THE MAN GOD USES – CHAPTER XV – Oswald J Smith

GO AND TELL OTHERS

IT is eventide. The last lingering ray of the setting sun has sunk below the horizon. The suffocating heat of the day has been replaced by the cooler air of the approaching night. The long, dark shadows cast by the city walls have disappeared. Twilight covers all.

Ever and anon from somewhere within the walls comes a faint plaintive cry. It is probably the cry of a child, caused by the pangs of hunger, for Samaria is undergoing a siege. The Syrians have laid waste the country, and surrounded the city. Days have passed, food has grown scarce, and relief seems farther off than at the beginning.

Upon this particular evening four lepers might have been seen seated on the ground just outside the wall. So weak are they that they can scarcely move. The last scrap of food has been eaten. They have reached their extremity, for when the morrow dawns, it will mean certain death. What are they to do? If they enter the city it will avail them nothing, for food can no longer be had. To remain where they are will mean starvation. Death if they go! Death if they stay! What is to be done? Is there no alternative? Ah, yes! they can give themselves up to the Syrians. True, they may be killed. But then again they may not. It is only a chance in a hundred, but life is dear even to lepers, and they decide to take the chance.

Dragging themselves wearily across the open space as the twilight deepens, they finally reach the outskirts of the camp. All is still and quiet. Not a footstep is heard. What can it mean? Cautiously they make their way from tent to tent. Not a human soul. The Syrians have fled. Yes, fled, and left everything behind them. Food is found in abundance and they are saved.

Like hungry wolves they fall upon the tables, and fairly gorge themselves ere they give any thought to other things. Finally, when they have feasted as only the hungry can, they are suddenly conscience-stricken by the thought of the thousands within the city walls who are dying of starvation while food is within their grasp.

“Then they said one to another, we do not well; this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace; if we tarry till the morning light, punishment will overtake us; now, therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household” (2 Kings 7:9). And with hearts grateful for the good things that had come to them, they dec1ded to let the others know. Hence, our theme,

“Go and tell others.” Go and tell others! It is the message that Christ gave to His church when He said, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.” It is His will for every Christian. And I believe were He here to-day, in the face of the millions: who have never heard His name, His most urgent plea to you and to me would be this: “Go and tell others.”

I would urge that we go and tell others first,

BECAUSE OF WHAT WE HAVE

These four lepers had about all they wanted for the present. They had been starving and had been given food. They had been hopeless and had been filled with new aspirations. They had been sad and discouraged; they were now glad and happy. Was it any wonder that they exclaimed, “We do not well; this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace.”

But brethren, what had they in comparison to what you and I have in Jesus Christ? Their salvation was physical and temporal. Ours is spiritual and eternal. They had been freed from the pangs of hunger. We have been freed from the power of sin. Think of it! —forgiven, our hearts cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, the presence of God ever with us, joy, peace, comfort, the hope of life beyond the grave, re-union with those we loved and lost awhile, heaven with all its glories, and best of all Jesus Christ Himself, our Comforter in sorrow, our Guide in the darkness, and our Strength and Hope in death. Surely, surely we have something worth giving to others I Are we going to be selfish? Would we keep it all for ourselves? Or will we do as these poor lepers did for a starving city? Will we go and tell others?

But if we should tell others because of what we have, then surely it is our duty to go and tell others

BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY NEED

Within the walls of Samaria were literally thousands of men and women dying of hunger. So dire was the situation, so pressing the need, that mothers were cooking their own sons that they might live a little longer. Could we imagine a greater need? Food was worth its weight in gold, and it was food they needed. And the lepers knowing it, decided to go and tell them of their deliverance.

My friends, there are men and women on every side who are perishing for the Bread of Life, and we are able to supply their need. It may be that the man who works by our side day after day does not know Jesus Christ, and we have never told him. Take, for instance, the friends with whom we associate. We ourselves, have heard the “Glad Tidings” and Jesus has become our Saviour. But what of them? Have we ever told them what Jesus means to us? Have we ever tried to supply their need?

Far away in Africa, India, China, and Japan, there are millions of precious souls for whom He died. And yet they have never heard His name. They are starving for the Good News. Their homes are often wretched hovels. They get but three or four meals a week in many cases. Famines have stalked across their lands leaving disease and death in its wake. Immorality is sanctioned by their religion, and idols are their gods. They live in constant dread of evil spirits and demons of every description. Their religions give them no hope. Life itself is a burden. Would that I could paint the need! Oh, for the brush of a Raphael or the skill of a Michel Angelo that I might picture the degradation, that I might reveal their distress I And yet we have it. Think of it, men and women, we have what they lack I Shall we go and tell them? Surely they need us! The last great command of the One whom we love and serve was “Go.” And yet nineteen centuries have rolled away, and still the world is unevangelized. They perish, perish for want of light. Shall we go and tell others?

And last of all we must go and tell others

BECAUSE THERE IS DANGER IF WE FAIL

I mean danger to ourselves. Hear the warning as we turn to our text: “If we tarry till the morning light punishment will overtake us.” Ah, yes! They dare not tarry. They dare not withhold the “Glad Tidings.” Some kind of punishment would surely overtake them if they did. And so without any more hesitation they went at once to tell others.

The Gospel has come to us, and through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ we are saved. But listen, we keep it at our peril. We must either go backward or forward. We cannot stand still. The secret of growth in the Christian life is activity. If we lie down and do nothing for Christ we will grow weaker and weaker, colder and colder, until at last our interest will be all gone, and we our-selves will drift from the Church back into the world where our last state will be worse than our first. One of the greatest prerequisites of the Christian life is service. We must go to work for Christ. We were not saved for what we could get out of it; we were not saved merely that we might escape hell and get to heaven. That is pure selfishness. No! No! We were saved to serve and unless we find something to do we will die of inaction. If I do not use my muscles I will soon find that I cannot. The Hindu ascetic who holds his arm in the air for a number of weeks finds that he can never bring it down again.

There are thousands of Christians, I am sorry to say, who never speak a word for their Master. In the testimony meeting they are silent, though their tongues fly fast enough at home. They can talk to their fellow men, but somehow when it comes to speaking for God they are utterly and hopelessly dumb. They have loved ones in their own homes who do not know Christ, and yet they are afraid to say a word to them. Loud enough in most things, but silent when it comes to Christianity. God pity them! Ashamed of Christ! And some day they will find Christ ashamed of them.⁹³ The fact is they do not really believe that their friends and loved ones are lost. If they did they would never rest day nor night until they were saved. How could they? Oh, why is it so? Why this selfishness?

If we have found joy in Christ, why shouldn’t we tell others? If we know in our hearts that our loved ones are lost and that they will be shut out of heaven and separated from us through all eternity, tell me, why do we not ask them to accept Jesus Christ?

Unless we go and tell others we ourselves will grow cold and indifferent. Our reward will go to another; and we will suffer unutterable loss, “When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die; and thou gavest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand” (Ezek. 3:18). Oh, how solemn the warning, “his blood will I require at thine hand!”⁹⁴ “We do not well,” exclaimed the lepers, “this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, punishment will overtake us; now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” Oh, my brethren, let us also go and tell others, even as the four lepers went. The world is dying for our Message. Souls are perishing without Christ. It is for each one of us to go and tell others.

Go and tell the joy of Jesus! Tell it out where e’er you go;
Sing, oh, sing of His redemption, Banish sorrow, pain and woe!

Go and tell the joy of Jesus! Tell of how He bled and died;
Souls are waiting to receive Him, Jesus Christ the Crucified.

Go and tell the joy of Jesus! It will thrill another heart ;
He is waiting now to enter, And the light of Life impart.

Go and tell the joy of Jesus! Let the whole, wide world behold
In your life the wondrous vision Of a joy and peace untold.

Go and tell the joy of Jesus! Let it echo far and wide;
All around you hearts are aching, Hearts for whom He bled and died.

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93 Luke 9:26
94 Ezekiel 33:8

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