THE MAN GOD USES – CHAPTER XI – Oswald J Smith

PREACHING CHRIST

THERE are two great essentials in the propagation of the Gospel–the messenger, and the message. The more I observe Christian activity and watch results, the more I am convinced that the most potent factor in it all has to do with personality. Character is the pivot upon which the wheels of Christianity turn. The messenger himself is, first and last, the key to the situation. There are men who will succeed in almost any parish. There are others who will fail no matter where they go. Unless the messenger be a man of God he must of necessity discover sooner or later that his efforts are in vain.

But we are not concerned just now with the man, important as he is. The words to which I want to draw your attention have to do, not with the messenger, but with his message. “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them” (Acts 8:5).Now,

WHAT IS MEANT BY “PREACHING CHRIST?

Perhaps if I answer first of all in a negative way we shall better understand the full significance of the phrase. First, then, let me say that “preaching Christ” does not mean merely preaching about Christ. A man may know all about the historic Jesus and yet not know Christ. He may be familiar with the incidents of His life from the cradle to the grave; he may even go further than he may believe and accept as genuine every event recorded in the Scriptures about Christ; he may believe everything that Jesus taught; the life of the Saviour may be as familiar to him as his own, and yet he may not know Christ.

Men are resting upon an intellectual belief in the doctrines, creeds, dogmas, ceremonies, and sacraments of the Church, instead of in the person of Christ Himself. Doctrine is all right in its place; we could not exist without it. Creeds and dogmas were necessary in the early centuries of Christianity. Even the regular ceremonies of church worship are oftentimes helpful; and yet, the man who builds on this as a foundation for Eternity, will some day awake to the fact that he has built on shifting sand. They can never take the place of the living Christ.

I know of men who only attend church on communion Sunday. Now if Christianity has never brought to their conscience a sense of service, a love for prayer; if their attendance twelve times a year is to be taken as a test of their spirituality, then there is something radically wrong. If they come to church merely as a matter of form, I am afraid they have never, never experienced the grace of God. When Jesus Christ saves a man He always puts a desire for service in his heart. And so instead of attending only on communion Sunday, he will be there often, not because it is his duty, but because he loves God’s house, and loves to serve.

Have you forgotten that almost the entire civilized world holds an intellectual belief in Christ? Do you realize that even the very devils believe and tremble ⁸⁶ ? And if men, my friends, are going to rest on creeds and doctrines, forms and ceremonies, or even the ordinances of the church, or upon any knowledge they may possess about Christ, let me say most emphatically that they have never known Christ. For all these things, good though they may be, do not take the place of Christ. And so the preaching of them does not constitute “preaching Christ.”

But further, — “preaching Christ” does not mean the reading of religious essays, the delivering of popular lectures, reviewing new books, discussing present-day politics, socialism, or economics. They are all needful. I do not for a moment condemn any of them, but I do condemn the bringing of them into the pulpit. Some of our pulpits today are given over to Sunday Evening Clubs, our churches are becoming lecture halls, and evangelism, the work of saving men, is considered out of date. For when God desires to send a mighty revival to our city, the doors of our churches (not all, thank God!) are closed, and our minds steeled against it. Is it any wonder that so many of our churches are empty, our pulpits powerless, and our efforts inefficient?

My brethren! “preaching Christ” means proclaiming Him as a crucified, resurrected, ascended, and living Saviour. You notice that I emphasize each word, crucified, resurrected, ascended, and living Saviour. I do not leave out His earthly life, His works, teachings and character. I merely emphasize the most important facts of all—His death and resurrection. Thank God, He is living at this present moment, possessing all power and authority, and ready to enter into vital relationship with every life. A present Saviour. I want you to think of Jesus as living today. I do not bring you a dead and powerless Christ, but a present, living Saviour. A Saviour who at this moment can enter into the most hopeless heart of the most hopeless man in all the world, and so change and transform him, that he will ever afterwards live a new life. Jesus is here today, and He is here to save. Do you see what I mean? Have I in any sense made Christ real to you? If only I could make you realize that you must deal with a living person, and not with a dead Christ! My friends, it is when I present Christ to you in this way that I am “Preaching Christ.”

WHY PREACH CHRIST?

But why are we to preach Christ? There are two reasons, both of paramount importance. First, because it is our business. The business of a farmer is to be a farmer, not a banker. The business of a lawyer is to be a lawyer, not a doctor. If you had the misfortune to have a lawsuit you would probably engage a lawyer. But what would you do if the plumbing broke? Go to the lawyer again? Certainly not. You would immediately send for a plumber. And why? Simply because it is a plumber’s business to be a plumber. And it is the business of the Christian to preach Christ.

Every Mohammedan trader is a missionary. You may find him pressing down into the Sudan of Central Africa, or out on the sands of the Arabian desert. It matters not. He buys and sells as he goes along, but he never neglects an opportunity of propagating his faith. And why? Simply because he is a Mohammedan and it is his business to spread Mohammedanism.

Let us go back for a moment to the passage in the eighth chapter of Acts. The record is that “they went everywhere preaching the Word.”⁸⁷ They! Who? The twelve apostles? No. As a matter of fact the twelve did not go at all. ⁸⁸ They remained at headquarters. “They” means the entire body of Christian believers, thousands in number. And these ordinary laymen and laywomen were scattered abroad, and went everywhere, doing what? Hiding, keeping quiet? No. They went everywhere preaching. Don’t you see? It was their business. God nowhere declares that only the ministers are to preach the Glad Tidings. His command is to all.

And “preaching” does not mean that they delivered a formal discourse from the pulpit. The use of that word has greatly changed. It simply means, “telling the Story.” Telling it man-to-man, individual-to-individual. Telling it anyway, and anywhere, but telling it. Philip journeys to Gaza, and meets an Ethiopian eunuch ⁸⁹ . Soon he has told him the story of Jesus, and the eunuch is baptized. His audience was composed of only one man. And yet the Word plainly states that “he began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Jesus.” That is what is meant by “preaching.” Can we not do it? My friends, it is our business to preach Christ.

But there is still another reason, and it is this, — Preach Christ because He is the only Remedy for sin. Men have striven for centuries in every conceivable way to rid themselves of sin, and have failed. Failed because they did not know the One. So and the ONLY One who was able to free them. Mohammed cannot save. Confucius cannot save. Buddha cannot save. Jesus Christ CAN. Yea, more, He will! That was what He came for. That was why He died. And to Him and Him alone, I bid you come, for “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:I2). And if that be true, then it behooves us one and all, clergy and laity alike, to PREACH CHRIST.

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86 James 2:19
87 Acts 8:1
88 Acts 8:4
89 Acts 8:27-­‐40

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