One of the saddest spectacles is surely listening to a preacher who knows the truth of the Gospel but fails to 'drive it home' to those listening to him. Excellent content, but little application. Hearing the most serious of sermons yet leaving wondering who it was for.
Preachers need to study how to apply what they preach to their hearers. Perhaps they need to study how to apply it to their own hearts first, and then application to others will come much more easily. But unapplied ointment will do a wounded hand no good! Paint that sits in its tin will not decorate the wall - it has to be applied. Speaking in the second person plural will never strike a hearer that what the preacher is preaching is meant for them.
But experienced preachers know well that it is the application of a message to the hearers consciences that does the greatest good to them and bring the greatest trouble to the messenger.
Fancy going to your doctor for results of tests for him to say, I'm sorry; we have cancer." Or to be stopped by a policeman who comes to your open window to tell you, "We have been speeding, haven't we?" That is just plain silly - and it is not preaching, whatever else men might say it is.
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