Why should I evangelize?

Our fellowship must be marked by purity, but our service is to be exercised where need is. "Do the work of an evangelist" brings out this latter. No matter how completely those who profess Christianity abandon or oppose the truth; no matter how godless and indifferent to the claims of God the multitudes become; the faithful man will still proclaim the fact that God is a Saviour God, that the precious blood of Jesus is the great proof of His love and justice, and the ground upon which He can justify and bless even the worst of men. Those Christians who slight the Gospel, or say that it is not their interest, or settle themselves down into select and selected circles to study the Word, to justify the position they have assumed, only prove how faithless to their great trust they have become, or how their faith has succumbed to the general pressure. The servant of the Lord must seek the unconverted; if the love of God fills his heart he will. He will meet with disappointments, with rebuffs, and opposition and persecution; prayers and tears and exercise of heart will be his portion, but having received his trust from the Lord he will be sustained by grace from Him, and will not flag; for sin and sorrow and death and hell-fire are the same as ever they were; and the world does not satisfy the souls of men, and their hearts are empty and often broken; and Christ died for them, and God yearns for them, and life is offered them, and heaven is open for them, and "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth," and the very nature of God is glorified in the salvation of every one of them.

Our fellowship must be marked by purity, but our service is to be exercised where need is. "Do the work of an evangelist" brings out this latter. No matter how completely those who profess Christianity abandon or oppose the truth; no matter how godless and indifferent to the claims of God the multitudes become; the faithful man will still proclaim the fact that God is a Saviour God, that the precious blood of Jesus is the great proof of His love and justice, and the ground upon which He can justify and bless even the worst of men. Those Christians who slight the Gospel, or say that it is not their interest, or settle themselves down into select and selected circles to study the Word, to justify the position they have assumed, only prove how faithless to their great trust they have become, or how their faith has succumbed to the general pressure. The servant of the Lord must seek the unconverted; if the love of God fills his heart he will. He will meet with disappointments, with rebuffs, and opposition and persecution; prayers and tears and exercise of heart will be his portion, but having received his trust from the Lord he will be sustained by grace from Him, and will not flag; for sin and sorrow and death and hell-fire are the same as ever they were; and the world does not satisfy the souls of men, and their hearts are empty and often broken; and Christ died for them, and God yearns for them, and life is offered them, and heaven is open for them, and “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth,” and the very nature of God is glorified in the salvation of every one of them.

Ten thousand times more so it is not well that the Christian should hold his peace, when he has salvation, the forgiveness of his sins, eternal life, and the knowledge of God’s love. Knowing all this, he is passing up and down amongst a world of sinners travelling to eternal doom. The Christian knows a greater deliverance than even the Samaritan lepers did, and is in the presence of need more terribly pressing than ever befell a besieged city.

Ten thousand times more so it is not well that the Christian should hold his peace, when he has salvation, the forgiveness of his sins, eternal life, and the knowledge of God’s love. Knowing all this, he is passing up and down amongst a world of sinners travelling to eternal doom. The Christian knows a greater deliverance than even the Samaritan lepers did, and is in the presence of need more terribly pressing than ever befell a besieged city.

Do you really believe, then, that the gospel was designed to convert the whole world, and that the Church has been entrusted with it, and endowed with the Holy Ghost for this end? Then what say you to the conduct of Christians for the last eighteen centuries in caring so little for the diffusion of the gospel, and making so little progress toward the end you contemplate? You will admit, no doubt, that this is lamentable — that the conduct of the Church is inexcusable; but then you hope that she will yet be aroused to a sense of her duty, and go forth in her might to convert the nations of the earth. But be entreated to ponder one question as to this, Has God no controversy with us for eighteen centuries of neglect and unfaithfulness and sin? Now without saying as you do, that the gospel, or the Church, was intended to convert the world, one may well be bold to affirm two things: first, that the Church was called to be so faithful a witness and messenger of Christ, as not to leave one individual of the human family without the tidings of salvation through His name; secondly, that each individual to whom such a message comes is responsible to God for its reception. And what is it but apathy, and worldliness, and love of carnal ease and indulgence, that has hindered the gospel from being proclaimed to every living person on the globe? The discovery of gold fields in a given island attracts thither in a single year from forty to fifty thousand — British Christians, I had almost said; and in name at least they are so. But if Christ were only as dear to us, my brethren, and souls as precious in our eyes, as gold is to the natural heart, why should not from forty to fifty thousand missionaries go out in the course of a single year to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ? Protestant missions! Why, if a hundredth part of the energy was employed in endeavouring to spread the gospel which is devoted to the pursuit of wealth, in a short time there would not be a country, or a village, or a hamlet, where its sound had not been heard. And have we, no account to render, my brethren, for unfaithfulness in such stewardship? Has God no controversy with Christendom on this account? Has Christendom in this respect continued in God's goodness? The fact is — but the proof of it we must reserve for another occasion — it is restored Israel that is to "blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit." When Christendom, the wild olive, has been for its non-continuance in God's goodness cut off, the natural branches are to be graffed in again to their own olive tree; and, as far as human instrumentality is to be employed in that work, they are to be the instruments of subduing the whole world to Christ's sway. To Christians belonged the privilege, even as on them devolved the responsibility, of bearing testimony to that perfect grace and goodness in which God has, through the sacrifice of Christ, found a way holily and righteously to justify the ungodly, who, through grace, believe in Christ. Alas, how this privilege has been slighted! How this responsibility has been forgotten! How Christendom has failed to continue in God's goodness! How certain and inevitable the consequence "thou also shalt be cut off! "

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," "Feed my sheep;" also said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature;" and "COMPEL them to come in that my house may be filled." 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 latest breath, 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.

We now come to a passage that has in my judgment been sadly misunderstood. On it Rome and some of her daughters have built monstrous claims as to forgiveness of sins for eternity being in the hands of the Church so called — really the clergy. On the other hand Protestants have shrunk from its plain and simple teaching, and utterly neglected its use. The Lord said on this occasion to His gathered people, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained "(John 20:23). Now, that carries you of course a little further than the twentieth of John as to actuality. I do not doubt this instruction is both individual and collective. He so to speak says, "I will leave you in this scene to act administratively for Me." This, first of all, is connected with the testimony as to the forgiveness of sins which was to be preached in His name. I believe that not only those who heard the Lord speak were responsible, but that individually, you and I are equally responsible to carry to men the sweet knowledge of the forgiveness of sins. It is not a question of our remitting them for eternity. God alone can do that. It is this, we are in the scene where Christ is not, and knowing what He has accomplished, the evangelist is to go out, and every Christian should be such in heart, and proclaim the good tidings of forgiveness to men. Notice that this testimony is not put in the hand of preachers only. It was not a question of preachers that night. It was the Lord saying to the whole company, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them." When you know forgiveness yourself, you can speak of it as well as any other.

We read also that God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Christians are the only people in this dark and sinful world who are qualified to proclaim the Gospel of the grace of God worldwide. This earnest exhortation should make every Christian wish to spread the Gospel, the opportunities for which are boundless. Christians are left in this world for a purpose. Do we fulfil it?

There is yet more. Every person upon the face of the earth is thought of, for it is added, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Nothing could more fully show that the living water which Christ has secured through His death and resurrection is "towards all," that is, that all that is in the heart of God is for man, and consequently that the gospel is to be proclaimed to all, for God has been pleased to assume the attitude of a Saviour God; and since Christ died for all, He would have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2) Let this gracious invitation therefore be proclaimed throughout the wide world, and with all the more urgency because of the imminence of the Lord's return.

In the preaching of the gospel all men are in view, for God is no respecter of persons; the gospel presents Him in His true and gracious character to all. The preacher has the whole world before him; and like the apostles labours “to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:28), and that for the simple and blessed reason “that God would have all men to be saved.” The preacher is to be under the influence of the Spirit of God.