In prepping to preach this coming Lord’s Day (7/12), I have really benefitted from C.H. Spurgeon’s sermon on Mark 16:20 – Christ and His Co-Workers. Among many things, I thought this description of how we need to be proclaiming the Gospel was very revealing:
A great many learned men are defending the Gospel—no doubt it is a very proper and right thing to do—yet I always notice that when there are most books of that kind, it is because the Gospel, itself, is not being preached. Suppose a number of persons were to take it into their heads that they had to defend a lion, a full-grown king of beasts! There he is in a cage and here come all the soldiers of the army to fight for him. Well, I would suggest to them, if they would not object and feel that it was humbling to them, that they should kindly stand back, open the door, and let the lion out! I believe that would be the best way of defending him, for he would take care of himself—and the best “apology” for the Gospel is to let the Gospel out! Never mind about defending Deuteronomy or the whole of the Pentateuch—preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified! Let the Lion out and see who will dare to approach Him! The Lion of the tribe of Judah will soon drive away all His adversaries! This was how Christ’s first disciples worked—they preached Jesus Christ wherever they went! They did not stop to apologize, but boldly bore their
witness concerning Him.
Pray that God would work through His Word this Sunday to inspire in us this kind of boldness.