Preach to the Whole Man
There
is a danger of talking more about salvation than about the Saviour.
There is a danger of preaching redemption and neglecting to preach
the Redeemer. It could be that we know much about justification and
little about Jesus Christ, His person and His work. One thing is
certain, a man will arrive at right doctrine through Christ, but it
is also possible for him to have orthodox doctrine and yet not know
Christ. The gospel is not a collection of dry doctrines; it is the
revelation of a living, merciful, and ever-present Lord.
Men
and women are not going to come to hear you preach “the doctrines
of grace.” But if needy sinners get wind of the fact that you are
preaching “the grace of Christ,” they will give you a hearing.
When you only preach to my head in facts so numerous and terms so
tedious, you weary me, and forget that I am a human with emotions and
a hungry HEART! I laugh, I cry, I love, I feel, I sorrow, I doubt, I
fear, and I need a minister with whom I can identify in all these,
who has the message of God’s mercy; not cold, calculated creeds
which ignore these human traits.
The
Arminian cheerleader sings joyful hymns, weeps, laughs, rejoices, and
calls for men to commit themselves to a movement with NO message
of hope nor assurance. The Calvinistic professor stands rigidly
in his pulpit of pious orthodoxy, daring not to weep lest he be
called emotional, daring not to laugh lest he be thought frivolous,
daring not to call mourners or seekers lest he be called a
free-willer, daring not to let people know him or get close to him
lest he lose their respect and awe. Someone may find out he is only a
sinner saved by grace.
“Lord,
deliver me from having to listen to either one of them, and send me
an Elijah of like passions who will minister to my heart and to my
head - to the whole man.”
-Gospel
report by preacher Henry T. Mahan
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