Date: August 27, 1948Place: Kuling
Man's heart is deceitful above all things; it is altogether in darkness and in opposition to God. A fallen man has no heart for God whatsoever. This is the testimony of the Bible. A fallen sinner belongs totally to this world and is totally sold to sin. He has nothing good to say about God's word whatsoever. Hence, in order to preach the gospel to a sinner, our first objective should not be to make him understand the gospel. Rather, our first objective should be to help him grasp one or two of God's words. We should create a feeling of need within him. Our job is not merely to relate some gospel stories, truths, or news. The purpose of our preaching is to create a sense of need for the gospel in a sinner. We are not here merely to make him understand the gospel or to be clear about the doctrines. Even if he knows and understands the gospel in his mind, he still may not feel the need for God Himself.
In order for a sinner to be saved, he must have two feelings. The first is a sense of need, and the second is a sense of sin. A gospel preacher's primary work is to stir up a sense of need and a sense of sin in man. In preaching the gospel to the Samaritan woman, the Lord did not first show her the gospel or her own sin. He awoke a sense of need within her. She came to fetch water because she was thirsty. The Lord Jesus began by speaking about her outward thirst and went on to speak about her inward thirst. The Lord kept stirring up a sense of need within the woman. Eventually, she said, "Sir, give me this water so that I will not thirst nor come here to draw" (John 4:15). However, the Lord did not give her a drink immediately, but instead asked for her husband. This awakened a sense of sin within her. The Lord was wise. He pointed out her sense of need with the water and then led her to the sense of sin by referring to her husbands. In the end she was saved. Every gospel preacher should read all the gospel messages in the Bible carefully at least once. From these messages he should pick up the principles for preaching the gospel.
We know that every sinner dwells in darkness. He has no thought for God and surely does not want God. His thoughts are altogether in darkness. In order to preach the gospel to him, we must first cast light upon the darkness of his mind. We should shed light on his thoughts through God's word. In announcing the Lord's redemption to sinners, our emphasis should be to create a sense of need within them for the gospel; we have to create such a need in their heart. After they sense this need, we can explain the gospel to them in detail. In preaching the gospel, we must first cause our listeners to be dissatisfied with their present condition; we must impart a sense of hunger in them. They will want God's salvation only after a sense of need has been awakened in them.
A sinner is in total darkness as far as his relationship with God is concerned; he cannot respond to God in any way. Our job is to lead him to salvation. Therefore, in preaching the gospel we have to impart God's word into his heart with a very strong spirit. As a consequence of this, God's word will not leave; it will take root in his heart. Then we can say what we want to say. By lodging God's word within man, we have a handle with which we can pry open his heart and awaken a sense of need within him. A sinner is often saved by the kind of word we deposit within him. In preaching the gospel, we impart a thought within a sinner and then create a need within him based on this thought. In His preaching to the Samaritan woman, the Lord made a few quick turns before bringing the woman to her salvation. First, He created within her the sense of need. Next, He showed her her sins, and then she was saved. Our Lord is not only the Savior; He is a Savior who is good at saving. No other person can preach the gospel as well as the Lord did in the four Gospels.
In learning to preach the gospel, we have to pay attention to two things. First, we have to understand God's word. We have to find words with "hooks." Second, we have to understand the sinner's heart, that is, we have to understand the condition of those whom we are preaching the gospel to. Concerning the first point, we should study in detail all the verses in the New Testament concerning the gospel. We should begin from the first chapter of Matthew. We should consider how sinners dwelt in darkness and sin, how the Lord preached the gospel to them, and how they were touched. We have to pay attention to how the Lord dealt with sinners and how men received the Lord. When we preach the gospel, we have to visualize these different kinds of sinners before our eyes and consider how we can turn them.
In preaching the gospel, we should not preach only with the aim of passing on gospel facts. Nor should we try to stir up sinners unnecessarily. Rather, we should preach according to God's word. Our words should have "hooks" that can latch on to men. The words of our preaching should have "hooks" that can catch people. Our job is not merely to convey words but to clinch men with the words. We should not be lazy to exploit these hooks. We have to remember that the effectiveness of preaching does not lie in doctrine but in the "hooks." We should study and constantly analyze the words that bring about salvation in others. If we spend enough time on this, we will discover that every person is captured by some "clincher" words. In preaching the gospel, the main thing is not to make things clear, but to use "clinchers." Every time we apply these "clinchers," men will be saved.
Gospel preachers should have the habit of asking other brothers and sisters, "With what word were you saved?" We should write these words in a notepad and study them constantly. We should also study our own story of salvation, as well as those who were saved through us. We should read all kinds of gospel stories. We should ask, "What words pricked you? What words smote you?" Write down these words. Then ask, "What words warmed you up and stirred up your desire?" Write down these words as well. Then ask, "What words prompted you to receive the Lord?" Write down these words. We will see something very interesting: The Holy Spirit likes to use words that He has used before to save men. In preaching the gospel, we have to know the words the Spirit likes to use. We have to know which words touch men, subdue men, produce a sense of need in men, prompt men to make a decision, and clinch men. We should be able to develop our own clinchers in addition to using these clinchers.
The best gospel preachers always bring their audience to a high point and then conquer them with God's word. We have to learn to use words that the Holy Spirit once used. It is very easy for the Holy Spirit to use words that He has used before. For this reason, we urgently need stories of salvation, in particular, stories of those saved through us. A study of these stories will help us find the words that the Holy Spirit has used. By what words were men subdued? We have to pay attention to these words and mark them down. We have said that there are not too many categories of people in this world. Once we know how to deal with these few categories of people, we have just about mastered everything. There is definitely the need to spend time learning the words that subdue people. We need more than one notepad to write down the words that touch men to salvation. Some people are touched in their conscience by certain words. Others are prompted to receive salvation by some other words. We have to record these words in our notepads. When we meet another person in a similar condition, we can use these words on him. In preaching the gospel, all we care for is saving men; we do not care to use too many words. We have to mark the words that the Holy Spirit has used before and try to use them again.
We must also study a sinner's heart. A man should study the Bible, but he should also study man's heart. Daily we meet many people, and they all have similarities as well as dissimilarities.
For example, we can spend time to study man's conscience. We can ask the brothers and sisters to give testimonies about their salvation. We have to know how their feelings were developed and when these feelings reached a peak. How much did they hear before their conscience started condemning them of their sins? Did they become conscious of their sins after long discourses or as a result of one or two words?
We must also study man's thoughts. Every person has his own peculiar ways of thinking; everyone thinks that he is smart. We have to ask the brothers and sisters how they received God's light the first time. How were their thoughts turned the first time? Once we know these things, we can use the same method to save those with similar conditions. God is pleased to work on similar people with similar methods. This is a law. Once we discover such a law, our preaching will become easy. When a person has a problem in his mind and we solve his problem, all other things will fall into place. For example, a girl may not want to be saved because she was under instructions from her deceased mother to reject salvation. Luke 16, however, tells us that our relatives in Hades are praying that we will be saved. If we ask the girl to read this passage, her problem will go away. Once her problem is solved, other things will fall into place.
After studying man's thoughts and will, we have to study how he makes decisions. We have to study ourselves, the brothers and sisters, and the new ones. We have to know how a man makes decisions. When we preach to others again, we have to use similar methods to prompt them to a decision. Once we have studied all these things, we will have learned most of the lessons in saving men.
A gospel preacher should have a knowledge of the right kind of experience. He should not try to correct or adjust man's sin. Instead, he should help the sinner to bring his sins to God. God is the one who does the work of removing man's sin. Our responsibility is to preach God's word and to bring men to Him. Once a man turns to God, his sins are dealt with and he is recovered.
We have to learn to study God's Word. We also have to learn to study man's heart. We have to be skillful using words with "hooks," taking into account man's condition but at the same time creating a sense of need and a sense of sin within him. This is the way sustained by the Holy Spirit. The biblical way is the way that will save the most number of people, because it is God's way. On the one hand, we need the utterance. On the other hand, we need to know men. In preaching the gospel, we need "hooks" to catch men, and we need to know men's heart. We have to consider men's heart condition and come up with the right clinchers. If we do this, we will bring men to salvation easily. A gospel preacher must not only count the number of people saved but must learn from his preaching the kind of words that will catch men, the kind of words that will touch and subdue them. We have to apply ourselves to this. We have to be wise in our skill of saving men.
Today in China, the number of saved ones is less than one-sixteenth of that in India. China must take the way of the church in preaching the gospel. On the one hand, we have to pursue deeper spiritual lessons individually. On the other hand, we have to learn how to bring men to salvation and to learn to coordinate with the other brothers and sisters in this effort. We have to study all the cases of preaching the gospel in the Bible. In this way we will become more effective in our own preaching.
