the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Grace for Today
Mark 16:15-16
The mission of Christ’s church
Read Romans 1:1-17
We do not need to form a committee to investigate the responsibility of the church in the ‘80s’. Our Lord has told us exactly what we are to do. He said, ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned’ (Mark 16:15-16). The Word of God tells us exactly what we are to do and exactly how we are to do it. Nothing is left to guesswork. Neither our work nor the method by which we are to perform it is to be determined by time, place, circumstances or human opinion.
The singular purpose for our existence in this world is the salvation of God’s elect for the glory of his great name. We are on the trail of Christ’s sheep. We have no other object or goal. As our Lord Jesus Christ was sent to redeem God’s elect, he has sent his church to gather those redeemed ones to their Savior John 20:21). We must never be turned aside from this great work.
The singular method of biblical evangelism is gospel preaching. When our Lord told us to go into all the world, he did not tell us to entertain the world, to change the world, to provide counseling for the world, to educate the world or to get control of political offices so that we could rule the world. Our Lord said, ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.’ The only method of evangelism that God will own and honor for the salvation of sinners is that which he has ordained: gospel preaching! Other things may charm sinners and console sinners, but only gospel preaching will convert sinners.
And the singular message of the gospel is Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 1:30 to 1 Corinthians 2:5). Rowland Hill was correct when he said, ‘Any message which does not contain the three ‘R’s’ [Ruin by the Fall, Redemption by the blood, and Regeneration by the Holy Spirit] ought never to have been preached.’ It is our business to preach the gospel with simplicity and clarity, declaring to men how that God saves sinners through the merits of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
