All At It
DELIVERED ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 16, 1888,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching
the Word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached
Christ unto them." Acts 8:4,5.
"Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same Scripture, and
preached unto him Jesus." Acts 8:35.
"THEY that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word."
God intended that His Church should be scattered over the world. There
was a tendency in our humanity at first to remain together. Hence the
first gray fathers endeavored to build a central tower, around which
the race should rally. But God confounded their language and scattered
them from Babel, that they might people all the world. Jerusalem was at
first the central point of Christianity. The Church there was highly
favored with its twelve Apostles and a multitude of minor lights. And
the tendency would have been to keep the center strong.
I have often heard the argument, "Do not have too many out-stations,
keep up a strong central force." But God's plan was that the holy force
should be distributed–the holy seed must be sown. To do this the Lord
made use of the rough hand of persecution. The disciples could not stay
in Jerusalem–Saul made them run for their lives, or, if they did not,
he shut them up in prison. And prisons in those days were so foul and
noisome as to be the vestibules of the grave.
One went this way and one went the other way. And the faithful were
scattered. In every Church where there is really the power of the
Spirit of God, the Lord will cause it to be spread abroad, more or
less. He never means that a Church should be like a nut shut up in a
shell. Nor like ointment enclosed in a box. The precious perfume of the
Gospel must be poured forth to sweeten the air. Just now we have little
of that form of persecution which drives men from home. But godly
people are scattered through the necessity of earning a livelihood.
Sometimes we regret that certain young men should have to go a
distance. But should we regret it?
We lament that certain families must migrate to the colonies. Does not
the Lord by this means sow the good seed widely? It is very pleasant to
be comfortably settled under an edifying ministry but the Lord has need
of some of His servants in places where there is no light. In many ways
the great Head of the Church scatters His servants abroad. But they
ought of themselves to scatter voluntarily. Every Christian should say,
"Where can I do the most good?" and if he can do more good anywhere
beneath the sun than in the land of his birth, he is bound to go there,
if he can. God will have us scattered. And if we will not go afield
willingly, He may use Providential necessity as the forcible means of
our dispersion.
The Lord's design is not the scattering in itself but scattering for a
purpose. He intended that, being scattered, the saints of Jerusalem
should go everywhere preaching the Word. Upon this I am going to speak
at this time.
I would call your attention to the translation in the Revised Version,
where Philip is said to have "proclaimed" the Word. The word "proclaim"
is not quite so subject to the modern sense which has spoiled the word
"preach." "Preach" has come to be a sort of official term for
delivering a set discourse–whereas Gospel preaching is talking,
discoursing and telling of the Gospel in any way, we are to make known
the Word of the Lord.
I. In handling my subject, I shall call your attention, first, to THE
UNIVERSALITY OR THE WORK OF EVANGELIZING.
Of course I mean its universality among Believers. "They that were
scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word." They. That is,
all the scattered. There does not appear to have been any exception.
You thought it would have read, "Then the Apostles went everywhere
preaching the word." They were the people who did not go at all. For
the twelve remained at headquarters as yet. But the rest went
everywhere preaching the Word. Generals may have to stand still in the
center of the battle to direct the forces. But in this battle all the
common soldiers marched to the fight. This was to be a soldiers'
battle. And of that sort all the battles of the Cross ought to be.
Observe then, first, that in this there were no professional
distinctions. It is not said that the ministers, being scattered
abroad, went everywhere proclaiming the Word. But the whole of the
scattered. Scarcely anything has been more injurious to the kingdom of
Christ than the distinction between clergy and laity. No such
distinction was ever laid down by the Spirit of God. "You are God's
inheritance"–all God's saints are God's inheritance. And we should
regard ourselves as such. "You are a royal priesthood." "He has made us
unto our God kings and priests." As in Heaven there is no temple
because it is all temple, so in the Church of God there is no
priesthood because it is all priesthood.
We have among ourselves a distinction between ministers and others. But
you are all to minister. There are many ministries of one form and
another–and though God gives to His Church Apostles, teachers,
pastors, Evangelists, and the like, yet not by way of setting up a
professional caste of men, who are to do the work for God while others
sit still. I have before used the following parable–In olden times a
certain host had conquered wherever they went forward in one mass. But
it came to pass that they thought themselves so exceeding strong that
they said, "Let not every man go to war. Let us choose a few and make
this few into a select standing army."
They picked out their champions and sent them to the war. These
continued the conflict with difficulty. Many of them fell in the fight.
No provinces were added to the kingdom and things were at a standstill.
They had followed a fatal policy. The true method was for the whole of
them to march to battle. This is the true and only policy of
Christianity– all Christians soldiers of the Cross and all on active
service. Every converted man is to teach what he knows. All those who
have drunk of the Living Water are to become fountains out of which
shall flow rivers of Living Water.
We shall never get back to the grand old times of conquest until we get
back to the old method of "all at it." In proportion as we come, in any
one Church, to individual service–nobody dreaming of doing his work by
proxy but each one serving God for himself–in that proportion, under
the blessing of God, we shall come back to the old success.
Observe, next, that there were no professional exceptions. Philip is
mentioned as going down to Samaria to preach. But Philip was originally
set apart to attend to the distribution of the alms of the Church. It
is good for every man to attend to his own special office. But where
that office ceases to be needful, let him get to that work which is
common and constant. The time had come when there was no need for the
deacon to sit in the vestry, for the poor people were all scattered.
What does the deacon do? As the work to which he was appointed has come
to an end, he keeps to the work for which every Christian is appointed
and he proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
No one of us, then, can be exempted from the work of spreading the
Gospel because we are engaged in some other work. Good as it is, though
it may be very intimately connected with the kingdom of Christ, yet it
does not exonerate us from the work of endeavoring to bring sinners to
Christ in some way or other. Stephen, the deacon, began first to bear
testimony. And when he died, Philip, the next on the roll, stepped into
his place. One soldier falls and another steps forward. All are to
proclaim the Word and no one is exempted by another form of service,
Oh, that the Lord's people everywhere would note this!
Observe that there were no educational or literary exceptions. It is
thought nowadays that a man must not try to proclaim the Gospel unless
he has had a good education. To try and preach Christ and yet to commit
grammatical blunders is looked upon as a grave offense. People are
mightily offended at the idea of the Gospel being properly preached by
an uneducated man. This I believe to be a very injurious mistake. There
is nothing whatsoever in the whole compass of Scripture to excuse any
mouth from speaking for Jesus when the heart is really acquainted with
His salvation. We are not all called to "preach," in the new sense of
the term, but we are all called to make Jesus known if we know Him.
Has the Gospel ever been spread to any extent by men of high literary
power? Look through the whole line of history and see if it is so. Have
the men of splendid eloquence been remarkable for winning souls? I
could quote names that stand first in the roll of oratory, which are
low down in the roll of soul-winners. Those whom God has most honored
have been men who, whatever their gifts, have consecrated themselves to
God and have earnestly declared the great Truths of God's
Word. Men who have been terribly in earnest and have faithfully
described man's ruin by sin and God's remedy of Divine Grace–men who
have warned sinners to escape from the wrath to come by believing in
the Lord Jesus–these have been useful.
If they had great gifts, they were no detriment to them. If they had
few talents, this did not disqualify them. It has pleased God to use
the base things of this world, and things that are despised for the
accomplishment of His great purposes of love. Paul declared that he
proclaimed the Gospel, "not with wisdom of words." He feared what might
happen if he used worldly rhetoric, and therefore, he refused the
wisdom of words. We have need to do so now with emphasis. Let us trust
in the Divine energy of the Holy Spirit and speak the Truth in reliance
upon His might, whether we can speak fluently with Apollos, or are slow
of speech, like Moses.
I say, then, to you, my dear Friend, who unhappily may be lacking in
education, do not therefore stop your testimony to our Lord. Rescue the
perishing. What if you are not a great theologian? If you understand
the plan of salvation you are sufficiently instructed to be a good
witness for your Lord. Oh, that the Holy Spirit may make you such! A
blacksmith can shoe a horse, though he has never studied astronomy. He
might be none the worse smith if he were familiar with the stars. But I
fail to see that he would be much the better as a smith. Warn men to
escape from the wrath to come and believe in Jesus–and you can do this
just as well though no science has puzzled you.
As there were no exceptions on account of educational defects, so were
there no exclusions on account of sex. Men and women were to spread
abroad the knowledge of Jesus. We read that, "As for Saul, he made
havoc of the Church, entering into every house and haling men and women
committing them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad"
(and these must have been men and woman) "went everywhere preaching the
Word." There are many ways in which women can fittingly proclaim the
Word of the Lord and in some of these they can proclaim it more
efficiently than men.
There are minds that will be attracted by the tender, plaintive,
winning manner in which the sister in Christ expresses herself. A
Christian mother–what a minister is she to her family! A Christian
woman in single life–in the family circle, or even in domestic
service–what may she not accomplish, if her heart is warm with love to
her Savior? We cannot say to the women, "Go home, there is nothing for
you to do in the service of the Lord." Far from it, we entreat Martha
and Mary, Lydia and Dorcas and all the elect sisterhood, young and old,
rich and poor, to instruct others as God instructs them. Young men and
maidens, old men and matrons, yes–and boys and girls who love the
Lord–should speak well of Jesus and make known His salvation from day
to day.
You see, dear Fiends, how the Lord gave to all His people the holy work
of making Jesus known to men. How well they carried it out! Within a
hundred years after the death of our Lord, His name had been made known
to all the known world. But I do not know how many years it will take
to make Christ known at the rate of our present movement. A few men are
set apart for missionaries and directed with complicated machinery and
good people feel easy about the heathen. I find no fault with what is
done. My fault is that we are not doing a hundred times as much in ways
more spontaneous.
If the Church of God should once wake up, it will be as the sea when it
returns to its strength after a long ebb. The Lord send it–send it
now! But He will only bless the world in His own way. And one of His
conditions is that the whole Church should move. We must come back to
the primitive custom–every Christian must be a herald of the Cross.
II. Secondly, having asked you to notice the universality of the work,
will you please to notice THE NATURALNESS OF IT. That word "therefore,"
at the commencement of the fourth verse, says a great deal to me.
"Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching
the Word"–as if it followed as a sort of natural consequence, that
being scattered they went everywhere preaching the Word. Does not this
show us that they could not think of following any other course?
They that were scattered might have said, "Clearly our duty is to hold
our tongues. We have got into great trouble at Jerusalem because we
preached Christ. We must now look to our own safety and the comfort of
our families. And in these foreign countries we had better live godly
lives and go to Heaven on the sly, but we need not again expose
ourselves to the dangers of persecution." They did not thus argue. It
is not said, "Therefore they that were scattered abroad slunk away and
held their tongues." No, they never thought of that.
We do not find that they even said, "This Gospel of ours is evidently
not in accord with the spirit of the age. The scribes and Pharisees all
differ from us and we must endeavor to win them by altering our tone."
They did not dream of
cutting off the angles of the Truth of God, nor of inserting pleasant
fragments of popular thought to please the powers that be. But they set
forth "the Word" in its pure simplicity and the Cross of Christ, which
is an offense to so many. They never said, "The old Gospel did very
well when Jesus was here. But you see He has gone and circumstances
alter cases and alter gospels and we had better adapt our teaching to
the period."
They did not so, because of the fear of the Lord. They did not endeavor
to mend the Gospel but they went everywhere proclaiming it. They
preached the Word as they received it. They set forth the kingdom as
their King had revealed it. Ah, dear Friends, if you are true to the
Lord Jesus Christ you have to spread the Gospel somehow and it must be
the old, old Gospel. You must not dare to think of denying the light to
those around you. Would you leave men to perish for lack of knowledge?
Dare you have their blood on your garments?
These persecuted ones "went everywhere preaching the Word." Why was it
so natural for them to do it? Their obligations pressed upon them. They
each one of them said, "I have been saved and I must see others saved.
I am bound to tell of the blood of Jesus and its power to wash away
sin. The curses of the ages will fall upon me and the wails of lost
souls will come up into my ears as long as I exist, if I do not make
known the Gospel."
Brethren, God's way of saving the unconverted is through His Church.
And if the Church neglects its work, who is to do it? Our Lord means to
bring in the rest of His chosen through those who are already called.
But if these stand aside and are untrue to their calling, how is the
work to be done? I know the work is of God alone–still He uses
instruments. If you do not tell the Gospel, you are leaving your fellow
men to perish. Yonder is the wreck and you are not sending out a
life-boat! Yonder are souls starving and you give them no bread!
Well, if you are resolved to be thus inhuman, at least know what you
are doing. You that are taking no share in this great work of spreading
the Gospel are willfully allowing men to go down to Hell and their
blood will be required at your hands. These first Believers dared not
incur such guilt, and therefore, away they went, preaching the Word.
I think, too, that their wonderment compelled them. They had seen the
man Christ Jesus and they had communed with Him. They had beheld His
Godhead in His miracles and they had adored Him. They had seen Him
nailed to the Cross. They had, many of them, beheld Him alive after He
was risen from the dead, and they could not help telling so great a
marvel. Here was God come down among men. Here was the Redeemer of men
suffering to the death to rescue men from eternal ruin. And they could
not help telling abroad this miracle of love. They were like children,
who, when they hear a bit of startling news, must tell it. Good men
that they were, their wonderment and their joy were equal and they
could not hold their peace.
When ancient Believers were shut up in prison, they began to sing the
Gospel until the prisoners heard them. They had something to sing about
and they must sing it. If they took them out of the temple by force,
behold, the moment the prison doors were opened, they were found
standing in the same place telling the same story. If you and I felt
that blessed amazement which we ought to feel when we think of Free
Grace and dying love, silence would be impossible.
The principal reason for their constant proclamation of Jesus was that
they were in a fine state of spiritual health. They went everywhere
preaching the Word when scattered abroad because they had proclaimed it
when at home. You will never make a missionary of the person who does
no good at home. If you do not seek souls in your own street, you will
not do so in Hindustan. If you are of no use in Whitechapel, you will
be of no use in the Congo. He that will not serve the Lord in the
Sunday school at home, will not win children to Christ in China.
Distance lends no real enchantment to Christian service. You who do
nothing now, are not fit for the war, for you are in sad health.
The Lord give you spiritual health and vigor, and then you will want no
pressing but you will cry at once, "Here am I, send me!" O my Friends,
go at once to your families, to your workshops and declare the name of
Jesus! Oh, for more spiritual life! This is the root of the matter. If
we were living more fully in the power of the Holy Spirit our witness
would be borne without constraint. It would be as natural to us to
spread the Gospel as to breathe. We should be under holy impulses which
would demand our witness-bearing. If we could not speak the Word of the
Lord, it would be as fire in our bones. We should become weary with
withholding. Lord, give us more and more this spiritual life!
Surely, also, the times must have urged them onward with hurried step
as messengers for Christ. For Jerusalem was soon to be destroyed. This
made them quick in their movements, that the last warning might come to
all their countrymen. You know what the times are now! I am no Prophet.
But as we read, week by week, the appalling crimes that are
chronicled by the press–if ever Christian men should be in earnest
they should be in earnest now. All the signs of the times arouse us to
look for the coming of our Lord. No token tends to quiet us but all to
awaken us.
We must work at double quick rate. And if anyone among us has done
nothing at all, it is time for him, as a good servant, to gird up his
loins to work and to watch, "for in such an hour as he thinks not the
Son of Man comes." I have been praying all the while that I have been
speaking this morning–yes, praying more than preaching–that God may
distinctly lay His hand on every Brother and Sister in this place and
constrain you to proclaim this Gospel of Jesus in every place to which
you can go.
III. Thirdly, carefully notice THE JOYFULNESS OF THIS WORK. "They were
scattered abroad." But as "they
went everywhere preaching the Word," the calamity became a blessing.
Their work took the sting out of their banishment. The housewife had to
leave her comfortable little home and tramp to a strange country–the
man of business had to sell his stock and quit his position. Those were
hard times beyond question. Fancy that happening to us! What distress
would spread over this congregation if you had to run for your lives!
But then they said to themselves, "It is all right. As we live to
spread abroad the knowledge of Jesus, we shall do this wherever we go.
Our flight shall be a mission." This changed the aspect of affairs. By
the persecution they received express marching orders to quit home and
take to foreign service. Was not this a comfort? For myself, I always
like to know the Lord's will clearly. Suspense kills me. If I have any
question about what my course should be, I am worried more than I can
tell. Even distress is a relief when it shuts you up to one course.
Persecution became both a direction as to their course and an occasion
for getting to work. As they must go elsewhere, they would talk of
salvation by faith in Jesus to the people among whom they might be
called to sojourn and so tell the story of redemption to people who
were totally ignorant of it. This made them feel it was a good thing
after all that they were scattered abroad. Dear Friends, if your heart
is set on a purpose and there comes a crash which spoils your comfort,
you hardly lament it if it promotes your chief design in life.
If you are possessed with the idea that you, as a Christian, must live
only to serve Christ and to win souls, then anything which happens,
however painful, will be welcomed if it places you in a better position
for your holy life work. That is the place in which you can serve the
Lord better. So that the tried people of God at Jerusalem must have
felt devoutly comforted as they saw that God was helping them to answer
the great purpose of their lives and was pushing them forward by
pushing them out.
Their exile would be a help in gaining attention. For when they came to
a place, the people would enquire, "Why are these Jews coming here?"
And the answer would be, that they had been forced from home because
they believed in one Jesus, who was called Christ, who had died for
men, so that by faith in Him they might be saved. For love of this
Savior they had been driven from their native land. The people may not
have thought them wise, but doubtless they would be interested in their
story and thus made aware of their faith. Curiosity would ask of yonder
Jewess, "How came you to be here, Naomi?" And Naomi would tell the
story of the crucified Savior.
"And you, Benjamin, what drove you from Palestine?" He, too, would have
to narrate the life and death of the Nazarene and so Jesus would be
made known. Persecution thus opened men's minds to enquire and served
the purpose of advertising the Gospel. Thus the Lord set up pulpits for
His servants wherever they went and provided congregations for them.
What Satan intended for evil, the Lord turned for good. What better
could have happened than for all these holy men and women to be driven
abroad to disseminate the ever blessed Word?
This, as they thought of it, made them bear their exile without
repining. An all-absorbing purpose turned sorrow into joy. I cannot
conceive of anything so calculated to reconcile them to their
banishment as the prospect of glorifying God the more. The martyr
spirit is just the spirit of witness-bearing overcoming all love of
self and even care for life.
Moreover, as they told the story and it made their own hearts glow with
holy fire, their spirits were refreshed and their souls made glad.
Jesus seemed still to be near them–yes, He was with them. They found
the surest remedy for their grief in His sacred fellowship–no, the
grief itself became gladness! If you want to get rid of low spirits,
preach the Gospel. To take Christ's yoke is to find rest unto your
souls. If you are in the very dust, go and tell a weary one of
salvation by Jesus–you will thus raise yourself, even if your message
is rejected. Here is a balm, which, while it heals the wound to which
it is applied, also perfumes the hand which applies it. The exiles were
made to feel at home when they saw God working with them in Greece and
Rome, even as He had done in Jerusalem.
I may add that, if they were led to see that they were now made like
their Lord in suffering, they would have comfort in that fact. If they
now remembered what He said concerning the grain of wheat, which must
be cast into the ground and die, or it could not bring forth fruit,
they would now feel that they were having fellowship with Him in His
sufferings. This was enough to make them a happy body of men and women.
They were scattered but not saddened. Theirs was not the scattering of
a retreat but of an advance all along the line. And so it yielded them
joy and not distress. I entreat you, try active service as a solace for
sorrow.
IV. Notice, fourthly, THE SUPREMACY OF THIS WORK. "They that were
scattered abroad went everywhere
preaching the Word." I suppose they did something for a living. I do
not know what their handicrafts might be. But each one had a calling
and followed it industriously. We are not told what they did. It is
incidentally mentioned, further on in history, that the Apostle Paul
made tents–but you never read anywhere in the Bible that Paul went
everywhere tent making. He did make tents but that was not his
vocation–his business was to save souls. He made tents in order that
he might not be indebted to the people. But winning souls was Paul's
business.
The scattered did not go abroad for the purpose of trade. They did not
say, "We will go to such a place, because there we can make the best
profits." They chose their way with the one purpose of spreading the
Gospel. To preach Christ was their one vocation which, like Aaron's
rod, swallowed up all other rods. Proclaiming Christ was their one
purpose, passion and profession–all else might go. I wonder how many
Christian people here could have their biographies condensed into this
line, "He lived to make Christ known."
Might it not be said of one, he lived to open a shop and then to open a
second? Or of another, he lived to save a good deal of money and take
shares in limited liability companies? Or of a third, he lived to paint
a great picture? Or of a fourth, he was best known for his genial
hospitality? Of many a minister it might be said–he lived to preach
splendid sermons and to gain credit for fine oratory. What of all
these? If it can be said of a man, "He lived to glorify Christ," then
his life is a life. Every Christian man ought so to live. Oh that my
memorial might be–"He preached Christ crucified"!
You fall short of your design in life if Jesus is not as much your
object as He is your confidence. Make your tents, sell your goods,
paint your pictures if you will–but do all this in order that you may
fulfill your higher and truer life–for which you were bought with
blood and quickened by the Spirit of God.
We note the supremacy of this work, not only because it swallowed up
all their trades but because it obliterated all trace of caste. See
Philip. He is a Jew but he goes to Samaria. "Philip, what made you go
to Samaria? Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." Brethren, when it
comes to preaching Christ, we have dealings with everybody–Jews,
Turks, infidels, cannibals. The Jew goes to Samaria for Christ and the
Samaritans accept the Messiah of the Jews. Later Philip is called down
south to journey along a desert way and there he meets an Ethiopian,
probably a black man.
Ah well, white men were not particularly anxious for the company of
Ethiopians but Philip gets up into his chariot and rides with him.
Black and white make a fine mixture when the book of the Prophet Isaiah
lies between them. What a beautiful picture this would make! Philip and
the eunuch riding together reading of the Lord Jesus in the Hebrew
Prophets. All the paltry differences of sect, politics, nationalities
and races go to the winds as soon as we are possessed with a desire to
win souls.
"Oh but the poor are so dirty!" Let us show them how they can be
cleansed. "But the slum is so foul!" Yet for the love of Jesus we will
enter it to carry His saving health among the people. What is more, we
shall not only be willing to work for the poor and fallen, but we shall
work with them. You, a person of taste and culture, will join hands
with the illiterate worker and while you are half amused at his
blunders, you will be charmed by his zeal. You will not despise him but
you may even feel humbled as you see how, with less knowledge than
yourself, he often shows more spiritual wisdom and energy. You will
take a brotherly pride in such a man.
Caste is gone when Christ is come. Oh, that we might feel the supremacy
of our holy service more and more! Christ must be made known! Sinners
must be saved! Heaven must be filled! And before these necessities
everything else must be as nothing. Are you not of this mind–do you
feel this way?
See, also, the supremacy of their purpose in the fact that they were
willing to be at the beck and call of the Holy Spirit and to go
anywhere. Philip was getting on splendidly at Samaria and the Church
grew under his care. Surely he ought to stop there, he is evidently the
man for the place! But he does not stop there. Philip has a call, not
to a larger
Church but to the road through the desert and away he goes to talk to
one person. The genuine soul-winner has his inward directions and he
follows the guidance of the Spirit of God. Here, there, anywhere,
everywhere he goes, where the hope of conversions tempts him.
When a sportsman goes out after game, he does not know which way he
will go, neither does he bind himself in that matter. If he is stalking
deer, he may have to go up the mountain side, or down the glen, across
the burn, or away among the heather. Where his sport leads him, he
follows. And so it is with the genuine soul-winner–he leaves himself
free to follow his one object. He does not know where he is going but
he does know what he is going after. He lays himself out for the
winning of souls for Jesus. On the railway he speaks to anyone who
happens to be put in the same carriage. Or in the shop he looks out for
opportunities to impress a customer. He sows beside all waters and in
all soils. He carries his gun at half-cock, ready to take aim at once.
That is the man whom God is likely to bless.
Note yet one thing more–the supremacy of this work was seen in the
fact that these good people were quite willing to submit. Philip has
done a great work at Samaria but he sends for the Apostles Peter and
John to come down from Jerusalem. Some few earnest workers have been
impatient of discipline but the best of them are the most orderly
people in the world. Some Brethren are just as ready to obey Church
authority as if they were the least of all saints, instead of being the
most successful of the Brotherhood.
It is not well when our Philips are too big to work in connection with
the mother-Church. I have never found them so. The idle are
troublesome. The laborious are loving. Philip turns into nobody just as
readily as before he had been everybody. Peter and John come upon the
scene and seem, as it were, to run away with his laurels. But Philip
makes no complaint, for in fact there were no laurels for any of them.
All the glory was given to Jesus. Whether it were Philip, or Peter, or
John, the Lord, alone, was magnified. Blessed is that man who knows how
to subside. Oh, that there were thousands of workers of this kind
willing to come to the front and lead the way and just as willing to
step aside, if thereby the cause might advance!
V. Thus have I brought this matter before you and I shall now beg you
to observe THE SPECIALTY OF THIS WORK. I have shown you its
universality, its naturalness, its joyfulness and its supremacy. And
now we will dwell upon its specialty. Philip is set before us as a
specimen of those who were scattered abroad. A sample shows the whole.
What did Philip make prominent? "Philip went down to the city of
Samaria and preached Christ unto them." That is all he had to
preach–he preached the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ. But when
Philip had to instruct an educated nobleman, did he dwell on the same
subject as that which he brought before common Samaritans?
Read the thirty-fifth verse. "Then Philip opened his mouth and began at
the same Scripture and preached unto him Jesus." Here we have the same
subject as before–to the Samaritans–Christ. To the Ethiopian–Jesus.
See, then, what we have to do. We have to tell over and over again what
we know so well–that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto
Himself–not imputing their trespasses unto them. The Savior lived here
a life of holy obedience and then died, "the Just for the unjust, to
bring us to God." We preach that this Jesus made atonement for sin so
that whosoever believes in Him has eternal life and shall never come
into condemnation.
We declare that Jesus rose again and that this new life He bestows on
those who trust Him. We proclaim that He has gone into Heaven to take
possession of the inheritance for His people and to plead for them
before the Throne. And that those who are in Him shall one day be with
Him and behold His Glory. In a word, we preach Jesus as the Lamb of
God, which takes away the sin of the world.
This is the old, old story. It is a very simple story but the telling
of it will save people. Keep to that Gospel. Many have lost faith in
it. It is hoped that people will now be saved by new socialistic
arrangements, by moral precepts, by amusements, by societies and what
not. Let the Church of God be glad when anything is done which helps
temperance, purity, freedom and so forth. But her one business is to
preach CHRIST. Stick to this, my Brethren. If all the shoemakers in
London were to take to making bracelets for the Queen, she would be
badly decorated.
But where should we be? Let the cobblers stick to their lasts. You that
are sent to preach Christ, if you take to doing something else and
become philosophical, socialistic, philanthropic and all that, what is
to become of the spiritual nature of men? Keep to your work. Go and
preach Christ to the people. I have not lost faith in the old Gospel.
No–my confidence in it grows as I see the speedy failure of all the
quackeries of succeeding years. The methods of the modern school are a
bottle of smoke.
Christ crucified is the only remedy for sin. Keep to the Gospel of
"believe and live." "Whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ has
everlasting life." If this Gospel does not uplift the race, nothing
will. This is the only medicine which the great Physician has given to
us to administer to sin-sick souls. Keep to it. "There is none other
name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." We want
no advance, we dream of no improvement upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In closing, I would call your attention to two little words in the
fifth verse. "Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached
Christ," allow me to put the next two words in capitals–"UNTO THEM."
Read the thirty-fifth verse. "Philip opened his mouth and began at the
same Scripture and preached UNTO HIM Jesus."
Somebody said to Mr. Moody–"How are we to get at the masses?" He
replied, "Go for them." The expression is forcible, "Go for them." Go
for them in the name of Christ. Go right at them. Do not only preach
Christ but preach Christ unto them. Preach Jesus to the individual man.
It is the work of the Church of God, as much as lies in us, to bring
Christ home to the people's knowledge, thought, belief, conscience and
heart. Preach it unto them. If I stand here and preach before you, what
is the good of it?
But if I preach UNTO YOU, there is practical use in it. When you go out
of this place, I pray you will look for a man or a woman and speak unto
him, or unto her, Jesus the Christ. Come to close dealings. I fear that
some of you fathers have not yet prayed with your boys and some of you
mothers have not yet taken your girls apart and talked with them about
eternal things. Have you? You say, "I am so retiring." Then retire and
pray. But love your children enough to speak to them of Jesus.
You sisters, have you spoken to your brothers about Jesus? Have some of
you wives yet spoken to your ungodly husbands about the Christ? This is
the point. If we will each one speak for our Lord, we shall see results
that will perfectly astound us. If, during the next few months, this
Church would fully wake up and if every member would feel, "I have
something to do and I must do it," we should then see a glorious
harvest.
When my Brethren Fullerton and Smith hold special services in this
place, as they will do in the beginning of November, you will help to
get in the people and to crowd the place. And when they preach, you
will pray and watch and look up the enquirers and we shall have great
times. If you will go after people at their houses and give them your
own personal testimony in loving earnestness, the Holy Spirit will
bless you. Oh, may God arouse us to this! I say again, I have not
preached this morning half so much as I have prayed. For every word
that I have spoken I have prayed two words silently to God.
Oh, that the Lord would hear me and bless us in an unusual degree! If
the Lord will fill you with His Spirit, the opening of yonder front
doors and your going out will be like the bursting of a bomb-shell in
London. If you are all in earnest, your existence will be like the
shining of the sun in the heavens. Oh, how I long that God may be
glorified! For His Truth's sake I have been "abundantly filled with
reproach." But I would gladly accept a sevenfold baptism of it so that
his kingdom would come. May the Lord make bare His holy arm in the eyes
of all the people! Amen and Amen.