Evangelism

“ But only an example of multitudes who have become near-sighted and unfruitful through a so-called new evangelism that is not new. While giving good works their proper and important place, let us never forget that to save the individual soul for eternity through the gospel is the chief work of the church, and that it must ever subordinate the temporal and material to the spiritual and eternal. ”

“ This method [195] of Scripture interpretation makes evangelism an enterprise of fanatics not sufficiently educated to know that Buddha and Confucius were teachers of truth long before the time of Christ. Can we more surely dry up the sources of missionary contributions, than by yielding to the pernicious influence of this way of treating Scripture? We have gone far already in the wrong direction. Our churches are honeycombed with doubt and with indifference. The preaching of the old gospel of sin and salvation seems almost a thing of the past. ”

“ Thus the evangelists stand before us as absolutely reliable witnesses to the truth. And herein consists the secret of the beauty, simplicity, sanctity, and indestructible power of the holy Gospel. It is not the soul, the mind, the gifts of the writers that we find in them, but the soul, the mind, the thoughts, the maxims of Him who forms the subjects of their writings. Jesus lives in the gospels; He acts, He speaks, He touches the heart, He enlightens and sanctifies. Venerate, therefore, these wondrous pages ! Read them in a spirit of faith and with a heart overflowing with the love of God ”

“ Evangelist.—Thy sin is great, for thou hast gone from the way that is good, to tread in false paths, yet will the man at the gate let thee through, for he has love and good will for all men; but take heed that thou turn not to the right hand or to the left.
Then did Christian make a move to go back, and Evangelist gave him a kiss and one smile, and bade him God speed. ”

“ With regard to the composition of your sermons: first, let the matter be evangelical. The doctrine of the Gospel is a mould from heaven, and not changed. It puts its own impress and shape on the professor that is melted into it, so that his justification, sanctification, and all his salvation, flow from the merits of Christ; and all through God’s grace, and not of ourselves. The gospel, as a glass, should be kept clean and clear in the pulpit, that the hearers may see the glory of Christ, and be changed to the same image. Every duty is to be urged by evangelical motives. ”

“ Then Evangelist went on, and said, "Give heed to the things that I shall tell thee of. The man that met thee is one Worldly-wiseman, and he bears a fit name; in part, for that his creed is what the world holds; and in part, for that he loves such faith best, for it saves him from the cross. Now, there are three things in this man's words that thou must be sure and shun—his scheme to turn thee out of the way; his wish to make the cross a shame to thee; and his guile, which did tempt thee to set thy feet in that way that leads to death. ”

“ He mediates grace to us, and through faith in Christ we are linked to God as the “God of all grace.”
What a cheer and inspiration it is to have the assurance and guarantee that even a prayer like this, with its high standard and far-reaching possibilities, can and will be answered. Christianity provides not only an appeal, but a dynamic. He Who bids, enables; He Who calls, provides. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is at once a precept, a promise, a provision, and a power. ”

“ The Gospel that we preach is the power of God unto salvation; and the first principle of that Gospel is, as I have already said, faith in God, and faith in Jesus Christ His Son our Savior. We must believe that he is the character he is represented to be in the holy Scriptures. Believe that he told the truth when he said to his disciples, "Go ye forth and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned." ”

“ Christian.—One that I took to be a great and true man; his name is Evangelist.
Worldly Wiseman.—Hark at what I say: there is no worse way in the world than that which he has sent you, and that you will find if you take him for your guide. In this short time you have met with bad luck, for I see the mud of the Slough of Despond is on your coat. Hear me, for I have seen more of the world than you; in the way you go, you will meet with pain, woe, thirst, the sword too,—in a word, death! Take no heed of what Evangelist tells you. ”

“ May God grant them peace, and give them abundant consolation in believing. The people every where hear with American attention. Clergymen, wherever I sojourn, are generally my hosts. Gospel, unadulterated gospel, is pleasant to the believing soul; I content myself with showing that man is lost by sin; that the law is the ministration of death; that the gospel is a divine declaration of life, by Jesus Christ, to every creature. Yes, I will continue to preach the gospel freely to every creature. ”

“ The preaching of Jesus Christ, which was kept secret since the world began, now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith, Rom. xvi. 25, 26. The doctrine of grace and salvation by the gospel is for all ranks and conditions of men (slaves and servants, as well as masters) , therefore engaging and encouraging all to receive and believe it, and walk suitably to it, adorning it in all things. ”

“ And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." What blessed words! and then they doubtless explained to him that the faith here spoken of, meant such a belief in Jesus, as would lead to repentance for all sin so displeasing to Him, and make men strive to do all in their power to please Him: for to believe the Gospel, means to do all that the Gospel teaches. Such, no doubt, was the Apostles' teaching, as "they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house." ”

“ If therefore you take any thing to be church-reformation, but a full departure from the wisdom of this world, or any thing to be your entrance into a salvation-church, but the nature and Spirit of Christ, in you, then, whether Papist or Protestant, all will be just as much good to you, as when a Sadducee turns Publican, or a Publican a Pharisee.—And here it is well to be observed, that the church of Christ is solely for this end, to make us holy as he is holy. ”

“ The power of Christian experience to throw light upon Christian truth and upon the fortunes of Christ's people is one of the most remarkable characteristics of the fourth Gospel. It penetrates and pervades the whole. We listen to the expression of the Evangelist's own feelings as he is about to present to the world the image of his beloved Master, and he cries, "We beheld His glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father;" "Of His fulness we all received, and grace for grace." ”

“ The evangelical precepts are no other than divine lessons, they are the foundation of hope, the strengthening of faith, the food of charity; the Gospel is a rudder to steer our way through life, and helps us to reach the harbour of salvation. ”

“ From whose example every thinking man must infer, That not only the declaring the love of Christ to sinners, but also the declaring that he will come from heaven in flaming fire, is, in the apostle’s sense, preaching Christ. Yea, in the full scriptural meaning of the word. To preach Christ, is, to preach what he hath revealed, either in the old or new Testament: so that you are then as really preaching Christ, when you are saying, The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God, as when you are saying, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! ”

“ The plain truth is, that I see no other ground to occupy, and find no other rest for the sole of my foot. I lay no claim to infallibility, and desire to be no man's judge. But the longer I live and read, the more I am convinced and persuaded that Evangelical principles are the principles of the Bible, of the Articles and Prayer-book, and of the leading Divines of the reformed Church of England. Holding these views, I cannot write otherwise then I have written.
I now send forth this volume with an earnest prayer that God the Holy Ghost may bless it, and make it useful and helpful to many souls. ”

“ Evangelization makes men evangelical. When you tell the gospel to a heathen sinner, you must put it in the simplest terms, or he will fail to understand it. Your effort to reach his mind and heart clarifies your own. To one condemned and lost, no mere human example in Jesus will suffice; you need an atoning Saviour. To one struggling with demonic powers and helpless in their grasp, no mere man of Nazareth, no Jesus, according to the flesh, will answer; you need the Lord of Glory, who was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. ”

“ Dear brethren, the main weakness, I believe, of what is called Evangelical Christianity has been that it has not always kept true to the proportionate prominence which the New Testament gives to the two thoughts, 'Christ for us,' and 'Christ in us.' For one sermon that you have heard which has dwelt earnestly and believingly on the thought of the indwelling Christ and the Christian indwelling in Him, you have heard a hundred about the Sacrifice on the Cross for sins, and the great atonement that was made by it. ”

“ Jesus saith unto her, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know: for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshipers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth." ”

“ This Evangelion or gospel (that is to say, such joyful tidings) is called the New Testament; because that as a man, when he shall die, appointeth his goods to be dealt and distributed after his death among them which he nameth to be his heirs; even so Christ, before his death, commanded and appointed that such Evangelion, gospel, or tidings, should be declared throughout all the world, and therewith to give unto all that believe, all his goods; that is to say, his life, wherewith he swallowed and devoured up death; his righteousness, wherewith he banished sin ”

“ The opening of the heart to receive Christ, and the new sense of his pardoning grace and power, give to the converted man the key to the interpretation of Scripture, for "the mystery of the gospel," the central secret of Christianity, is "Christ in you, the hope of glory." He whom the Holy Spirit has first led to the knowledge of sin, and has then led to the acceptance of Christ, is prepared to enter into the meaning of Scripture, and no other man can understand it. ”

“ We must sit down humbly in the presence of God, look the whole subject in the face, examine clearly what the Lord Jesus calls sin, and what the Lord Jesus calls doing His will. We must then try to realize that it is terribly possible to live a careless, easy–going, half–worldly life, and yet at the same time to maintain evangelical principles and call ourselves evangelical people! Once we see that sin is far viler and far nearer to us and sticks more closely to us than we supposed, we will be led, I trust and believe, to get nearer to Christ. ”

“ It is not founded on a voice from heaven, bidding you be of good cheer, and go in peace, because your sins are forgiven you. It is founded on the fruits of the Spirit, and the testimony of Divine Revelation. True believers are “created anew in Christ Jesus, unto good works;” evincing the reality of their love to God by keeping his commandments.
Let us, therefore, give all diligence to make our calling and election sure. Let us examine ourselves, whether we are in the faith. Let us compare our religion with the precepts of the Bible, and the example of ancient saints. ”

“ Evangelical means and order they love to keep, for they diligently assemble themselves to wait upon God, to enable them to worship Him, where they both pray and prophesy, one by one, as prepared and moved in their hearts by His Spirit, and as anything is revealed to them. ”

“ The history of evangelical theology, with its conviction of sin, its self-despair, and its abandonment of salvation by works, is the deepest of possible examples, but we meet others in every walk of life. ”

“ The object of the evangelist is the awakening of souls and the revival of religion; his subjects, therefore, are properly adapted in their nature and in the manner of their presentation to secure that result. The range of topics is thus necessarily limited, and the manner is naturally stimulating and exciting. From this comparative narrowness in the range of his theme and of his biblical and theological investigation, there is danger of one-sidedness in his views of truth. ”

“ We shall not refer to the moral condition of man in countries under the influence of the gospel, compared with his condition in pagan lands. We will not dwell upon the fact which, of itself, is sufficient to establish at once and for ever the Divine origin of evangelical religion, and the truth of the distinctive views developed in the preceding chapters—that the most holy men and woman that have ever lived have been those who exercised most constant and implicit faith in Christ. ”

“ There were many holy-minded men at that time to be found, under the name of Evangelists, who, full of zeal for the service of God, were willing, after the example of the apostles, to renounce every worldly prospect, and devote themselves wholly to the propagation of the Christian religion. ”

“ Such trust in our Heavenly Father, we infer, must be a quite fundamental element in the righteousness of the kingdom. Do the evangelic texts bear out this inference? They do. In the synoptic records of our Lord's words, faith holds a prominent place. "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." "Thy faith hath made thee whole." "O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee as thou wilt," and so on. We may say that faith was Christ's watchword, as repentance was John's. ”