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January, 1946
has happened? There is “ a famine of the hearing of the words of the Lord.” In some sections of our beloved country, the preaching of a Gospel sermon is the excep tion rather than the rule. All too many of our theological schools have forsaken the “living fountains of waters” and are hewing out “broken cisterns.” Hosts of young men leave such schools and go to their fields, not as prophets whose hearts have burned within them as Christ opened to them the Scriptures, but as social reformers inspired with the vision to “ build a new world.” You cannot build a new world upon the wisdom of sinful man! What of the thousands of supposedly orthodox churches which seem bereft of power and impotent in the face of the world’s tragic need? Can it be that we have laid aside our mightiest weapon? Can it be that organization without spiritual life, and sound doctrine without personal application, and nominal lip service rather than sincere heart service, have taken their toll? There is a way back! Individually, and as churches, we must “take the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God.” I am firmly convinced that any church whose pastor and people will constantly and continually mag
R. A. Torrey was a great preacher because he preached the Word. His last injunction to a former fellow student of mine, given shortly before his death, was, “Preach the Word!” Jonathan Goforth testified: “I think I can safely say that, during the forty-one years that I have been on the foreign field, I have never once addressed a Chinese audience without an open Bible in my hand, from which I coaid say, 'Thus saith ¿he Lord’ !” Yes, the preacher must realize with a passionate, intense, earnest conviction that he is called to preach the Word. But there is another consideration. His people must want and expect him to preach the Word. Many a preacher now playing around with short historical essays, brief literary gems, little, inoffensive sermon- ettes, or excursions into the field of social service, could be brought to the necessity of Bible preaching, if his people came to him and lovingly, earnestly, and sin cerely laid the challenge before him. “Like-people, like priest” is as true as “Like priest, like people.” A preacher on fire for the Lord may do much to transform a con gregation, but a congregation on fire for the Lord may do much to mold their preacher. Many a congregation yearns for the plain, unvarnished preaching of God’s
nify the Word will experi ence an outpouring of power from on high. So mighty is this weapon that there are no limits to what can be accom plished. Perhaps a word of per sonal testimony may be permitted. Possessed of a conviction that the great est need of our church is a knowledge of the Word, I have taken the Book, and, chapter by chapter, I have preached through many of its books. Three things have happened— the lost have been saved; the Lord’s own people have come to church in large numbers; the church has grown in grace and power. Over a period of
Word. Many people with hungry hearts come to church and receive a stone for bread, but perhaps they are partly to blame; they may n e v e r have prayed that their pastor might truly “preach the Word” ; they may never have opened their hearts to him in such a way that he was driven to the Word for every message. What is true of the preacher is true also of every Sunday school teacher, and of all who have the responsibil ity of leadership in the life of the church. It Shall Not Return Void From my student days at Biola, during college
' “ Even the darkness has a message of cheer. ' ; , The shadows point to the dawn. As I wake , in the twilight of the morning, I often see the ( glimmer of the street-lamps falling upon the • , walls of my chamber, but in a little while a , ' > lamp-lighter passes by and turns out one after ■ ! another, leaving the room in deeper darkness 1 than it had been at any time during the whole | . night. Yet I know that he is only putting out 1 ’ the street-lamps because he knows that in a ‘ ; little while the sun will rise and flood all the heavens with its light. So the darkness heralds , the dawn." — A. J . Gordon , **+>>**>**** * *+i*+++***** ^ + ^ 1
eight years’ ministry in Atlanta, Georgia, approximately eight hundred people made profession of faith in Christ under such preaching of the Word of God. In Washington, the nation’s capital, with all of its confusion and sin, the same blessing is being experienced. “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jer. 23:29). Where is our faith in the Word of God? Why should we conduct ourselves as though there were more power in our words than in the Bible? We must preach the Word, but we must preach the Word to people and not to empty pews. Pastor and people, by public proclamation and personal testimony, must use this mighty weapon! “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa. 55:10, 11).
and seminary training, and on through nearly twenty years of pastoral activity, there has been a growing con viction in my heart that in all of our work we must honor the Word of God supremely. We must believe it, love it, build upon it, follow it and obey it. The Word of the Lord and the work of the Lord are'forever bound together. According to numerous statements in the Book of Acts, it is the Word of God which grows and is multi plied, not the personality, reputation, or ability of the workers. "And the word of God increased; and the num ber of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly” (Acts 6:7). “But the word of God grew and multiplied (Acts 12:24). “So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed” (Acts 19:20). Compare those statements with the reports of the average church today! Look at the picture clearly. There is a cold formalism which for bids evangelistic fervor. There is a sleepy indifference which banishes concern for the lost. There is widespread worldliness which robs the churches of any real, vital testimony. Thousands of churches have abandoned their Sunday evening services; others have given up their prayer meetings. Many churches now close their doors entirely for the summer months. Some carry on, but there is neither heart nor power in their activities. What
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