Our primary objective as members of the body of Christ is to bring the message of salvation to the rest of the world. We all have different gifts for use in building up and encouraging those already in the church, but we should not allow our zeal for service drown out the cry of the world around us as they sink into hell.
150,000 people die every day. Think for a moment about how many people that is. If we believe what Jesus said, that straight is the gait and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it, then most of those 150,000 people who will die today will be in hell. Do you care? Does your heart have enough compassion to do something about it? You have an incredible treasure in an earthen vessel. The gospel, inside of you, whether in the form of your own testimony or by preaching the words of everlasting life. Will you obey the voice of your Lord and preach the gospel to every creature? He spilled his blood and suffered for the payment of their sins. Will you reach out and pull them from the fire?
He could have used some other way to send the message across the earth, but he has ordained that through the foolishness of preaching he would save them that believe. He could have written it across the sky in big letters, or made it possible for us to see into heaven from earth, so that we wouldn’t have foolish teachings like evolution or re-incarnation or other false religions. He could have written it inside our eyelids so that every time we close our eyes, we read the gospel. He could have used all sorts of other means to reach men and women with the truth, but he has chosen to use us. Are you being a true and faithful servant?
We’ve all seen the commercials on television where they go to some 3rd world country and exploit the suffering there in order to raise money for their organization. We’ve all had a sense of deep compassion as we’ve seen children suffering with hunger and nakedness and the pain on the mother’s faces. These commercials raise millions of dollars. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let me ask you, how much worse a fate is it for one to end up in hell for an eternity? Forever and ever and ever in torment! The sad truth of the matter is that you don’t have to travel to the ends of the earth to find a poor soul in this predicament. They are all around you, every day. Millions upon millions of them are spread out all over the globe and they are all headed moment by moment to the Day of Judgement when they will stand alone and naked before the throne of Almighty God and give an account of every detail of their lives. And if their names are not written in the Book of Life, they will be cast into the lake of fire and suffer the terrible consequences of their sins.
You and I hold the good news of forgiveness in Christ in our hands! We’ve already been told to take it to them. How can we sit idly by, enjoying fellowship and singing songs in the lifeboats while sinners are drowning all around us? Its been well said that the body of Christ is not a pleasure-cruiser sailing towards heaven, but a battleship stationed at the very gates of hell.
Oswald J Smith said, “Oh my friends, we are loaded down with countless church activities, while the real work of the church, that of evangelizing and winning the lost, is almost entirely neglected.”
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Charles Spurgeon said, “If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and un-prayed for.”
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“Save some, O Christians! By all means, save some. From yonder flames and outer darkness, and the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, seek to save some! Let this, as in the case of the apostle, be your great, ruling object in life, that by all means you might save some.” Charles Spurgeon
One last quote from the prince of preachers, “Brethren, do something, do something, do something! While societies and unions make constitiutions, let us win souls. I pray you, be men of action all of you. Get to work and quit yourselves like men. Old Suvarov’s idea of war is mine: ‘Forward and strike! No theory! Attack! Form a column! Charge bayonets! Plunge into the center of the enemy! ‘ Our one aim is to win souls; and this we are not to talk about, but to do in the power of God!”
Brothers and sisters, we are fighting an epic battle, and the objectives of our warfare are the souls of men. Please, for the sake of those around you, don’t get so consumed with your own life that you forget the real reason you’re still here.
See you on the streets!!