Preach the Word

Those servants of the Lord are wise and will have the truest success in their service who take their instructions from the Word of God. In that Word we are told "the servant of the Lord must not strive" but "PREACH THE WORD." It is always a mistake and often a manifestation of his folly when a Christian enters into an argument with an unbeliever as to the truth of God, for not by human argument or any carnal weapon are reasonings that exalt themselves against God cast down (2 Cor. 10:3-5). Our business is to preach the truth, for that is powerful, and the consciences of men will always respond to it, whatever their depraved reasoning may do.

We talked one evening with a man who said that the thought of hell was obnoxious to him, the doctrine was absurd, it was impossible that there could be such a place, so he thought; and about it he would have argued, but we declined to do so and contented ourselves by quoting the words of God as to it.

He was awakened from his sleep that same night by the town's fire alarm, and, opening his eyes, he saw flames pouring out of the windows of a factory opposite his house. The first thought that seized him at the sight of those flames was "I'm in hell." Why was that, since be believed that hell was an impossibility? He was taken unawares, and had not had time to set his reason to work or to marshal his arguments; it was his deep, inner consciousness that was declaring itself, and there at the very centre of his being, underneath all his sophistry and fleshly reasoning, he knew that there was a hell and that he deserved to be there.

That is the part of men that must be reached if they are to be converted to God, and our arguments, however clear, cannot reach them there; they fall harmlessly upon the outworks that the devil has built about the souls of men. But the Word of God is living and powerful, it discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart and can pierce its way through all the infidel reasonings that lie on the surface and that cover the consciences of men, and convict them of the truth.

Then, again, we say the servants of the Lord are wise who preach the Word, and the more faithfully and without admixture they preach it the more thoroughly will their work be of God and so abide for ever.