When I was young there was in my heart a great desire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, Who had loved me and died for me. I felt that to be permitted to speak to others of Him, would be the highest privilege that could be given to any man, and so I went to Him in prayer that I might have that privilege.
The Spirit-wrought desire was soon answered, for in a few days I was invited to address a meeting in the country a few miles from my home. The subject I chose was Luke 6:46-4946And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: 48He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:46‑49), and for days before the meeting, the man who built his house upon the rock, and the folly of the man who built upon the sand filled my mind.
On that Sunday evening as I walked towards the meeting place, my experience was probably that of many another would-be-sermonizer, everything I had thought of saying, vanished from my memory.
Filled with anxiety, I reached the room where the people had assembled, and sat down to find my text; it seemed to be blotted out from the pages of my Bible. Through the Gospel of Luke 1 searched in vain. But there pressed on my mind one blessed sentence, "Behold, the Lamb of God!”
So often did these words come to me, that I closed my Bible, and thought, That must be my text. Lifting my heart to the Lord for help, I opened the hymn book, and the first hymn I saw was,
Behold the Lamb of God! 'tis He who bore
My burden on the tree,
And paid in blood the dreadful score,
The ransom due for me.
That verse gave me the assurance that the Lord was guiding; and so it turned out for I had liberty in presenting the Gospel in its blessed simplicity and fullness to meet the need of every sinner. To the joy and delight of my heart, an old man, 74 years of age found peace in believing. He had groaned beneath the burden of his sins for years; then and there the burden rolled away as he by faith beheld the Lamb of God.
Upon reflection I understood that it was as though the Lord said to me, "If you are to serve Me, you must speak about Me. I must be your theme, the central Object in the Gospel.”
Yes, He is every true and faithful preacher's theme, and God forbid they should waste their time on any other.