1454. Christ the Preacher, with Gracious Words of Truth
Christ the Preacher, with Gracious Words of Truth
"And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth" (Luk_4:22).
As Christ spoke that day from the pulpit in Nazareth, the people "wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth."
The preacher of to-day should follow in the footsteps of Christ, the preacher of the Nazarite pulpit.
The words of His text were words of gracious intent. He read where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
Our God is a God of all grace. He is a God full of tender compassion. The Lord Jesus spoke gracious words of a gracious God. He spoke of the pitiful poverty of the poor, but He told how riches could be obtained.
He spoke of the wreckage of sin and of the broken-hearted, but He told how hearts could be healed.
He spoke of the captives bound in sin, but He told them of deliverance.
He spoke of those whom satan had blinded, but He spoke of Him Who gave sight to the blind.
He told of the bruises of sin, but He spoke of the balm of Gilead.
He preached the acceptable year of the Lord.
Ministers of to-day must remember to preach the love of God. To be sure, the wages of sin is death; but is not the gift of God eternal life?
To be sure, the wicked shall be turned into hell; but has He not sent us to proclaim that He suffered, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God?
To be sure, a day of tribulation, an hour of gloominess and of darkness, is fast enshrouding the earth; but did He not give promise of the dawning of a new day when He shall come to reign?
The preacher must place the emphasis where the Spirit of God places it, particularly in this day–the acceptable year of the Lord.
We must place the emphasis upon the Cross where Christ died that He might redeem the lost.
We must place the emphasis upon the empty tomb, and preach that Christ lives to strengthen and to sustain the saints.
We must place the emphasis on the Second Coming of Christ, and on the glory that awaits.
The minister must never allow the thought to become prevalent that he is a pessimist, scattering gloom and despair to the four winds of the heavens.
The minister must not become known as a twentieth century optimist, blowing soap bubbles; but he must, recognizing the present sway and sweep of sin, and its impending darkness, scatter light amid the gloom.
If the minister preaches "the world is getting worse," and that the age is rushing headlong into judgment, and that the day of Jacob's trouble is ahead; let him be sure to envelope his discourse with the fact that, from the present age, Christ is ready to save all who come to Him; that, above the storm of judgment, Christ will rapture those who are in Him; and that, after the night of Jacob's trouble, will come the day, and the reign of the Prince of Peace.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR