Original text:
Fifthly. In preaching to the heathen, we must keep to the example of Paul, and make the great subject of our preaching, Christ the Crucified.
It would be very easy for a missionary to preach nothing but truths, and that for many years together, without any well-grounded hope of becoming useful to one soul. The doctrine of Christ’s expiatory death and all-sufficient merits has been, and must ever remain, the grand means of conversion. This doctrine, and others immediately connected with it, have constantly nourished and sanctified the church. Oh that these glorious truths may ever be the joy and strength of our own souls, and then they will not fail to become the matter of our conversation to others.
It was the proclaiming of these doctrines that made the Reformation from Popery in the time of Luther spread with such rapidity.
It was these truths that filled the sermons of the modern Apostles, Whitfield, Wesley, etc., when the light of the Gospel which had been held up with such glorious effects by the Puritans was almost extinguished in England.
It is a well-known fact that the most successful missionaries in the world at the present day make the atonement of Christ their continued theme. We mean the Moravians. They attribute all their success to the preaching of the death of our Saviour.
So far as our experience goes in this work, we must freely acknowledge, that every Hindoo among us who has been gained to Christ, has been won by the astonishing and all-constraining love exhibited in our Redeemer’s propitiatory death. Oh then may we resolve to know nothing among Hindus and Muslims but Christ and Him crucified.
Modern Version:
Fifthly, when preaching to non-believers, we must follow Paul’s example and focus on the main message: Christ the Crucified. A missionary could easily spend years preaching various truths without genuinely helping anyone. The message of Christ’s sacrificial death and His all-sufficient merits has always been, and will always be, the key to conversion. This doctrine, along with other closely related teachings, has continuously nurtured and sanctified the church.
If these glorious truths are the source of our own joy and strength, then they will inspire us to share them with others.
It was the proclamation of these doctrines that fuelled the rapid spread of the Reformation during Luther’s time.
These same truths were central to the sermons of evangelists like Whitfield and Wesley, at a time when the Gospel light that the Puritans had so wonderfully lit was becoming dim in England.
It’s well known that the most effective missionaries, the Moravians, consistently preach about Christ’s atonement. They credit their success to sharing the message of our Saviour’s death.
From our own experience here in India, we acknowledge that every Hindu we’ve brought to Christ believed because he or she was touched by the incredible love shown through Christ’s sacrificial death.
Therefore, let us commit to knowing nothing among Hindus and Muslims except Christ and Him crucified.
1 Cor 1:17-18: For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Cor 2:2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Gal 6:14 God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
