Topic No. 3--Preaching the Threefold Message

Introductory Presentation at St. Louis

By C. B. Haynes

Various authors contribut to this discussion.

When I am sent out to conduct a series of meetings, I am under the constraint of certain responsibilities, not merely to a con­ference organization, but to a world movement. And I can never release myself from my boun­den duty rightly to represent that movement. I am profoundly convinced that the movement I represent is God's movement, that He is at the head of it, that He through that whole movement is doing certain very definite things in this world, and that this movement has come into existence in God's order to meet God's pro­gram at the time appointed. It is a fulfillment of prophecy, and is here to accomplish very specific things.

I like to think of myself in that way,—as God's man going out to do God's work. That keeps me very close to the heart of this mes­sage. Such a conviction is calculated to do that, and so I have little tendency in my own work to wander very far from the fundamen­tals of this message.

Now there are certain things that we classify in that way—as fundamentals of the message. I believe that when we go into a community, it is our business to present those funda­mentals,—the gospel, the everlasting gospel, the gospel of the kingdom. I feel that when we permit ourselves to be intrigued into pre­senting something that does not have a definite, contributing influence to the accomplishment of the objectives of this movement, we are wast­ing our time. We had better let go of those nonessentials. I shall not attempt to name them as illustrations, but I do wish to empha­size the fact that I believe that our men are individually sent out to accomplish the same purpose which this movement in its entirety was sent into the world to accomplish. I be­lieve there is a possibility of somehow shorten­ing our efforts by crowding in the essential things that will make Seventh-day Adventists.

It will be profitable for every man of us—it is for me—to study the objectives of each particular effort, and the sermons to be preached throughout. What effect do I expect them to have upon hearts? What will they accomplish in bringing those who hear closer to this message? To me, sermons are tools. I like to select them to do certain definite things, just as a carpenter chooses the tools that are most appropriate for his purpose. What, therefore, is the object of the sermon I am to preach? Is it to demonstrate that I am a good preacher? Or is it to give people this message, and cause them to decide their rela­tion to it?

I am convinced that we have success in our work in proportion as we stay close to the fundamentals of the message, and away from, trifling with novelties or subjects that merely fill in time. People are ready for the truth. It is amazing to see how glad people are to learn of present truth. I believe the franker we can be, and the more pointed we can be, the better success we shall have, and the more firmly established our converts will be when we finish our work.

I received a lesson on this point once. At the close of the Great War in 1918, the General Conference Committee felt that some effort should be made to attract the attention of the lawmakers and statesmen in Washington, D. C., and they asked me to conduct a series of meetings at Poli's Theater in that city. I spent much time in framing the wording of personal letters to the members of Congress and the Supreme Court, and to the ambassa­dors from foreign countries. I mentioned the upheaval of the war, the reconstruction period, and said some things that we felt men in their positions did not want to acknowledge. I stated that a serious effort would be made to interpret the old, old prophecies of the Scrip­tures, and that I thought they might be inter­ested. A self-addressed postal card was en­closed for their use. There were a number of reserved seats. If they wished to avail themselves of these, they were to sign the card and return it.

I received requests for sixty-seven reserved seats. They were from people of prominence, as William Jennings Bryan, Lord and Lady Reading from Great Britain, etc. Their pres­ence at the lectures under such circumstances made me feel that it was no place to trifle, that it was a time to be serious and earnest. There is nothing more serious in this world, my brethren, than this message. There are men and women in every audience who are perish­ing; and many will perish if we fail to say what we should.

God wants us to be outstanding preachers of His word, so that when questions come up we can look men squarely in the eye, because we know the answer. We have not gone into our Bibles deeply and intensely enough to preach the truth for this time as we should preach it. When I hear certain men speak, such as G. Campbell Morgan, I am constrained to say, "O that God would make some of our men deeper Bible students!" He digs down, down into the unexplored depths of the word of God. I have profound respect and admiration for his Biblical learning and scholarship. Why can we not give ourselves to the deep things of God and His present message, and present them to the people? I know from personal experi­ence that this kind of presentation of the truth will do more than all the spectacular presentations of intriguing subjects often resorted to.

We get farther in our message when we pre­sent things that really explain the word of God, that disclose the meaning of God's truth, and open up the depths of His word. We should spend our time and use our minds in putting these in attractive and compelling form. It is God's word we are handling, and we are to be men of the Book. Let us exalt that Book, and make it the basis of every presentation. Let us not play around with non­essentials, but dig into the great mines of truth, and make ourselves outstanding students and masters of the Word.

Introductory Presentation at Philadelphia

By John E. Ford

The truth that we are commissioned to bear to the world is a message that, if accepted, brings life; but if not, then death. We there­fore stand in a most solemn place as gospel ministers. After we have advertised our meet­ings in a proper manner, the people will usually come to hear. We are then faced with the problem, Shall we deliver a message that will bring life, or shall we merely inform and en­tertain our hearers, so they will come back for more? I would answer, We must deliver the message God has given us to deliver. We must help the people to find that message.

Many times I wonder if some do not study more how they can entertain their audiences, what good music they can have, what fine pictures they can show, how many entertaining things they can say, and how many witty re­marks they can make. But here are principles we need to ponder, and to heed:

"If they [gospel ministers] are true men of God, they will know that the object of preach­ing is not to entertain. It is not merely to con­vey information, nor to convince the intellect." —"Gospel Workers," p. 152.

We have a message to deliver. And this means vastly more than to convey informa­tion. Yet many seem to think that is the important thing. "Nor to convince the in­tellect," was the closing word. When we only convince a man's intellect and do not convert him, we have brought him to a worse state than before we preached to him. Again, we are told:

"Many of those for whom our ministers la­bor are ignorant of the truths of the Bible and the requirements of God, and the simplest les­sons on practical godliness come to them as a new revelation."—Id., p. 153.

The basic message of the Seventh-day Ad­ventist minister is the simple message of the everlasting gospel—how men may find the Christ we love. This is his most important work. Thus we read:

"Never should he preach a sermon that does not help his hearers to see more plainly what they must do to be saved."—Ibid.

"Never." Is that the instruction? Cannot I preach that kind of sermon part of the time? or wait until the last week of my meetings, and then tell the people of salvation? Not a single sermon should ever come from the minister of God unless he tells in it how to be saved.

"How is one to organize his meetings for success? How is he to get a crowd?" These seem to be the questions uppermost in many minds. Some suppose that when they have all the paraphernalia needed, and set their organization to functioning, they are sure to have results. But the secret of success in evangelism is a vital message of life given with great earnestness to those who will listen. Every meeting should bring the people nearer to the point of decision for Jesus Christ. He should be the center of the sermon on the very first night.

"Our ministers are to preach in a way that will help people to grasp vital truth."—Id., p. 151,. There are many things that are important, but in themselves do not save. We must get people in touch with the vital life of the mes­sage.

"Tell the story of His [Christ's] life of self-denial and sacrifice, His humiliation and death, His resurrection and ascension, His interces­sion for sinners in the courts above. In every congregation there are souls upon whom the Spirit- of-the-Lord is moving;"—Ibid.

And we should never let that service pass without giving those persons a chance to give their souls to Christ. As I look on those people, as they sit before me that first night, and the second night, and every night, I feel that it is a question of life or death, and I talk with all the earnestness that God can give me. We are told to "present Christ, the way, the truth, and the life, and tell of His power to save all who come to Him."—Ibid. Without that, not a single soul can be brought to accept the Lord Jesus Christ. But there is power in that message.

When we begin to preach to the people, the most important thing is to lay the foundation first; that foundation is Christ the Lord. The very first move we should make in the cam­paign, therefore, should be to lay the founda­tion. Nobody is ready for the presentation of the "mark of the beast" until the foundation is laid—until they know Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and accept Him. Then it is as easy as a, b, c. There is no difficulty with the other points, if the foundation is properly laid. But we are not to slight the presentation of the Sabbath.

"The proclamation of the third angel's mes­sage calls for the presentation of the Sabbath truth. This truth, with others included in the message, is to be proclaimed; but the great center of attraction, Christ Jesus, must not be left out."—Id., p. 156.

"The great center of attraction." Isn't it going to be something sensational or singular —a large hall or some other feature? No, the great center is Christ. Our evangelistic pro­gram is to be built around that center. There is nothing so attractive as Jesus. Think over all the things for which the world is seeking, but the people of the world need Christ. There is a power that grips their hearts when we pre­sent Him, and they will come back the next night, and the next.

"O that we might all learn the way of the Lord in winning souls! God would draw minds from the conviction of logic to a conviction deeper, higher, purer, and more glorious. Often human logic has nearly quenched the light that God would have shine forth in clear rays to convince men that the Lord of nature is worthy of all praise and glory."—Id., pp. 157, 158.

Some think so much about logic that it quenches the love of Jesus. Let us not do that. The minister ought to present his sermon in a logical way, but not be so technical and so logical that the people will never find Christ.

"Some may be listening to the last sermon they will ever hear, and the golden opportunity, lost, is lost forever."--Id., p. 158.

I try never to forget that fact as I stand before the audience. I bow my head and say, "Lord, there is somebody here who may never hear this message again. What can I say to him that will turn him to righteousness?" And the answer comes back to me, "Oh, tell him that Jesus Christ will save him from sin." Let us not pass by the opportunity.

"Some ministers think that it is not neces­sary to preach repentance and faith; they take it for granted that their hearers are acquainted with the gospel."—Ibid.

The threefold message started out by build­ing upon the work of the Methodists, Baptists, and others who then preached the simple gos­pel. In days gone by there were men like Wesley and Moody; but where do you hear such voices today? We must now emphasize the gospel that others have laid aside for Modern­ism and skepticism. But as I speak to our people about this necessary phase of our work, I have been made sad to find that many of our own members do not understand the simple steps of salvation. They have accepted the doctrines of this message, they believe the Sab­bath; but they do not know what it is to be saved. We have too often supposed that they knew that, and have not preached the funda­mental doctrine of righteousness through Jesus Christ, which is the most important doctrine of all.

"No discourse should ever be preached with­out presenting Christ and Him crucified as the foundation of the gospel."—Ibid.

When we prepare our sermons, let us start with this one thought: Jesus Christ and Him crucified as the center and foundation of every sermon. Yet how seldom does one hear a ser­mon filled with Christ and His righteousness! I am convinced that apostasies among minis­ters and Seventh-day Adventists often come because they do not know Christ personally. They do not know the fundamental principles of righteousness through Him.

"Frequently, when efforts are made to pre­sent the truth in new fields, the discourses given are largely theoretical. The people are unsettled by what they hear. Many see the force of the truth, and are anxious to place their feet upon a sure foundation. Then is the time, above all others, to urge home upon the conscience the religion of Christ. If the meet­ings are allowed to close without this practical work, there is great loss.

"Sometimes men and women decide in favor of the truth because of the weight of evidence presented, without being converted. The min­ister's work is not done until he has urged upon his hearers the necessity of a change of heart. In every discourse fervent appeals should be made to the people to forsake their sins and turn to Christ."—Id., p. 159.

"Every discourse." Yet there is a common practice of preaching about the Sabbath, the "mark of the beast," the second advent, the state of the dead and the punishment of the wicked, and then in about the last sermon of the series, telling about Christ and salvation. That is what I was taught in my college course as the proper method. But we are told that "in every discourse fervent appeals should be made" to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. When we follow this, we have success.

"Let the science of salvation be the burden of every sermon, the theme of every song. Let it be poured forth in every supplication."—Id., p. 160.

"The thought that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, not because of any merit on our part, but as a free gift from God, is a precious thought. The enemy of God and man is not willing that this truth should be clearly presented; for he knows that if the people re­ceive it fully, his power will be broken."—Id., p. 161.

What does Satan not want us to present?—That there is power and life through Jesus. He does not care how much we present the various doctrines, just so long as we do not pre­sent Jesus.

"If we would have the spirit and power of the third angel's message, we must present the law and the gospel together, for they go hand in hand. As a power from beneath is stirring up the children of disobedience to make void the law of God, and to trample upon the truth that Christ is our righteousness, a power from above is moving upon the hearts of those who are loyal, to exalt the law, and to lift up Jesus as a complete Saviour."—Id., pp. 161, 162.

Those are fundamentals that we cannot pass by if we are to be successful in preaching the third angel's message. In our preaching noth­ing will take the place of the simple gospel story; but we cannot present something that we know nothing about. We are never ready to stand before an audience to tell them about Christ, until we know Him ourselves by definite personal experience.

I attended three of our denominational col­leges. I took about all the Bible given in those institutions. I went out as a foreign mis­sionary. But I never found Christ personally until I found Him one night down in Equador. Oh, yes, I could tell about Christ, I could tell every point about the gospel story. I was strong on the doctrines. But I had no personal experience in really accepting Him. Then one night down there I found Him, and I knew that He had saved me. My life has changed since then, and my message has changed. From that moment forward every time I speak to the people I can say, "I know I have a Saviour who has saved me, that He has a crown wait­ing for me. Brother, don't you want one, too?"

The first preparation, therefore, for giving a real message is having an experience oneself. There is no use renting an auditorium, no use putting out handbills, until one has that. The most uneducated person can have that, and the most untalented speaker can be successful when he tells the simple gospel story of how Christ has saved him.

Someone will say, "Then, what is the use of preaching the various doctrines, if that is the all-essential?" I teach all the other prin­ciples of truth that I may portray Jesus as the center of all. I tell the people what Jesus Christ will do for them, about the wonderful place He has prepared for them, where there is to be no more sorrow. So I tell them about heaven; I tell them what Christ will do for the man who will be saved. In a series of Sunday night meetings I take that as my first topic. I tell the people that if they accept the Lord Jesus Christ they will spend eternity in a world where they will never die, a world where there is no disappointment nor sorrow. This will give them hope, and they will come back the next Sunday night to hear more. 

The second Sunday night I speak on the sec­ond coming of Christ. I tell of this wonderful Saviour who is coming back to take us where there will be no more sin if we only accept Him.*

The next logical step, then, is what will happen to those who are not ready to go with Him. So, "Where Is Hell?" is the third Sunday night subject. Under that topic I tell them of Jesus Christ who can save them from the lake of fire. I present to them Christ crucified upon the cross, dying the second death in their place. They do not think so much of the lake of fire, as of the wonderful Saviour. They then wonder whether rejecters will burn forever, so "The State of the Dead" is my fourth Sun­day night topic. On this subject I present the simple story of how Jesus Christ gives a man life. I seek to make every sermon a simple story, everyone a gospel story. The whole story is Jesus Christ, and life through Him. People do not get upset over that. There is no argument nor contention.

The Sabbath question I present on the fifth Sunday night. I speak of the Saviour as a Sabbathkeeper. I start with Him, continue with Him, and close with Him, and we have no argument about it when we are through. I endeavor to bring the people to the foot of the cross, whereon hangs a Sabbathkeeping Sav­iour, and appeal to them to take up their cross and follow Him. The Sabbath is one of the great doctrines of the Bible, but the center of it is Jesus. Then I preach on the New Testament Sabbath and the change of the Sab­bath. But every sermon is built upon the Rock—Jesus Christ.

I say, "Are you going to take your stand for Jesus Christ, or for the things of the world? Are you going to follow Christ all the way?" If they do not follow Him, they must meet Him at the judgment bar. So naturally the judgment is my next topic. What a wonderful topic to preach on! The subject, "The Mark of the Beast," follows. We do not have to make it an anti-Catholic lecture, and deride the pope. To do that would make it a hindrance to suc­cessful evangelism, and would convert nobody. That is not honorable, much less Christian. But we must frankly tell the people that the "mark of the beast" is the mark of sin and lawlessness against the Lord Jesus Christ.

I present the Spirit of prophecy next. It is a fine topic for a forceful appeal. It is the testimony of Jesus Christ. In presenting the sub­ject of sinning against the Holy Spirit, I pre­sent the Spirit as the representative of Jesus Christ. So all the doctrines can be presented, with Christ as the central theme. There is nothing you can or should say that does not rightly relate to Jesus Christ. I do not pass by any of our teachings. I present them all as clearly and strongly as God gives me strength. And when I do that, there is power in every sermon to convert a sinner and to turn him to Jesus Christ.

* To illustrate his principle, Elder Ford drew a cir­cle on the blackboard to represent Christ as the center of every truth, and on lines radiating out like the spokes of a wheel, the subjects, "Heaven," "Sec­ond Coming of Christ," etc.—Ed.

Discussion From the Floor

Build Whole Series on Revelation 14 J. L. Shuler(Charlotte, North Carolina) : The Seventh-day Adventist preacher has no other business than to preach the threefold message of Revelation 14. When we are con­ducting an evangelistic effort, the entire series ought to be a connected exposition of that threefold message, with Christ as the center. I believe we ought to make the threefold mes­sage itself more prominent. I have seen lists, of sermons for six-, eight-, and ten-week meet­ings without a single subject listed wherein I could see that there was to be preaching di­rectly on the threefold message.

Many able ministers outside of our faith are preaching Christ. No one can rightly deny that. But they do not make Seventh-day Ad­ventists. It takes the preaching of this three­fold message to make Seventh-day Adventists. Christ is to be made the center. That message says that Christ died as man's substitute, and that we must be prepared to meet Him as our coming King. We ought to check any tendency for men to go out and conduct meetings like the ordinary revivalist. Only the preaching of this threefold message makes Seventh-day Ad­ventists. And we should study how to make our presentations a connected, logical, natural unfolding of that threefold message, with Christ as the center.

I am now making a practice of preaching Revelation 14 in the second week of my meet­ings. Please don't misunderstand me. I do not tell them in the second week about God's judgment, what Babylon is, the call to come out of Babylon, the image of the beast, or the "mark of the beast." But this is my procedure: I start with the text about "present truth," in 2 Peter 1:12. I tell them about Noah and his time, John the Baptist and his time, and other special messages for special times. Then I introduce the thought that Revelation 14 is a special message for this hour, now due, with­out attempting to expound that message. If we can convince them that we have a message from God, we shall never lack for interested hearers—and converts. And it is a help to get them to accept the message in principle early in the series.

I tell the people that the purpose of our en­tire series of meetings is to expound this par­ticular message. It takes in every essential truth. And as we go on from night to night, we take up different features of that message and explain them in detail. This wonderfully stimulates interest. The people see at once that this is not an ordinary series of meetings, not even just an ordinary course of lectures on the Bible. In that way I make that three­fold message the background of all those weeks of preaching.

When I take up the 2300 days, the judgment, and the sanctuary, I say, "Now we are going to explain the first part of that special mes­sage. And night by night it will be unfolded just as it is given in the Scriptures." They will see that indeed the "hour of God's judg­ment is come," what Babylon is, what the "mark of the beast" is, what his image is, and what the wrath of God means. From then on the whole series of sermons are logically con­nected like the links of a chain, and this helps the people in accepting the message.

At the close, when the people accept the truth, they are not merely joining the Seventh-day Adventist Church; they have accepted a message from God. They are going to stick to it, and they will help us give it to the world.

Our Preaching Charter Declared

V. J. Johns (Minneapolis, Minnesota) : What we shall preach has not been left to us to decide. Our charter of evangelism says: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel." God has given us our marching orders, and has told us exactly what we ought to preach. The word "gospel," to my mind, means noth­ing less than a full Bible message. God has given us this message in answer to the ringing challenge to faith in this day of apostasy.

The message of Revelation 14 is to be the bread of life for the starving people of the world. I am glad that when the Lord wrote those words of the last-day commission He put in the expression, "the everlasting gospel," be­cause the message of Revelation 14, when rightly presented, is the gospel in its essence, the message God has given for this very time.

I wish to reiterate what has been said in calling for our ministers to be men of the Bible, men who preach the great verities of this message, and dig deep into God's word. And I would like to add this little word: Some have the idea that when we conduct a series of evangelistic meetings, we should lift up the standard of the message of God for this time, but that our Sabbath sermons ought to have a spiritual touch, to be decidedly different from the sermons we give the public. I do not be­lieve in such distinctions. There are multi­plied thousands of people in our churches who have an appalling lack of knowledge of the fundamentals of our own faith. I believe that our Sabbath sermons ought to be great, virile, Bible messages, great doctrinal messages, spir­itually presented, great fundamental messages. And our messages for the public should be great life-saving messages of truth, doctrines set in the everlasting gospel framework.

Now just a word in regard to preaching the love of Jesus. We have been told that a ser­mon which does not have Jesus in it is like the offering of Cain, a Christless offering. How can—or dare—men separate the doctrines of the message from the love of Jesus? To my mind they are inseparable. I love to hear men who have a mighty appeal from the Scrip­tures, whose sermons are flavored with the great love of Jesus.

In the fourth chapter of 2 Kings an experi­ence is recorded in the life of the prophet Gehazi. You recall it. He was sent ahead, and was told to place the staff on the face of the child. The experience reminds me of the min­ister who lacks the power of God in his life. We have a world that is dying in sin,—yes, dead in sin,—calling for that staff of life, and the third angel's message is the answer to that call. But the third angel's message in the hands of a man who is not sanctified by that message, whose heart does not throb with that love, and who does not manifest it in his life, is but a futile staff in his hands. There is noth­ing that gives me more pain and grief than to listen to a sermon on some nonessential, when the minister should be giving the last message to a dying world. I believe in the preaching of the fundamentals of the message.

Pertinent, Simple, Confidence-begetting Truth

C. H. Watson (President, General Confer­ence) : I am very much interested in the topic before us,—the question of what to preach. It directs our attention very definitely, of course, to the commission that we have received to preach the message for this particular time, to preach the everlasting gospel, and that form of the everlasting gospel that is pertinent for the people of earth at this hour. I was much in­terested in the plea of Brother Haynes that we give more attention to the study of the word of God. That is what we all purpose to do, but what a good many of us do not do. We allow this, that, and the other thing to come in and crowd it out, and are unable to find time for study. There are mines of truth for us yet to explore. But no truth yet available for us will be contradictory to the truths we already have, for truth does not contradict truth.

I would stress that point: The message we have is truth for this time, and further reve­lations of truth that our Bible study will bring will not contradict truth which has already been given us of God. But there are depths we ---have--not fathomed. We--ought to---pray that the guidance of the Spirit will be given us to enable us to gain that larger knowledge of truth which is possible for us if we are but willing to let the Spirit have control of us.

I believe that we have this one safe and simple rule by which we may all know that the Spirit is guiding us,—the rule I have mentioned. The Spirit, in His guidance of our minds in relation to truth, will not contradict Himself. And if I find my mind playing around the fringes of an idea that contradicts truth, I may know I am wrong, and that it is an unsafe idea for me to develop. But the urge to keep on with such ideas is often fed by our own natural desires to figure as original thinkers. Let us beware of such temptations.

None of us are very skilled. None of us have so much scholarship that we can afford to take glory to ourselves because of it. And we are most unsafe when we take glory to ourselves for what the Spirit of God is condescending to do for us, in us, and through us. We should take no credit to ourselves for being original in our thinking, original in our presentation, or skillful in our classification and arrange­ment of thought. Let us be very careful not to do that, but to work thoughtfully under the guidance of the Spirit.

Let us also remember that there is one thing the Spirit wants to do, and that is to increase and establish confidence in the truth in the hearts of those who hear truth from us. The Holy Spirit does that. If that is not done, the Spirit has not met its purpose in witnessing through us to others. That is absolutely true, and fundamentally sure.

There are certain things that we can have confidence in, but those things are all asso­ciated with God. There are four things in which I am determined permanently to hold my confidence. The first of these is God Him­self; the second is God's word; the third is God's work; and the fourth is God's people. If I hold my confidence in those four verities, I know that I am much safer than if I let my confidence slip as to any one of them.

Since the last three are of God, I find that I dare not allow my confidence in any one of them to slip, because my confidence in God is weakened by that slipping. I cannot allow my confidence in God's work to slip. To doubt and reject the work of God is to doubt and reject God. If I allow my confidence in the work of God to weaken, I find that questionings con­cerning God Himself are engendered. And the same is true with the Word. The trouble with the godless world today is that it has shut itself away from the truths of God's word. Its confi­dence in that word is gone. So, with all this that we have been talking about,—the content of our preaching,—if it fails to increase and establish the confidence of God's people in Him, in His work and word, and in His people, it is a failure.

What, then, shall I preach in order to estab­lish that confidence? First, I must make my­self more and more acquainted with the deep things of God's word. I am very earnest in saying this. I do believe the Spirit of the living God abhors shallowness. But I believe we ought to give study to that understanding of deep truth which will enable us to present it as the simplest thing on earth. I often pray that God will enable me to understand deep truth in a simple way, and to give it directness in presentation. The teaching of Jesus was always simple and direct. There is a simple directness in the word of God itself that ought to be characteristic of our preaching of that word. We inspire confidence in proportion to our simplicity. A large measure of the troubles in the church would disappear if the under­standing of the people in the truths of God was more simple and direct. Let us aim at such simplicity in understanding and presentation. Clothe yourselves with the simplicity of the message itself, and you will have people to hear you wherever you preach. They will go away feeling that God has spoken to their hearts, and will want to come back to hear you again.

Message Embraces Heart Preparation

C. C. Ellis (Atlanta, Georgia): The message of Revelation 14 includes information on the Sabbath truth, information on the state of the dead. It includes health reform, the Spirit of prophecy, tithing, and other truths. We dare not leave out that information. But we can give all that information, and still not preach the third angel's message. "The message of righteousness by faith," says the Spirit of prophecy, "is the third angel's message in verity." I do not believe in going to the people and proving to them that our doctrine is true, unless I go farther than that. Before I do that—or all of it at least—I want them to accept Christ in the fullest way possible.

I am working on the premise that when I present the second coming of Christ, I have no right to leave that subject until the people in my audience are made ready for that coming. I have no right to leave the subject of the judgment until the people set about straighten­ing up their debts—quit their smoking, and the like. And as I go on to the Sabbath truth, I feel that I must give them a spiritual founda­tion for their Sabbath observance, and that their acceptance is not to be just Saturday-keeping instead of Sundaykeeping. We do not have to choose between giving the argu­ment and preaching Christ. When I preach Christ, the arguments have ten times as great effect.

Preach Message to Prepare Men

L. H. King (Baltimore, Maryland) : We are living in the most unusual age of earth's history, an age when eternal destinies are being determined. God has given a special message to this people to meet the requirements of the age. In the fourteenth chapter of Revelation we have the fundamental message for this hour. At the conclusion of that triple message we read:

"I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle."

Christ is coming in the clouds of heaven, coming to reap. In connection with that por­tion of our message, I read in "Testimonies," Volume VI, page 406:

"The return of Christ to our world will not be long delayed. Let this be the keynote of every message."

John on Patmos was given a vision of these last days, and of the sin that separates man from God. He gave to this people a message that was to call all honest men back to our heavenly Father's arms. I believe that mes­sage is fundamental, and that its every portion is required to meet the exigencies of the hour. And the message that makes people Seventh-day Adventists is also to make them Christians.

The marvelous story of God's love has been known from the days of Abel to the present. The story and message that is found in Reve­lation 14 has been known only since 1844. There are thousands of voices that in some form are preaching the unutterable love of Jesus, but there are multiplied millions in this world who do not know that the Christ who was once offered to bear the sins of many is soon to appear without sin unto salvation. His love and His second coming should be the keynotes of every message.

The one thing that has held me steady and given me grace is this blessed hope, and Jesus Christ in it. We do not have to carry on this fight endlessly. God has made it very plain that He has sent a threefold message—the first, second, and third angels' messages—that will save people from the sins that exist, and prepare them to meet Jesus. I read on page 118 of "Testimonies to Ministers:"

"In the very time in which we live, the Lord has called His people and has given them a message to bear. He has called them to ex­pose the wickedness of the man of sin who has made the Sunday law a distinctive power, who has thought to change times and laws, and to oppress the people of God who stand firmly to honor Him by keeping the only true Sabbath, the Sabbath of creation, as holy unto the Lord."

Every evangelist, then, who is sounding forth the call to this generation, should have, as part of his message, not only the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but the ex­posure of the man of sin. In the presentation of that message I never clothe my advertising in such phraseology as would drive people away, but endeavor to attract Catholics who are open-minded to come and hear. I advertise two companion subjects. I advertise them to­gether over the radio and in the newspapers, and by the other methods that have been men­tioned here; and I state at the top of the first subject of my series, "Rome's Great Mis­take;" and then on the evening following, "Protestantism's Great Mistake." I state, in this connection: "This is not an attack on these two great divisions of Christianity, but a statement of the plain facts of Inspiration con­cerning their origin and destination." Then below that I place a sentence which reads: "To attack religionists is to drive them away; but to tell them in love the true facts of the Bible, is to win them to Christ."

If those presenting these messages have not a Christian experience and a love that constrains them to present these messages with Christ as the great central figure, a deeper ex­perience is indeed needed. I believe these messages are the main issue. I believe they are what make men and women ready to meet Jesus Christ when He comes in the clouds of heaven.

"Advance new principles, and crowd in the clear-cut truth. It will be as a sword cutting both ways. But be not too ready to take a controversial attitude. There will be times when we must stand still and see the salvation of God. Let Daniel speak, let the Revelation speak, and tell what is truth. But whatever phase of the subject is presented, uplift Jesus as the center of all hope, the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright and morning Star.' "—"Testimonies to Ministers," p. 118.

And when men let Daniel speak and the Revelation speak, we hear those great proph­ecies that Daniel and John enunciated.

"I have been instructed to trace words of warning for our brethren and sisters who are in danger of losing sight of the special work for this time. The Lord has made us deposi­taries of sacred truth. We are to arise and shine. In every land we are to herald the second coming of Christ, in the language of the revelator proclaiming: 'Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.' "— "Testimonies," Vol. VIII, p. 116.

I believe that those are our marching orders, to preach the message of the second coming of Jesus as revealed by Daniel and the Revela­tor, and I know there is success in it.

"The commandments of God and the testi­mony of Jesus are united. They are to be clearly presented to the world."—Id., p. 117.

It was the presentation of these great themes of prophecy, and of the Sabbath, that led me to my knees and made me a converted man. I believe wholly in the fact that Jesus Christ is the fairest among ten thousand. He is the comfort and the stay of men's souls. He is the one who will hold them in times of stress and trouble. But I believe that God has ordained that the specialmeans of -bringing -men -to Christ today is the special message He has given to the people of this generation.

"As foretold in the eighteenth of Revelation, the third angel's message is to be proclaimed with great power by those who give the final warning against the beast and his image: 'I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was light­ened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. . . . And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people.' "—Id., p. 118.

I believe that is fundamental. We may be called the champion proselyters of the world, but if such we are, God has made us so.

Summation by the Chairman

Chairman Branson: The preaching of Jesus Christ must be made paramount, and the doc­trines of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible must be in the forefront, especially those which have to do with the last scenes of earth's his­tory. As a group, we have taken too much for granted in our preaching. We have presumed altogether too much on what the people are al­ready supposed to know. I am sure that was true in my own early evangelistic work. I felt that I had done thorough work when, after earnestly presenting our cardinal doctrines, I had merely spoken regarding the atonement, repentance, faith and conversion, justification by faith, and other such basic preaching those fundamentals. That is not the case today. If we take it for granted that the people coming to our meetings understand these fundamental, underlying principles of the gospel, we make a serious mistake. They do not. They have been taught evolution, and everything but the atonement of Jesus Christ, —that He gave His life as a vicarious sacrifice for our sins. They know little about Jesus Christ, whose blood is the only agency for the cleansing of sin. Those things are not preached today from the popular churches. They are not believed as they were twenty-five years ago. So we cannot take these things for granted. We must preach these great saving provisions of the gospel.

We read in Revelation 14 that this message is to proclaim the everlasting gospel to the nations. Brethren, the everlasting gospel is the message that tells men how to be saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. We must learn to preach effectually the doctrine of the Sabbath, the state of the dead, the coming of the Lord, the "mark of the beast," the seal of God, and related truths. But we must learn how to present those doctrines as a part of the great doctrine of Christ and His power to save; and when we learn to present the doctrines in that way, we shall have much greater success in our ministry. Note these pointed statements from Mrs. E. G. White:

"The object of all ministry is to keep self out of sight, and to let Christ appear. The exalta­tion of Christ is the great truth that all who labor in word and doctrine are to reveal."—MS. 109, 1897. (Elmshaven, Leaflets, No. 1, "Preach the Word," p. 1.)

"The many argumentative sermons preached seldom soften and subdue the soul. . . . It should be the burden of every messenger to set forth the fullness of Christ. When the free gift of Christ's righteousness is not presented, the discourses are dry and spiritless; the sheep and lambs are not fed. Said Paul, 'My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.' There is marrow and fatness in the gospel. Jesus is the living cen­ter of everything."—Letter 15, 1892. (Elms-haven Leaflets, No. 1, "Preach the Word," p. 3.)

Jesus is indeed the living center of every­thing and every truth. Should not that, there­fore, be true of a sermon on the "mark of the beast," or on the Sabbath, that Jesus is the liv­ing center of these doctrines? I believe that when we learn to make Christ the center of everything, we shall find a power and life com­ing into our message that will grip the hearts of men in a way we have never before seen.

"Put Christ into every sermon. Let the pre­ciousness, mercy, and glory of Jesus Christ be dwelt upon; for Christ formed within is the hope of glory."—Ibid.

Many have made a tragic difference between doctrinal preaching and spiritual or practical preaching. They have said in effect, "I am going to preach on doctrine for a few days, and then preach a gospel sermon to help folks get hold of Christ." I think this a great mistake. When we learn to do as we hve been counseled this morning,—to present Christ as the center of every doctrine,—we shall find that no doctrine of God is unspiritual. Rightly pre­sented, no doctrine of the Bible is unspiritual. And the spiritual should not be separated from the ordered plan of God to save men. I do believe this should be increasingly emphasized here in our council, and practiced in our preach­ing. Let us make the doctrines spiritual.


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By C. B. Haynes

Various authors contribut to this discussion.

May 1935

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