The Pitiless Preacher [Tract]

Full Text of The Unavoidable Preacher

Many preachers have given up the old ideas about the total corruption of mankind. People are not often told that they are guilty sinners before a holy God. Such sermons are looked on as relics of the Dark Ages. There is, however, one old school preacher, and he speaks today as boldly as ever. He is not popular, though the world is his parish, and he travels over every part of the globe and speaks in every language under the sun. He visits the poor, calls on the rich, and preaches to people of every religion and many of no religion.

He is an eloquent preacher — often stirs feelings which no other preacher could reach and brings tears into eyes that seldom weep. He addresses himself to the conscience and the heart. His arguments none are able to refute, nor is there any heart that has remained completely unmoved by the force of his appeals. Most people hate him, and many are afraid in his presence.

The Preacher’s Name

He is not polite. In fact, he often interrupts in public and breaks in rudely on the private pleasures of life. He frequents stores, the office and the factory; he appears among legislators and intrudes on fashionable and religious gatherings at inconvenient times. His name is DEATH.

You can’t read the news without finding that he has a corner in it. You often see his congregations passing to and from the graveyard. Soon he may take you for his subject, and in your bereaved family circle and by your graveside he may be preaching to others. Let your heart thank God this moment that you are still in the land of the living — that you have not yet died in your sins!

How Will You Avoid Him?

You may get rid of the Bible; you may ridicule its teaching; you may despise its warnings; you may reject the Saviour. You can get away from preachers of the gospel. You are not compelled to go to church. It is in your power to burn this paper and every other tract that comes into your possession. But what will you do with death?

After all, before long, you will die. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Isn’t there a reason for death? Is it by accident that a person with such powers has such a feeble end? There is only one answer to these questions. “By one man SIN entered into the world, and death by sin” (Romans 5:12). Sin is not simply an ugly word in the Bible; it is a dark universal power which scars the world by its presence. “Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). You have sinned; the sentence of death has been passed on you.

One second after your death, it won’t matter to you whether you died in a palace or a pit. Your whole eternity will depend on the state in which you die. If you “die in your sins,” having rejected the cleansing blood of the Son of God, your doom is sealed. All unbelievers “shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

Which of the two following phrases will describe you?

“Died Without Mercy” (Hebrews 10:28) or “Died in Faith” (Hebrews 11:13)?

“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Divine holiness could not treat sin casually. The full penalty of guilt — the wages of sin in all its dark reality — passed upon the sinless Substitute. He took our place in death and judgment, that we might have His place of acceptance and favor before God.

You may die unsaved; you will not die unloved.