The Value of Reproof (Thomas Watson)
“…Do we love the convictions of the Word? Do we love the Word when it comes home to our conscience and shoots its arrows of reproof at our sins? It is the minister’s duty sometimes to reprove. He who can speak smooth words in the pulpit, but does not know how to reprove, is like a sword with a fine hilt without an edge. ‘Rebuke them sharply’ (Titus 2:15). Dip the nail in oil, reprove in love, but strike the nail home. Now Christian, when the Word touches on your sin and says, ‘Thou art the man’, do you love the reproof? Can you bless God that ‘the sword of the Spirit’ has divided between you and your lusts? This is indeed a sign of grace and shows that you are a lover of the Word.
“A corrupt heart loves the comforts of the Word, but not the reproofs: ‘They hate him that rebuketh in the gate’ (Amos 5:10). ‘Their eyes flash like fire!’ Like venomous creatures that at the least touch spit poison, ‘when they hear these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth’ (Acts 7:54). When Stephen touched them to the quick, they were mad and could not endure it.
“Question: How shall we know that we love the reproofs of the Word?
“Answer 1: When we desire to sit under a heart-searching ministry. Who cares for medicines that will not work? A godly man does not choose to sit under a ministry that will not work upon his conscience.
“Answer 2: When we pray that the Word may meet with our sins. If there is any traitorous lust in our heart, we would have it found out and executed. We do not want sin covered, but cured. We can open our breast to the bullet of the Word and say, ‘Lord, smite this sin.’
“Answer 3: When we are thankful for a reproof: ‘Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head’ (Psa. 141:5). David was glad of a reproof. Suppose a man were in the mouth of a lion, and another should shoot the lion and save the man, would he not be thankful? So, when we are in the mouth of sin, as of a lion, and the minister by a reproof shoots this sin to death, shall we not be thankful? A gracious soul rejoices when the sharp lance of the Word has pierced his abscess. He wears a reproof like a jewel on his ear: ‘As an earring of gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear’ (Prov. 25:12). To conclude, it is convincing preaching which must do the soul good. A nipping reproof prepares for comfort, as a nipping frost prepares for the sweet flowers of spring.
Thomas Watson (c. 1620 – 1686) was a Puritan preacher, author, and vicar of St. Stephen’s Walbrook. He was expelled from his church following the Restoration of Charles II, but continued his ministry in private. He is the author of ‘The Godly Man’s Picture,’ from which this selection was taken.
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