The Gospel Call by W. LETTERMAN SMITH

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 14, 1915

The Gospel Call

By W. LETTERMAN SMITH

W. LETTERMAN SMITH

“UNTO you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.” Prov. 8: 4. It is the voice of Wisdom, even of Jesus the Christ, who is the incarnate wisdom of God. And he is calling unto you.

To Salvation

“All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3: 23. There is no exception. Sin is a dreadful fact and a universal experience. Salvation, therefore, is the soul’s greatest and most pressing need. Salvation is of the Lord, and of the Lord only; for there is “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2: 5),—one, and only one. Hence the call to salvation is a call to Jesus Christ. With confession of sin, in penitence and faith, come just now to him, and he will receive, pardon, cleanse, and save you with an everlasting salvation.

Come now. The gospel has only one time—now. Burning earnestness knows no other time. It knows no tomorrow. God never looks with pity on the sin, and never without pity on the sinner. Misery is the recipient of mercy. The miserable condition of the sinner commends him to the merciful Christ. The only refuge from God, the consuming fire, is in God, the merciful Saviour. Run unto him and be safe.

Great sinners may become great saints through the grace and power of Christ. The question is not, How do you feel? but, Where are you standing? Are you on the Rock? The Rock will not change, the climate will. Christ does not change, feelings do. Are you resting on feeling or on Christ? Plant your feet upon the unchanging Rock, Christ Jesus, that you may endure forever.

Men have tried many devices to save themselves. Perhaps you, too, have been trying in some way to save yourself from sin, from its tremendous power and terrible consequences, but all in vain. Strive no longer. Yield yourself to Jesus Christ, who alone can save. Heed the call, and come now to Jesus Christ for salvation.

To the Gospel Feast

The table of God’s love is spread with sweet, wholesome, satisfying refreshment for hungry souls. Pardon, peace, joy, hope, true and lasting pleasures, the bread of life, the water of life,—these rich blessings, purchased at the infinite cost of the tears, the agony, the blood, the death of the Son of God, are now freely offered to you “without money and without price.” Isa. 55: 1-3. “Come; for all things are now ready.” Luke 14: 15-24. It is the gracious invitation of the Master of the feast, the Lord Jesus, to you.

The door is now wide open, the table is spread, the guests are assembling, the spotless robe of Christ’s perfect righteousness is ready for you, and the Master of the feast awaits your coming. Thousands are hurrying in. Press in with the throng. Delay not, lest the Lord of the feast rise up and close the door against you, and you be left outside to perish eternally.

To Confession

Perhaps you have already accepted the great salvation, and have come to the gospel feast. If so, then your Saviour would have you confess him before men; and this you can do in three ways: (1) By uniting with his church, coming into fellowship and service with his people; (2) by speaking for Christ; (3) by a consistent Christian life. And so Jesus, your Saviour, would have you an open, confessed follower of his, and not a secret disciple.

Does anything keep you from publicly confessing the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, can it be fear that restrains you? But is it not better to fear the displeasure of the Lord than the sneer, the scorn, the ridicule, or even the more serious persecution, of men? Can it be shame that holds you back? But have you any reason to be ashamed of him who sums up in himself all the excellencies of earth and of heaven; of him who was the manliest of men, the perfection of manhood, the flower of humanity, the perfect One? O, surely not! Then will you not come out boldly for him, take your stand openly on his side, and by his grace witness a good confession before men?

To Holiness

The call to holiness is a call to the development of the Christian virtues, to the cultivation and perfection of the fruit of the Spirit, and to the growth of character and life into the likeness of the perfect character and life of Jesus Christ. Saved from your sins, this is now the great work to which you are called.

Penitence is better than sin, but innocence is better than penitence. “Keep thyself pure.” There are those who will do anything for the religion of Christ—write for it, fight for it, die for it, anything but live for it. God may not want you to die for him, but he does want you to live for him. Man asks, Are you fit to die? God asks, Are you fit to live?

In order to attain holiness there must be, (1) Renunciation of all sin; (2) separation from the world; (3) surrender of the whole self—body, soul, and spirit—unto the Lord.

“Be ye holy.” 1 Peter 1: 15, 16. This is now God’s call to you. Will you not hear and heed, be filled with the Spirit, live a life of faith in the Son of God, and so make your life a power for good in the world?

To Consecration of Substance

Having given yourself unto the Lord, you are called upon to consecrate unto him all that you possess.

You cannot serve God and Mammon, but you may and should serve God with the mammon; that is, take the money, talents, and worldly advantages with which God has endowed you, be they little or

much, and dedicate them all to Jesus Christ, and use them in his service and for his glory.

Many, like the rich man of the parable, have much goods laid up for many years, but no goods laid up for eternity. He is poor indeed who has nothing but money. It is better to be rich in character, rich toward God, than rich in silver and gold.

If you keep back part of those things with which God has intrusted you, he will keep back the whole of the blessing. Our little, apart from Jesus, is little still; our little, with Jesus to bless and multiply, becomes much. Be not like Ananias and Sapphira, who kept back part; but give your all unto the Lord, as did the poor widow, who cast her all, even all her living, into the treasury of the Lord, and received the commendation and blessing of the Master.

To Service

Are you saved? If so, God had a greater purpose in saving you than your own salvation merely. It was his purpose that you might serve,—serve God and your fellow men. To desire only to be served is the spirit of the devil. He wants to be served. To serve is the spirit of Christ. He wants to serve.

How can those who have done nothing for God and their fellow men rest from their labors and have their works follow them? They have performed no labor to rest from, and have started no good works to follow them.

Live for God and work for God, and so serve him. Do good unto men, and so serve them. And what better service can you render unto your fellows than pointing them to the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29), and helping them on to higher, nobler, better living?

The world calls great those who are served; God calls great those who serve. Will you be of those who serve?

To the Marriage Supper of the Lamb

The Lamb’s wife, the church, is being made ready for the marriage supper to be celebrated in the Father’s house above. If you have obeyed the gospel call, you will be made welcome to this marriage feast.

The time is uncertain, known as yet only to the Lord himself, but you will be called in due time. Be always ready, therefore, with your lamp trimmed and burning. Watch, pray, wait, serve, so that when the Bridegroom comes you may enter in with him into the perfect peace and joy and bliss of the heavenly home, and there sit with him and with all the redeemed from among men at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Will you be there?