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THE KING’S BUSINESS
to be with Himself forever in conscious and eternal blessedness. Whatever you may say or leave unsaid, never forget that you must say this. This is your message. If you do not declare it in its fullness, you will be an unfaithful, and disobedient messenger o f Jesus Christ and He will set you aside and you will be punished for your infidelity rather than rewarded for your - fidelity. Conclusion: This is the one message for all mission ary lands. The ways o f presenting this message may vary according to the dif fering conditions among the people to whom we go, but in whatever way we vary the method o f presenting the message, this message we must present. The mistake has been often made o f thinking that before w£ present this Gospel message we must prepare the people for it. This is not qnly contrary to the practice of the apos tles, but to the best experience o f modern missionaries. Paul and Peter always began with this message as soon as they cbuld get a hearing and kept ringing the changes on this message. I once visited one o f the best known missionary colleges in India. It was under, thoroughly Christian aus pices, thoroughly orthodox auspices, but I was told it was not expected that, we should preach, the Gospel to the students there, that they thought that was not wise. What they were trying to do, they said, was to prepare a class of men to receive the Gospel. I found that the college had been going on for many years educating the men, even training them in the Bible, but definitely avoiding the direct presen tation o f the Gospel; and above all, avoid ing any attempt to bring the students to an acceptance and public confession o f Jesus Christ. The practical result, as I learned by inquiry, was that they had turned out one generation o f students after another to know the Bible in a theoretical sort of a way, and that consequently some o f the most dangerous opponents o f the Gospel in India had gone* out from that college, having been trained to know the Bible but
the 4th chapter of that epistle, “ I would not have you *to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word o f the Lord, that we which are alive, and are left unto the coming o f the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the-voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: so shall we ever be with the Lord. Where fore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Here then is the most specific command that they use this part o f the Gospel in comforting those that were in sorrow, the doctrine, or the “glad tid ings,” that the Lord Jesus Christ was com ing back personally to this world. It is evident that this glad news, just as good news as the news that He died for our sins, and just as good as the news that He rose again and ever liveth to make inter cession for us and to give us victory over sin, that our Lord Jesus is coming again personally and visibly, is an essential part o f the Gospel, The Missionary’s Message. To sum it all up, the Missionary’s Mes sage is that Christ died for our sins, a per fect atonement' for all the sins o f every man who will trust in Him; that Jesus Christ rose, again and is thereby accredited as a messenger sent from God Who spoke the very words o f God, as the Son o f God in an altogether unique sense, in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bod ily, and who lives to make intercession for us and who can come into our hearts and make His’ dwelling place there and shape our lives in conformity with His own; and that some day He is coming back again to this world to judge the world, to raise the dead, and take those who believe in Him
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