Simply Give Out the Word

“Look to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:22 NKJV

              On Sunday, January 6, 1850, a young man not quite sixteen years of age walked along a snowy village street some fifty miles from London, England. On this bitterly cold day the snow fell heavily but he was more concerned in finding a church. He was driven along by his need of God, and ultimately, he was driven by the sin, loneliness, and darkness in his life, even at his young age. As he made his way through the streets, the snow falling heavily upon his shoulders, he felt it was too far to walk to the church which he had intended to visit, so he walked down a back lane and entered a little Methodist chapel. He sat down on a seat near the back, it was as cold inside as it was out.  He shivered. There were thirteen people there.

Five minutes after the service was due to begin at 11am, the preacher had not come. He had been delayed by the heavy snow. So one of the deacons came to the rescue and began conducting the service. After a little while he announced the text for his unplanned sermon: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” The deacon didn’t know much, so he only spoke for about ten minutes.

The young man himself later told the story: “I had been wandering about, seeking rest, and finding none, till a plain, unlettered, lay man among the Primitive Methodists stood up in the pulpit, and gave out this passage as his text: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” He had not much to say, thank God, for that compelled him to keep on repeating scripture, and there was nothing needed – by me, at any rate, – except the Word of God. I remember how he said, ‘It is Christ that speaks. “I am in the garden in an agony, pouring out my soul unto death; I am on the tree, dying for sinners; look unto me! Look unto me and be saved!” That is all you have to do. A child can look. One who is an idiot can look. However weak, or however poor a man may be, he can look; and if he looks, the promise is that he shall live.’ Then, stopping, he pointed to where I was sitting under the gallery, and he said, ‘That young man there looks very miserable.’ I expect I did, for that is how I felt. Then he said, ‘There is no hope for you, young man, or any chance of getting rid of your sin, but by looking to Jesus;’ and he exclaimed, ‘Look to Jesus young man! Look to Jesus and be saved! Look now!’ And I did look; and when they sang a hallelujah before they went home, in their own earnest way, I am sure I joined in it. It happened to be a day when the snow was lying deep and more was falling; so, as I went home, those words of David in Psalm 51 kept ringing through my heart, “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow”; and it seemed as if all nature was in accord with that blessed deliverance from sin which I had found in a single moment by looking to Jesus Christ and being saved as scripture commands.”

Somehow in a very strange and amazing way that young man looked from the depths of his soul into the very heart of God. He went out from the church, and he tells that as he walked through the streets, his burden had been lifted, never to return again. He walked with a new spring in his step, a new joy in his face, a new sense of peace in his heart. He had looked to God and lived.

              And just who was this young man in our story?  None other than Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the prince of preachers and possibly the most influential evangelical Christian preacher of the 19^th century.  At one point C.H. Spurgeon pastored a church of 10,000, ran a school for training new pastors, operated an orphanage, and actively supported the regular feeding of the poor of London. 

But what strikes me powerfully about the story has nothing to do with the prince of preachers, but with the other preacher in the story.  The unprepared, unordained, unspecial, non-seminary educated man that simply gave out the Word of God when unexpectedly called to do so.  Notice in the story that as the “real” preacher was detained by the weather, there was a decision to be made by those serving at the church.  Wait on the “professionally trained" and "qualified" minister of God, or pray up, step up, and simply give out the Word of God.  And that is just what this great man of God did.  Also notice that Spurgeon did not say the sermon was long and flowery, it was only 10 minutes.  And notice what Spurgeon recalls most from that short, unrehearsed sermon, he thanked the Lord that it was less the words of the preacher…and more the Words of God.  Oh, the power of simply giving out the Word of God…a sword that cuts through the flesh of sin and is promised to never return void from what God intends it to do. (Hebrews 4:12-13, Isaiah 55:11)

              Today, no matter your seminary education level, your experience in the pulpit, or your hours logged teaching in a Sunday School, do not underestimate your potential, nay your obligation, to simply give out the Word of God.  Preach where God puts you, tell those that God places around you, and no matter your location, situation, or station…simply give out the Word of God.

Blessings ~ Dan

“Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” 2 Timothy 4:2 ESV

"silence in motion", Punto Sur, Isla de Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico