Preach Free Will to Convict Sinners and Destroy their Excuses
The Apostle Paul said that sinners are “without excuse” before God (Romans 1:20).
The favorite excuses of sinners is, “I couldn’t help it. I can’t obey God. His requirements are too hard for me.”
The Bible says the exact opposite.
The Scripture says God does not require that which is too hard (Deut. 30:11).
And it says that our obligation is always proportionate to the ability that we have (Matt. 22:37; 1 Cor. 10:13).
Charles Finney, the great American Revivalist, said that the first duty of a preacher is to destroy the sinner’s excuses.
When we seek to win souls to Christ, we must start by showing them that it is their sin that is unreasonable, not God’s law.
God’s law was perfectly reasonable and yet we choose by our free will to break it anyways.
God sets before us the choice between good and evil (Deut. 11:26-28; Deut. 30:19; Josh. 24:15; Jer. 21:8), so we alone are to blame for our sins.
That is why we desperately need salvation through Jesus Christ – because we broke God’s law when we didn’t have to.
It is when the sinner is left in a position where he sees that he is “without excuse” for his sins that he gives up trying to justify and excuse them and he begins to seek merciful forgiveness and gracious pardon from God through Jesus Christ.
“IT’S NOT YOUR JOB TO CONVICT ANYONE OF THEIR SINS”
Someone made this comment on Facebook:
“The Holy Spirit is the one that convicts us of righteousness not any preacher”
Actually, it’s both.
THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTS
Jhn 16:8 – And when he is come, he will reprove [ἐλέγχω – to convict] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
HOLY SPIRIT FILLED PREACHERS CONVICT
Luk 3:19 – But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved [ἐλέγχω – to convict] by him for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done
Eph 5:11 – And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [ἐλέγχω – to convict] them.
1Ti 5:20 – Them that sin rebuke [ἐλέγχω – to convict] before all, that others also may fear.
2Ti 4:2 – Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove [ἐλέγχω – to convict], rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Tit 1:9 – Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince [ἐλέγχω – to convict] the gainsayers.
Tit 1:13 – This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke [ἐλέγχω – to convict] them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
Tit 2:15 – These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke [ἐλέγχω – to convict] with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
Biblically, it is the Holy Spirits job AND the preachers job to convict sinners of their sins.
And the biblical support for the preachers to do it is technically greater, as there are 7 verses that support preachers convicting sinners and only 1 verse for the Holy Spirit…
Just saying…
“I CAN’T SAVE ANYONE. ONLY GOD CAN SAVE.”
The Calvinist cliché, “I can’t save anyone. Only God can save” is not biblically accurate.
The Bible says, “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (James 5:20); and also “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” (1 Cor. 4:15).
And so the Preacher of the Word can and does save souls – with the help of the Holy Spirit and by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In Acts Peter even commanded the crowd to “Save Yourselves…” So not only do preachers save souls, but sinners save themselves! And how did they do it? Well, as Peter said, they must repent and believe. That is how a sinner saves his soul – by turning to Christ. William Booth and the Salvation Army used to fly a banner outside of their meeting house that said, “SAVE YOUR SOULS!”
The salvation of a soul is not a monergistic work of God, where God the Father alone (mono) is active. The Holy Spirit has a role, the Word has a role, the preacher of the Word has a role, and the sinner himself has a role.
Charles Finney said, “Both conversion and regeneration are sometimes in the Bible ascribed to God, sometimes to man, and sometimes to the subject.”
It is this understanding that gives evangelism its urgency and elevates its work to extreme and eternal importance. There are souls right now that might be saved by your labors who also might be damned by your neglect! What we do now affects and determines the future – even the eternal destiny of souls.
In light of the biblical doctrines of synergism and the openness of the future, we can see the vitalness of us fulfilling the Great Commission and feel the heavy weight of responsibility to seek and save those who are lost!
So get out there Christian! Preach the Word and save some souls!
TEXT.–Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen. –ISAIAH xliii:10.
IN the text it is affirmed of the children of God, that they are his witnesses. In several preceding lectures I have been dwelling on the subject of Prayer, or that department of means for the promotion of a revival, which is intended to move God to pour out his Spirit. I am now to commence the other department:
MEANS TO BE USED FOR THE CONVICTION AND CONVERSION OF SINNERS.
It is true, in general, that persons are affected by the subject of religion, in proportion to their conviction of its truth. Inattention to religion is the great reason why so little is felt concerning it. No being can look at the great truths of religion, as truths, and not feel deeply concerning them. The devil cannot. He believes and trembles. Angels in heaven feel in view of these things. God feels. An intellectual conviction of truth is always accompanied with feeling of some kind.
One grand design of God in leaving Christians in the world after their conversion, is that they may be witnesses for God. It is that they may call the attention of the thoughtless multitude to the subject, and make them see the difference in the character and destiny of those who believe and those who reject the Gospel. This inattention is the grand difficulty in the way of promoting religion. And what the Spirit of God does is to awaken the attention of men to the subject of their sin and the plan of salvation. Miracles have sometimes been employed to arrest the attention of sinners. And in this way, miracles may become instrumental in conversion, although conversion is not itself a miracle, nor do miracles themselves ever convert any body. They may be the means of awakening. Miracles are not always effectual even in that. And if continued or made common, they would soon lose their power. What is wanted in the world is something that can be a sort of omnipresent miracle, able not only to arrest attention but to fix it, and keep the mind in warm contact with the truth, till it yields.
Hence we see why God has scattered his children everywhere, in families and among the nations. He never would suffer them to be all together in one place, however agreeable it might be to their feelings. He wishes them scattered. When the church at Jerusalem herded together, neglecting to go forth as Christ had commanded, to spread the Gospel all over the world, God let loose a persecution upon them and scattered them abroad, and then “they went every where preaching the gospel.” In examining the text, I propose to inquire.
I. To what particular points Christians are to testify for God.
II. The manner in which they are to testify.
I. To what points are the children of God required to testify?
Generally, they are to testify to the truth of the Bible. They are competent witnesses to this, for they have experience of its truth. The experimental Christian has no more need of external evidence to prove the truth of the Bible to his mind, than he has to prove his own existence. The whole plan of salvation is so fully spread out and settled in his conviction, that to undertake to reason him out of his belief in the Bible would be a thing as impracticable as to reason him out of the belief in his own existence. Men have tried to awaken a doubt of the existence of the material world. But they cannot succeed. No man can doubt the existence of a material world. To doubt it, is against his own consciousness. You may use arguments that he cannot answer, and may puzzle and perplex him, and shut up his mouth; he may be no logician or philosopher, and unable to detect your fallacies. But what he knows he knows.
So it is in religion. The Christian is conscious that the Bible is true. The veriest child in religion knows by his experience the truth of the Bible. He may hear objections from infidels, that he never thought of, and that he cannot answer, and he may be confounded, but he cannot be driven from his ground. He will say, “I cannot answer you, but I know the Bible is true.”
As if a man should look in a mirror, and say, “That’s my face.” How do you know it is your face? “Why, by its looks.” So when a Christian sees himself drawn and pictured forth in the Bible, he sees the likeness to be so exact, that he knows it is true. But more particularly, Christians are to testify–
1. To the immortality of the soul. This is clearly revealed in the Bible.
2. The vanity and unsatisfying nature of all earthly good.
3. The satisfying nature and glorious sufficiency of religion.
4. The guilt and danger of sinners. On this point they can speak from experience as well as the word of God. They have seen their own sins, and they understand more of the nature of sin, and the guilt and danger of sinners.
5. The reality of hell, as a place of eternal punishment for the wicked.
6. The love of Christ for sinners.
7. The necessity of a holy life, if we think of ever getting to heaven.
8. The necessity of self-denial, and living above the world.
9. The necessity of meekness, heavenly-mindedness, humility, and integrity.
10. The necessity of an entire renovation of character and life, for all who would enter heaven. These are the subjects on which they are to be witnesses for God. And they are bound to testify in such a way as to constrain men to believe the truth.
II. How are they to testify?
By precept and example, on every proper occasion, by their lips, but mainly by their lives. Christians have no right to be silent with their lips; they should rebuke, exhort, and entreat with all long-suffering and doctrine. But their main influence as witnesses is by their example.
They are required to be witnesses in this way, because example teaches with so much greater force than precept. This is universally known. Actions speak louder than words. But where both precept and example are brought to bear, it brings the greatest amount of influence to bear upon the mind. As to the manner in which they are to testify; the way in which they should bear witness to the truth of the points specified; in general–they should live in their daily walk and conversation, as if they believed the Bible.
1. As if they believed the soul to be immortal, and as if they believed that death was not the termination of their existence, but the entrance into an unchanging state. They ought to live so as to make this impression full upon all around them. It is easy to see that precept without example on this point will do no good. All the arguments in the world will not convince mankind that you really believe this, unless you live as if you believed it. Your reasoning may be unanswerable, but if you do not live accordingly, your practice will defeat your arguments. They will say you are an ingenious sophist, or an acute reasoner, and perhaps admit that they cannot answer you; but then they will say, it is evident that your reasoning is all false, and that you know it is false, because your life contradicts your theory. Or that, if it is true, you do not believe it, at any rate. And so all the influence of your testimony goes to the other side.
2. The vanity and unsatisfying nature of the things of this world. You are to testify this by your life. The failure in this is the great stumbling block in the way of mankind. Here the testimony of God’s children is needed more than any where else. Men are so struck with the objects of sense, and so constantly occupied with them, that they are very apt to shut out eternity from their minds. A small object, that is held close to the eye, may shut out the distant ocean. So the things of the world, that are near, magnify so in their minds, that they overlook every thing else. One important design in keeping Christians in the world is to teach people on this point, practically, not to labor for the meat that perisheth. But suppose professors of religion teach the vanity of earthly things by precept, and contradict it in practice. Suppose the women are just as fond of dress, and just as particular in observing all the fashions, and the men as eager to have fine houses and equipage, as the people of the world. Who does not see that it would be quite ridiculous for them to testify with their lips, that this world is all vanity, and its joys unsatisfying and empty? People feel this absurdity, and it is this that shuts up the lips of Christians. They are ashamed to speak to their neighbors, while they cumber themselves with these gewgaws, because their daily conduct testifies to every body the very reverse. How it would look for some of the church members in this city, male or female, to go about among the common people, and talk to them about the vanity of the world! Who would believe what they say?
3. The satisfying nature of religion. Christians are bound to show by their conduct, that they are actually satisfied with the enjoyments of religion, without the pomps and vanities of the world; that the joys of religion and communion with God keep them above the world. They are to manifest that this world is not their home. Their profession is, that heaven is a reality, and that they expect to dwell there for ever. But suppose they contradict this by their conduct, and live in such a way as to prove that they cannot be happy unless they have a full share of the fashion and show of the world, and that as for going to heaven, they had much rather remain on earth, than to die and go there! What do the world think, when they see a profession of religion just as much afraid to die as an infidel? Such Christians perjure themselves–they swear to a lie, for they testify that there is nothing in religion for which a person can afford to live above the world.
4. The guilt and danger of sinners. Christians are bound to warn sinners of their awful condition, and exhort them to flee from the wrath to come, and lay hold on everlasting life. But who does not know that the manner of doing this is every thing? Sinners are often struck under conviction by the very manner of doing a thing. There was a man once very much opposed to a certain preacher. On being asked to specify some reason, he replied, “I cannot bear to hear him, for he says the word HELL in such a way that it rings in my ears a long time afterwards.” He was displeased with the very thing that constituted the power of speaking that word. The manner may be such as to convey an idea directly opposite to the meaning of the words. A man may tell you that your house is on fire in such a way as to make directly the opposite impression, and you will take for granted that it is not your house that is on fire. The watchman might sing out FIRE, FIRE, in such a way that every body would think he was either asleep or drunk. A certain manner is so usually connected with the announcement of certain things that they cannot be expressed without that manner. The words themselves never alone convey the meaning, because the idea can only be fully expressed by a particular manner of speaking. Go to a sinner, and talk with him about his guilt and danger; and if in your manner you make an impression that does not correspond, you in effect bear testimony the other way, and tell him he is in no danger of hell. If the sinner believes at all that he is in danger of hell, it is wholly on other grounds than your saying so. If you live in such a way as to show that you do not feel compassion for sinners around you; if you show no tenderness, by your eyes, your features, your voice; if your manner is not solemn and earnest, how can they believe you are sincere?
Woman, suppose you tell your unconverted husband, in an easy, laughing way, “My dear, I believe you are going to hell;” will he believe you? If your life is gay and trifling, you show that either you do not believe there is a hell, or that you wish to have him go there, and are trying to keep off every serious impression from his mind. Have you children that are unconverted? Suppose you never say any thing to them about religion, or when you do talk to them it is in such a cold, hard, dry way as shows you have no feeling; do you suppose they believe you? They don’t see the same coldness in you in regard to other things. They are in the habit of seeing all the mother in your eye, and in the tones of your voice, your emphasis, and the like, and feeling the warmth of a mother’s heart as it flows out from your lips on all that concerns them. If, then, when you talk to them on the subject of religion, you are cold and trifling, can they suppose you believe it? If your deportment holds up before your child this careless, heartless, prayerless spirit, and then you talk to him about the importance of religion, the child will go away and laugh, to think you should try to persuade him there is a hell.
5. The love of Christ. You are to bear witness to the reality of the love of Christ, by the regard you show for his precepts, his honor, his kingdom. You should act as if you believed that he died for the sins of the whole world, and as if you blamed sinners for rejecting his great salvation. This is the only legitimate way in which you can impress sinners with the love of Christ. Christians, instead of this, often live so as to make the impression on sinners that Christ is so compassionate that they have very little to fear from him. I have been amazed to see how a certain class of professors want ministers to be always preaching about the love of Christ. If a minister preaches up duty, and urges Christians to be holy, and to labor for Christ, they call it all legal preaching. They say they want to hear the Gospel. Well, suppose you present the love of Christ. How will they bear testimony in their lives? How will they show that they believe it? Why, by conformity to the world, they will testify point blank, that they do not believe a word of it, and that they care nothing at all for the love of Christ, only to have it for a cloak, that they can talk about it, and so cover up their sins. They have no sympathy with his compassion, and no belief in it as a reality, and no concern for the feelings of Christ, which fill his mind when he sees the condition of sinners.
6. The necessity of holiness in order to enter heaven. It will not do to depend on talking about this. They must live holy, and thus testify that men need not expect to be saved, unless they are holy. The idea has so long prevailed that we cannot be perfect here, that many professors do not so much as seriously aim at a sinless life. They cannot honestly say that they ever so much as really meant to live without sin. They drift along before the tide, in a loose, sinful, unhappy and abominable manner, at which, doubtless, the devil laughs, because it is, of all others, the surest way to hell.
7. The necessity of self-denial, humility, and heavenly-mindedness. Christians ought to show by their own example what the religion is which is expected of men. That is the most powerful preaching, after all, and the most likely to have influence on the impenitent, by showing them the great difference between them and Christians. Many people are trying to make men Christians by a different course, by copying as near as possible their present manner of life, and conforming to them as much as will possibly do. They seem to think they can make men fall in with religion best by bringing religion down to their standard. As if the nearer you bring religion to the world, the more likely the world would be to embrace it. Now all this is as wide as the poles from the true philosophy of making Christians. But it is always the policy of carnal professors. And they think they are displaying wonderful sagacity and prudence by taking so much pains not to scare people at the mighty strictness and holiness of the Gospel. They argue that if you exhibit religion to mankind as requiring such a great change in their manner of life, such innovations upon their habits, such a separation from their old associates, why, you will drive them all away. This seems plausible at first sight. But it is not true. Let professors live in this lax and easy way, and sinners say, “Why, I do not see but I am about right, or at least so near right, that it is impossible God should send me to hell for the difference between me and these professors. It is true, they do a little more than I do, they go to the communion table, and pray in their families, and a few such like little things, but they cannot make any such great difference as heaven and hell.” No, the true way is, to exhibit religion and the world in strong contrast, or you never can make sinners feel the necessity of a change. Until the necessity of this fundamental change is embodied and held forth in a strong light by example, how can you make men believe they are going to be sent to hell if they are not wholly transformed in heart and life?
This is not only true in philosophy, but it has been proved by the history of the world. Look at the missions of the Jesuits in Japan, by Francis Xavier and his associates. How they lived, what a contrast they showed between their religion and the heathen, and what results followed! Now I was reading a letter from one of our missionaries in the East, who writes, I believe, to this effect, that a missionary must be able to rank with the English nobility, and so recommend his religion to the respect of the natives. He must get away up above them, so as to show a superiority, and thus impress them with respect! Is this philosophy? Is this the way to convert the world. You can no more convert the world in this way than by blowing a ram’s horn. It has no tendency that way. What did the Jesuits do? They went about among the people in the daily practice of self-denial before their eyes, teaching, and preaching, and praying, and laboring, unwearied and unawed, mingling with every caste and grade, bringing down their instructions to the capacity of every individual. And in that way the mission carried idolatry before it like a wave of the sea, and all at once their religion spread over the vast empire of Japan. And if they had not meddled with politics and brought themselves in needless collision with the government, no doubt they would have held their ground till this day. I am not saying anything in regard to the religion they taught, for I am not sure how much truth they preached with it. I speak only of their following the true policy of missions, by showing, by their lives, the religion they taught in wide contrast with a worldly spirit and the fooleries of idolatry. This one feature of their policy so commended itself to the consciences of the people that it was irresistible. If Christians contradict this one point, and attempt to accommodate their religion to the worldliness of men, they render the salvation of the world impossible. How can you make people believe that self-denial and separation from the world are necessary, unless you practise them?
8. Meekness, humility, and heavenly-mindedness. The people of God should always show a temper like the Son of God, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. If a professor of religion is irritable, and ready to resent an injury, and fly in a passion, and take the same measures as the world do to get redress, by going to law and the like, how is he to make people believe there is any reality in a change of heart? They cannot recommend religion while they have such a spirit. If you are in the habit of resenting injurious conduct; if you do not bear it meekly, and put the best construction that can be on it, you contradict the Gospel. Some people always show a bad spirit, ever ready to put the worst construction on what is done, and take fire at any little thing. This shows a great want of that charity which “hopeth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things,” But if a man always shows meekness under injuries, it will confound gainsaying. Nothing makes so solemn an impression upon sinners, and bears down with such a tremendous weight on their consciences, as to see a Christian, Christ-like bearing affronts and injuries with the meekness of a lamb. It cuts like a two-edged sword.
I will mention a case to show this. A young man abused a minister to his face, and reviled him in an unprecedented manner. The minister possessed his soul in patience, and spoke mildly in reply, telling him the truth pointedly, but yet in a very kind manner. This only made him the more angry, and at length he went away in a rage, declaring that he was not going to stay and bear this vituperation. As if it was the minister, instead of himself, that had been scolding. The sinner went away, but with the arrows of the Almighty in his heart, and in less than half an hour he followed the minister to his lodgings in intolerable agony, wept, and begged forgiveness, and broke down before God, and yielded up his heart to Christ. This calm and mild manner was more overwhelming to him than a thousand arguments. Now if that minister had been thrown off his guard, and answered harshly, no doubt he would have ruined the soul of that young man. How many of you have defeated every future effort you may make with your impenitent friends or neighbors, in some such way as this. On some occasion you have showed yourself so irascible, that you have sealed up your own lips, and laid a stumbling block over which that sinner will stumble into hell. If you have done it in any instance, do not sleep till you have done all you can to retrieve the mischief; till you have confessed the sin and done every thing to counteract it as far as possible.
9. The necessity of entire honesty in a Christian. Oh what a field opens here for remark! But I cannot go over it fully now. It extends to all the departments of life. Christians need to show the strictest regard to integrity in every department of business, and in all their intercourse with their fellow-men. If every Christian would pay a scrupulous regard to honesty, and always be conscientious to do exactly right, it would make a powerful impression on the minds of people of the reality of religious principle.
A lady was once buying some eggs in a store, and the clerk made a miscount and gave her one more than the number. She saw it at the time, but said nothing, and after she got home it troubled her. She felt that she had acted wrong, soon hurried back to the young man and confessed it and paid the difference. The impression of her conscientious integrity went to his heart like a sword. It was a great sin in her to conceal the miscount, because the temptation was so small; for if she would cheat him out of an egg, it showed that she would cheat him out of his whole store, if she could do it and not be found out. But her prompt and humble confession showed an honest conscience.
I am happy to say, there are some men who deal on this principle of integrity. And the wicked hate them for it. They rail against them, and vociferate in bar-rooms, that they never will buy goods of such and such individuals, that such a hypocrite shall never touch a dollar of their money, and all that, and then they will go right away and buy of them, because they know they shall be honestly dealt with. This is a testimony to the truth of religion, that is heard from Georgia to Maine. Suppose all Christians did so, what would be the consequence? Christians would run away with the business of the city. The Christians would soon do the business of the world. The great argument which some Christians urge, that if they do not do business upon the common principle, of stating one price and taking another, they cannot compete with men of the world, is all false–false in philosophy and false in history. Only make it your invariable rule to do right, and do business upon principle, and you control the market. The ungodly will be obliged to conform to your standard. It is perfectly in the power of the church to regulate the commerce of the world, if they will only themselves maintain perfect integrity.
And if Christians will do the same in politics, they will sway the destinies of nations, without involving themselves at all in the base and corrupting strife of parties. Only let Christians generally determine to vote for no man for any office, that is not an honest man and a man of pure morals, and let it be known that Christians are united in this, whatever may be their difference in political sentiments, and no man would be put up who is not such a character. In three years it would be talked about in taverns and published in newspapers, when any man is set up as a candidate for office, “What a good man he is, how moral, how pious!” and the like. And any political party would no more set up a known Sabbath-breaker, or a gambler, or a profane swearer, or a whoremonger, or a rum-seller, as their candidate for office, than they would set up the devil himself for president. The carnal policy of many professors, who undertake to correct politics by such means as wicked men employ, and who are determined to vote with a party, let the candidate be ever so profligate, is all wrong–wrong in principle, contrary to philosophy and common sense, and ruinous to the best interests of mankind. The dishonesty of the church is cursing the world. I am not going to preach a political sermon, I assure you. But I want to show you, that if you mean to impress men favorably to your religion by your lives, you must be honest, strictly honest, in business, politics, and every thing you do. What do you suppose those ungodly politicians, who know themselves to be playing a dishonest game in carrying an election, think of your religion when they see you uniting with them? They know you are a hypocrite!
REMARKS.
1. It is unreasonable for professors of religion to wonder at the thoughtlessness of sinners.–Every thing considered, the carelessness of sinners is not wonderful. We are affected by testimony, and only by that testimony which is received by our minds. Sinners are so taken up with business, pleasure, and the things of the world, that they will not examine the Bible to find out what religion is. Their feelings are excited only on worldly subjects, because these only are brought into warm contact with their minds. The things of the world make therefore a strong impression. But there is so little to make an impression on their minds in respect to eternity, and to bring religion home to them, that they do not feel on the subject. If they examined the subject they would feel. But they do not examine it, nor think upon it, nor care for it. And they never will, unless God’s witnesses rise up and testify. But inasmuch as the great body of Christians in fact live so as to testify on the other side by their conduct, how can we expect that sinners will feel right on the subject? Nearly all the testimony and all the influence that comes to their minds tends to make them feel the other way. God has left his cause here before the human race, and left his witnesses to testify in his behalf, and behold, they turn round and testify the other way! Is it any wonder that sinners are careless?
2. We see why it is that preaching does so little good; and how it is that so many sinners get gospel-hardened. Sinners that live under the Gospel are often supposed to be gospel-hardened; but only let the church wake up, and act consistently, and they will feel. If the church were to live only one week as if they believed the Bible, sinners would melt down before them. Suppose I were a lawyer, and should go into court and spread out my client’s case, the issue is joined, and I make my statements, and tell what I expect to prove, and then call in my witnesses. The first witness takes his oath, and then rises up and contradicts me to my face. What good will all my pleading do? I might address the jury a month, and be as eloquent as Cicero, but so long as my witnesses contradicted me, all my pleading would do no good. Just so it is with a minister who is preaching in the midst of a cold, stupid, and God-dishonoring church. In vain does he hold up to view the great truths of religion, when every member of the church is ready to swear he lies. Why, in such a church, their very manner of going out of the aisles contradicts the sermon. They press out as cheerful and as easy, bowing to one another, and whispering together, as if nothing was the matter. Let the minister warn every man daily with tears, it will produce no effect. If the devil should come in and see the state of things, he would think he could not better the business for his interest.
Yet there are ministers who will go on in this way for years, preaching over the heads of such a people, that by their lives contradict every word they say, and they think it their duty to do so. Duty! To preach to a church that are undoing all his work, and contradicting all his testimony, and that will not alter! No. Let him shake off the dust from his feet for a testimony, and go to the heathen, or to the new settlements. The man is wasting his energies, and wearing out his life, and just rocking the cradle for a sleepy church, all testifying to sinners, there is no danger. Their whole lives are a practical testimony that the Bible is not true. Shall ministers continue to wear themselves out so? Probably not less than ninety-nine-hundredths of the preaching in this country is lost, because it is contradicted by the church. Not one truth in a hundred that is preached takes effect, because the lives of professors testify that it is not so.
3. It is evident that the standard of Christian living must be raised, or the world will never be converted. If we had as many church members now as there are families, and scattered all over the world, and a minister to every five hundred souls, and every child in a Sabbath-school, and every young person in a Bible-class, you would have all the machinery you want, but if the church contradict the truth by their lives, it never would produce a revival.
They never will have a revival in any place while the whole church in effect testify against the minister. Often it is the case that where there is the most preaching, there is the least religion, because the church contradict the preaching. I never knew means fail of a revival where Christians live consistently. One of the first things is to raise the standard of religion, so as to embody and hang out in the sight of all men, the truth of the Gospel. Unless ministers can get the church to wake up and act as if religion was true, and back their testimony by their lives, in vain will they attempt to promote a revival.
Many churches are depending on their minister to do everything. When he preaches, they will say, “What a great sermon that was. He’s an excellent minister. Such preaching must do good. We shall have a revival soon, I do not doubt.” And all the while they are contradicting the preaching by their lives. I tell you, if they are depending on preaching alone to carry on the work, they must fail. If Jesus Christ were to come and preach, and the church contradict it, he would fail. It has been tried once. Let an apostle rise from the dead, or an angel come down from heaven and preach, without the church to witness for God, and it would have no effect. The novelty might produce a certain kind of effect for a time, but as soon as the novelty was gone, the preaching would have no saving effect, while contradicted by the witnesses.
4. Every Christian makes an impression by his conduct, and witnesses either for one side or the other. His looks, dress, whole demeanor, make a constant impression on one side or the other. He cannot help testifying for or against religion. He is either gathering with Christ, or scattering abroad. Every step you take, you tread on chords that will vibrate to all eternity. Every time you move, you touch keys whose sound will re-echo over all the hills and dales in heaven, and through all the dark caverns and vaults of hell. Every movement of your lives, you are exerting a tremendous influence, that will tell on the immortal interests of souls all around you. Are you asleep, while all your conduct is exerting such an influence?
Are you going to walk in the street? Take care how you dress. What is that on your head? What does that gaudy ribbon, and those ornaments upon your dress, say to every one that meets you? It makes the impression that you wish to be thought pretty. Take care! You might just as well write on your clothes, “NO TRUTH IN RELIGION.” It says, “GIVE ME DRESS, GIVE ME FASHION, GIVE ME FLATTERY, AND I AM HAPPY.” The world understand this testimony as you walk the streets. You are “living epistles, known and read of all men.” If you show pride, levity, bad temper, and the like, it is like tearing open the wounds of the Saviour. How Christ might weep to see professors of religion going about hanging up his cause to contempt at the comers of streets. Only “let the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array, but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works;” only let them act consistently, and their conduct will tell on the world, heaven will rejoice and hell groan at their influence. But oh, let them display vanity, try to be pretty, bow down to the goddess of fashion, fill their ears with ornaments, and their fingers with rings. Let them put feathers in their hats, and clasps upon their arms, lace themselves up till they can hardly breathe. Let them put on their “round tires and walk mincing as they go,” and their influence is reversed. Heaven puts on the robes of mourning, and hell may hold a jubilee.
5. It is easy to see why revivals do not prevail in a great city. How can they? Just look at God’s witnesses, and see what they are testifying to. They seem to be agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord, and lie to the Holy Ghost. They make their vows to God, to consecrate themselves wholly to him, and then go bowing down at the shrine of fashion, and then wonder there are no revivals. It would be more than a miracle to have a revival under such circumstances. How can a revival prevail in this church? Do you suppose I have such a vain imagination of my own ability, as to think I can promote a revival by preaching over your heads, while you live on as some of you do? Do you not know that so far as your influence goes, many of you are right in the way of a revival? Your spirit and deportment produce an influence on the world against religion. How shall the world believe religion, when the witnesses are not agreed among themselves? You contradict yourselves, you contradict one another, and you contradict your minister, and the sum of the whole testimony is, there is no need of being pious.
Do you believe the things I have been preaching are true, or are they the ravings of a disturbed mind? If they are true, do you recognize the fact that they have reference to you? You say, perhaps, “I wish some of the rich churches could hear it!” Why, I am not preaching to them, I am preaching to you. My responsibility is to you, and my fruits must come from you. Now are you contradicting it? What is the testimony on the leaf of the record that is now sealed for the judgment concerning this day? Have you manifested a sympathy with the Son of God, when his heart is bleeding in view of the desolations of Zion? Have your children, clerks, servants, seen it to be so? Have they seen a solemnity on your countenance, and tears in your eyes, in view of perishing souls?
FINALLY. –I must close by remarking, that God and all moral beings have great reason to complain of this false testimony. There is ground to complain that God’s witnesses turn and testify point-blank against him. They declare by their conduct that there is no truth in the gospel. Heaven might weep and hell rejoice to see this. Oh, how guilty! Here you are, going to the judgment, red all over with blood. Sinners are to meet you there, those who have seen how you live, many of them already dead, and many others you will never see again. What an influence you have exerted! Perhaps hundreds of souls will meet you in the judgment, and curse you (if they are allowed to speak) for leading them to hell, by practically denying the truth of the gospel. What will become of this city, and of the world, when the church is united in practically testifying that God is a liar? They testify by their lives, that if they make a profession and live a moral life, that is religion enough. Oh, what a doctrine of devils is that! Enough to ruin the whole human race.
The design of this article is to propound several rules by a steady conformity to any one of which a man may preach so as not to convert anybody. It is generally conceded at the present day that the Holy Spirit converts souls to Christ by means of truth adapted to that end. It follows that a selfish preacher will not skillfully adapt means to convert souls to Christ, for this is not his end.
Rule 1st. Let your supreme motive be to secure your own popularity; then, of course, your preaching will be adapted to that end, and not to convert souls to Christ.
2d. Aim at pleasing, rather than at converting your hearers.
3d. Aim at securing for yourself the reputation of a beautiful writer.
4th. Let your sermons be written with a high degree of literary finish.
5th. Let them be short, occupying in the reading not to exceed from twenty to thirty minutes.
6th. Let your style be flowery, ornate, and quite above the comprehension of the common people.
7th. Be sparing of thought, lest your* sermon contain truth enough to convert a soul.
8th. Lest your sermon should make a saving impression, announce no distinct propositions or heads, that will be remembered, to disturb the consciences of your hearers.
9th. Make no distinct points, and take no disturbing issues with the consciences of your hearers, lest they remember these issues, and become alarmed about their souls.
10th. Avoid a logical division and subdivision of your subject, lest you should too thoroughly instruct your people.
11th. Give your sermon the form and substance of a flowing, beautifully written, but never-to-be-remembered essay; so that your hearers will say “it was a beautiful sermon,” but can give no further account of it.
12th. Avoid preaching doctrines that are offensive to the carnal mind, lest they should say of you, as they did of Christ, “This is a hard saying. Who can hear it?” and that you are injuring your influence.
13th. Denounce sin in the abstract, but make no allusion to the sins of your present audience.
14th. Keep the spirituality of God’s holy law, by which is the knowledge of sin, out of sight, lest the sinner should see his lost condition and flee from the wrath to come.
15th. Preach the Gospel as a remedy, but conceal or ignore the fatal disease of the sinner.
16th. Preach salvation by grace; but ignore the condemned and lost condition of the sinner, lest he should understand what you mean by grace, and feel his need of it.
17th. Preach Christ as an infinitely amiable and good-natured being; but ignore those scathing rebukes of sinners and hypocrites which so often made his hearers tremble.
18th. Avoid especially preaching to those who are present. Preach about sinners, and not to them. Say they, and not you, lest any one should make a personal and saving application of your subject.
19th. Aim to make your hearers pleased with themselves and pleased with you, and be careful not to wound the feelings of any one.
20th. Preach no searching sermons, lest you convict and convert the worldly members of your church.
21st. Avoid awakening uncomfortable memories by reminding your hearers of their past sins.
22d. Do not make the impression that God commands your hearers now and here to obey the truth.
23d. Do not make the impression that you expect your hearers to commit themselves upon the spot and give their hearts to God.
24th. Leave the impression that they are expected to go away in their sins, and to consider the matter at their convenience.
25th. Dwell much upon their inability to obey, and leave the impression that they must wait for God to change their natures.
26th. Make no appeals to the fears of sinners; but leave the impression that they have no reason to fear.
27th. Say so little of Hell that your people will infer that you do not believe in its existence.
28th. Make the impression that, if God is as good as you are, He will send no one to Hell.
29th. Preach the love of God, but ignore the holiness of His love, that will by no means clear the impenitent sinner.
30th. Often present God in his parental love and relations; but ignore His governmental and legal relations to His subjects, lest the sinner should find himself condemned already and the wrath of God abiding on him.
31st. Preach God as all mercy, lest a fuller representation of His character should alarm the consciences of your hearers.
32d. Try to convert sinners to Christ without producing any uncomfortable convictions of sin.
33d. Flatter the rich, so as to repel the poor, and you will convert none of either class.
34th. Make no disagreeable allusions to the doctrines of self-denial, cross-bearing, and crucifixion to the world, lest you should convict and convert some of your churchmembers.
35th. Admit, either expressly or impliedly, that all men have some moral goodness in them; lest sinners should understand that they need a radical change of heart, from sin to holiness.
36th. Avoid pressing the doctrine of total moral depravity; lest you should offend, or even convict and convert, the moralist.
37th. Do not rebuke the worldly tendencies of the church, lest you should hurt their feelings, and finally convert some of them.
38th. Should any express anxiety about their souls, do not probe them by any uncomfortable allusion to their sin and ill-desert; but encourage them to join the church at once, and exhort them to assume their perfect safety within the fold.
39th. Preach the love of Christ not as enlightened benevolence, that is holy, just, and sin-hating; but as a sentiment, an involuntary and undiscriminating fondness.
40th. Be sure not to represent religion as a state of loving self-sacrifice for God and souls; but rather as a free and easy state of self-indulgence. By thus doing you will prevent sound conversions to Christ, and convert your hearers to yourself.
41st. So select your themes and so present them as to attract and flatter the wealthy, aristocratic, self-indulgent extravagant, pleasure-seeking classes, and you will not convert any of them to the cross-bearing religion of Christ.
42d. Be time-serving, or you will endanger your salary; and, besides, if you speak out and are faithful, you may convert somebody.
43d. Do not preach with a divine unction, lest your preaching make a saving impression.
44th. To avoid this, do not maintain a close walk with God, but rely upon your learning and study.
45th. Lest you should pray too much, engage in light reading and worldly amusements.
46th. That your people may not think you in earnest to save their souls, and, as a consequence, heed your preaching, encourage church-fairs, lotteries, and other gambling and worldly expedients to raise money for church purposes.
47th. If you do not approve of such things, make no public mention of your disapprobation, lest your church should give them up, and turn their attention to saving souls and be saved themselves.
48th. Do not rebuke extravagance in dress, lest you should uncomfortably impress your vain and worldly churchmembers.
49th. Lest you should be troubled with revival scenes and labors, encourage parties, pic-nics, excursions, and worldly amusements, so as to divert attention from the serious work of saving souls.
50th. Ridicule solemn earnestness in pulling sinners out of the fire, and recommend, by precept and example, it jovial, fun-loving religion, and sinners will have little respect for your serious preaching.
51st. Cultivate a fastidious taste in your people, by avoiding all disagreeable allusions to the last judgment and final retribution.
52d. Treat such uncomfortable doctrines as obsolete and out of place in these days of Christian refinement.
53d. Do not commit yourself to much-needed reforms, lest you should compromise your popularity and injure your influence. Or you may make some branch of outward reform a hobby, and dwell so much upon it as to divert attention from the great work of converting souls to Christ.
54th. So exhibit religion as to encourage the selfish pursuit of it. Make the impression upon sinners that their own safety and happiness is the supreme motive for being religious.
55th. Do not lay much stress upon the efficacy and necessity of prayer, lest the Holy Spirit should be poured out upon you and the congregation, and sinners should be converted.
56th. Make little or no impression upon your hearers, so that you can repeat your old sermons often without its being noticed.
57th. If your text suggest any alarming thought, pass lightly over it, and by no means dwell upon and enforce it.
58th. Avoid all illustrations, repetitions, and emphatic sentences, that may compel your people to remember what you say.
59th. Avoid all heat and earnestness in your delivery, lest you make the impression that you really believe what you say.
60th. Address the imagination, and not the conscience, of your hearers.
61st. Make it your great aim to be personally popular with all classes of your hearers.
62d. Be tame and timid in presenting the claims of God, as would become you in presenting your own claims,
63d. Be careful not to testify from your own personal experience of the power of the Gospel, lest you should produce the conviction upon your hearers that you have something which they need.
64th. See that you say nothing that will appear to any of your hearers to mean him or her, unless it be something flattering.
65th. Encourage church sociables, and attend them yourself, because they tend so strongly to levity as to compromise Christian dignity and sobriety, and thus paralyze the power of your preaching.
66th. Encourage the cultivation of the social in so many ways as to divert the attention of yourself and your churchmembers from the infinite guilt and danger of the unconverted among you.
67th. In those sociables talk a little about religion, but avoid any serious appeal to the heart and conscience of those who attend, lest you should discourage their attendance, always remembering that they do not go to socials to be earnestly dealt with in regard to their relations to God. In this way you will effectually so employ yourself and churchmembers as that your preaching will not convert anybody.
The experience of ministers who have steadily adhered to any of the above rules will attest the soul-destroying efficacy of such a course, and churches whose ministers have steadily conformed to any of these rules can testify that such preaching does not convert souls to Christ.
We must first recognize that open-air preaching is an acquired skill as opposed to being a supernatural gift. That notion that preaching is a “gift” is in fact a great myth-conception. “He who wins souls is wise” (Prov. 11:30), yet some view soul winning as though it said, “He who wins souls is gifted.” Public speaking may come more naturally to some and seem quite fearful to others. Open-air preaching will not be easy for everyone who is supposed to do it. Once we view preaching as a skill we can learn to improve our skills to better present the gospel to the lost. It’s been said that “the worst tragedy of your life would be if you step on the stage of history and can’t remember your lines.” This is our chance and our time to make an eternal impact for the King of Heaven. My prayer is that we all be well equipped for the war that is in front of us. May this help feather your arrows and sharpen your axes.
II. Passionate, Fiery Preaching
History has shown that people will listen to anybody talk about anything so long as it is said with passion. Even a wicked man like Hitler had a massive following that believed his lies because he spoke with passion. If you want others to believe you, you must first believe yourself. The Israelites followed “fire by night” (Ex 13:22) and in this dark hour we need our lamps to shine the brightest in order to lead the multitudes out of bondage and into the Promised Land.
C. H. Spurgeon said, “If I were asked – What in a Christian minister is the most essential quality for securing success in winning souls for Christ? I should reply, ‘earnestness.’ And if I were asked a second or a third time, I should not vary that answer, for personal observation drives me to the conclusion that, as a rule, real success is proportionate to the preacher’s earnestness. Both great men and little men succeed if they are thoroughly alive unto God, and fail if they are not so…”[1]
Spurgeon said, “In many instances ministerial success is traceable almost entirely to an intense zeal, a consuming passion for souls, and an eager enthusiasm in the cause of God, and we believe that in every case, other things being equal, men prosper in the divine service in proportion as their hearts are blazing with holy love. ‘The God that answers by fire, let him be God’; and the man who has a tongue of fire, let him be God’s minister.”[2]
This one characteristic of earnestness, zeal, and passion was so important and valued by this master orator that he went on to say “No man who preaches the gospel without zeal is sent from God to preach at all.”[3]
As a general rule, monotone preaching is not very moving preaching. You will sooner see a row boat tugging an ocean liner or a go-cart toeing a Mac truck before you see a monotone preacher persuading those who are dead in their sins towards repentance. Fire begets fire. Passionate preachers will create passionate converts. Preaching that is cold and dry will typically not create hearts that are ablaze for the Lord. “ Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jer. 23:29)
If passion and urgency belong anywhere at all, they belong in preaching repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ. If men can be passionate about earthly things, how much more can we be passionate about eternal things?
Dr. Michael Brown said, “Here is an overwhelming truth. Every human being will experience either eternal life or eternal loss, eternal peace or eternal pain, eternal blessing or eternal burning.”[4]
Oh! That we may preach as though we truly believed this! May the lost see the seriousness in our eyes and hear the urgency in our voices. Jeremiah spoke with tears in his eyes and fire in his words. “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay” (Jer. 20:9).
Charles G. Finney said, “Go to a sinner, and talk to him about his guilt and danger; and if in your manner you make an impression that does not correspond, you in effect bear testimony the other way, and tell him he is in no danger. If the sinner believes at all that he is in danger of hell, it is wholly on other grounds than you saying so. If you live in such a way as to show that you do not feel compassion for sinners around you; if you show no tenderness, by your eyes, your features, your voice, if your manner is not solemn and earnest, how can they believe you are sincere?”[5]
A preacher once asked a successful actor how it was that he was able to attract multitudes of people to watch him perform, while he was struggling to get crowds to hear him preach. The actor responded with something to the effect of, “I present artificial stories as though they were real, while you present real stories as though they were artificial.”
III. Be A Story-Teller
A good preacher is a good story teller. While people may not remember the words they heard, they will remember the images and pictures that they imagined. We must aim to bring people through an experience of the imagination rather than merely having them receive intellectual information. We want the message to be felt, not merely heard. We do this through using illustrations that will engage their imagination.
A. W. Tozer said, “The value of a cleansed imagination in the sphere of religion lies in its power to perceive in natural things shadows of things spiritual. It enables the reverent man to ‘see the world in a grain of sand…and eternity in an hour.”[6]
C. S. Lewis said, “All our truth, or all but a few fragments, is won by metaphor.”[7]
The Master of Metaphors, Christ Jesus, taught with what I call “profound simplicity” so that both children and theologians could say “I get it.” Christ was profoundly simple and therefore he was simply profound. He spoke about the birds of the air, the grass of the ground, the trees of the woods, the fields of the land, the seeds of the farmers, the vines of vineyards, and pulled out divine truth from ordinary objects.
Oswald Chambers said, “Learn to associate ideas worthy of God with all that happens in nature – the sunrises and the sunsets, the sun and the stars, the changing seasons, and your imagination will never be at the mercy of your impulses, but will always be at the service of God.”[8]
While ministering on a beach you may say, “Living in sin is like swimming in the ocean. It certainly is fun, but it wears on you through time. You can’t swim forever! If you try you will certainly die. You need to get onto dry land and be restored in strength. True repentance is just that. Turning away from sin and to the solid rock of Jesus Christ because you know that if continue to swim in sin you will die.” Or you can say something like, “God’s grace is not simply sun-tan lotion to keep you from getting burned when you play under the sun of sin. God’s grace is like a full grown tree providing shadow for those weary of being beaten by the scourging rays of sin.”
When preaching on a college campus you may say, “God will not ‘grade on the curve’ and there is no way that you can skip the Final Exam that He gives.”
When you are arrested for preaching and are brought before the courts, ask the judge if he is ready to stand in The Court Room of the Judge of Judges.
If ministering to those waiting outside a court house to get in, put it in terms they will understand. “One day you will have to answer in God’s courthouse for the crimes you’ve committed against Him. In that Day your conscience will be the witnessing, the Law will be the merciless prosecutor, God will sit as Judge, but Christ can be your advocate if you’d have Him.” Take something that people know in order to teach them something that they don’t know.
Warren W. Wiersbe said, “It’s by using metaphorical language that you turn people’s ears into eyes and help them see the truth.”[9]
Use your words to take sinners on a tour of hell. Let them see the souls in tormenting flames crying out in continual pain and eternal agony. Let them smell the burning flesh and the burning sulfur. Let them feel the great and terrible horror of God’s true and righteous judgments. Then take them on a tour of Heaven to see all the wonders and glories of God. Let them hear the praises of the heavenly hosts. Let them see the glorious and victorious Lamb that was slain; to see the precious red blood that was spilt for them. Let them feel the peace of God’s prepared resting place for all His Saints.
God is an artist. We are his brushes. Words are His paint. Hearts and minds are His canvases. And His desire is to paint a masterpiece!
IV. Preach Life from Your Own Life
A testimony is a powerful weapon in the hands of a witness. As the saying goes, “A man with an experience is not at the mercy of a man with an argument.” Who can argue with your personal testimony? Who can tell you what you did or did not experience? What is a witness if he is not someone who testifies to that which he has seen and heard? It is of such high importance that we use our testimonies when testifying that the Bible mentions it multiple times and God is typically not one to repeat himself! “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). “For thou shall be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard” (Acts 22:15), “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3). “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Rev. 12:11).
I would recommend telling the crowd your testimony, even if it is brief, as soon as possible. This can lay the firm foundation of rapport for the rest of your message and will also serve by shattering any “holier than thou” misconceptions that they might have. Give people water to drink out of the wells of personal experience. Certainly some will have deeper wells to draw from than others but all should have water that can be pulled from them just the same.
V. To Know What To Preach, Know To Whom You Preach
We must know our audience if we are going to preach to our audience. The crowds are quite different if you are preaching on a college campus or if you are preaching in front of a bar. What will stir up people in one place will fall on deaf ears in another.
The words of your preaching needs to match the lives of your hearers. You find out where the people are in order to know where to take them. If we are going to preach against the sins of the people, we need to know what their prevalent sins are. On a college campus you may attack sexual immorality and humanistic philosophies, while in the downtown areas late on a Saturday night you would attack the sin of drunkenness. If people are to be personally convicted for their sins, we must not be afraid to preach against their personal sins. This is the way that we need to be “relevant” to our audience.
One dark night I was walking to my car to drive home as I got my keys out of my pocket. When I put my key into the car door I found that it wouldn’t turn. I struggled and struggled to make it turn, remembering that sometimes it gets stuck. No matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t turn. Rather then breaking the key in the door I stopped and took a step back to try to figure out what I was going to do. As I stepped back and looked at the car I realized the problem – it was the wrong car! It was the right key, just the wrong car. But in order to notice it was the wrong car I needed to step back. Many preachers do the same thing as they walk into the pulpit or stand up on a street corner. They don’t step back and take a look at the crowd so they too often are preaching the right words to the wrong crowd and then get frustrated when they fail to get the result they wanted.
While preaching in Daytona during a college Spring Break I realized that I needed to adjust my message. The typical message that I would preach in a normal park would not grab the attention of those there who were so focused on sin. I would have merely been a single buzzing fly in the midst of a jungle full of animals. Taking a step back and looking at those I was trying to preach to, I fitted my message to fit their lives. Everyone was walking around with alcohol, men had cameras to film sin, and women were wearing what some were scarcely call and others would dare to call clothing. “People, put your alcohol down! Men, put your camera’s down. Women, put your clothes on! The wages of sin is death! Turn to God and live!” It wasn’t until we fitted our message to the audience that we got a reaction out of the audience because the bullets were hitting the bulls eye as the words were now hitting home. Peter did this when he said “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.” (Acts 4:10).
To captivate the attention of our calloused society and pierce their hearts with the conviction of sin we must not merely preach to sinners but we must preach at them. That is the Bible example or model we see from the prophets, Jesus Christ, and the Apostles.
When Stephen preached in the open air, and was full of the Holy Ghost, and brought conviction of sin to his audience, this is what he said, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it” (Acts 7:51-53).
Charles Finney said, “Bring up the individual’s particular sins. Talking in general terms against sin will produce no results. You must make a man feel that you mean him. A minister, who cannot make his hearers feel that he means them, cannot expect to accomplish much. Some people are very careful to avoid mentioning the particular sins of which they know the individual to be guilty, for fear of hurting his feelings. This is wrong. If you know his history, bring up his particular sins. Kindly, but plainly; not to give offense, but to awaken conscience, and give full force to the truth.”[10]
This revivalist goes on to say “Preaching should be direct. The gospel should be preached to men, not about them. The Minster must address his hearers. He must preach to them about themselves, and not leave the impression that he is preaching to them about others, He will never do them any good, further than he succeeds in convincing each individual that he is the person in question.”[11]
Billy Sunday said, “The law tells me how crooked I am. Grace comes along and straightens me out.”[12]
VI. God’s Word, not our words, never returns void
While preaching the gospel, quote the bible as much as possible even if the audience doesn’t know you are preaching scriptures. Nothing that we can say will be more powerful then what God has already said. We must take the time to remember the scriptures that will be relevant to those who are living in sin. Scriptures that are perfect would be: “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23), “God calls all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a Day when He will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:30-31), “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3), “God demonstrated His love towards us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8), “unless a man is born-again, he will by no means see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Fill your heart to the full with the Words of God so when you go to preach, they will flow out of you rather then being forced out of you. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (Joh 7:38)
VII. Go for the Jugular
It can be very easy to run off on a rabbit trail answering an objection. Never lose sight of what our mission truly is.
Warren W. Wiersbe reminds us “As we walk down the middle of the broad road, we meet lost people face to face; and our task as witnesses is to warn them that the map they’re using is all wrong and the destination they’re heading for is named destruction.”[13]
Go for the real issue, seek to solve the serious problem, and be “determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2)
Use every effort to turn every single answer to an objection back around to the message of repentance. If a man says that the bible is not true, reason with him as to why the bible is true. Then say “because the bible is true, then it is true that God is calling you to repent. You must do that today.” If someone says “Science disproves the bible”. Answer their objection and say “so because science confirms the bible, you need to obey the bible and repent.” While it is good to be on the defense at times, defending the faith, we must also learn how to switch it back over to the offense, over turning every stone until we come upon the snake of sin to kill it. Remember that it is God who is true, and every man a liar. (Ro. 3:4) It is the sinner that must be on the defense. He should either be defending his sin from the Spirits attacks or surrender the fight, yielding his life wholly to God.
The aim, the goal, the desired result by both Christians and Christ is a spiritual conversion, not merely a spiritual conversation. If you have thoroughly explained both “the goodness and severity of God” (Rom 11:22) then do not be afraid to stress immediate repentance. Our main objective is simple and clear: “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations.”(Luke 24:27). All down through the New Testament we are told that they preached repentance. John the Baptist: “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt 3:1-2.) Jesus: “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt 4:17) and “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Lu 13:3) Peter: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,” (Ac 3:19) “Then Peter said to them, “Repent” (Ac 2:38) Paul: “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,” (Ac 17:30) James: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (Jas 4:8) And all the disciples: “So they went out and preached that people should repent.” (Mr 6:12). Is this message foreign to many of our preachers?
Leonard Ravenhill said, “The evangelists today are very often prepared to be anything to anybody as long as they can get somebody to the altar for something.”[14]
We must preach one message: “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mr 1:15)
VIII. You don’t belong in a box! And neither does God.
There was a time that I become so dependant upon all the equipment that I brought out to help me with open-air preaching. I started feeling as though I couldn’t preach if I didn’t have my microphone with easel and displays. Yet no one in the early church had any of those things, they didn’t even have a bible to carry in their hands but they did have the Word in their hearts! I stood up to preach at a bus stop once and I heard a women say with horror in her voice “Oh no! Not him again! He always says the same things!” I put myself in a box that God never intended for me to be in. Don’t be afraid to break out of your box. Once when I was preaching someone yelled out: “let him who is without sin cast the first stone”. My canned response was “I am not throwing stones; I am throwing a rope to save those drowning in sin.” However rather then saying what I always say, I said “who is without sin? God is without sin and He has ten stones which He will one day throw. Those ten stones are his Ten Commandments etc etc.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones said “We are not going to fight this modern battle successfully by repeating the sermons of the Puritans verbatim, or adopting their classifications and sub-divisions, and their manner of preaching. That would be futile. We must learn to hold on to the old principles but we must apply them, and use them, in a manner that is up-to-date…The moment that we become slaves to any system – I do not care how good it was in it’s age and generation – we are already defeated, because we have missed this whole principal of adaptability.”[15]
We must witnessing using solid biblical principles, and be careful of falling into a set pattern of witnessing. Each individual is different, and yet each individual is the same. They all have the same problem: death and hell without Christ. Though a set pattern will not reach everyone, set principles such as Law before grace will.
IX. Use Humor and Entertainment
While it would be great if we could simply preach a 20 minute message out there on the streets to an attentive audience, it typically won’t work that way. Normally those on the streets are rather busy in their own lives, and it will take more then the average sermon to break them out of that. We must be entertaining. Even the prophets had to do out-of-the-norm acts to get peoples attention. Isaiah walked around barefoot, Ezekiel laid on his side, Jeremiah walked around with a yoke, John the Baptist was quite the spectacle himself wearing camel’s fur, a leather girdle, and eating bugs. However, we don’t always have to be “strange” to captive people’s attention. Some people are rather humorous; don’t be afraid to use your humor for the Lord. Some people are musically talented; use your talent to draw a crowd. What is your gifting and talents? Don’t be afraid to be creative.
We also must remember that we are called to preach the gospel, not entertain people or make them laugh. While entertainment and humor has its place, we must always be aware that we can entertain people and make them laugh even while they are on their way to hell. That is not doing a bit of good. We are to be much more then just another street entertainer, we are called to be preachers of the Gospel!
X. We must be Engaging to Keep the Crowd
While many people won’t stop to listen to a 20 minute sermon, many will stop if you are having a dialog back and forth with someone. While you’re preaching, ask questions and then pause to give someone walking by a chance to answer. “How many of you are out here to get drunk tonight?” as a crowd walking by starts to cheer. “But the bible says no drunkard will inherit eternal life. You guys are in big trouble. What are you going to do on Judgment Day?”
Be as inviting as you can for people to ask questions. Let them know that you want to dialog. You can say certain things that will stir up a potential heckler like “I just can not believe why a logical, reasonable person wouldn’t believe and live by the bible, it’s just so foolish not to” or “Does anyone here not believe in what I am saying?” Don’t be afraid to stir up a heckler. If you want to keep your crowd, you must connect with the crowd. Preach until you get a heckler, and use your heckler until you get a crowd. Then preach the Law until they are wounded, and then grace until they are healed.
While preaching at an “Earth Day” the only response I got from the crowd was strange stares, but no crowd. I studied the audience and saw a man dressed up as a Wizard with a hat, cape, and staff. As he was walking by I said “Wizards, witches, and warlocks God will judge” which got his attention really quick. He stopped and started heckling me which created quite a scene. Groups of people stopped, some sat in the grass, to see the man with a bible and the man dressed as a wizard verbally battle back and forth. Through that one heckler I was able to secure an engaging crowd that lasted for quite some time.
XI. To Preach the Gospel, You must live the Gospel
There is a true story of a well known preacher when he was young. The young man who just recently decided to be a preacher said to his Pastor “I’ve decided that I’m not going to preach anything that I am not living first.” The Pastor, after his many years of experience said “Then you’re not going to have many sermons.” The young man a bit stunned from his pastors response quickly thought about it and said “Well, at least they’ll all be good!”
Andrew Bonar said of Robert Murray M’Cheyne “from the first he fed others by what he himself was feeding upon. His preaching was in a manner the development of his soul’s experience. It was a giving out of the inward life. He loved to come up from the pastures wherein the Chief of Shepherds had met him- to lead the flock entrusted to his care to the spots where he found nourishment…His heart was filled, and his lips then spoke what he felt within his heart. He gave out not merely living water, but living water drawn at the springs that he had himself drunk of, and is not this true gospel ministry?”[16]
If you are to preach repentance, you must be walking in repentance. If you are to preach the gospel, you must be living the gospel. This is not an option; it is a direct order from God. “Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” (1 Co 9:14). A river never raises higher then its source. You can not expect others to live holy if you yourself are not. Civilians are not likely to keep the Laws that they see the government officials breaking.
Do you see a man who is battling with temptation? Then you see a man who is just like the Lord, who was Himself tempted yet without sin. (Heb 4:15). Do you see a man battling against sin? Then you see a man fighting a good fight, in fact you see a man fighting the most serious battle of all time. Some do not feel qualified to preach the gospel. And some truly are not qualified to preach the gospel. But the man who battles against sin is preciously the type of man who is qualified to preach open-air. So long as you are battling against sin and not surrendered to it, you can go out and recruit others to do battle against it as well.
John Wesley, one of history’s most successful open-air preachers, wrote in his Journal “I was much buffeted with temptation; but cried out and they fled away…and herein I found the difference between this and my former state chiefly consisted. I was striving, yea, fighting with all my might under the law as well as under grace. But then I was sometimes, if not often, conquered; now, I was always conqueror.”[17]
XII. Prayer; most power and yet most neglected weapon
The area of most vital importance seems to be the area most are weakest in. Prayer is our most dangerous weapon in this battle, and yet seems to be the most neglected weapon as well. If you are not willing to pray, then neither should you be willing to preach. I charge you prayer-less Christian, if you any love for the lost then pray for the lost. Do you suppose to win souls without praying first for them? I suppose you expect birds to fly without wings as well! We’ve many men who want to preach yet so little men who want to pray.
Martin Luther said “Three things make a divine: prayer, meditation, and temptation.”[18]
Pray before you go out witnessing, while you’re witnessing, and after you have witnessed. It is not the public ministries of the showmen that change the world but it is the private prayers of the saints that does.
Samuel Chadwick said, “Satan dreads nothing but prayer. The Church that lost its Christ was full of good works. Activities are multiplied that meditation may be ousted, and organizations are increased that prayer may have no chance. Souls may be lost in good works, as surely as in evil ways. The one concern of the devil is to keep Saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayer-less studies, prayer-less work, prayer-less religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”[19]
William Cowper said, “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.”[20]
Is there a greater service to God and all of mankind than prayer? Prayer-less preaching is damaging preaching because you will be hardening the hearts of sinners and their condemnation will be worse on Judgment Day. Continually rub a dull knife on your hand and you will callous your skin instead of puncture it. But if you sharpen that knife it will slice the skin. If we ever hope to pierce the hard calloused hearts of sinners with conviction and see them converted rather than left in a worst state, we must sharpen our words through prayer until our words are sharper than a two edged sword.
Prayer serves as our reinforcements in this end time siege for souls. It must be our last resort as well as our first! Is there no power in your preaching? I may safely assume that there is no praying in your preaching either! Wherever our preaching goes, there also our praying should go. As a faithful follower and as a trust worthy friend our prayers must do the work of preparation and the work of follow-up.
A Christian cannot live anymore without prayer than a man can live without breathing. And when we see those around us dead in their sins, prayer is a spiritual “mouth to mouth” which breaths back into the dead the living breath of God in order to resurrect, restore, and revive them again to life.
John Wesley said “For if all your arguments and persuasive fail, there is yet another remedy left, and one that is frequently found effectual when no other method avails. This is prayer.”[21]
Oh that we preachers might say “we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).
XIII. Love As Christ Loved
Finally, we must love those to whom we minister. We must not merely say we love them, we must show that we love them. Love them enough to make yourself a fool. Have compassion enough to convict them of sin. “Open rebuke is better than secret love” (Prov. 27:5). Many in our day wrongfully mistake being “friendly” or “nice” as love. And because they do not want to ruin a friendship or ruin their image of being nice, they will not rebuke men for their rebellion against God. This is very unloving! Do you love God and the lost enough to be cast away by men that they may draw near to God? If you care about the man, you must warn the man to “flee from the wrath to come” (Mat 3:7).
Walter Russell Bowie said “The Christian Church does not need more popular preaching, but more unpopular preaching.”[22]
S. Hawkins wrote, “Many modern appeals are superficial or designed to make hearers feel good. Some churches even rejoice in the fact that people can attend their services without being made to feel guilty about their lifestyles, whatever it may be. Simon Peter’s appeal did not have that effect. It cut and pierced his hearers to the heart. Perhaps that is the reason 3,000 were saved and baptized that day, but also the reason one out of four churches in today’s greatest missionary-sending denomination cannot even baptize one new convert in an entire year!… Conviction always proceeds conversion.”[23]
We must remember that those whom we are preaching too are the very ones for whom Christ died. We must love them as He loves them. And in the ministry of Jesus Christ we see Him calling sinners to repentance, warning them about hell-fire, and rebuking those who remained impenitent. We need to follow the example of Jesus in loving sinners.
Street preacher Gerald Sutek wrote, “Though I preach on the streets of Harlem with a tongue of courage and fire and have not love, I am become a blaring boom box or a noisy muffler. And though I have the gift of voice and can rattle windows and anger shoppers three blocks away, and though I preach coarse and brash so that no person would dare approach me, and have not love, I am nothing. And though they spit at me and curse me and arrest me for disobeying a police officer, and though I may resist unto blood striving against sin, and have not love, it profits me nothing.”[24]
So now, when you go out into the world to preach the gospel, remember to yourself “I am now on the stage of history.” The question is, will you remember your lines?
Library of Theology 