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URGENCY IN PREACHING THE GOSPEL
INTRO:
After His resurrection, Jesus
said: "Go ye therefore, and teach
all nations... Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel to every creature. "
Matt.
28:19; Mark 16:15.
While being asked about how
his work was going a preacher replied, "We're holding down the fort….."
To which was the reply, "We need to be STORMING THE CASTLE!!"
1. In that "Great Commission"
is an urgent obligation for every Christian
A. Not just something
we need to "get around to sometime"
B. But what
should be # 1 PRIORITY
C. It is truly an
urgent matter. It always has been and will always be.
D. When Jeremiah
was given the word of the Lord, and people ridiculed he answered:
''And if I say,
I will not make mention of him, nor speak anymore 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.
E. John's message
was: "Repent ye:
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
Matt. 3:2.
F. Jesus said: ''I must work the works of him that sent me,
while it is day the night cometh when no man can work."
John 9:4.
G. When some of
the Jewish leaders would have silenced a multitude that was praising
Jesus, He told them:
"If these
should hold their peace, the stones would cry out" Lk.
19: 40.
H. When the
apostles were arrested for preaching the gospel and ordered to stop, they
answered:
"We
cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" Acts 4:20.
I. Each of these
great servants of God had a great sense of urgency in their preaching.
They would allow nothing to stand in their way.
Acts 8:4, Therefore, those who
had been scattered went about preaching the word.
It is still just as urgent to preach the gospel
today.
If you think about it…..Even more so
because there are so many
more people upon the earth.
I. IT IS URGENT BECAUSE
THE WORLD IS LOST.
A. ''All we like sheep have gone astray, we have
turned every one to his own way." Isa.53:6.
B. Paul says, in
Rom. 3:23, ''All have sinned, and come
short of the glory of God"
C. We see
evidence around us constantly that Satan rules in the lives of most people
in the world. It seems that irreverence and immorality rule the day
D. We can also
see the devil's influence in our lives, if we will but look.
1 Pet. 5:8, Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your
adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking
someone to devour.
Since Satan will always try to destroy the
gospel and its influence, it is all the most urgent that we preach it
1. In
many nations the Bible and its teaching are forbidden. It might soon come
to be that way here. It is already that way in our public schools…. The prophet Amos relates...
Amos 8: 11, ''Behold, days are coming," declares
the Lord GOD, ''When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread
or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.
E. Isaiah tells
us that sin separates us from God….''Your
iniquities have
separated between you and your God your sins have hid his
face from you."
Isa. 59:2.
1. But
the wonderful news that the world should know, is:
"God
so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16.
2. So,
the message of the gospel is that: God loves us, Christ died for us, and we
can come back to God through Jesus Christ.
3. His
ministry upon earth was to ''Seek and
save the lost." Luke 19:10.
F. Let us notice
what Paul says concerning the destructive work of Satan.
2 Cor.
4:3-4, "And even if our gospel is
veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the
minds of the unbelieving that they might not see the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God"
1. The
gospel enlightens, but Satan would keep the world in darkness. Eph.5:11
AS CHRISTIANS WE ARE TO:
(Eph 5:11 NASB) And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead
even expose them:
2. It
is urgent that we be ''Lights in the
world, holding forth the word of life." Phil. 2:16;
Mt. 5:14-16.
II. IT IS
URGENT BECAUSE JESUS DIED TO SAVE SINNERS.
A. Paul wrote: "Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners..." 1 Tim. 1:15.
B. To accomplish
our salvation, His death on the cross was necessary.
1. This
is borne out in such scriptures as: Heb. 2:9, 15; 9:22; 10:4;
Rom. 5:8-9.
2. What
a waste this would be, if He died for sinners and then we don't tell them
about it.
3. If
He cared enough to die on the cruel cross, we should care enough to carry
that message to those still in bondage to sin.
C. The urgency of
the gospel is further shown by the fact that there is no other savior
than Jesus Christ.
1. He
said: "I am the way, the truth, and
the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Jno. 14:6.
2. Peter
tells us in Acts 4:12,
''Neither is there salvation in any other.. "
3. Paul
said of His death, in 2 Cor. 5:14, "He died for all."
4. There
is no other sacrifice, there is no other Savior.
a. If
the world had an option, the preaching of the gospel might not be so
urgent.
1) But there is no option. If
one is not saved by Christ, he will be lost forever.
2) This makes our preaching the
more urgent.
III. IT IS
URGENT BECAUSE THE GOSPEL CAN AND DOES
SAVE.
A. The work of
the followers of Christ was very simple nearly 2000 years ago:
1. They
were told: "Preach the gospel to
every creature...Preach the word.. Preach
Christ, and him crucified." Mk. 16:15; 2 Tim. 4:2; 1 Cor. 1:23.
B. This was their
theme and their life.
1. Paul
wrote in Rom. 1:16, ''I am not ashamed of the gospel..."
C. And they lived
such lives as to prove that statement true!
1. ''In
season, out of season" in every place and in every tongue, they preached
the gospel.
2. Why?
Paul said: ''I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God
unto salvation." Rom. 1: 16.
D. Theirs was an
urgent message, for that gospel is "able
to save your souls."
Jas. 1:21.
E. Souls are
lost, and the gospel can save them: how can we dare not tell them?
F. We should all
carry the view of Paul expressed in 1 Cor. 9:16.
"Woe is unto me
if I preach not the gospel!"
G. Jesus pointed
out the process by which one comes to God.
1. "They shall all be taught of God. Every
man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the
Father, cometh unto me." Jno.
6:45.
2. Unlearned
people cannot come, they must hear and learn in order
to come to God by Jesus Christ.
a. ''without faith it is impossible to please
him." Heb. 11:6.
b. ''Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Rom. 10:17.
3. Without
the gospel, none could believe!
a. And,
believing, the lost must repent, Lk. 13:3,
b. but “Godly
sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation.” 2 Cor. 7:10
4. Only by hearing the gospel and learning our relationship
with God and the effect of sin is ''godly
sorrow" possible.
a. As
hearing leads to faith, so faith leads to repentance.
H. Whenever one
has heard, believed and repented, what then?
1. The
Ethiopian eunuch asked a question and received the answer:
Acts 8:36-38, And as they went along the road they came to some water; and
the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?" And Philip said, "If you believe with
all your heart, you may. " And
he answered and said, ''I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. "And
he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch; and he baptized him.
2. This
is the result of preaching the gospel: Even as Jesus promised.
Mk. 16:15-16.
3. Without
the preaching of the gospel, one could not believe; without faith one
could not be baptized scripturally.
4. When
believers, in Peter's day, asked, "What
shall we do?" Acts 2:37.
The gospel answer is found in Acts 2:38.
a. Still
true today.
I. Paul wrote of
the judgment to come in 2 Cor. 5: 10; then added: "Knowing the terror of the
Lord, we persuade men. "
1. Paul's
attitude of urgency is clearly seen in this statement:
2. He
wrote again in 2 Cor. 5:20, "We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God
did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
a. Then,
just three verses later he said, “behold
now is the accepted time; behold now is
the day of salvation.” 2 Cor. 6:2
3. We
too, must beseech, plead, persuade, and encourage people to hear, learn,
believe and obey the gospel with all urgency.
J. When God
spoke His ward by Jeremiah in the long ago, the prophet said:
1. "The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.. .Is there no
balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?" Jer.
8:20-22.
a. The
only balm or salve for lost souls today is the gospel of the Great
Physician, Jesus Christ.
b. Yes,
there is a balm in Gilead that will make the sinner whole.
c. This
balm must be applied to the lost, for they cannot be saved without
it.
d. And
it will not be applied unless we preach it.
IV. PREACHING
THE GOSPEL IS URGENT BECAUSE:
A. Death is
certain. Heb. 9:27.
B. The Judgment
is Sure.
C. Hell is so
horrible. Rev. 20:14-15.
D. Heaven is so Beautiful.
E. Eternity is so
Long.
CONCLUSION
1. Yes, we must hasten to preach the sow-saving gospel to a lost
and sin-sick world.
2. Let us now capture the urgency of the situation and arise and
hasten because the harvest is white
and the laborers are few.
3. How many sows will be lost in a Devil's hell because you and I
do not recognize the urgency of
preaching to them the gospel?