THE PREACHING DEMANDED BY THE TIMES.
By Jesse S. Gilbert
We often hear the expression, “The preaching demanded by the times.” The fact is that about the same kind of preaching is demanded by all times. The preacher does not deal with the changing modes of human thought, but with the eternal verities of God, and the need of human souls. Man’s need and God’s way of salvation do not vary from age to age. The convicted sinner still exclaims, “What must I do to be saved?” and the faithful minister of Jesus still responds, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:30, 31. There can no more be a new gospel than there can be a new multiplication table, or a new sun shining in the heavens. “But tho’ we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Gal. 1:8. While this is true, every age has its own modes of thought and statement, its own peculiar needs and evils. We need not, in order to be evangelical, use the stilted phraseology and quaint illustrations of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. We are to preach to the living men and women of to-day. The sins of the Babylonians, of the ancient Greeks and Romans, may be very interesting to the antiquarian, but little good would attend their discussion in the pulpit of to-day. We need to apply God’s truth to the sins that are prevalent in our own times. We may say then that the preaching demanded by the times, in fact by all time, is scriptural. “Preach the Word.” 2 Tim. 4:2. “The seed is the Word of God.” Luke 8:11. We are not sent to preach art, science, or philosophy, but the living Word of the living God. To present hungry souls with the husks of human speculation, is to give them a stone instead of bread, and the cup of Tantalus instead of the living waters. The times need very plain preaching. I heard a sermon, not long since, in which the flowers of rhetoric were so numerous and gorgeous as to cover and dull the sword of the Spirit. We need earnest preaching. Time is growing too short, and eternity too near, to trifle away the sublime opportunities of the pulpit. Said a once popular and distinguished minister upon his death-bed, “I have been Nero fiddling, while Rome was burning.” We need to apply God’s Word to present evils, and to press home upon the minds and hearts of men the truth most vital at the present time. What are the evils most prevalent at the present time?—Intemperance, blasphemy, licentiousness, Sabbath-breaking, and unbelief. Against these we must bring to bear the calcium light of God’s Word. What is present truth?—The near coming of the Son of man. Never was this truth more vital than it is at the present time. Let us herald the coming King. Blessed will be those watchmen upon the walls of Zion whom the Lord finds proclaiming the swift-coming kingdom.—Rev. Jesse S. Gilbert, A.M.