The Language of Life
There
is a wonder in the preaching of the Gospel. Those who have been
appointed to the task of preaching know that they face an amazing
dilemma. As far as they know, no one is able to hear what they say
with the ears of faith. They wait on the Spirit of God as they preach
to spiritually dead men and women, all the while, directing their
hearers to do the impossible!
This
would seem a most daunting job, one fraught with assured
disappointment and a sense of futility, were it not for the language
of life that is built into the Gospel. For the preacher there is hope
in the words employed by the Scripture. The language itself speaks to
LIFE! Though no one is privy to the inward workings of the Holy
Spirit, nor can anyone see a person being given life through the
Word, the preacher is yet told to use language that only the
spiritually living can hear.
To
the dead sinner the command is "Come to Christ", "Believe
on Christ", "Call on the Name of the Lord", "Repent"
and "Turn". These are admonitions to the living. The Gospel
addresses living needs, such as hunger, thirst and relief from
burdens. Such terms are exclusive to the realm of the living. The
dead do not know nor can they experience such things. Sweet dilemma
this …knowing that God alone gives life, the preacher is told to
speak in a manner as if everyone to whom he speaks can hear.
The
preacher is thus, gloriously insulated from the burden of making
folks hear, which to him, is an impossibility anyway. However, at
the same time he is commanded to speak to his fellow sinners as if
they can respond. "Wherefore
He
saith, AWAKE THOU THAT SLEEPEST,
and arise from the dead, AND CHRIST SHALL GIVE THEE
LIGHT" (EPHESIANS
5:14).
-Gospel
report by preacher Tim
James
Sequoyah
Sovereign Grace Baptist church of Cherokee, North Carolina USA
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