I do want to speak to you along
the very practical line of the responsibility of the individual
Christian with reference to the salvation of sinners. Those of you who frequent this
place of worship know that we do not believe that the scripture
teaches that we have a warrant to rub the consciences of the
people of God raw, Sunday by Sunday, by whipping them into
feverish, quote, soul-winning activity. There are Christian
circles in which soul winning is looked upon as the beginning,
middle, end, and everything in between of the Christian life. And certainly this is not the
perspective of the Word of God. We are redeemed unto a life of
full orbed holiness. which involves carefulness in
our legitimate calling in life as parents, as children, husbands,
fathers, mothers, workmen, whatever it be. And in the midst of all
of these other great duties, we are, of course, to bear witness
to our faith in Christ. We are to make conscious efforts
to extend the kingdom of Christ. And so I say that again, particularly
for the sake of our visitors, who would not be able to put
tonight's message in the context of the general thrust of the
ministry. I've been around long enough
to know that so often people hear one sermon and they judge
an entire ministry by that one sermon. I don't mean so much
how the preacher preaches. That's irrelevant to me. To his
own master, a servant stands or falls there. But with reference
to content, I am concerned that we have a balanced view of the
Word of God. And so, since this is not a theme
that is overworked, yet it is a theme set before us in the
Word of God, I wish to treat it tonight. Now, what I propose
to do is, first of all, to treat the fundamental presuppositions
or the fundamental substructure of our study tonight. When I
treat the theme, the responsibility of Christians for the salvation
of sinners, I'm assuming three very fundamental principles of
the Word of God. And unless you are assuming them
with me, then we'll not really be communicating one with the
other. Having dealt with those fundamental presuppositions or
the substructure, we'll then consider the things you and I
cannot nor are we asked to do with reference to the salvation
of sinners. And then we shall close with
the positive note, the things God expects us to do and which
we must do for the salvation of sinners. Now, what are the
fundamental presuppositions of our study? Well, the first is
this. that all men by nature are lost
and under the condemnation of God. When we use the term salvation,
we're using it in its biblical setting that it is not primarily
salvation from mere psychological tensions, internal emotional
frustrations from social injustice and economic inequity, but we're
speaking of salvation from this terrible condition of lostness,
estrangement from God, and being under the condemnation and the
wrath of God. In other words, I'm assuming
the backdrop of Romans chapter 3, verses 10 to 21. There is
none righteous, no, not one, none that understandeth, none
that seeketh after God, and then the apostle gives a description
of the state of all men, summarized in these words, Now we know that
what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
be brought under the judgment of God." Now I'm assuming that
we're thinking of men in these biblical categories. All men
are by nature lost and under the condemnation of God. Let this fundamental principle
go. and all true thinking about our
biblical responsibility will change, and then all our activity
about meeting the needs of men will change. If we view men Fundamentally,
in any other life than this, that they are lost by nature
under divine wrath and condemnation, we cannot long maintain the biblical
directives concerning the responsibility of the Church to them. The second
fundamental presupposition is this, and I'm only touching them,
I'm not demonstrating them or proving them with any degree
of adequacy or comprehensiveness, just as it were, touching on
them briefly. None are rescued from this lostness and state
of condemnation except by the saving power of Jesus Christ
mediated through the biblical gospel. None are rescued from
this common state of lostness and condemnation except by the
saving power of Jesus Christ mediated, channeled through the
biblical gospel. Now let me give just several
specimen texts. John 14 and verse 6, the assertion
of our Lord himself, I am the way, the truth and the light,
no man cometh unto the Father but by me. That's our Lord's
testimony. Our Lord says in a different
imagery, I am the door. By me, the sheep enter. Anyone
who tries to enter another way is a thief and a robber. What
is the apostolic testimony? Acts 4.12. There is no other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. No other revelation God has made
but the revelation of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Again, the apostolic testimony.
This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And since He has
come to save, there is no other who can save. None are rescued
from their lostness and state of condemnation except by the
saving power of Jesus Christ. These three texts are but specimen
texts, but this power is mediated through the biblical gospel.
Romans 1.16 I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation. The saving power of Christ touches
men through the medium of the biblical gospel, the proclamation
of good news in Jesus Christ. And then we saw it so clearly,
I trust, in our scripture reading tonight, in which the apostle
makes this tremendous statement, quoting from the prophet Joel,
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But he says, how do they call
on the name of one in whom they have not heard? And how can they
hear except they be sent? There must be the sent ones who
preach. So the second fundamental presupposition
of our study is none are rescued from this lostness and state
of condemnation except through the saving power of Jesus Christ
mediated through the biblical gospel. Thirdly, To be rescued
from this state of lostness through the gospel involves at least
three things. So that when I use the word salvation,
when the Bible uses the word salvation, at least three things
are involved. It means to be a regenerated,
given new life by the Spirit. John 3, except a man be born
again, he cannot perceive the kingdom of God. Except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of
heaven. So then, to be saved, when we
talk about our responsibility with reference to the salvation
of sinners, We're thinking of sinners, men who are by nature
lost and under condemnation, who can only be rescued through
Jesus Christ by the mediation or through the mediation of the
gospel, the gospel coming to them, and to be rescued means
that new life is imparted by the Spirit. They are born from
above. But it involves, secondly, a
being cleansed from the pollution and the defilement of their sins
on the basis of the atoning work of Christ. The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Without the
shedding of blood is no remission. To be cleansed from sin, to be
pardoned, to be forgiven is to be forgiven in the way that God
has appointed on the basis of the atoning work of Christ. And then thirdly, to be saved,
to be rescued through the gospel by Jesus Christ means to be made
holy by the almighty power of God. If any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature, a new creation. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Now this is one reason why a
lot of people have been turned off by any emphasis on soul winning. Because when you see the products
of much of the emphasis on soul winning, you have to ask the
question, what have they been won from and won to? And as Spurgeon says, dealing
with this very subject, Once more, when the apostle wished
that he might save some, he meant that being regenerate and being
pardoned, they might also be purified and made holy, for a
man is not saved while he lives in sin. Let a man say what he
will, he cannot be saved from sin whilst he is still the slave
of sin. How is a drunkard saved from
his drunkenness while he still riots as before? How can you
say that the swearer is saved from blasphemy while he is still
profane? Words must be used in their true
meaning, and the great object of the Christian's work should
be that some might be saved from their sins, purified and made
white, and made examples of integrity, chastity, honesty, and righteousness
as the fruit of the Spirit of God. Now when I use the word
saved, when I say, What is our task as Christians? What is our
responsibility with reference to the salvation of sinners? That's what I mean, because that's
what the Bible means. I'm not talking about what is
our responsibility to get some people to make a decision so
they feel they're off the hook and won't go to hell when they
die. I'm talking about our responsibility with reference to that mighty
work of God in which lost, condemned men through the gospel and by
the power of Jesus Christ are made new creatures, their sins
are blotted out, they are transformed into new creatures by the power
of God and begin that wonderful process of being made more and
more into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. Now those are
the fundamental presuppositions of our study. Without them, all
the words I use will be meaningless. Well then, having looked at the
presuppositions, what are some of the things that we cannot
do in this matter of seeing men saved? And I'm going to stick
with that Bible word. It's a Bible word. It's not sophisticated. And the pseudo-intellectuals
in evangelical circles today say, oh, you're going to turn
people. They're going to think you're some kind of woolly-headed, unthinking
fundamentalist if you use the word saved. Well, you see, it's
in our Bible. And the Bible is shot through
with the word saved. And the concept of salvation
is precious. It's one of the names of our
Redeemer, our Savior, Jesus Christ. And so we're going to use it
without embarrassment, without equivocation. Well, what can
we not do for the salvation of men? Well, first of all, and
you better know what you can't do. All kinds of confusion exists
because people haven't sat down and say, what does the Bible
say I can't do? And then what can I do? First of all, you and
I cannot impart spiritual life to dead sinners. To be lost means
to be alienated from God, and in the biblical terminology,
that means to be dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2.1, you
hath he made alive who were dead, dead, cut off from life, no vital
spark left. And the tragedy is that when
men do not face this fact as earnest as they may be, All kinds
of confusion comes into the work of God. You and I cannot impart
spiritual life to dead sinners. How do we know that? Well, let's
look at two key texts. John 1, verses 12 and 13. But to as many as received Him,
to them gave He the right to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name, who were born, not of blood,
This spiritual birth does not have anything necessarily to
do with natural genes, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh. Somebody just sat on a log one
day and said, I guess I'll get new life. I will to have new
life, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man."
That personal worker who says, well, I want to see you get saved
so bad, so I'll just impart life to you. No. Which were born not
of blood. I don't care what family you
were born into. Nor of the will of the flesh, how earnest you
may be. nor of the will of man, how earnest
the other man may be, but of God." And you see what John is
doing? He's saying that this birth of
God is a birth in which the power of God is the exclusive and the
sole agent in the impartation. There's no mixture of the blood,
human line, genes coming down, somehow having a little bit more
grace in them than others? No, no, this birth comes because
God has brought it to pass, and only because He has. The emphasis,
to use the theological term, upon divine monergism. God alone
acts in the impartation of divine life. Another key text, James
chapter 1. James chapter 1 and verse 17. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with
whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.
Having mentioned this general principle that all good gifts
come down from above, He then moves to the greatest of those
gifts from above, Of His own will, He brought us forth by
the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of
His creatures. Of His own will, He begat us. Of His own will, we were brought
forth. It's interesting, and this was
one of the things that drove me out of the woolly thinking
of my early Christian days in this area. When you search the
New Testament for the analogies, an analogy, you kids, is a likeness. God uses likenesses. This is
like that. When you look for the analogies
by which God describes the impartation of spiritual life to a dead sinner,
He is very careful to use three analogies above all others. And
you know what they are? Birth, resurrection, and creation. Except a man be born again of
his own will, begat he us, having been begotten again, Peter says,
then resurrection. You hath he quickened, made alive,
spiritual resurrection, then creation. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Now what do those three analogies
have in common? In birth, in resurrection, and
in creation. See what they have in common?
In all three instances, There is a total activity of God in
the thing begotten, in the thing resurrected, and in the thing
created. The life begotten owes its existence
to forces outside of itself. The dead corpse resurrected owes
its present life to a power that intruded outside of itself, and
that which is created owes its existence to the exertion of
a force outside of itself. Can God make the message any
clearer? If men have spiritual life, Almighty God has imparted
it, and I cannot, you and I cannot impart spiritual life to dead
sinners. Second thing we cannot do. I'm not applying the implications
yet, just stating the facts. We cannot manipulate men to saving
faith and repentance. Now I did not say we cannot manipulate
men to make professions of believing in Christ. That can and is done. Thousands and perhaps millions
of times over. But what I'm saying is that we
cannot manipulate men to saving faith and repentance. And where
do we learn that in the Bible? Well, look at such texts as 2
Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Paul speaking to his younger
associate in the ministry, giving him instructions as to the principles
that should guide him in his work as a minister of God. He
says in verse 24 of 2 Timothy 2, and the Lord's servant must
not strive. That is the argumentative. The
Lord's servant must never look upon the work of communicating
truth as one in which more powerful arguments batter down the weaker
arguments of the opponent until he's bullied, as it were, into
embracing the Christian faith. The Lord's servant must not strive. but be gentle towards all, apt
to teach, forbearing, in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves. If, peradventure, God may give
them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth, and they may recover
themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken
captive by him unto his will. If you'd ever met Timothy anywhere
there in Asia Minor after he got this letter from Paul and
said, Timothy, tell me one thing you cannot do for a dead sinner. He would tell you, I cannot manipulate
him into faith and repentance. God must give it. He understood
that from the words of the Apostle Paul. Hence the biblical language
when describing how men come to faith and repentance is so
refreshingly different. from the language of decisionism
so popular in our day. Look at the language of the book
of the Acts for a moment. In Acts chapter 11, Peter is
giving the report of what God did in the household of Cornelius,
how he preached and how as he preached, the Holy Ghost fell
upon a whole assembly, and that whole household of hearing, believing,
Penitent sinners is brought into union with Christ. And after
Peter gives this report, what is the reaction upon those Jews
who are listening to this report? Verse 18. Acts 11. And when they heard these things,
they held their peace. In other words, all their arguments
about the wrongness of going to Jews and all the other prejudices
that they had raised, they held their peace and they glorified
not Peter, nor did it say they stopped and asked Peter, what
was your method? What was your gimmick? What was
your approach? Let's have the Cornelian method
and get it out to all the churches. No, no. When they heard this,
they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles
also hath God granted repentance unto life. They saw through Peter's
narrative They saw that if Peter, a fellow human being, is preaching
such offensive truth as that salvation is to be found in the
crucified imposter, in the eyes of the Jews, out of Nazareth,
Jesus of Nazareth, that the only way men are going to be brought
to embrace Him as their God and their Savior and pin all their
hopes for eternity upon Him is if God is active, bringing them
to spiritual sight and to spiritual birth and hence to faith and
repentance? And so, when they hear this report,
They look beyond Peter, they look beyond the circumstances
of Cornelius' household, and they praise and magnify the God
who alone did and can grant repentance. Look at the language of chapter
13, a text that has been a barb in the side and a speck of sand
in the eye of men who refuse to face this aspect of truth
for centuries. We read of the ministry of Paul
at Antioch of Pisidia, and this is the result of his preaching.
Verse 48 of Acts 13, And as the Gentiles heard this, they were
glad, and they glorified the word of God, and as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. And here the faith of these people
is traced not to the manipulations of Paul, not to the cleverness
of Paul, but to the sovereign decree of the God who had ordained
them to life, hence, who alone could bring them to faith and
to repentance. You find the same language in
Acts 16, and I think it's all the more powerful when it comes
out in just off-the-cuff narrative rather than even what we call
formal theological statement. In the 16th chapter of Acts,
Luke is recording what happened when Paul preached by a riverside
at a ladies' prayer meeting. And so he tells us in verse 14,
"...in a certain woman named Lydia, seller of purple of the
city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the
Lord opened to give heed to the things that were spoken by Paul."
There it is. Now you see how simply, sort
of off the cuff, the description is by Luke? He doesn't talk like
this is some big deal or that the church would rise up in arms
and want to throw him out as a heretic if he dared to circulate
a narrative that said, faith is the result of God's decree. Faith is the result of God moving
upon the heart of a woman. Faith and repentance are the
result of God's gift. Now he assumes that that would
strike a note of response in the hearts of the people of God. We cannot impart spiritual life
to sinners. Secondly, we cannot manipulate
men to saving faith and repentance. Thirdly, we cannot loose men
from the bondage and the blindness of sin. Now you see, they're
dead and they need life and we can't give it to them. They need
to repent and believe, and we can't manipulate them into it.
They're bound and they need to be loosed to become servants
of God and servants of holiness, but we have no power to loose
them from that bondage and from their blindness. Two passages
set together. John chapter 8, verses 34 and 36. Jesus answered them, saying,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin
is the bondservant of sin. Sin is the master. The sinner
is the slave. Verse 36, If therefore the Son
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Implication being,
anyone else tries to do it. It can't be done. Any other apparent
freedom that does not come from the Son is but a transference
of the bondage in its external manifestations. That's all. So
the person who's able to quit one sinful habit only trades
it for another more subtle habit. The alcoholic who's delivered
from his alcoholism without the regenerating grace of God and
the saving power of Christ then becomes a slave to his own thoughts
of his great willpower in conquering his evil. Or he becomes slave
to his religious pride saying, I give all the credit to God,
but the God he mentions is not the God of the Bible, for he
thinks he's had his help apart from Jesus Christ. No, no. Men are in bondage. And only
Christ can liberate them. 2 Corinthians 4, 4 and 6. Men are in total spiritual blindness. And only Christ can illuminate
them. 2 Corinthians 4, 4. In whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of
the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should
not dawn upon them. There's an evangelistic movement
in our day that would rewrite this verse and say that men are,
as it were, staring out with 20-20 spiritual vision, and if
only Jesus Christ will be put in their line of vision, they're
ready to accept Him by the millions. I'm not talking off the top of
my head. I've read in one article alone by an outstanding evangelical
leader. He said, it's my convictions
that tens of thousands, if not millions, are ready and prepared
to receive Jesus Christ if only they can hear about him and have
him presented attractively. What he's saying is, the devil
hasn't blinded their minds. No, no, there's 20-20 vision
and just bring Jesus on the stage and the moment they see him,
they'll embrace him. None. Men are blind. Blind to what? Blind to the glory
of God that shines out in the face of Jesus Christ. Ality of
the life of the church. And I say it's the responsibility
and privilege of every Christian. Now follow me closely. If you
are this night a member of a church, a visible community, then you
belong with those to whom God has joined you, involved up to
here. in the activities insofar as
they are biblical. How much is there? Well, my friend,
listen. It shines out in the face of
Jesus Christ. Now, who can dispel that blindness?
Verse 6, Seeing it is God who said, Light shall shine out of
darkness, who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He says, the
only reason that I now see the very glory of the Godhead in
the face of Christ is that the same God who spoke into the darkness
of that situation at creation's dawn spoke into this heart. There was no light to work with.
There was nothing but darkness. But His creative word brought
light. We cannot lose men from the bondage
or the blindness of their sin. Remember how Jesus taught his
disciples this? He did personal work with a young man who was
blind and who was bound. And when he was all done, you
read about it in Matthew 19, what happened? The disciples
stood back and said, who then can be saved? When Jesus got
done, dealing with that young man and showing what it meant
to become an heir of eternal life, to have the dearest idol
torn from one's breast, to take on a totally new sphere of life
upon new principles with new goals and new ambitions. And
this young man turned away because he didn't like those terms. Jesus
said, How hardly shall they who have riches enter the kingdom
of heaven? Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And the
disciples say then, O Lord, who then can be saved? And our Lord's
answer was, With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. So you see, the first half of
our study has focused upon the first part of that verse. With
men, it is impossible that we might be shut up to feel the
hopelessness and the despair facing honestly what we cannot
do. We cannot impart life. We cannot manipulate to true
saving faith and repentance. We cannot break the bondage of
sin. But the same Bible does teach us what we can and we must
do And in order to limit the materials, I want to take the
Apostle Paul particularly as an example, not as a perfect
man, not as an apostle, but simply as a Christian man who himself
said, I have not yet attained, but I press after. And I want
us to see in the Apostle Paul an example of what we can and
must do for the salvation of sinners. Number one, we can and
must. have a God-given concern and
desire for their salvation. I turn you to the passage I read
earlier tonight, Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9, the Apostle's
confession of the state of his heart. I say the truth in Christ,
I lie not, my conscience bearing witness
with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing
pain in my heart, for I could wish that I were myself were
anathema or a curse from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen
according to the flesh." Paul knew he could not impart spiritual
life to any man, let alone one of his fellow Jewish Unbelievers,
men who like himself looked upon Jesus as an imposter, as a pseudo-Messiah. He knew that he could not manipulate
them to faith and repentance. He knew that he had no power
to break the bondage or to pierce the blindness of their sin. But
he did know and he carried with him that he had a responsibility
to share a concern for their salvation. And so he speaks of
that concern in terms that I can only read. I don't know what
they mean. I'm sure I haven't experienced that kind of insatiable
desire. And so we're not setting the
measure of the desire as the example, but just the presence
of that desire. If you've been rescued from your
sins by the hand of a sovereign God, then there is some measure
of desire in your heart for the salvation of others. If you and
I had the ability to read what is in the heart of every true
Christian, we could read somewhere. We might have to ransack the
heart to a small corner, but somewhere we'd find the beatings
of genuine compassion for the lost. No man who sees that he
himself was part of that total mass of humanity lost under condemnation,
but now knows himself rescued by pure sovereign grace, I say
no man who knows that can ever look with indifference and say,
oh, that's the rest of the world, let them go to hell. He can neither
say it with his lips, nor can he reflect that attitude in his
heart. There is in the heart of every
true person, because the Holy Spirit dwells there and produces
his fruit of love. I ask you as you sit there tonight,
not, quote, have you won two souls to Christ in the past year?
I can't say. who God would have as spiritual
midwives. Paul said, I have begotten you
through the gospel. And these people that say, unless
you can point to someone who has actually been saved through
your witness, your carnal interest, I challenge them to find a chapter
and verse for me, and it's never been done. I'm not asking you,
have you actually pointed someone whom you know came to faith,
who you know actually came to faith in Christ. I'm not asking
that at all, but I'm asking this. When you drive down your town,
when you go out to do your shopping, when you sit at Shea Stadium,
when you go down into the streets of Newark, when you walk through
the streets of New York, when you see people, is there that
sense of a tug? Oh God, so few know you. Oh God, that I could somehow
reach somebody with the message of salvation. You know what that
is? My friend, if you don't, you better search your heart
to find out if you've ever really been rescued yourself. We would accuse a man of the
worst kind of things, who had just recently been rescued from
a burning building, Rescued simply because, from the human standpoint,
the fireman had to make a choice, what window should we break through
first? And they said, that one. And he happened to be there.
If he knows he's been rescued simply by the choice and the
free exercise of the will of those firemen, how can he stand
outside rescued? Not even turn around to see if
any others are getting out. Impossible. We'd accuse him of
the most fiendish kind of motives and attitudes, and well we might.
And so the person who has no concern and yet claims to be
a Christian is self-deceived. But all my fellow believers,
do we not all need to pray that that concern will be fanned and
deepened by the Spirit of God until it at least approaches
in one-tenth of a degree What the Apostle Paul talked about
here, great sorrow, unceasing pain in my heart. When's the
last time you felt some pain for a lost person? Felt some
pain. You know what it's like to have
a pain in your heart. We can, we must have this God-given
concern. Secondly, we see it in chapter
10. And the one follows on the other.
We must cry to God for the salvation of those for whom we are concerned. Notice the connection of these
two things now in chapter 10, verse 1 of Romans. Brethren,
my heart's desire, that's the first principle, and my supplication
to God is that they may be saved. Whatever is a true spiritual
desire will always give birth to prayer, because the Christian
knows that prayer is part of the appointed means of obtaining
God-given desires. Is salvation God's work? Yes. Well, if it is His work, it's
bound up. with the power and operations of His Spirit, yes,
and the prayers of God's people are linked in with the operations
of the Spirit of God. Philippians 1 verse 19. Your
prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. So you
and I must cry to God for the salvation of men. I know. I'm not going to cry to God unless
I'm concerned. I know that. So why preach to
me, you say, the duty of crying to God, when if I have the concern
I will cry, and if I don't, I won't? It's because the very presence
of duty, unperformed, is the thing that drives you to God,
for grace that you might perform it. I know that merely preaching
on the duty of praying for the salvation of men will not of
itself produce the burden to pray. But if you see that it
is your duty, you'll go home and say, God, I know I should,
but I'm not. You'll get desperate that God
begin to point out the reasons why. God doesn't make the measure
of our ability the measure of His demands upon us. Never. If that were true, the
law could never bring conviction upon the unconverted. He could
say, God tells me to love Him with the whole heart, I can't
so I won't try and I'll be excused. No, no. No, no. You and I must
share in this God-given concern that gives birth to prayer for
their salvation. But then that prayer is mockery
to God and delusive to our own hearts if it doesn't follow with
the third thing that we can and must do. We can and must use
every legitimate means to get the gospel to those for whom
we are praying and for whom we are concerned. You see, Efforts
to reach men with the gospel that are not preceded and followed
with prayer are an indication of a terrible spirit of self-confidence. But prayers for people to be
saved that are not followed with efforts to get the gospel to
them are presumptuous prayers. You see? And so the same apostle says,
my heart's desire and my prayer is, is the one who in the very
next chapter, though he's speaking to a group of Christians, says,
the very things I'm saying to you, in so doing I'm trying to
win these Jews. Verse 14 of chapter 11, if by
any means I may provoke to jealousy some that are of my flesh and
may save some of them. And over in 1 Corinthians 9 he
says, to the Jew I become as a Jew that I might gain the Jew,
to the weak I become as weak to gain the weak, I become all
things to all men that I may by all means save some. So when he'd go into a town he'd
find the synagogue and there the scrolls of the Old Testament
scriptures were available and Paul would take his place and
the scriptures would be read and he'd expound them and prove
that Jesus was the Christ. Then the meetings broke up there,
he'd go out and find a few people in the marketplace, he'd begin
to preach, and when the philosophers say, come on, we'll want to hear
you, you babbler, he swallows the insight and says, all right,
you'll hear me, but not as a babbler, you'll hear me as a preacher
of a message that may just explode you and blow your mind and bring
you up the other side, new creatures in Christ. Sure, I'll go talk
to you. They didn't know what they were getting in for, you
see. They thought, well, we'll just expose ourselves to his
ideas. But Paul went forth with this
confidence, if I open my mouth, God may cause that miracle of
grace to occur. See? And so all of his concern
that gave birth to prayer also gave birth to the use of every
legitimate means to take the gospel to men. Now that means
you've got to obtain a hearing. And so Paul would accommodate
himself. He'd be willing to subject himself to the strict regulations,
dietary and the rest of the Jews that he might not unnecessarily
raise any prejudice and gain a hearing. That's what you and
I are going to have to do. We're going to have to learn
the self-denying accommodation of trying to get close to people
that we might obtain a hearing for the gospel. And the point
that I want to underscore tonight from Romans 10 is that not only
are we responsible and privileged to convey the gospel to them
personally, by word of mouth when possible, by literature,
but will you notice the emphasis of this 10th chapter upon preaching? Verse 13 of Romans, chapter 10,
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
Now notice the reading as I read it from the American Standard,
which is the right rendering. How shall they believe in him
whom they have not heard? The preposition in is not there
in the original. How shall they believe in him
whom they have not heard? You see, the same one who is
the object of their faith is the one who speaks to them in
the gospel. They believe in the very one
whom they've heard. And how do they hear the voice
of Christ? How shall they hear without a
preacher? And who is the preacher? How
shall they preach except they be sent? He's the sent one. And
in that word, sent, is bound up the concept of authority.
Every Christian, in this sense, is not a sent one. The sent one
is the one whose gifts have been recognized by the Church and
who has felt the constraint of God and is commissioned to go
forth sent by the Lord, sent by His Church, sent by the Spirit. And the Scriptures reveal that
the primary means, I did not say exclusive, The primary means
God uses to bring the sheep to hear the voice of the shepherd
is the authoritative preaching of the sent ones. I was speaking
with someone recently about this, and I challenged this individual.
I said, in my last reading through the book of the Acts, I noticed
something. That in every single instance where it is recorded
that someone was actually brought to the Christian faith, Now we
can't argue from silence, there may be other instances, and probably
were many, but every one that the Holy Ghost has recorded,
it's interesting, that God used a sent one to bring that person
to the faith. Every single instance. The 120,
we might say the lay witness on the day of Pentecost, what
was the use of that? It stirred up people to interest.
They said, these people speaking the mighty works of God, what
is all of this? Peter stood in the midst and explained it and
it says they that received his word were baptized. God used
the lay witness to attract attention to transform lives but the peculiar
instrument used to bring them out of darkness into light that
pivotal influence was the message of the sent one. Then it goes
on to say great power was given to the apostles as they bore
witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Way out in the
wilderness there were many people who'd been saved in the revival
in Samaria, but who does God take? He takes Philip, a deacon
with peculiar preaching gifts, who's been the leader of the
revival in Samaria, and he sends him all the way out into the
wilderness. Acts 16, Philippian jailer, Paul,
Silas, sent one. House Order of Cornelius. There
were many other Christians. Why does he choose Peter? Many
reasons. But will you trace this through? Now, don't throw it
out and say, oh, that's an untenable position. Search it out. And
all I'm saying is this, I am not erecting a false clericalism
and saying the preacher has some niche upon the power of God.
No, all I'm saying is that God in His wisdom has ordained that
the sheep shall hear the voice of the shepherd peculiarly through
the authoritative preaching of the Word of God by the sent one.
And if I could start here tonight on the front row with every one
of you who professes to be saved and said, what was the strategic
instrument by which you were actually finally brought to repentance
and faith, I'd be willing to bet if betting were proper and
I had money thus to bet, that in nine cases out of ten, it
was the preached Word of God by a duly authorized, duly sent
servant of Jesus Christ. Now, is that to say that a person
who's not, in that sense, a recognized minister of the gospel cannot
preach the gospel to his loved ones? No, no, don't construe
it that way. You can never communicate the
gospel too much. I doubt anyone will be held accountable
in the day of judgment for preaching the gospel too much. Now some
of us may get a slap or two on the hand from the Lord from being
a little unwise in some things we did. And say it. No, no. Don't anyone go out. It's amazing
how people are twisting. That preacher said that nobody
gets saved unless you've been saved through preaching. I did
not say that. No, no. No, no. The Bible doesn't teach
that. All I am saying is that God, for reasons known only to
Him, has bound up in authoritative preaching. His primary means
of bringing people to the faith. God is ordained by the foolishness
of the thing pitched to save them that believe. Now do you
relate all of this to the meetings that are beginning next week?
Do you see the importance of it? God in His grace has privileged
me to come across a dear black brother in whose heart the truth
of the gospel burns like fire. To whom he's given gifts to proclaim
the saving message of Christ. And those gifts have been recognized
and owned and sealed of God. And what is our concern in having
him come? Do we think that he carries the power of God in his
back pocket? No, no. But my vision and the
vision of your elders, and I trust the vision of all of us, is this.
If God is ordained, this means above all others, not at the
exclusion of all others, what a privilege to get all we can
under the sound of that Word which is the primary means of
bringing salvation to man. And nothing will increase your
confidence in the power of that Word more than to see God make
it effectual in some soul for whom you've shared concern, some
soul for whom you've prayed, someone whom you have brought. And as that Word is preached,
God is pleased. to give life. Now that means
you've got to invest some time. You may have to invest some of
your money. I'll speak here and if my fellow
elders disagree with me, rebuke me after and I'll retract it
when it's too late. If you want to, take some of
your tithe money invested in taking those neighbors out to
eat and saying you'll pay for their babysitter next Sunday
night or Tuesday night or Monday night. Bring them to the meeting. Would you contradict me on that?
No sir. Amen. That's what it may mean. Is there concern enough to be
enterprising? Is it a legitimate thing to use
the natural appetite that people have for food as a means to get
people within the orbit of the gospel? No. Matthew used it and
Jesus entered right into his scheme. No sooner had he been
converted when he made a banquet for the Lord Jesus back at his
own house and many publicans and sinners were there. So much
so that that got the Pharisees all uptight. He eats and drinks
with the bad crowd. Well, you get the principle,
don't you? The Lord approved of this and
He'll approve of it in us. And I trust that we'll take every
single advantage and do what we can and must do in using every
legitimate means to get the gospel to men and get men under the
sound of the gospel. You see, we're victims of extremes,
and there was a time when men had this idea, Lord, we pay the
preacher. Help him, give him many souls
for his hire, help him to go out, bang on doors and scratch
on doors and get people out and get them saved. The whole idea
of this crass clericalism that the preacher was some kind of
a sacred man who stood in a sacred building through whom sacred
influences came that could not be found anywhere else. Now,
in our reaction against that clericalism, you know what we've
come into in our day in evangelical circles? A tyranny of the laity.
The idea that you don't bring people to church to get them
saved, you go out and get them saved in the living room. And
here's how you do it. And then they give you a cute little scheme,
you see, whereby in 20 minutes you can get them saved. Now you
bring them in the church to get them built up. You see, this
has been a complete reversal. Whereas the biblical truth is,
it's your life lived before those people in the neighborhood, and
on the job, and in school, and wherever you may be. It's your
life lived in obedience to the total spectrum of New Testament
duty and biblical duty, old and new as well. It is that witness
of life that, as it were, confirms the reality of the gospel. And
then it's the witness you give when they see you bow your head
there in the cafeteria and thank God for your food. And when,
perhaps on occasion, you've passed a piece of literature, you've
steered the conversation into holy things, you naturally speak
of how good the Lord has been to you and to your family. And
then you seek to communicate the gospel with literature and
by word of mouth, but in conjunction with all your efforts, you're
always scheming to try to get them out in a place where the
Word is formally, authoritatively preached by a sent one. You see? So it's not the lay witness or
the preaching, the preaching or the lay witness, but we are
labors together with Him. That's it. And you see the specimen
example on the day of Pentecost. The 120 became the instrument
to get things stirred up. And Peter became the instrument
to get them settled down again into the truth of God. And oh,
how I long to see greater measures of this. Thank God for the measures
of it we have seen here in our own assembly. But I long to see
more of it to God's glory as well as to the blessing of His
people. Well, I'm done. Let me just answer
a question that may be in the minds of some of you. Are you saying to us, Pastor,
that if we do these things, have some genuine concern, pray and
put forth efforts, that God is bound to honor those efforts
with the conversion and salvation of sinners next week? I'd have
to be omniscient to say that. I'd have to have God's mind.
I'd have to be a fanatic claiming direct revelation to say that.
I can't say that. But listen. Your duty is not
affected by whether or not God blesses your duty with success. Your duty is your duty. Period. And you don't say, well, if God
would just let me know if He'll bless my efforts, then No, no,
you do what God tells you to do, period. Ours is to obey. But on the other hand, God generally,
being a God of economy, where He puts means, He does so because
He's ordained certain ends. And where God puts clear, powerful
preaching, bathed in the loving, tender, sympathetic prayer of
His people, generally, God intends great blessing. So as I look
forward to this week, though I'd be a fanatic to say I know
God is going to save so many, I would also be less than true
if I did not say I expect that God is going to own these days
with grace and blessing, and I won't be surprised if he saves
some sinners. See? Is that the perspective
that you have as we look forward to these days? Are we crying
to God, to a God who is deaf to us? Are we crying to a God
who does not see that the motives in our hearts He has placed there?
We long to see sinners saved. By His power, not just decisions
made for our success image, but sinners saved, laid hold of by
God, without all the trappings of modern evangelism? Just let
the word preached do its work? And I believe we can plead before
God, Lord, You've placed these motives in our hearts. You've
kindled these desires. Now, for the honor of Your Son,
bring them to pass. Let me close with Ashio's own
words. For those of you who were not
here this morning, in writing his most recent letter, he says,
I am so thrilled last Lord's Day. A dear woman seemed to be
pierced by the word as it was preached. Years earlier, when
her young daughter professed a good profession of faith, this
woman turned her own daughter out of Doris. Today, the King
has brought her to see his glorious face. What a God whom we serve. Surely, He will never leave us.
But my dear brother, I long for more. He is too great a king
to have these little things, large things for our God. That's the motive. Not I'm too
great a preacher just to see one person saved. We're too big
a church. No, no, no. You see the motive?
He's too great a king. Did we not sing from the 72nd
Psalm, that nations shall acknowledge Him, kings shall bow? That should be our vision. That
should be our perspective. That should be our concern. Lord
Jesus, give to your dear Son, who is worthy of large things,
give Him to see the travail of His soul. Let us pray.