MY HEART'S GREAT CONCERN

The greatest challenge I face and the greatest concern of my heart, as a gospel preacher, is that our generation may experience a return to the preaching of the gospel of God's sovereign grace and matchless glory. We are plagued today in the religious world, as never before, with a gospel of works and human merit, a religion of formality and ceremony, and a zeal for God but not according to knowledge.

I pray for a return of the gospel message proclaimed by the Apostles, the Reformers, and the Puritans; that message preached by Bunyan, Gill, Whitefield, Edwards, and Spurgeon; that message which God was pleased to use in days of old to awaken sinners to their need of his mercy. The message I long to hear and long to preach is the gospel of God's redeeming love, saving power, pardoning grace, and sovereign glory, as it is revealed in Christ, which humbles the proud Pharisee, gives hope to the chief of sinners, and gives to God alone the praise and honor of the salvation which he performs.

If God is pleased to restore that message, enabling his servants to proclaim it in the power of the Holy Spirit, men will once again sense the awesome presence of the Holy, True, and Living God. The voice of the proud sinner who inwardly debates whether he will accept Jesus or reject him will be gone. The haughty spirit that refuses to bow to Christ as Lord will be gone. The arrogance of the boastful religionist who brags about his righteousness and what he has done for God will be gone. Once again we might hear broken sinners cry, "Depth of mercy, can there be mercy still reserved for me; can my God his wrath forbear, me the chief of sinners spare?" We might again hear men ask, "And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood?" If God is pleased to restore this gospel message in the power of his Spirit to the pulpits of our land, we might again hear sinners pleading, "Pass me not, O gentle Savior, hear my humble cry! While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by." Such a prospect is thrilling, encouraging, and challenging!

I do not know what others may do; but I am determined to give myself wholly to the work of preaching that gospel of God's grace and glory in Christ. I am resolved to put forth every effort to preach that message with boldness, simplicity of speech, plainness of language, and clarity every time I step into my pulpit. I am "determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Will you pray that God may give me wisdom to know the gospel, strength to preach the gospel, and grace to remain faithful to the gospel?