Evangelistic Preaching

The purpose of evangelistic preaching is to bring the listener face to face with the Son of God that by the Holy Spirit he may accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. It pleased God, the Bible tells us, to redeem sinful man “through the foolishness of preaching” (or, perhaps more accurately, “through the folly of what we preach”). The Greek word kerygma, or “preaching,” indicates speaking to the unsaved. New Testament preaching, then, was unmistakably evangelistic.

Almost every soul-winning movement in church history that has commended itself to later times started in a local church. And the instrumentality was usually of the simplest. In eighteenth-century England, for example, revival came through the evangelistic preaching of men like Grimshaw, Romaine, Rowlands, Berridge, and Venn. Were a similar awakening to happen in England again, or anywhere else for that matter, it would come undoubtedly under evangelistic preaching, the same sword with which Paul so mightily assaulted the pagan world 1900 years ago. What was this kind of preaching?

The Man

The answer to this question begins with the preacher. Evangelistic preachers are men whose hearts are full of Scripture, full of Christ, full of deep awareness of the sinfulness of sin; of the value of a soul; of the need for repentance and faith; of the happiness of holy living; and of the importance of the world to come.

The great apostle of Wales, Daniel Rowlands, was such a man, although when he was ordained he was ignorant of the gospel of Christ. After Sunday morning services he was as ready as anyone to indulge himself for the rest of the day in sports and entertainment. After his conversion, however, he preached with conviction, spoke and lived like one who had discovered that sin, death, judgment, heaven, and hell are stark realities. It is no surprise that sinners were awakened and aroused by his changed preaching. In a remote section of Wales, Daniel Rowlands preached for 48 years—sometimes to crowds of 2000—with continuously fruitful results.

We can mention only a few of the qualities that mark the evangelistic preacher. He is a humble man, deeply aware of his own sinfulness and need of God’s grace. He is a diligent man, continually growing through reading, meditation, and study. He is a praying man, who pours out his heart before God for the salvation of those around him. He is a concerned man, burdened for the people and their eternal spiritual welfare. Above all, he is God’s man, one in whom Christ is clearly seen in word and deed.

The Message

God’s man has a primary message, the message of the Gospel. Redemption is clearly understood in his own mind, truly experienced in his own heart, and plainly presented to his people. Every sermon in his preaching makes prominent the Lord Jesus Christ. His atonement and saving grace, His greatness and righteousness, His kindness, patience, and example permeate and color every sermon. Never can the evangelistic preacher say too much about his Master nor commend him too often to his hearers. The words of St. Bernard are fitting in this regard. “Yesterday,” he said, “I preached myself, and the scholars came up and praised me. Today, I preached Christ and the sinners came up and thanked me.” Christ-honoring sermons are sealed by the Holy Spirit with his blessing.

For 21 years William Grimshaw ministered at Haworth. Concerning his work there he said, “I preach the Gospel—glad tidings of salvation to penitent sinners, and a chapter expounded every Lord’s Day evening. I visit my parish in 12 places monthly, convening six, eight, or ten families in a place allowing people of the neighborhood that please to attend the exhortation. This I purpose to make my constant business in my parish so long as I live.” Wherever he went this man of God took his Master with him, and spoke plainly to people about their souls. As a result, previously unconcerned multitudes began to think about spiritual things. Year after year the Holy Spirit used Grimshaw’s sermons to convict and to convert.

In 1749, John Berridge began his six-year ministry at Staplefort. Here he took great pains to impress his parishioners with the importance of sanctification. He preached simply but appealingly. He was diligent, too, as a pastor. Yet his ministry seemed without fruit. Why? He himself says he was ignorant of the Gospel. He had no message of salvation by grace, Christ crucified, or the necessity of conversion. Christianity was for Berridge like a solar system without a sun. One morning while meditating on Scripture, these words came to mind: “Cease from thine own works, only believe.” At once he gained spiritual sight and insight. He says of his former ministry: “I preached up sanctification by the works of the law very earnestly for six years in Stapleford and never brought one soul to Christ. I did the same at Everton for two years, without any success at all. But as soon as I preached Jesus Christ, and faith in His blood, then believers were added to the church continually.”

“Evangelical but not evangelistic? It is a lie. No man is evangelical without being evangelistic. A man tells me that he is evangelical, that he believes in the ruin of man and the redemption provided by Christ and yet is not evangelistic. Then he is the worst traitor in the camp of Christ.…”

John Bunyan gives this testimony concerning his message: “In my preaching of the Word I noticed that the Lord led me to begin where His word begins—with sinners; that is, to condemn all flesh and to state is clearly that the curse of God is upon all men as they come into the world, because of sin. Then I try to show everyone the wonderful Jesus Christ in all His offices, relationships, and benefits to the world and try to point out and condemn and remove all false supports on which the world leans and by which it perishes. After doing this God led me into something of the mystery of the union of Christ, so I showed them that too.”

In simple terms, the Gospel message is this: First, God’s love for man. “God so loved the world.” “God commendeth his love toward us.” Love seeks unity with the loved one. Second, man’s estrangement from God because of sin. “All we like sheep have gone astray.” We are “aliens,” “strangers,” “without God—without Christ—without hope in this world.” Third, God’s provision of reconciliation to himself through the person and work of Jesus Christ. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” We are “made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Fourth, the new life in the family of God. “All things are become new.” This the Gospel we are called to preach. No other will do. The inscription on the great bell in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, could well be every minister’s motto: Vae mihi si non evangelisavero, that is, “Woe to me, if I preach not the Gospel.”

The Method

Among the most important things in the method of evangelistic preaching are clarity and simplicity of presentation. Andrew W. Blackwood, in commenting on the preaching of Spurgeon, called it “steeped in simplicity. That is why it attracted the sinner and the blessed saint.” The first qualification of a good sermon is intelligibility. Simplicity, therefore, is vital to its content. On the other hand, a ponderous and philosophical presentation may be an obstacle to comprehension. Augustine once said, “A wooden key is not so beautiful as a golden one, but if it can open the door when the golden one cannot, it is far more useful.” Luther added, “No one can be a good preacher to the people who is not willing to preach in a manner that seems childish and coarse to some.” D. L. Moody knew the power of simplicity, too. The warp of every message was from the Book, the woof from the lives of ordinary men and women. It was William Grimshaw who wrote to John Newton: “If they do not understand me, I cannot hope to do them good; and when I think of the uncertainty of life, that, perhaps it may be the last opportunity, I know not how to be explicit enough.” Plain statement with fervor and love, simple ideas, forceful illustrations, direct appeals to heart and conscience are the elements of effective method in evangelistic preaching.

This is no brief for trite commonplaces, however, or for bald platitudes, and hackneyed phrases. The effective preacher studies diligently, and spares no time in the preparation of sermons. Out of his great reservoir of knowledge, however, his presentation, like that of Jesus, must be reduced to vivid and pictorial terms.

Romaine, an Oxford graduate, gave seven years to produce a scholarly four-volume edition of the Hebrew concordance and lexicon of Marcus de Calasio. His preaching for 45 years in London, however, was known for simplicity, clarity, and forcefulness. Such preaching spurred the eighteenth-century revival in England.

A second necessary component in evangelistic preaching is fervency. The prophet said, “As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth children.” The man in the pulpit must be earnestly preaching, not for the salvation of the sermon, but for the salvation of the sinner. Used of God for the spiritual awakening of that day, the eighteenth-century preacher preached with fire, earnestness, and conviction. Today’s minister needs the same persuasion that his message is true, that it is of eternal importance to his hearers. With Whitefield the evangelistic preacher needs to pray, “Lord, give me a warm heart!”

Evangelistic preaching is from the heart to reach the heart. John Bunyan wrote in his Call to the Ministry, “And after I have preached, my heart has been full of concern … and I have often cried out from my heart, oh, that those who have heard me speak today will but see as I do what sin, death, hell and the curse of God really are, and that they might understand the grace and love and mercy of God, that it is through Christ to men.… And I often told the Lord that if I were killed before their eyes and it would be a means to awaken them and confirm them in the truth, I would gladly have that done.”

The third characteristic of an evangelistic sermon is its appeal for decision. Evangelistic preaching is personal. The preacher says in effect, “I have a word of God for you which you must do something about.” Evangelistic preaching is a forthright call for a verdict. It does not minimize the sinner’s involvement. “He who, so to speak, believeth not, shall, as it were, be damned,” has no place in evangelistic preaching.

Paul’s preaching certainly included an appeal for decision. After clearly and plainly stating the Gospel as recorded in 2 Corinthians 5, for example, he says, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

Dr. G. Campbell Morgan said this: “I am not sure that the condition of the church might not be expressed in a phrase I once heard … from … one who called himself a Christian. Said he, when raising protest against evangelistic work, with a very evident assumption of superiority and self-complacency, ‘You know, I am thoroughly evangelical but not evangelistic.’ Evangelical but not evangelistic? It is a lie. No man is evangelical without being evangelistic. A man tells me that he is evangelical, that he believes in the ruin of man and the redemption provided by Christ and yet is not evangelistic. Then he is the worst traitor in the camp of Christ.”

While evangelistic preaching involves a man, a message, and a method, it is essentially the work of the Holy Spirit. He it is who empowers the evangelistic preacher, applies the Word, and wins the heart of the sinner. It is all of God and all for his glory.

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