Evangelization: December 2005
Table of Contents
Evangelization
God is an evangelist. With all the love of His heart, He, through His servants, earnestly, patiently, faithfully beseeches the lost to be reconciled to Himself. His servants are ambassadors for Christ, who has done the mighty work for God that there might be a message of love, calling upon the sinner to repent and accept God’s so great salvation.
Every soul-healthy child of God is an evangelist. Like his Father, his heart of love goes out to seek the lost and bring God’s good news to them. God has not given to everyone the distinct gift of the evangelist, but God has given to everyone to share His heart for souls and to seek their blessing. We all in some way or another can and should “do the work of an evangelist.”
There are right ways and wrong ways to do the work. For instruction and warning some of the wrong ways are identified in this issue. However, none of us should focus on someone else who may not be doing the work in the right way. Perhaps God will be able to commend their desire and, in His sovereignty, bless the work they have done. But what will He find to commend in us if we are only a spectator and judge of others?
“Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work” (Neh. 2:18).
Evangelization Today
“I believe the Christian who is not cultivating and manifesting an evangelistic spirit is in a deplorable condition. I believe, too, that the assembly that is not cultivating and manifesting an evangelistic spirit is in a dead state” (C. H. Mackintosh).
These words were written well over one hundred years ago, but they are as true today as when they were written. How needful it is that we keep the gospel before us and be earnest in giving it out! Yet in these days of spiritual decline, especially in relatively affluent countries, we may well ask, “How are we to give out the gospel in an effective way?” Sad to say, there has been a turning away from the respect and attention that God’s Word once commanded, and it is not easy to get people to listen to the gospel. The “cares and riches and pleasures of this life” (Luke 8:14) have taken their toll, and Satan has used these things all too well to keep people from thinking about eternal matters. On the one hand, we should not be surprised at this, for the Lord has told us in His Word that this would happen in the last days. On the other hand, earnest believers who love and want to reach out to lost souls are sometimes puzzled as to how to do it.
Understanding the Times
The days are past when those who had a heart for the gospel could simply announce a gospel meeting and have people flock in to listen. It is rare that people will respond to such an invitation. Likewise, methods that were used effectively in years gone by, such as street preaching, are not practical today in many parts of the world. The pleasures and diversions available to children have made it difficult even to get them to come to Sunday school. In view of this attitude in much of the world today, it is easy to give up and fall back on God’s sovereignty, trusting that He will work in hearts to save them without our intervention. This is a wrong and regrettable attitude. His work will be done, no doubt, but we will lose the privilege of serving Him and of bearing the reproach of the world as we speak of Christ in the place where He has been rejected. What then is the solution?
Primarily an Individual Work
First of all, we need to recognize that Scripture presents evangelizing primarily as an individual work, not an assembly responsibility. No doubt more than one can share the exercise, and it is a good thing if all of the individuals in an assembly have a care for lost souls. It is nice to see a gospel testimony connected, if possible, with the place where the assembly meets. However, it is a mistake to feel that having an announced gospel meeting every week “meets the criteria” and that we have now fulfilled our responsibility. There is no question that saints are refreshed and encouraged by hearing the gospel, even if no lost souls are present. Often a deeper understanding of the truth of the gospel is gained in this way, especially by younger ones. However, the gospel is properly to “the regions beyond,” and while this includes foreign fields, it also means that we should continually be seeking to reach those in our own area who have not heard. Since it is an individual exercise, all should feel the responsibility and burden, and be before the Lord as to what to do.
Appealing to the Flesh
When there is little interest in the things of God, there may be a tendency to attract people by human means. The constant use of such things as worldly music, dramatizing Scripture by play acting, and other appeals to nature tend to weaken the authority and power of the Word of God. Yet we must realize that in the case of young people and children, many today have not been disciplined to concentrate or even to read properly, and thus they find it difficult to pay attention for any significant period of time while God’s Word is read and applied. When conducting a Sunday school where the Lord has sent in neighborhood children, it is good to present the gospel on their level. In such cases it is often helpful to give them something to do with their hands, perhaps a craft related to the message or a good object lesson, so that there is a visual connection to the message that is presented. Rather than being detrimental to those children attending from Christian homes, it should, with the Lord’s help, give them a heart to reach out to others their own age with the good news.
Today’s Children and Young People
Many young people and children today are thoroughly bored with life, are neglected by parents who are too busy for them, and long for something to do. A “hobby class” with various crafts — such as painting plaster plaques, doing leather work, and woodworking — can be used effectively. Others with the energy to do it have rented a gymnasium for the evening and played games, and then served refreshments afterward and had a gospel message. Children who will not come to Sunday school will often come to a “gym night” or a “hobby class” and hear the gospel. Of course, all these things entail a tremendous amount of preparation beforehand, and some expense too. But the results are well worth it.
As well, the lives of young people and children today are often lacking in that most important ingredient—love. In many cases homes have been broken by divorce, and children are the victims. They long for love and stability in their lives and will respond to those who will take the time to provide it, even on a part-time basis. Their view of God’s love is often somewhat dependent on what they have experienced of natural love, and this we can give them. May we take the time to do it!
Today’s Adults
In the case of adults, someone has remarked that the “shotgun” approach to souls in the past must give way to a “rifle” approach today. While this may not be totally true, nevertheless, it is a fact that most that are saved today are saved by a personal contact rather than by hearing a preached message. Let us have an evangelistic spirit about us at all times. Let us carry a supply of gospel tracts with us and “be instant in season, out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2). If we have a heart for souls, the Lord will open up opportunities in those with whom we come in contact at work, school, restaurants, banks, gas stations, and wherever else we are.
The Regions Beyond
Finally, let us not forget about “the regions beyond.” Travel and communication are easier today than they ever were before, and there are many parts of the world that desperately need the gospel. It is true that foreign missionaries, particularly from the West, are not welcome in many countries today. Native workers are often more effective and accepted. However, the Lord has given those in Western countries the means and often the spiritual teaching to enable them to be of much help, even if it is by occasional visits and encouragement. May the Lord give us a “world view” of His work! Let us be ready to endure a little hardship and encourage the work of the Lord in parts of the world that need it.
We are living at the end of the dispensation of grace, and it would not be spiritual intelligence to expect to see the revivals that God has given at times in the past. However, there are probably more souls being saved today, as to numbers, than ever before. Let us be exercised to have a part in it!
W. J. Prost
The Importance of Sunday School Work
It is absolutely impossible to overestimate the importance of reaching the human soul while in tender years. The Jesuit says, and says wisely, “Give me your child for the first seven years of its life, and I will give it to you for all the rest thereof.” The infant mind is in that receptive and fertile condition, that what is then implanted is rarely, if ever, got rid of or completely destroyed. If error be then diligently and effectively instilled, the blightful fruit of it will be manifest in the whole life. On the other hand, if the truth of God is deposited in the child, then there is material which the Spirit of God in later years can, and very frequently does, utilize and bring to fruition.
Hence my sympathies go most heartily with Sunday school work and all efforts to reach the young, carried on after a godly sort. Personally, I owe everything to early tuition and instruction in the Scriptures. As soon as I knew my letters, my dear mother taught me to read the Scriptures, particularly the historical parts thereof, and as a child of seven I could frequently have been found, cross-legged under the dining room table, reading in the big family Bible in which my father had been reading at prayer time. Although then untouched by the Spirit of God, and quite unconverted, the Scripture history and stories which I was encouraged to read got into my mind and have never gotten out. When brought to the Lord at twenty, I found myself the possessor of a vast mass of Scriptural information which, as a servant of God, has been of immense use to me in seeking to help and teach others.
It may be argued that this was the result of home teaching. Granted, but if you are aware that there are children whose parents do not give them this privilege, it should be your happy privilege to get hold of them and teach them the Word of God. This demands prayer, self-denial and perseverance, but it is sure to be rewarded of the Lord. Of one thing we may be certain, that there will be no reward by-and-by for our laziness — laziness which often is the outcome of disinclination to put ourselves out, though we may sometimes flatter our indolent souls with the thought that Sunday school work and the like is “not in our line.” If we got to the bottom of the matter, we would probably find out that we were not sufficiently interested in the little children to give up our comfortable home for the hard bench, the noise, and the general work connected with Sunday school work.
To all my young brethren and sisters I would say — devote yourselves to the Lord, perhaps in this special line of work. Remember that you have but one life — live it and use it for Christ.
W. T. P. Wolston,
writing to Sunday school teachers
Practical Suggestions for Young Preachers
1. Keep Your Heart Open.
Cultivate love for souls. Dwell much on God’s love, which gave up everything for sinners to be saved and blessed according to His purpose. You will soon learn to give up leisure time and your best to be in line with His heart. Think of the Lord Jesus and His sufferings to save them; you will learn to suffer hardships and fatigue to win souls for Him. Think of how the Lord Jesus wept when sinners rejected His testimony. If you think of sinners, you will pray for them, and we learn to love those for whom we pray.
2. Keep Your Eyes Open.
Do not be afraid to use illustrations from nature or nature’s objects, nor hesitate to use in moderation instances of conversion, which you are prepared to substantiate. We cannot improve on the Master’s way of doing service, and He illustrated His addresses from the common objects of everyday life. He used facts from natural history, episodes from domestic life, transactions between masters and servants, and even occurrences in the political world. Even the weather served Him time and time again.
3. Keep Your Notebook Open.
In your private readings you will often pick up useful material. Use a notebook for yourself; jot down things that come to you. Often a train of thought will occur to you in a chapter of a book of the Bible — jot it down! Sometimes an illustration of a truth will flash into your mind — jot it down! Now and then a point or two for a gospel address will take shape as you watch and pray — jot it down! Or you may hear a pithy remark or a stirring subject from another saint seeking to serve the Lord — jot it down! Then use these notes as the Lord leads.
4. Keep Your Wallet Open.
It is wonderful what an interest we take in the Lord’s work when it costs us something! Wealthier saints may give much, and we may be able to give comparatively little. However, the Lord is able to multiply and use what we have, and there is sweetness and profit in doing that which costs us something. God is a giving God and He loves a cheerful giver. It is His grace that makes us givers in a world like this.
Adapted from To Every Man His Work
Healthy Work
Nothing is more healthful to one’s own soul than the careful giving out of the gospel, publicly or privately.
Methods of Evangelism
Man naturally is impressed by great displays as the Philistines were when all Israel shouted until the earth rang again, but Israel’s religious excitement on that occasion was hollow and vain, and soon they were defeated by the Philistines. Even Elijah was moved by a great wind and earthquake and fire, but the Lord’s power was in the still small voice. Elaborate preparations and great publicity are no substitute for the work of the Spirit of God.
Modern Evangelism
Modern evangelism is mixing with the world it pretends to convert, and the net result will inevitably be a greatly lowered spiritual tone throughout Christendom. It will foster and breed worldliness among true believers and open the floodgates for error. In order to attract the crowds and get what are deemed results, there has to be much that appeals to the flesh. It is not a rejected and despised Christ who is preached, but a popular and world-adorned Christ that is preached. It is not the cross which Paul said crucified him to the world and the world to him, but a cross which has suddenly become honorable and great in the world. Paul never preached a popular gospel in his day. The popular gospel of that time was one which could mix circumcision and Judaism with the truth of God. Judaism was a religion adapted to man in the flesh and that accommodated itself to the world in its politics and schemes, but Paul preached Christ crucified — a Man cast out by the world — which was foolishness to the cultured Greek and a stumbling-block to the religious Jew.
Glamorizing the Gospel
When Paul went to Rome, he went there as a prisoner. The great of the world were there, and God had decreed that they should hear the gospel, but not in a way that would flatter them — they were to hear it from a man in chains. Some in Cæsar’s household were saved, but they were not paraded as “Christian celebrities” to glamorize the gospel. Some might say that times have changed since then; so they have, but a rejected Christ is no more wanted now than he was then. Constantine was the Roman emperor who popularized Christianity, and thousands upon thousands were added to the church; instead of Christians being persecuted, they were honored. The church rapidly sank down to the level of the world. Such will always be the result of a popular, glamorized gospel.
Christian Celebrities
People prominent in the world’s affairs — even in the entertainment field — are sought because of their influence. Now we do not say that the entertainment world of Hollywood has greater sinners than there are elsewhere, nor do we think that the gospel of the grace of God cannot reach them —thank God, it can and perhaps does. But does that make them “Christian celebrities” who should be displayed, while many of them continue in their work of entertaining men, women and children who are on the road to hell? Such fare is what the god of this world serves to delude his victims. A statement of a celebrity justifying singing religious songs after the manner of the world was: “The youth of the country needs impetus. If they can know that religion can be fun and happy, then they’ll be interested.” And to make religion fun, people are given to feel that they can accept Christ and go right on with their worldly occupations and pastimes; in other words, they can have Christ and the world too. Such carnal Christianity can only have a demoralizing effect on the profession as a whole, and on so-called fundamentalism in particular.
The Gospel and the Conscience
People who profess to be saved under the influence of present-day evangelism with its expertly planned histrionics are apt to be mere “stony ground” hearers which have no root. The consciences of such have never been plowed, and they have never felt themselves lost sinners in the sight of God, nor been before Him about their sins. They have never had to count the cost of confessing Christ before a hostile world, for they have been led to believe it is a popular thing to do. “Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned?” (Luke 14:34). Christianity without repentance, and without its separating effect from the world, is like salt which is no longer salty — it is worthless.
We are mindful of the fact that God is sovereign and can use such carnal presentations of the gospel to save souls if He chooses to do so, but even where it is real it is bound to be shallow and superficial except as God may deepen the work through other means. The Christianity of the Bible is a deep, vital, throbbing thing which is to influence lives day by day — to separate believers in heart from a condemned world. Oh for more depth in conversions of souls! Oh for more holy separation from the world — from its religion, its philosophies, its pleasures, its spirit of wealth, its politics, and all!
From these movements which link worldly methods with a gospel effort, and in which many dear children of God participate, there are many gradations of worldly Christianity down to a vulgarized travesty. Think of a godless, Christ-rejecting world, intoxicated by the pleasure of sin, going down to hell while enjoying a burlesque representation of solemn lessons from the Word of God. Where is Christendom going? How true a description has been given us of these days: “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Tim. 3:5).
A Word of Exhortation
And now, fellow-Christian, let us not be discouraged. Let us seek to walk in holy separation from the world and to hold forth the word of life in whatever sphere we occupy. Let us live Christ before the world and seek, as we may have opportunity, to speak a word from Him or to give a good gospel tract to a weary soul. May we keep a clear perspective of the present trend, and yet press on unobtrusively testifying to the true grace of God.
If the reader happens to be one who has been called to preach the gospel, then he should do it as of the ability which God gives: “He that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord” (Jer. 23:28). The Lord is your master, and He takes careful notice of what you do and how you do it. He will not reward you for disobeying His Word. It is faithfulness that He values — faithfulness to Him and to His Word. You may have little of what men call success to show for your labors, but in the coming day may He say to you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21,23).
P. Wilson, adapted from
Christian Truth, Vol. 7, p. 303
Individual Work
What is individual work? It is simply telling others of our experience of Christ’s love so that they may share it. This does not call for an expert knowledge of the contents of the Bible, nor for skill in discussion and power in argument. It does call for unshaken, unshakable knowledge of what Jesus Christ has done for us, and for a deeply rooted purpose to share that knowledge with others.
Capital Punishment
For the past fifty years the issue of capital punishment has been a subject of controversy in the world. During that time a number of Western nations have abolished capital punishment. On the other hand, capital punishment is still practiced in many other nations, particularly in China and in Muslim countries, and also in many states of the U.S.A. As serious crime becomes more of a problem, some are calling for the reintroduction of the death penalty in nations that have abolished it. Others who are equally adamant are calling for its abolishment in the U.S.A. and other countries.
On the surface, both sides can make convincing arguments for their position. Those who favor capital punishment point to the increasing violence in the world and argue that only capital punishment can provide a real deterrent to violent crimes involving murder. They say that this is the ultimate deterrent, in that an executed murderer never kills again. Those who favor abolition point to the fact that capital punishment is so final, and that if one is executed wrongly, he cannot be brought back. Recent developments in the field of DNA testing have made it possible to determine with astounding accuracy whether tissue samples actually belong to the individual in question, and this technology has sometimes provided evidence that someone has been wrongly convicted of murder. Likewise, abolitionists argue that a lengthy prison term is not only as much a deterrent as execution, but that it also provides the opportunity for a review of the conviction if further evidence becomes available. They also argue that execution does not provide for any attempt at rehabilitating the one who has been convicted.
As with all moral questions, only the Word of God can give us the right answer. Man may reason, but God has given us in Christ through His Word “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). Let us look into the Scriptures to see what God has to say on the subject.
Scriptural Reasons for Capital Punishment
The Scriptures show that capital punishment is right, for God instituted it in this world. There are several reasons that are given for this.
The first allusion to the subject is found in Genesis 4:10, after Cain had killed his brother Abel. When the Lord spoke to Cain about what he had done, He said, among other things, “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground.” Although government had not yet been committed into men’s hands, God shows clearly that the shedding of man’s blood was a most serious thing in His sight and that the blood of the one who was killed cried out to Him.
After the flood, government was formally given into men’s hands, and the Lord told Noah, “Surely your blood of your lives will I require. . . . Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” (Gen. 9:56). These verses show clearly that God requires capital punishment in order to atone for murder and gives man the responsibility to carry it out. Despite the dispensational changes that have come about in God’s dealings with man, this command to man in government has never been rescinded. God’s moral principles do not change with dispensations.
When He committed government into men’s hands, God gave another reason why capital punishment is right. In Genesis 9:6, already referred to, He also says, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man.” When He created man, God had said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Gen. 1:26). Thus man is God’s representative on the earth, having dominion over every other creature, and over the earth itself. While the likeness to God in man was marred when he sinned, yet he retains the image of God as His representative on the earth. He who takes the life of man kills one who is here in the image of God. For this crime God demands the blood of the murderer.
The need for capital punishment was also reiterated in the law. God said to Israel through the law, “Ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it” (Num. 35:33). Here we see clearly that God views the land as being defiled by the shedding of blood, and He says that it can be cleansed only by the blood of the one who shed the blood.
In the New Testament God confirms that He expects man to exercise government, even to the point of using the sword. “Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. . . . But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil” (Rom. 13:34). The sword is clearly a reference to capital punishment which God expects man to use in dealing with certain crimes, particularly murder.
Safeguards and Balance in Capital Punishment
The question arises as to the “finality” or absolute character of capital punishment. Given human frailty, there is the possibility that an innocent person might be convicted and sentenced to death. I believe Scripture answers this question for us too.
First of all, the Mosaic law clearly put safeguards on the use of capital punishment. An alleged murderer could not be convicted on circumstantial evidence, nor could he be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Numbers 35:30 says, “Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.” Also, the possibility of false witnesses was always to be kept in mind, and the punishment was severe for a false witness. “If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong . . . the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness . . . then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother” (Deut. 19:16,1819). Thus, the penalty for a false witness in a case of murder was that he himself would be executed — a very strong deterrent!
More than this, no gift or bribe was allowed that might induce the judge to lessen the sentence. Once his guilt was clearly established, they were to “take no satisfaction [literally, ransom] for the life of a murderer” (Num. 35:31). He could not pay a fine to avoid the death penalty; he was to be put to death. In the same way they were to “take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land” (Num. 35:32). The one who was guilty merely of manslaughter, not intentional murder, must stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. They must not take pity on him and seek to shorten his time of confinement, for even the crime of manslaughter was serious. Whether in the case of murder or in manslaughter, human feelings were not to govern the situation, but rather God’s claims.
Grace and Government
We cannot mix God’s grace to a lost world and His righteous demands in government. They are parallel, but different, truths. Some would try to say that because the Lord Jesus preached forgiveness, the law should no longer carry out capital punishment. This is mixing things that differ. The Lord Jesus came in grace, and thus, for example, would not condemn to death the woman taken in adultery (John 8:11). He alone could do this, for He was going to die for her on the cross. On the other hand, He upheld the responsibility of the Jewish nation to recognize the Roman government and pay tribute to them (Matt. 22:21). In the same way we may preach Christ to a convicted murderer and tell him that he may have full forgiveness before God, for Christ has died for him. However, the law is still responsible to execute him for his crime. Several years ago a woman convicted of murder in the U.S.A. asked to have her death sentence commuted on the grounds that she had become a “born again” Christian. The authorities did not consider this a valid reason for not executing her, and rightly so. Grace does not nullify government, but neither does government nullify the grace of God!
Finally, we should make a comment on the Christian’s place in all this. The believer is in the world but not of it. He should not be involved in government, but rather he waits for the Lord Jesus Christ, the rightful King, to come and set things right. As a heavenly citizen his responsibility is to obey the powers that God has set up, but he should not be involved in the government of this world.
May we have the grace to walk through this world as believers, recognizing and honoring God’s claims on the one hand, but showing out His grace to all!
W. J. Prost
Sovereignty and Responsibility in the Gospel
A realization of man’s responsibility will energize me to preach the gospel. If I understand clearly the awful end of a life without Christ and, on the other hand, know something of the love of God for those lost souls, it will give me an earnestness in bringing the gospel before them. I will have a heart that goes out to them, sheds tears over them, and pleads with them to accept Christ.
A realization of God’s sovereignty, on the other hand, will give me peace and rest in preaching the gospel, and will keep me from a frantic and fanatical attitude that assumes that souls will go to hell if I do not reach them all.
More than this, we must recognize that it is a sovereign work of God by His Spirit to save a soul, whether to initiate the work or to bring it to completion. We may be instruments in His hand, and it is a blessed privilege to be one, but we must remember that we are only instruments, not agents.
How beautiful, complete and balanced is the Word of God! W. J. Prost
Do the Work of an Evangelist
The issues of life and death, heaven and hell, are involved in the preaching of the gospel. This gives a peculiar solemnity to its proclamation. “We are unto God,” says the Apostle, “a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Cor. 2:1516). This weighty and solemn truth is known to all Christians, and it should lead all to watch and care for the salvation of immortal souls. True, all are not evangelists in the sense of being public preachers, but all may evangelize by saying a word for the heart or conscience as the Lord gives opportunity. All that is needed for such a work is love for souls — a love which acts in harmony with the heart of Christ. This is the best gift of the evangelist. Millions of souls will be in heaven at last, and swell the song of the redeemed, who were brought to know the Lord by a word fitly spoken, by personal conversation and prayer. All-important as the ministry of the word to Christians most surely is, it is never a question of life and death.
A Work for All to Do
The Lord has His special workers for the different departments of His service, yet ALL may seek to win souls for Christ. He who said, “Feed My lambs” and “Feed My sheep,” also said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” And the great Apostle, who cared for the flock of Christ as none since have done, could say, “Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” And again, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.” And, with his last epistle, he exhorts his son Timothy to be a “partaker of the afflictions of the gospel” and charges him to “do the work of an evangelist” (Acts 20:24; Luke 14:23; 1 Cor. 9:16; 2 Tim. 1:8; 2 Tim. 4:5).
An Unhealthy Symptom
“It is an unhealthy symptom,” says one, “when the simple gospel is not relished. It shows that the mind is at work, rather than the conscience exercised before God or the affections engaged with Christ. The Spirit, who leads into all truth, connects everything in His teaching with those great primary truths, the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.” There are not a few, alas, in our own day who are affected with this unhealthy symptom. “It is only the gospel,” say some, especially those who assume a high tone of spirituality and who speak slightingly of earnest gospel workers.
A Healthy Zeal
But whatever may be our individual thoughts of the gospel, we are bound to think of it according to the word of the Lord and for the sake of the unsaved. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8: 36). Here the blessed Master assures all His servants that one human soul is of more value than the whole material world. And can it be a light thing in His eyes for any of His servants to be indifferent to the means of the eternal well-being of that which is so precious to Him? Did He not commend, in the highest way, the zeal of the four men who brought, in spite of every difficulty, the palsied man and laid him at His feet? “When Jesus saw their faith” — not his — “He said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven” (Mark 2). We want such zeal now, in connection with all our preaching — earnest hearts that would bring, in faith, poor palsied souls to the place where the Spirit of God is working. Such zeal is sure to meet its bright reward. In no other way can a preacher be so helped and encouraged. He who honored the faith of the four then is unchanged and honors such faith now.
A Great Responsibility
A great responsibility thus rests with all who know the gospel — the glad tidings of salvation to the lost. To hold back this truth, or in any way to hinder its full and free proclamation, is to rob the sinner of his only hope of heaven, and Christ of His special glory as the Saviour. “It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” What dignity and glory this gives to the gospel! It is nothing less than the power of God — “the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.” Such are the marvelous results of the blessed mission of the gospel of the grace of God. It raises all who receive it from the depths of their guilt and misery, and sets them in the presence of God, pardoned and accepted in the Beloved.
This is the gospel which the Lord has committed to His servants, or, as Paul expresses it, “According to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust” (1 Tim. 1:11). Unspeakable privilege! Solemn responsibility! To be commissioned by the Lord Himself to proclaim that gospel, far and near, which is the highest display of the divine glory in the richest display of sovereign grace to man.
May He in mercy grant that both reader and writer may be found faithful to this sacred trust. And may His name alone have all the praise and the glory.
A. Miller, adapted from
Choice Meditations on the Gospel
Face to Face Work
It requires more faith and courage to say two words face to face with one single sinner than from the pulpit to rebuke two or three thousand persons, ready to listen to everything, on conditions of forgetting all.