FELOW-CHRISTIANS, receive a loving word of exhortation from one who feels his own great need of what he seeks to inspire in others.
If we believe the word of our Lord Jesus Christ about the broad and narrow ways, we must believe that very many of our friends and neighbors and countrymen are fast going on to judgment and eternal condemnation.
What, then, should be our conduct towards them? No angels hold a commission to preach the Gospel. No voices from heaven wake the dead. We Christians are the people responsible. We alone have this trust―ay, this blessed privilege committed to our charge. It is ours to make known “the Gospel of the grace of God to men.
What bright examples we have in Scripture of the faithful discharge of this trust! I will instance but one; that of him who cried, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:1616For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! (1 Corinthians 9:16)), who, when men would dissuade him by warnings of prison and death, felt his heart would break if they hindered him (Acts 21:1313Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. (Acts 21:13)); one whom “tears and temptations” did not weary; whom “bonds and afflictions” did not move; who counted not his life dear unto himself if only he might surrender it with the joy of conscious steadfastness to the end; who could say, “I am pure from the blood of all men, for I HAVE NOT SHUNNED to declare unto you ALL the counsel of God; who “ceased not to warn EVERY ONE night and day with tears.”
He was “troubled on every side,” yet not turned aside; he was “perplexed,” yet did not despair; “persecuted,” yet upheld; “cast down,” but toiling on. He lived in daily expectation of death, was pressed OUT OF MEASURE, BEYOND STREGTH, insomuch that he despaired even of life, yet never seemed to think of giving up his work. Afflictions, necessities, distresses, strifes, imprisonments, tumults, labors, sleepless nights, fasting’s (2 Cor. 6), slander, reproach, sorrow, and poverty were the daily details of his history and were accepted without a murmur. Fightings without and fears within were mingled with the most poignant pain that man is called on to suffer; that pain of heart, that disappointed affection, expressed in those touching words,
“The more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (2 Cor. 12:1515And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. (2 Corinthians 12:15)). Beatings, stoning’s, storms And shipwreck, a night and a day spent in the deep, journeying incessantly, in danger of drowning and of robbers, perils from murderous Jews and Gentiles, in cities and in deserts, in dangers from the violence of mobs of idolaters and the perfidy of false brethren; weariness and pain, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness — these were the weapons with which the devil sought to bar his way and turn him aside. But in vain; he believed too certainly what he preached, his doctrines were too great realities, heaven’s glory was too bright in his eyes, and hell’s torment too vivid to his apprehension for such trifles as these to affect him.
On he went in his career of faithfulness, impelled by an unseen power, and supported by strength not his own. His faith made the unseen future a reality and a substance to him, and the same faith made to be but as shadows trials that were seen and keenly felt — shadows not worthy for a moment to be compared with the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory beyond.
Let us turn our eyes from Paul to ourselves, my beloved brethren. Our doctrine is his; our creed is the same as his. We have the same adorable. Saviour, the glory before us is not another. The souls around us are in the same condition as regards their future state. And yet what comparison can be made between our lives and Paul’s? If we did not believe the doctrines of the Bible, if we believed hell to be a fable, and heaven an old wives’ dream, God’s love to man a hollow invention, and the cross of Calvary a worthless tradition, then our luke-warmness would be accounted for. But this is not OUR CASE. We are not infidels, but Christians, who for ourselves believe as Paul believed, but whose faith bears but little fruit as regards our fellow-men.
I do not mean to say that all are called to work as Paul did, for none have the gifts that he possessed; but this I urge, that his life is a reproach and an exhortation to every believer in Christ. Is the care for the souls of others to be left to the gifted preachers of the Word exclusively, or have we not all a work to fulfill?
“Stand fast,” says Paul to all the saints at Philippi. “Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel” (Phil. 1:2727Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; (Philippians 1:27)). “Many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the Word without fear.... Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice” (Phil. 1:14,1814And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. (Philippians 1:14)
18What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. (Philippians 1:18)). Thus it is evident that all saints — all believers, all Christians — should make the Gospel known, one in this way, one in that, one in private, another in public, one by writing, another by preaching. All should be at work, warning every man to flee from the wrath to come and to seek refuge in Christ.
Oh! this is a pernicious evil, this idleness among God’s people; this paltry seeking for excuse under the miserable pleas of health, or business, or circumstances, or need of recreation; this fearless self-appropriation of all God’s promises and blessings with this quiet renunciation of responsibility towards our neighbors, not expressed indeed in words but shown out in our lives. To those who watch for the eternal interests of their fellowmen there are a thousand means by which the great and blessed work of winning souls may be done, no matter what our walk in life may be. Only give me a man whose heart is set upon this blessed service, and I will show you one who never lacks opportunities.
May we all be more alive to the solemn realities of eternity. Let us remember that we are left in this world for no other reason than to glorify God, and we should therefore earnestly strive to bring souls to Christ.
Then we shall find it an impossible thing to yield ourselves to the trifling and vain conversation with which the precious time of many of God’s people is now taken up, while those they thus trifle with are passing on to their doom in ignorance of that salvation which it is in our power to declare.
Let our “morning calls” or other calls “be henceforth calls to the unconverted to flee from the wrath to come, or calls to God’s saints to give themselves more entirely to His service.
Then again with our guests, our servants, our children, the poor around us. We must be faithful to them all.
People may be sometimes a little offended when we speak to them about their soul’s salvation; but, lest this should daunt us, let us rather consider how bitterly their reproaches will be heaped upon our heads by and by when they hear their sentence of eternal punishment, and turn to you and me as if to know why we let them pass us by on the road to destruction without a warning voice.
Oh, speak to them, brothers! Speak and keep not silence. This is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace!
“He that winneth souls is wise.”
ANON.