That the person and work of Christ must be the leading theme of our ministry.—In this, if we be Christians, we have believed; and this we must preach to others. For example: We must preach him as Divine. How else could we know whom we had believed? We must preach him as having assumed our nature, and thereby qualified himself to be our Saviour, Heb 2:14, 15. We must preach him as dying for our sins, &c., 1 Cor. 15:1–4 We must preach him as the Saviour of the lost, taking the place of the chief of sinners. We must preach him as the only way of acceptance with God. “Being justified freely by his grace, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” In short, he is suited to all our wants. To whom else shall we go? He hath the words of eternal life. So preach Christ.

Every sermon, more or less, should have some relation to Christ, and bear on his person or work. This is the life of all doctrine, and it will be our own fault if it is dry. Do not consider it as one subject among others, but as that which involves all others, and gives them an interest they could not otherwise possess. Preach not only the truth, but all truth, “as it is in Jesus.” However ingenious our sermons may be, unless they bear on Christ, and lead the mind to Christ, we do not preach the faith of the gospel.

As all doctrinal religion meets here, so does all practical.—The Scriptures draw every thing from the dying love of Christ. “Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”—“Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”—“Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”—“Let this mind be in you which was in our Lord Jesus Christ.”—“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”—“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church.”

The same may be said of experience.—Christian experience clings to Christ and his gospel. The religion of some, who talk of experience, goes to idolize their own feelings and admire their supposed graces. But true Christian experience thinks little of self, and much of Christ, John 6:68.

Excerpt from: “Faith in the Gospel a Necessary Prerequisite for Preaching It,” a sermon preached to students at Bristol Education Society.

 Fuller, A. G. (1988). The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller: Memoirs, Sermons, Etc. (J. Belcher, Ed.) (Vol. 1, pp. 516–517). Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications.