Читать книгу The Kingdom of Promise and Prophecy - Robertson L. Whiteside - Страница 4

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“I charge thee in the sight of God, and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables. But be thou sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry.” (2 Tim. 4:1-5.)

An old theme, do you say? What about it is old? God, Christ, truth, sin, salvation, duty, destiny—these never grow old. There is something wrong with one who thinks any Bible theme is old or out of date. If there were a cure for all fleshly ailments, would it ever be “out of date”? Would any sufferer say of it, “O, that is too old for this progressive age”? But there is no such cure known to man.

But man has a nature more important and enduring than his flesh, and ailments more far reaching in their results than any fleshly ills. And the gospel of Christ is a sure cure for all spiritual and moral ills. As long as there are moral evils to be corrected, sins to be forgiven, sinners to be saved, and downtrodden and discouraged to be inspirited, sorrowing hearts to be comforted, just that long will the gospel be fresh and “up to date.” And what else is up to date?

We have made great advancement in material things, but these do not meet the needs of the soul. Science has made great strides in material things, but it has no remedy for sin and crime. In fact, it has put forces into the hands of the world that the world does not know what to do with. In truth, I think it can be safely said that science has made crime more plentiful and daring, and has enabled the criminal to escape a hundredfold more easily. I am not unmindful of the comforts science has brought to those who know how to use them; it has also done wonders in combating disease. But it has put powers in the hands of man that he does not know how to handle. Even now scientists are seeking ways and means to destroy whole cities with one blast. Science has just about perfected means by which civilization will destroy itself in the next great war. It cannot cure one moral evil, nor generate one spiritual force for the world’s regeneration. And when a scientist tries to become a philosopher, he becomes a great injury to the world; for he usually leaves God out of any scheme of philosophy that he tries to construct. And psychology and sociology, or any of the moral philosophies, are equally helpless. Jesus is the Great Physician, and the gospel is his remedy, his only remedy, for the evils that afflict the world.

Nothing is up to date that does not meet the needs of the times. Many things are up to date in meeting our material needs, but nothing that man has ever thought out or planned is up to date in a moral and spiritual sense. Along these lines man’s theories are out of date before they are announced. The most advanced person in the world along moral and spiritual lines is the one who adheres most closely to the word of God and relies most firmly upon it as the one and only remedy for sin and crime. And the man who says that such a man is behind the times is himself so far behind that he does not know that any one has gone on before! The one who faithfully preaches the word is far in advance of him who preaches something else. And yet the majority of the people have never wanted the plain truth told. They prefer things that please.

Because some professed Christians would not want the pure word of God preached is one of the reasons assigned by Paul as to why the word of God should be preached the more diligently. “Preach the word.... For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” At first thought it might seem that this statement was true in Paul’s day; for did they not persecute and kill preachers then? But Paul was not here speaking of outsiders. He had in mind the time when professed Christians would not endure sound doctrine. Growing tired of the gospel they would long for something else. “Having itching ears,” they “will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.” It is plain that he was talking about people who would accept the truth, but later become tired of it, and would employ preachers that would tickle their itching ears. It is a dark picture, but it is not a new picture.

After God’s people came out of Egypt, they frequently drifted into the condition Paul here mentions. Read the historical books of the Old Testament and also the testimony of the prophets, and you will find that God’s people never remained true to him very long at a time. Against them Jeremiah testifies: “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (Jer. 2:13.) They had turned from the fountain of living waters as spoken to them by God’s prophets, and had procured for themselves false prophets. And that was their folly and their sin. Isaiah delivers a terrific rebuke: “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” (Isa. 1:3.) They did not know as much about where safety and food could be found as did the ox or the ass.

Is there not a need now for straight gospel preaching? Of course, a preacher should be a Christian gentleman at all times, but he should not become too polished to preach the unadulterated word of God. He may suffer for it, but what of that? And some misguided souls may say that plain preaching keeps people away and injures the standing of the church, but the faithful preacher knows that that makes it the more binding upon him to preach the gospel straight. Because Jeremiah spoke the word of God faithfully, the people said: “This man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.” (Jer. 38:4.) And yet he was the best friend the people had. But they wanted smooth things spoken to them. They wanted him to tell them that no evil would come upon them. It appears that Jeremiah at times grew weary, and felt as if he might as well give up the strife, but he could not quit. “I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocketh me. For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction! because the word of Jehovah is made a reproach unto me, and a derision, all the day. And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain.” (Jer. 20:7-9.) Jeremiah loved his people, and could not be quiet as he beheld them plunging into ruin. A more heroic figure than Jeremiah does not grace the pages of Old Testament history.

These are perilous times. Man’s schemes have broken down and the world is in chaos. Human wisdom has come up against a blank wall, beyond which man cannot see. The people are saying to their erstwhile leaders, “Cry”; and the leaders call back, “What shall we cry?” We have left God out of our scheme of things. We have dabbled in this monkey business till conditions have made monkeys out of our wisest men. But there is balm, there is healing, there is a physician. Preach the word.

We want to convert sinners and edify saints, but there is danger that we put the main emphasis on the wrong things. We may become so busy as herdboys that we forget to feed the sheep. We may become so absorbed in keeping the young folks interested that we forget to fill them with the word of God. We may become so engaged in building fine meeting houses, that we forget to build fine Christian characters.

It is a fine thing for a church to have a house suited to its needs, but a house is not one of the essentials. The early Christians owned no meetinghouses, but they made the gospel ring throughout the land. It is a sin for brethren to burden themselves with a church-house debt that requires all their energies and resources to meet. Some churches have so burdened themselves with debt that they have ceased any worthwhile effort to preach the word. It is feared that pride contributed much to their present humiliation. Some of these monuments to pride or mistaken zeal will never be paid out, and the church will be discouraged and weakened, and all because they forgot that their main mission was to convert sinners and edify saints. In trying to “put things over” they have gone under. PREACH THE WORD.

Do not worry about science. It has its legitimate field, and in its field it has done wonderful things. We reap its benefits and are glad. The average preacher knows little about science, and the average scientist knows less about the Bible. The claim that science and the Bible do not agree should disturb no one. What is called “science” is not static. Each generation brings new light; most of the old theories have been exploded by scientists themselves. Yet each generation of scientists boldly announces that science has disproved the Bible. But it can as easily be proved that science has disproved itself. With all their dogmatism about the Bible and science, there are few theories that real scientists are willing to take their stand upon and say: “Here is ultimate truth; no future discoveries will contradict this.” So long as they cannot afford to affirm that they have arrived at ultimate truth, how can they with honor say that science disproves the Bible? Besides, if the Bible fully agreed with the scientific theories of one age, it would not agree with the theories of the next age. The Bible is unchangeable and cannot keep up agreement with that which constantly changes. Some of the foremost scientists recognize the limitations of science and are firm believers in the Bible. PREACH THE WORD. No known truth contradicts the Bible.

But why preach the word? Why did the early Christians preach the word in the face of such fiery persecution? Why did Paul, then about to be put to death for preaching the word, urge upon his beloved Timothy a course of action that was bound to bring suffering? Why do we now sacrifice that the word may be preached? We notice some reasons why the word should be preached.

The word of God is the seed of the kingdom. The parable of the sower sets forth this truth as plainly as language can do so. “The sower soweth the word.” That parable sets forth the truth that the word of God is to the spiritual kingdom exactly what seed is to the vegetable kingdom. The word produces plants in the spiritual kingdom just as seed produces plants in the vegetable kingdom. If this be not so, then no one can tell what the Savior meant to teach by this parable.

Life is in the word just as life is in any other seed. If the seed be not planted, life will not spring up. No matter how well the soil may be prepared, there will be no life there till the seed be planted. No matter how much the heart may be prepared by education, culture, sorrow, or whatever may come, there will be no spiritual life in the heart till the seed—the word of God—is planted there.

Seed is able under suitable conditions to transform dead elements of the soil into life. In nature, this is the process of reproduction. Those who contend for a direct operation of the Spirit in regeneration base their contention on the fact that the sinner is dead. It is claimed that dead sinners must be made alive by this direct work of the Spirit before they can obey the Lord. This is the heart of their contention. Grant their premise, does their conclusion follow? Is the sinner’s heart any deader than the soil into which the farmer sows his seed? The farmer knows that the life inherent in the seed is able to transform dead soil into a living, growing plant. If the theologians were as wise as the most ignorant farmer, they would sow the seed, which is the word of God, knowing that the deadness of the soil—the sinner’s heart—is no barrier to an abundant harvest. PREACH THE WORD.

There is saving power in the word. An angel said to Cornelius: “Send to Joppa, and fetch Simon, whose surname is Peter; who shall speak unto thee words, whereby thou shalt be saved, thou and all thy house.” (Acts 11:13, 14.) “Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21.) “I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” (Rom. 1:16.) Of course, no one thinks there is power in the material of which the Bible is made. The power that leads men to Christ is the thoughts, the ideas, the motives, presented in the word of God. There is power in a thought; and power in a motive. By words men move men, even whole armies and nations. Men’s thoughts have been powerful enough to overthrow kingdoms. If we want men to act a certain way, we try to fill them with thoughts and motives tending to lead them in the direction we want them to go. We stir up action along certain lines by filling the people with certain thoughts and motives. In this way we work in people to induce them to will and do as we think they should. A man lives out in his life the thoughts he has in his heart. If we can fill people full of God’s ideas, God’s thoughts, we will induce them to do God’s will. In this way God works in people to get them to live different lives. This helps us to understand what Paul says in Phil. 2:13: “For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.”

It is through the mighty power of the word that men are drawn to Christ. I fear that many preachers will never get forgiveness for the way they have treated what the Lord says in John 6:44, 45. They so often read verse 44 and stop for their usual argument on the direct drawing put forth by the Spirit. Of course, when God draws, he draws by his power. If they would read both verses, they would defeat their argument made on verse 44. Is that honest? Is that handling aright the word of truth? Read both verses: “No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me.” (John 6:44, 45.) It is through God’s word that we hear and learn of the Father; in that way God’s drawing power is brought to bear upon us. The gospel is God’s power to save, because it draws men to Christ, who alone can save.

It is not necessary to put in much time following the rambling efforts of the debater to prove man’s depravity. Some years ago I had a discussion with Mr. Ben M. Bogard. On the Spirit question, he made the usual arguments on the depravity deadness of the sinner. In my first reply I made the statement: “I object to Mr. Bogard’s theory because it limits the power of God. He has the sinner so dead that God could not make a gospel that would reach him. I object to a theory that makes God so helpless.” Mr. Bogard, with more than usual bluster, replied: “It is not a question of God’s power. God can do anything he wants to. He could have made a gospel that would reach the dead sinner’s heart, if he had wanted to do so.” I replied: “The sinner is not so dead, then, as we have been hearing he was. Even this personal contact for which he contends would not have been necessary if God had made the right kind of gospel. So the trouble is not in the deadness of the sinner, but in the inefficiency of the gospel. But God could have made a better gospel, if he had wanted to. My contention is that he made the very gospel that Mr. Bogard says he could have made. Why waste further time discussing the deadness of the sinner?” Of course, I paid due attention to Mr. Bogard’s total-depravity notions, but he did not recover from his admission. God made a gospel that is perfectly adapted to man as he is. PREACH THE WORD.