The Old Time Gospel Days
By Alice Smith
I grew up in the day when the gospel was preached every Sunday and an invitation to invite Christ into your heart was given. Passionate pleas to surrender to a holy God from prayed-up preachers were heard in most of America’s pulpits. The reality of a hell’s fire, prepared for the devil and his demons, but opened for those who choose a life of rebellion, put the fear of God in us. Where did the fear of God go in our nation?
I’m reminded of a powerful evangelist, the late Dr. Percy Ray from Myrtle, Mississippi. He preached a plain, but simple, powerful message of a just God who would judge sin. People screamed out and cried for mercy as Brother Ray preached his message, “The Red Light of Hell.” I remember the impact of this man on me.
The first time I heard him preach was in 1976, in our church in Dallas, Texas. I will never forget when this robust elderly man preached on hell one Sunday night. Though I had been born again since 1965, it was as if I could feel the fire of hell lapping up around my feet. The dramatic Dr. Ray described the sounds one might hear in hell. With a shrieking voice, he mimicked the tormented screams of demons, and the desperate cries of lost souls. “Forever, forever,” he screamed with a piercing voice, pacing back and forth on the stage. The audience was captivated with the reality of eternal punishment. With tears streaming down his chubby cheeks, he appealed to us from the throne of heaven to surrender our hearts to Christ. That night the altar was filled with men and women, boys and girls who received Christ as their Savior and Lord. But many Christians were also at the altar repenting of their compromise and immorality. But what constitutes a genuine salvation experience.
Last year my husband, Eddie and I led over 850 people to Christ that are faithful members of local churches! So, what is the revelation for salvation? Genuine salvation requires pre-salvation illumination; an unveiling of something that’s been hidden. It all begins when light shines in darkness in the following areas.
1. You are a sinner, separated from God. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). None of us measure up to God’s standards. A deep sadness comes over us to realize how our personal sin nailed Jesus to the cross. Our acts of rebellion toward God come to light, and we are grieved to have hurt him. This agony of truth revealed us to, draws us to repentance and brokenness.
Sadly, the awareness and accountability of sin are missing in many of America’s churches. You can be a drunkard, live immorally, cheat your boss, and sit comfortably in church on Sunday. This shouldn’t be–and the truth is many churchgoers have never been genuinely converted. If this is you, this Insight can change your life today.
2. You can’t save yourself. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Sin earns wages. The wages of sin earns death. Sin kills everything it touches. Without Christ, sin separates us from fellowship with God in this life; and the presence of God for eternity. To die without Christ is eternal death! Make no mistake– salvation is a free gift to you, but it cost Jesus everything.
3. Salvation isn’t joining a church, walking an aisle to sign a card or “being a good and honest person.” If these were possible remedies for sin, we wouldn‚Äö√Ñ√¥t need Jesus’ sacrifice. We could do it ourselves–but we can’t. The apostle Paul said, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
4. Christ is enough for salvation. “But what does it say? ‘The Word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart’; that is, the Word of faith which we proclaim; because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation” ( Rom. 10:8-10).
When we recognize we are hopeless and helpless to save ourselves, and by faith fall on the mercy of Christ, then we receive his gift of salvation.
Invite Jesus Christ into your heart. For everyone, “whoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom 10:13). With a humble and broken heart, simply invite Jesus Christ into your heart to be your Lord and Savior. A spiritual transformation occurs in the soul of one who’s been born again. You will never be the same again. You are instantly transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. Revelation floods your soul. Joy fills your heart and peace overflows from within.
Dwight L. Moody made a mistake on October 8, 1871 as he preached to his largest audience in Chicago. The text had been, “What Will You Do Then with Jesus Who is Called the Christ?” He said something he’d never said before and would never say again. Because he was exhausted after presenting the gospel, Rev. Moody said to the audience, “Now I will give you a week to think that over. And when we come together again, you will have opportunity to respond.”
Then Ira Sankey began to sing. Even before he finished the song, you could hear the blare of the siren in the streets of Chicago as that great fire broke out and left 100,000 homeless. Hundreds of people died in that fire. And Dwight L. Moody rose to the occasion a few months later and said, “I would give my right arm before I would ever give another audience a week to think over the message of the gospel. Some who heard that night died in the fire.” Adapted from Clarence Macartney, Preaching without Notes
I plead with you to evaluate your relationship with Jesus. Are you “playing a Christian game” rather than knowing for certain that Christ is alive in you? Question: Could the glory of God be in your life and you not know it? Impossible. Settle your doubts now. Ask Christ to reveal your spiritual condition. He will! “In an acceptable time I heard you, and in a day of salvation, I helped you; Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).