- I Timothy 4:11 (NKJV) These things command and teach.
All of our hearts are sad and grieving for the tragic loss that the people of Newtown CT are experiencing today.
As I have pondered on this tragic event I could not help but think of a book of sermons that I finished reading this week. It was a book printed in 1949 called: “Keeping Men on Their Feet” by Frederick Keller Stamm.
The sermons were all well-written and contained a lot of good material. I’m sure the people who heard these sermons were encouraged and even blessed.
However, there was one great tragedy: they were atonement-less.
The core of the Christian faith is that mankind is eternally lost and separated from God and will stay that way – both now and for eternity – unless we comes to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ who died on the Cross as the atonement for us. Without accepting Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf and submitting to His lordship over our lives we are doomed and damned forever.
Gospel-lite preaching/teaching (preaching/teaching without the Cross) may help men stay on their feet, but if it never drives them to their knees in repentance then they will one day stand in Hell.
The Gospel preacher and teacher do not delight in this fact, they mourn and grieve that men are lost but they rejoice in sharing the good news that there is a way of escape in Jesus Christ.
Dear friends, as preachers and teachers we have an awesome responsibility. There are things that we must command and teach people to do.
For the last 100 years the pulpits of America have, for the most part, proclaimed a nice, friendly, Cross-less, blood-less and atonement-less message. I’m afraid that the tragic downward slide that we are seeing in our country is the terrible reaping of the whirlwind that has come as a result of that powerless preaching.
Can we turn the tide back? Can we at least slow the process down? I’ve got to believe that we can – one pulpit and one teacher’s podium at a time. May God help us to do so…starting this Sunday.
The ONE THING 