p. 6 | THE LORD’S NEED

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 18, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 20.

THE LORD’S NEED.

THE Lord has ordained that the Gospel shall be preached in all the world by men. There is reason in this; it is becoming that such of His creatures as know by experience what it is to be saved from sin shall be the natural channels through which to impart the knowledge of the Gospel. Experience is a wonderfully effectual preparatory school. Even of Christ Himself it is said that “it behooved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” Why did it thus behoove Him for such an end?—That He might have the experience of those in whose behalf He was to minister. “For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.”

Therefore, the plan of disseminating the Gospel through the agency of men is a logical one. Those who have been rescued from sin by the grace of God, and knowing the temptations of their fellowmen who have not as yet been rescued, are naturally supposed to have imbibed that spirit of love and sympathy that actuated their Master. If this is not so, there is something wrong with the professed conversion and experience. Unless such be the case, there can be no really successful work. First, it is necessary that there be a love for one another; for the Lord says, “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Then there must be the love of sinners, and a real sympathy for them in their lost condition, else nothing can be done for them.

For these reasons, the Lord needs men for His work. He needs humble men, who “have no confidence in the flesh.” He needs unselfish men, who consider the salvation of souls a thing to be desired more than their own personal comfort or gain. He needs men like Moses, who will choose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;” who will esteem the “reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,” or of any other earthly country. He needs men like Paul, who feel that “wo is me, if I preach not the Gospel;” who have but the one aim in view, and that is to be about the Father’s business, to fall in line with the Captain of our salvation in the work of seeking and saving that which is lost.

It is not necessarily a spirit of presumption to assume that the Lord has need of you, whether you be man, woman, or child, if you are imbued with a love of souls, and realize that of your own self you can do nothing, but have faith to believe that you can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengtheneth you. “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.” The situation is urgent, and, altho it be the eleventh hour, the Master is saying, “Go work to-day in My vineyard.” The Lord is not ashamed to say that He has need of instrumentalities that are apparently of very little value. On one occasion, when He desired to ride into Jerusalem, He was not backward in saying that He was in need of a young ass on which to ride. Luke 19:31. He recognizes value in servants with but one talent, and, on one occasion, when He had cast a legion of devils out of a man, He immediately set him to work as a home missionary. Mark 5:15–20. The Lord has need of you, and there is no occupation so profitable as His service. But more than all, every one, saint or sinner, has need of Him.