denies Christ, but because he blends categories.

If believers leave a sermon wondering whether they are truly saved based on how “hot” they feel, the dosage was off.

If they leave resting more firmly in Christ’s finished work, the medicine was applied correctly.

The gospel does not say:

Prove you belong.

It says:

You belong because Christ nailed it.

And when that lands in the conscience, holiness grows naturally.

Not out of fear of being spit out. But out of love for the One who already secured the verdict.

Grace is not fragile. But the human conscience is.

Handle the medicine carefully.

Lives depend on it.