The Need for Preaching the Gospel
On October 10, 1856, Hudson Taylor was traveling by a small boat on the river from Shanghai to Ningpo. He was in his cabin when he heard a loud splash and heard the cry of man-overboard. He sped to the deck and looked around, immediately missing his Chinese friend ‘Peter.’
“Yes,” exclaimed the boatmen unconcernedly, “it was over there he went down.”
Hudson searched all around, but saw nothing. Then he spotted some fishermen with a dragnet - just the thing needed!
“Come,” he cried as his hope revived, “come and drag over this spot. A man is drowning!”
“Veh bin,” was the amazing reply: “It is not convenient.”
“Don’t talk of convenience! Quickly come, or it will be too late!”
“We are busy fishing.”
“Never mind your fishing! Come - only come at once! I will pay you well.”
“How much will you give us?”
“Five dollars! Only don’t stand talking. Save life without delay!”
“Too little!” they shouted across the water. “We will not come for less than thirty dollars.”
“But I have not so much with me! I will give you all I’ve got.”
“And how much may that be?”
“Oh, I don’t know. About 14 dollars.”
At this, they finally came. Their first pass brought up the missing man in their net. Despite Hudson’s efforts to revive him, it was too late. It was only too plain that his life had fled, sacrificed to the callous indifference of those who might have easily saved it.
Hudson related this event to a conference back in England 9 years later. A burning sense of indignation swept over the great audience. Could it be that anywhere on earth people were to be found so utterly callous and selfish! But the earnest voice of Hudson Taylor went on:
“Is the body, then, of so much more value than the soul? We condemn those heathen fishermen. We say they were guilty of the man’s death - because they could easily have saved him, and did not do it. But what of the millions whom we leave to perish, and that eternally? What of the plain command, ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,’ and the searching question inspired by God Himself, ‘If you forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if you say, ‘Behold, we knew it not;’ does not He that ponders the heart consider it? And He that keeps your soul does not He know it? And shall He not render to every man according to his works?’ ” [Prov. 24:11-12]
What else does Scripture say about our responsibility: (let me just read)
Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matt. 4:19)
What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. (Matt. 10:27)
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20)
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. (Mark 16:15)
Repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:47-48)
Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. (John 4:35)
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest. (Matt. 9:36-37)
Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you. (John 20:21)
You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!’ (Rom. 10:13-15)
For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. (1 Cor. 9:16)
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Cor. 5:18-20)
Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. (Ezek. 33:7-8)
And for those who don’t believe this applies to us, Paul says…
Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. (Acts 20:26-27)
Tell me Hudson Taylor didn’t agree, also.
As Ray Comfort has said, we as Christians have not been given tickets for a pleasure cruise headed for heaven, but rather called up to serve on a battleship stationed at the gates of Hell.
How can we call Him Lord and not do what He commands? If we love Him, will we not obey His commands? Are we truly seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness?
What we spend our time and our money on, much more than our words, reveals our priorities. (for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also - Matt. 6:21) Do our priorities match those of our Lord and Savior?
I’m not asking for your money, though. God wants more than that. I’m echoing God’s call for your very lives!!! He gave His life to rescue each one of us. Will we give just a portion of ours to rescue those around us?
150,000 people die in the world every day, most of them headed to an eternal separation from God in Hell.
What are you doing to warn them, to rescue them, to beg them on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God?
Or is it ‘inconvenient’? (like the Chinese fishermen)
Or are you too fearful? (aka ashamed of the gospel, more afraid of men than of God)
We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ one day and give an answer for what has been entrusted to us. What excuses will we use then?
This material is free to distribute, quote, or copy.
Justin Humes - jhumesfamily@hotmail.com
Mark Cowperthwaite- cowperthwaitefamily@gmail.com
