Alistair Begg Refuses To Repent, Attacks American Evangelicals In Awful Sermon

You may think that the reaction to Alistair Begg’s compromise on gay weddings was too harsh, but actually, it has not been harsh enough. Whatever reputational credibility Begg stored up in his decades of ministry, he threw away in a recent sermon where he refused to repent and attacked those who called him out. The sermon is even worse than his initial statements.

Doesn’t Address The Issue

Alistair Begg does not address the premise that attending a gay wedding is in itself a sin, by bearing witness to an abominable union and partaking in its celebration.

and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Romans 1:32

abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22

But instead of addressing this argument, Alistair Begg calls his critics Pharisees. He even accuses pastors who emphasize certain sins among others of struggling with those sins. Yet the reverse is more often true: pastors who are soft on sins either struggle with or are close to someone struggling with a particular sin. Such is usually the case with homosexuality, whereas Ted Haggard is a unique counterexample. This insinuation of sin by Alistair Begg is egregious.

Attacking American Evangelicals

Alistair Begg attacks his own audience of American Evangelicals, the people who have made his ministry successful, in no small part because they adored his Scottish accent. He states that he comes from a tradition of British Evangelicals who “understand nuance.” He attacks American Evangelicalism as rooted in fundamentalism using the term pejoratively. Attacking fundamentalism is what many liberals in Big Eva have done in their efforts to carve out a third way.

In his thridwayism, Alistair Begg states that neither admonition nor silence are options when it comes to the gay wedding issue, even though admonition is warning of the dangers of sin.

Unwilling To Suffer

Alistair Begg describes in great detail how he is prioritizing the relationship of the grandmother to her granddaughter. Yet this is unbiblical. Jesus states that he came to divide households.

51 Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; 52 for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Luke 12:51-53

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Luke 9:23

Jesus bore the cross for our sins, so asking a grandmother not to go to a gay wedding is a comparably small cross to bear. This level of obedience, in not dishonoring God might cost familial relationships, but Christians must be willing to suffer for God.

Alistair Begg, in contrast, locked his church down in 2020, refusing to suffer an ounce for obedience. Moreover in his Branch Covidianism, he applied unbiblical mandates for worship. And Begg was nowhere to be found on the issue of wokeness in the church. So, at what point is it surprising that he would counsel a grandmother to sin rather than suffer?

Tooting His Own Horn

Alistair Begg went on for the last ten minutes of his sermon defending his historic reputation on this issue. He touted the words of his daughter and other allies who had contacted him over this “tough issue.” He then bragged about an event on a college campus where lesbians walked out on his speech in protest and asked why the people who trove through videos didn’t cover that.

As the outlet that broke the Begg story, we can honestly say that “owning the libs” on college campuses is of zero interest to our reporting. Begg concludes he would rather be known for advising grandmothers to attend gay weddings than be known for being a vehement opponent of the gay agenda.

Farewell Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg is known for expository preaching and exegesis, yet his sermon consists of 13+ minutes of defending his sin. The sermon was on Luke 15, the Prodigal Son. The exegesis in this sermon was poor, as he read his modern accusations of pharisaism into the older brother. However, the Prodigal Son parable repudiates his teaching, as the son repents and returns to his father. Likewise, the prodigal granddaughter may repent and return to the grandmother who did not celebrate her sin.

It’s clear that Alistair Begg is not a serious pastor anymore and does not know what time it is.