This article is a summary from the following episode: Would Satan Approve of Your Morality?
Here’s a question that might sound strange at first: Is it possible that Satan would applaud the kind of preaching you hear on Sunday—or even the way you talk about the Christian life with your friends?
We believe the answer is yes. And that’s worth sitting with for a minute.
We tend to think Satan’s preferred sermons would be filled with moral chaos—denials of miracles, soft takes on sin, and worldly ideologies sneaking into the church. But what if one of his favorite kinds of preaching sounds a lot more… conservative? What if it upholds virtue, extols disciplined living, and calls people to clean up their lives—but it’s completely devoid of Jesus?
That’s the kind of religion Satan can work with. That’s the kind of Christianity that damns.
The Sermons Hell Applauds
There is a kind of preaching that the enemy loves—sermons that major on morality but never mention the Mediator. Preaching that’s heavy on law but light on grace. Christless, cross-less messages that leave people with a to-do list instead of good news.
And here’s the thing: it’s often done in Jesus’ name. These sermons might be emotionally moving. They might be packed with biblical language. They might challenge you to be better, try harder, live cleaner, and do more.
But if they fail to point you to the finished work of Christ—if they fail to give you Jesus as your righteousness, Jesus as your hope, Jesus as your very life—they aren’t Christian sermons. They’re just well-dressed despair.
When the Gospel Is Assumed, It’s Lost
The danger isn’t always false doctrine. Sometimes it’s just the absence of gospel clarity. A church can affirm all the right things in its statement of faith and still leave people starving, because the pulpit assumes the gospel instead of proclaiming it.
In our own tradition, we’ve seen how easily this can happen. After the Reformation, within just a couple of centuries, some pulpits were so overrun by moralism that the General Assembly in Scotland had to pass a law instructing pastors to actually preach the covenant of grace. Imagine that. They had to mandate gospel preaching in a Protestant church.
The temptation to drift from Christ-centered preaching to moral improvement talks is alive and well today.
Obedience Isn’t the Problem—Obscuring Jesus Is
Let’s be clear: we care about obedience. We preach the third use of the law. We believe the Christian life is one of discipleship, holiness, and bearing fruit. But when those things are disconnected from Jesus—when they become ends in themselves rather than the overflow of union with Christ—they become dangerous.
Without the gospel, moral instruction becomes a tool for self-righteousness. It leads people to believe that their obedience earns them standing before God or status among others. Either way, it’s slavery.
And Satan doesn’t mind it at all.
He’d love nothing more than for churches to become factories of guilt and performance. He’d love for Christians to wake up each day with a burden on their back, wondering if they’ve done enough. He’d love for us to view God not as our Father who loves us, but as a disappointed judge with arms crossed.
The Christian Life Is Lived in Christ
The antidote to all of this isn’t to stop talking about the law. It’s to keep the gospel front and center. Every call to obedience in Scripture is framed by the love and work of Christ. “Be imitators of God,” Paul writes, “as beloved children.” That’s the pattern. That’s the posture.
So when we talk about sanctification, faithfulness, parenting, marriage, or spiritual discipline, we do it with Jesus in full view. Because it’s only through Him—and because of Him—that we can live the life we’ve been called to.
Pastors, Pay Attention to the Emphasis
If you’re a preacher, hear this: you don’t have to be a heretic to harm your people. If Christ isn’t clearly and regularly held out as the answer, the hope, and the source of strength for your congregation, you may be feeding them stones instead of bread.
Even church discipline—something many of us in Reformed circles rightly uphold—must be done in light of the gospel. When we call someone to repentance, we’re not pronouncing them lost. We’re calling them back to safety. We’re calling them back to Jesus.
Don’t Assume—Proclaim
If someone professes Christ but struggles, our first move should be compassion, not suspicion. Maybe they’ve never been discipled. Maybe they’ve been beaten down by pietism or burned out by performance. Maybe they’ve never heard a gospel-centered sermon in their life.
Let’s not assume they’re false professors. Let’s give them Jesus. Let’s remind them of who they are in Him and call them to live in light of that.
Resting in the One Who Loves Us
The devil wants us focused on ourselves—our progress, our failures, our discipline, our devotion. But the gospel calls us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
He’s the One who lived the narrow way. He’s the door we enter through. He’s the Savior who loves us, intercedes for us, and never lets us go.
Let’s not give the enemy anything to applaud. Let’s give our people Jesus.
