"...Sent me not to baptize, but to preach..."
"...preach the Gospel to every creature..."
"preach the Word; be instant..."
"...do the work of an evangelist."
It is, the Bible tells us, "by the foolishness of preaching" that God Almighty, in His Divine goodness, has chosen "to save them that believe". We are nowhere in the Bible commanded to use or practice "lifestyle evangelism" (whatever that means). Yes, the Word says that we are to "let (our) light so shine before men that they may see (our) good works, and glorify God which is in heaven". True enough! But let's examine what that passage of Scripture is saying:
"...see your good works and GLORIFY GOD..." This already supposes that the person or people watching you and your deeds KNOW God and are aware of His demands upon our lives. How could an unsaved person GLORIFY GOD? The Bible says that those who are left on Earth when Jesus returns in judgment will chew their own tongues right out of their mouths rather than give God the glory He deserves. The argument that our lives ALONE are sufficient to influence sinners by our good deeds falls completely flat.
Why is preaching called "foolishness"? Is it just because compared to God's power, all human effort is foolishness defined? No, it is also because the world and every unrepentant sinner in it considers the Gospel utter nonsense, and they are bound to feel that way because they cannot feel otherwise. A person who is not offended at the preaching of the Gospel is a person within whom God's Spirit is effecting great change. The person upon whose heart God has laid no burden of sin is a person that responds with hatred and vitriol to every syllable of the Word of God preached in its fulness. This "foolish" Gospel, however, the one that is so offensive and hateful to the unregenerate sinner, is EXACTLY the Gospel that the verses above refer to. It is the hatred of God's holy and just character for sin, and the utter bondage of the spiritually dead person TO that sin, that God demands that we publish to the ends of the earth. It is further the hopelessness of all mankind of any salvation that we must preach UNTIL AND UNLESS the eyes of the heart are enlightened and the sin-dead soul is revealed in all its corruption. This revelation of the lost state can only be made under a blinding and perfect LIGHT, which Light is Christ Himself, Who declares that He is "the Light of the world". He proclaimed the truth that "as long as (He was) in the world", He is that Light, and WE, friends in Christ are called lights in this world by Christ Himself. Are we bringing the utter DESPAIR of the flesh and the BOUNDLESS HOPE of Christ Crucified and Risen as the single source of justification, righteousness and LIFE? Or are we again in league with a world that refused the voices of the prophets even as they took the lives of the prophets in violent murders? Have we been found at ease in Zion? "Asleep in the Light", as Ravenhill put it? Or are we warning every man with all compassion on the lost and damned souls around us? Let us make ready. Let us forsake all else but the knowledge of Him Who called us "out of darkness and into His marvelous Light". Let us make known to the ends of the earth that message of repentance from sin and faith towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Whose Name alone is the One "by which men might be saved." Amen.
"...preach the Gospel to every creature..."
"preach the Word; be instant..."
"...do the work of an evangelist."
It is, the Bible tells us, "by the foolishness of preaching" that God Almighty, in His Divine goodness, has chosen "to save them that believe". We are nowhere in the Bible commanded to use or practice "lifestyle evangelism" (whatever that means). Yes, the Word says that we are to "let (our) light so shine before men that they may see (our) good works, and glorify God which is in heaven". True enough! But let's examine what that passage of Scripture is saying:
"...see your good works and GLORIFY GOD..." This already supposes that the person or people watching you and your deeds KNOW God and are aware of His demands upon our lives. How could an unsaved person GLORIFY GOD? The Bible says that those who are left on Earth when Jesus returns in judgment will chew their own tongues right out of their mouths rather than give God the glory He deserves. The argument that our lives ALONE are sufficient to influence sinners by our good deeds falls completely flat.
Why is preaching called "foolishness"? Is it just because compared to God's power, all human effort is foolishness defined? No, it is also because the world and every unrepentant sinner in it considers the Gospel utter nonsense, and they are bound to feel that way because they cannot feel otherwise. A person who is not offended at the preaching of the Gospel is a person within whom God's Spirit is effecting great change. The person upon whose heart God has laid no burden of sin is a person that responds with hatred and vitriol to every syllable of the Word of God preached in its fulness. This "foolish" Gospel, however, the one that is so offensive and hateful to the unregenerate sinner, is EXACTLY the Gospel that the verses above refer to. It is the hatred of God's holy and just character for sin, and the utter bondage of the spiritually dead person TO that sin, that God demands that we publish to the ends of the earth. It is further the hopelessness of all mankind of any salvation that we must preach UNTIL AND UNLESS the eyes of the heart are enlightened and the sin-dead soul is revealed in all its corruption. This revelation of the lost state can only be made under a blinding and perfect LIGHT, which Light is Christ Himself, Who declares that He is "the Light of the world". He proclaimed the truth that "as long as (He was) in the world", He is that Light, and WE, friends in Christ are called lights in this world by Christ Himself. Are we bringing the utter DESPAIR of the flesh and the BOUNDLESS HOPE of Christ Crucified and Risen as the single source of justification, righteousness and LIFE? Or are we again in league with a world that refused the voices of the prophets even as they took the lives of the prophets in violent murders? Have we been found at ease in Zion? "Asleep in the Light", as Ravenhill put it? Or are we warning every man with all compassion on the lost and damned souls around us? Let us make ready. Let us forsake all else but the knowledge of Him Who called us "out of darkness and into His marvelous Light". Let us make known to the ends of the earth that message of repentance from sin and faith towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Whose Name alone is the One "by which men might be saved." Amen.
posted by SFB at 2:29 PM
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