The Evangelistic Sermon

In a conference of ministers gathered not long ago to discuss the general subject of evangelistic work the sermon was naturally discussed.

One minister said, “An evangelistic sermon is one that reaches out after a soul; “another said, ‘’It is a sermon which has enough of the Gospel in it so that if one should hear the preacher but once he would know what he must do to be saved.” Still another said, “It is a sermon which provokes a crisis in the hearer’s life which is rather the best definition, because it at once is apparent that men may be evangelistic and preach not only for the winning of souls but for the upbuilding of character.” An evangelistic sermon is one which has a definite aim and that aim is the winning of the lost to Christ, and then the building up in Christ of those who are won. It is a sermon which may be practically applied in our every-day living, and is by all means a sermon which impresses one with his need for 89

Christ and the absolute sincerity in the desire of the preacher that he may be saved.

There may be at least four distinct marks of an evangelistic sermon.

First: It is dictated by the Holy Ghost. Since he knows the hearts of men, inspired men to write the word of God, and at the same time is fully acquainted with us as his instruments, it naturally follows that he can suggest the theme and its manner of treatment which would be most effective in reaching the lost if we did but give him the chance to do so.

The late George H. C MacGregor told me that he came one night to his London pulpit with his sermon carefully prepared, for he was a thorough student, and suddenly became impressed with the fact that for some reason he ought to turn aside from his well-thought out sermon and give an entirely different message, for which he was in his judgment not so well equipped. But he followed his leading, preaching his sermon not with great satisfaction to himself, and possibly with not such great delight to his people, but the next morning he found a letter on his table in which the writer said, “I was on my way to end my life last night and dropped into your church just to pass away the time. I do not remember your singing, nor the words you spoke, but the text you chose was my mother’s favorite. It was her last message to me when I left home as a boy, and I could not get away from it last night. Instead of being a suicide to-day I have become a Christian.” “From that day till this,” said this sainted preacher, “I have tried to deliver no message that was not clearly dictated both in the choice of the text and the development of the theme by the Holy Spirit of God.”

Second: The evangelistic sermon is one which is wrought out in prayer and preached in the power of prayer. There is a tendency on the part of the preacher when he is intellectually well versed in his message to depend upon his preparation, his power as an orator and his natural ability to move men, but in the evangelistic sermon, which is to lead men to Christ, not alone must these things move him, but also that strength which comes by prayer. It is only when the sermon has been wrought out on our knees and is preached in the consciousness, that the one of whom we speak is just at our side, that there is power in it to persuade the lost.

Third: An evangelistic sermon is one which is preached first of all to oneself. It is a good thing when the message is completed, not only to go over it on our knees, but to go over it for ourselves. The point that fails to move us we might as well cut out, for there is this sure test of the power of the sermon, it will as a rule move our hearers in the same proportion that it has moved ourselves. If it has helped us it will help others. Mr. Spurgeon used to say true preaching is artesian, it wells up from great depths. This is especially true of evangelistic preaching.

Fourth: An evangelistic sermon is one which is preached with the expectation of results. “I preached the Gospel,” said a minister to me the other day in a western city. “I know it was the Gospel, and at the close of the sermon two women came to ask what they could do to be saved. I confess to my shame that I was surprised.”

Evangelistic preachers have always found it true that in proportion as they have expected results and preached in the power of their expectation God has seemed to honor their effort and to inspire others with the same enthusiasm.

Fifth: An evangelistic sermon is one which is well illustrated. There are many in the pulpit to-day who are afraid of illustrations. ITiey ridicule the simple story telling preacher, and in some instances they have a right to do so, but let us not forget that Jesus constantly told stories of the flowers at his feet, of the birds that flew above his head, of the woman that baked bread, of the farmer that sowed the seed, of the old father that waited for his boy. He never preached a sermon without an illustration, indeed without many of them, but the illustration must illustrate.

One of our prominent ministers in this country in telling of the visit of the celebrated Dr. Lorenz to this country told of the little boy who was operated upon for the straightening of his foot. He said after he was out from under the power of the anaesthetic, “It will be a long time before my mother hears the last of this, doctor,” and then he told the story also of a boy of his own acquaintance from a poor German family, whose foot was crooked and who was operated upon by a celebrated doctor. The operation was a success and then the minister under whose influence the work had been done went to the hospital to take the boy home. The plaster caste is taken away from the foot and it is as perfect as the other. When his attention was called to the nurses in the hospital, to the equipment of the institution, to the fine windows in the building, to every suggestion the boy would reply, “But these things are nothing compared with the doctor. He is the greatest man I have ever known.” And when they reached the Missouri town and they stepped off the train the old German mother was waiting to receive her child. She did not look at his hands, neither at his face but she fell on her knees and looked at his foot and then cried out with tears, “It is just like any other foot.” As she took the boy in her arms sobbing over and over he kept saying to her, “Mother, you must know the doctor, you must know the doctor.” Then the preacher turned upon his audience to say, “and yet there is no one of us but what Jesus Christ has done ten thousand times more than the doctor did for that boy and we have never spoken for him.”

This illustration is a sermon in itself. It was something in the every -day life of the preacher. There are hundreds of instances like it occurring in the year. Ability to see these things and to apply them in our teaching and preaching would increase our effectiveness almost a hundredfold.