“Death comes unexpectedly. And the God Jehovah will execute his vengeance on ye who despise his dying love and trample his benefits underfoot. The unconverted soul, the foolish children of man do miserably delude themselves in the false confidence of their own strength and wisdom.
Now the great King of heaven and earth will abolish and annihilate this pride, will crush the hardened wretch of the polluted infinite abomination and rain on him a deluge of fire and brimstone…”
This is the first half of the second worse sermon ever preached.
Here is the full two minute sixteen second video of the second worse sermon ever preached.
This is the sermon that Reverand Paul Ford (Played by Karl Malden) “preached” in the fictional town of Beldingsville, Vermont where the movie Pollyanna (1960) was set. When I first saw it, I called it “the second worst sermon ever preached.” What is the law without the gospel after all?
Preacher Ford is a legalist who thinks that he can bully his congregation into good behavior (and maybe salvation) by preaching sermons that are all law and no gospel. Any sermon like this one, devoid of the greatest message given to the world through Jesus Christ our Lord, is an abomination to the purposes of God. There, I have given the legalist his own medicine.
One of the central themes of the movie, Pollyanna, is the power of optimism. Would I rather Preacher Ford give a sermon containing only optimism, completely ignoring the law? Absolutely not! I would consider a sermon like that possibly “The third worse sermon of all time.” A sermon like that would sound like something done by Joel Osteen, Robert Schuller, or Norman Vincent Peale. Most of those sermons weaken the gospel message by understating the seriousness of the law. This creates a misunderstanding of the power of the gospel. If a person doesn’t understand the importance of the law, a person doesn’t understand why we need the gospel. Sermons that don’t attempt to balance the truths of the law and gospel distort the truth found in the Bible.
CR
Note: I have highlighted the movie Pollyanna on this blog before. I enjoy the movie because the acting is great and it captures some truths found in a small town, both good and bad. They have done a good job of capturing the time period as well. It is a secular movie because it does not include the gospel message even though there are Christian themes within.
Here is my previous post about this movie from 12 years ago.
Wings of the Wind 
Thanks for the post and clip from Pollyanna, Chris.
The sermon clip is definitely an example of an unbalanced message. The first Gospel-preaching church we attended was also very heavy on condemnation and legalism although not to that extreme.
You’re welcome, Tom, and thank you for your reply. Sorry to hear about the messages you heard at the first Gospel-preaching church you attended. Few could match the severity of this sermon from Reverend Ford. I know that no pastor can perfectly balance the law and the gospel in every sermon but I think it would be best to include both to some degree. I think a good preacher is someone who gives a good balance of both over time.
You’re so right, law without the gospel is empty, and gospel without truth about sin is weak. Only when both are preached together do we see the full power of God’s love and grace through Christ. 🙏
Amen, Willie. It’s really not that difficult to understand both of them but sometimes it is difficult to keep them somewhat balanced.
Your comment reminded me of these verses from 1 Corinthians 15:
55 “‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
God bless you, Willie!
For anyone interested, here is a clear look at these verses (with balancing statement):
https://www.gotquestions.org/the-strength-of-sin-is-the-law.html