Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

PREACHING TO THE INTELLECT

PREACHING TO THE CONSCIENCE

PREACHING TO THE EMOTIONS

PREACHING TO THE WILL

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Preaching
with Evangelistic Persuasion

Ben D. Rogers, D.Th.

LIFE SENTENCE Publishing

 INTRODUCTION

Persuasive preaching has influenced this world beyond human imagination.

Evangelistic preaching is the highest nature of persuasive preaching. This
form of preaching holds the preeminent place in the New Testament. John
the Baptist was an evangelistic preacher as well as the last of the prophets.
Our Lord Jesus Christ appeared first in the role of an evangelistic preacher
who called for repentance and faith from men. He sent out the twelve and
the seventy into the villages and towns and souls were persuaded
(peithomai) to receive Christ. On Pentecost and throughout the events of the
book of Acts, the preachers were evangelistic in their ministries. Peter and
Paul were distinguished, respectively, as the Apostle to the Jews and the
Apostle to the Gentiles. Paul admonished the pastor, Timothy, to “do the
work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 2:5 KJV). If the past is the teacher for
the present, then evangelistic preaching must be the priority of our times.
The essence of authoritative preaching is the careful and clear exegesis of
the texts of the gospel. What is preached today is Christianity lite. Some
may say liberal theology has robbed the churches of the gospel message,
and that is true in some instances. However, the main reason for the change
in content is many evangelical preachers are not evangelistic preachers. The
plight of few converts responding to preaching is, in part, caused by the
lack of a basic understanding of the elements of an evangelistic appeal in
the sermon. Failure is inevitable for a preacher who does not understand
how to appeal to the elements of every man’s moral constitution.
What are the appeals in evangelistic preaching to those elements in the
listeners? They are: the mind, conscience, emotions and will of the
individual. One of the primary needs in the effort of evangelistic preaching
is to establish the relative place of the mind, the conscience, the emotions
and the will in one’s appeal. Many criticize proclamation evangelism as
securing decisions by appeals largely emotional and generally void of any
intellectual involvement. It is therefore necessary to establish the truth. True
evangelistic preaching involves each of the elements of man’s soul and not
just his emotions. The Holy Spirit can touch each aspect of man’s life and
enable his decision for salvation found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. W. A.
Criswell has clearly commented on this nature of persuasive preaching in
the verse of John 3:36: “Both verbs in this passage (pisteuon and apeithon)
are present participles in the Greek, indicating continuous belief or
continuous disobedience. Apeithon (to be disobedient) is the opposite of
peithomai (to allow oneself to be persuaded). One, therefore, either allows
himself to be persuaded and gains life, or willfully defies the word of God,
refuses to be persuaded, and therefore does not ever have spiritual life. His
only expectation is wrath.” Even King Agrippa saw the element of
persuasion in Paul’s preaching and replied, Paul, Almost thou persuadest
me to be a Christian (Acts 26:28 KJV). Paul also used the word in 2
Corinthians 5:11 as well as the terms “pleading” and “implore.” Peter is
said to seek to persuade men on the day of Pentecost: And with many other
words he testified and exhorted them, Saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse
generation’. (Acts 2:40 NKJV). The Holy Spirit uses men to persuade.
 Preaching with Evangelistic Persuasion deals with this approach to
preaching because so few teachers of homiletics give serious attention to
the appeals to these moral elements in men. Very few address in full the
evangelistic sermon. There is, therefore, a need for a closer examination
and a clearer understanding of the appeals to men in an evangelistic
message.
The subject of this book is limited to that one type of sermon: the
evangelistic sermon. The focus will be the four basic appeals in evangelistic
preaching along with the relationship of the message and the appeals. The
craft of sermon structure and delivery will be excluded.
The introduction presents the statement of the problem and terms used.
Chapter One deals with gospel preaching and its appeal to the intellect.
Chapter Two discusses gospel preaching and its relationship to the
conscience. Chapter Three examines gospel preaching’s appeal to the
emotions of man. In Chapter Four, the appeal of gospel preaching to the
will of man is examined.
In each chapter the writer gives a definition of the moral element dealt
with in the study. Then the design of the preacher in dealing with that
element is stated. Next the direction to be taken by the preachers is
described. Finally, the writer demonstrates the use of appeals to man’s
moral elements by examples of great evangelists of the past and present.
The conclusion includes general observations and pragmatic applications of
the subject. For sixty years this writer has preached as an international
evangelistic preacher seeing scores of thousands of souls persuaded to turn
from sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He has a lifetime of
confirmation of these truths and calls upon all ministers to return to
persuasive (Peitheis) preaching of the gospel.
CHAPTER ONE
 PREACHING TO THE INTELLECT

It is generally true in our day that the best-educated preachers are preaching
in the best-attended churches in all of the world and winning less converts
than ever before. In his marvelous book, Preaching Without Notes, Clarence
McCarty recorded his impressions of an article in the British Weekly by Sir
William Robertson Nicoll. He had listened to several sermons in several
churches in the area of south England. His conclusion about the sermons
was: “Not one of them would have converted a titmouse!”[1]
An old Indian once described a sermon in these words: “Lots of
lightning, lots of thunder, not much rain!” An evangelistic message must
have appeal to the intellect. A brief survey of the great evangelistic
preachers of yesterday shows they preached a reasonable message. Many of
them were trained as lawyers, teachers, salesmen and theologians. Even
Billy Sunday, the converted baseball player, amazed fellow preachers
because of his homiletical ability to build a gospel sermon. Some of these
evangelists founded theological schools or taught in them. These gospel
preachers of the past and present knew God honors the message which is
rich with his word and is offered in a reasonable fashion.
Evangelistic preaching is not difficult to define. If it is agreed preaching
is “the bringing of truth through personality,” then evangelistic preaching
can be defined as “the bringing of gospel truth through personality, in an
effort to bring the lost to Christ.”
 What are the appeals in evangelistic preaching to those elements in the
listeners? They are the mind, conscience, affections and will of the
individual. One of the primary needs in the effort of evangelistic preaching
is to establish the relative place of the mind, the conscience, the affections
and the will in one’s appeal. God speaks to mankind through the reasoning
process of his thoughts as he hears the gospel. So then faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God is the statement of Romans 10:17.

Definition
The human mind is defined as the intellectual power of understanding.
Intellect is that faculty that receives and comprehends ideas. Reason
receives all the facts presented to it and distinguishes the falsehood from the
truth, judging what is true as credible. Evidence is examined and
conclusions are drawn. However, God is present showing all truth.
The listening audience possesses the power of intelligent, reflective
thinking; it should be presented in the gospel message in a reasonable
manner. The evangelist must believe God’s Spirit is present, enabling men
to know themselves and to know Him. Conner praised man’s spiritual
personality and powers as including the power to think. “The highest form
of this power,” he said, “is found in the power to know oneself and to know
God.”[2] What an impressive truth! We know the gospel can be understood
by the educated and uneducated, the adult and the child. God has endowed
all with the ability to receive and understand his revelation of redemptive
love.
However, the evangelist must always be careful not to depend solely
upon the mind in presenting the gospel.
 “Certainly we must teach, as well as preach, the gospel. Certainly we
will seek to give a reasoned and reasonable exposition of God’s plan
of salvation through Christ.... But at the same time we shall remember
the human mind is both finite and fallen, and will neither understand
nor believe without the gracious work of the Holy Spirit. It is not only
necessary that he should have given objective revelation. We need his
subjective illumination, too.”[3]
A.T. Robertson said, “As no one can fully reveal the Father save the Son,
so no one can fully reveal Jesus save the Holy Spirit.”[4] We must never
forget God created man with the capacity to think and everywhere in the
Scriptures this rationality of man is taken for granted. In the beginning
(Genesis 2 and 3) God communicated with man as a rational being. Jesus
dealt with man in the same manner, leading them to understand his
message. His call was for faith as a reasoning trust in Him. A Christian is
not a person who has “blown his mind,” so to speak in a religious
experience, but one who has used his reason in believing, for believing is
not possible without thinking.

Design
The design of every preacher is to glorify God in everything and to obey
Christ’s commands. He said, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature (Mark 16:15 KJV). The evangelist knows an evangelistic
sermon must be a planned, structured, and concentrated appeal toward the
goal of decisions for Christ. He must clearly understand and communicate
the gospel.
His sermon must be reasonable and intellectually respectable. This does
not bypass the “dignity of simplicity” so important in a message. The old
acrostic, K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, speaker), is very good advice to “wordy”
and “windy” preachers. God did not call us to preach so as to cause our
listeners to hold a Bible in one hand and a dictionary in the other. Our
messages must have thought content in a simple presentation. Some
preachers may use shouting, raving, scolding and all sorts of pulpit actions;
but the evangelistic preacher must have content in his message. Some
preachers are so profound they are pathetic; others are so shallow they are
shameful. The true evangelist will be willing to study and preach the most
profound truth in the Scripture; he must understand the message and seek to
present it in a clear-cut manner, so as to appeal to man’s intelligence, calling
for a reasoned response by the listener. His design is to present the biblical
meaning of the gospel. He must be a biblical preacher, whether he uses the
textual style, the topical message, or the expositional presentation.

Direction
The direction assumed in the preaching of an evangelist is to magnify the
message of the gospel. It must be a certain message. For our gospel came
not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in
much assurance (I Thessalonians 1:5 KJV). The great evangelist Paul was a
man who preached a message with deep conviction (NIV), or strong
conviction (NEB). Such conviction comes from truth, and truth comes from
personal study of God’s Word. How this condemns the modern-day
preacher who forsakes his study and feeds his congregation the re-worked
sermons of other men. A man must think through a truth to have his own
conviction about that truth. The Holy Spirit gives conviction and certainty
about truth when we study God’s Word. Billy Graham, in a private
conversation with my son, told that young preacher, “Study the Word, study
the Word, and then study it some more!” God will not bless a preacher’s
message, but his own Word.
Someone said if all the Bibles were to be destroyed, Dr. B. H. Carroll
could have reproduced from memory more of it than probably any other
living human.[5] It is clear an evangelist must be certain of his message
through a consistent study of God’s Word.
An evangelistic message must also be a clear message. The preacher
must fully understand and present the euaggelion or gospel. He must be
willing to search God’s Word and discover God’s message of love, grace
and salvation. Some men are content to let others do that searching for
them. There are many good books that can certainly help them.
The one most used today is Apostolic Preaching and Its Development by
C. H. Dodd.[6] He presents basic truths of the gospel under the term,
kerygma, a word which has become part of the jargon of theology.
However, the word, kerygma, is equivalent to euggelion, which expresses
the essential nature of the content.[7] Dodd maintains, however, the
preaching means evangelism. A much better study is Leon Morris’ The
Apostolic Preaching of the Cross.[8] An older study is J. B. Weatherspoon’s
Sent Forth to Preach: Studies in Apostolic Preaching.[9] Other men suggest
we discover the gospel or kerygma, euaggelion, in the books of sermons of
great preachers of the past and present.[10] This is a happy task for the
preacher of the gospel.
However, the best way of discovery is personal digging and research into
the Bible’s accounts of gospel preaching.
This rich research will sharpen the gospel sword of an evangelist and
temper the steel of his convictions. He will not just be preaching a gospel
based on a summary of the opinion of scholars and preachers, but his own
conclusions of biblical authority (I Corinthians 15:1-5).
The true evangelist must be able to say in the same sense as Paul, the
gospel which I preached...that which I also received (I Corinthians 15:1-3).
The modern-day preacher does not get this gospel by special revelations,
visions or voices. Neither will he receive it by reading the writings of other
scholars, thereby adopting their views as his gospel. Jesus warned of the
traditions of men, “making the word of God of no effect” (Mark 7:13
NKJV). Jesus also warned against being called Rabbi or Master, since
Christ is both (Matthew 23:8-10).
Too many preachers today know everybody’s opinions about every
doctrine, but hold no opinion of their own. We should study God’s Word
first and foremost to find for ourselves the kerygma or euaggelion as
revealed in its pages. An evangelist must be able to preach a gospel that is,
to him, my gospel in the truest sense.
What is the gospel then? The answer to that question is found in the New
Testament. The clearest statement of it is Paul’s statement in I Corinthians
15:1-11.
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I have
preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye
stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures; and, that he was buried, and
that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that
he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of
above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part
 remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he
was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was
seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of
the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I
persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I
am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but
I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of
God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we
preach, and so ye believed.
Bruce believes Paul gives us an outline of early Christian preaching in
this passage. He sees the gospel in three clauses, each containing a
theological proposition. Outlined they would appear:
1. Christ died for our sins:
Jesus was the Messiah.
He died for His people’s sins.
This death of His took place in fulfillment of prophetic
scripture.
2. Christ was buried:
To underline the reality and finality of death.
Provides the background of resurrection.
Paul’s giving burial separate mention points to the motif of
the empty tomb.
3. Christ was raised on the third day in accordance with the
scriptures.
We are not obligated to find Old Testament scriptures
which point to resurrection on the third day.
 If the fourth servant song (Isa. 52:8; 53:8, 10 ff) provided
a testimonium for the death of Christ, it could also have
provided a testimony for His resurrection (as it clearly does
for his exaltation.)
These appearances certified He had risen. They believed
because they did find a living Christ.[11]
In the total context of Paul’s writings, the general context of this epistle
and the specific context of this fifteenth chapter, we draw conclusions about
the principles of Paul’s gospel. The entire Holy Scripture is the context and
guide for understanding particular passages of the Scripture.[12] If essential
truth is normally revealed in clear passages of the Scripture and not the
obscure passages, then we can expect God’s gospel of salvation to be very
clearly revealed. Paul said to Agrippa, This thing was not done in a corner
(Acts 26:26), referring to the message of his gospel (Acts 26:19-23). As we
look to the Scripture, Paul’s statement of his gospel is the clearest and finest
in form. That is not to say other apostolic messengers nor Christ himself
were not clear. We shall see later their clarity and beauty. Here, however,
Paul speaks of his message and of the message of the apostles as being the
same, so we preach (verse 11).
Believed speaks of man’s response to God’s grace. Since salvation is
received by faith, God’s grace is obvious. Salvation is by grace through
faith. The term, Christ, is the word meaning Messiah for a Jewish audience
and is the alternative name for Jesus to a Gentile group. It speaks of Christ’s
incarnation and of His kingship in the Kingdom of God.
Died for our sins is a pregnant phrase that speaks to us of the penalty of
sin, the necessity of his death and the nature of his death, expiatory, for our
sakes.[13] The death itself speaks of the fact of the incarnation.
 According to the Scriptures establishes the truth that Christ’s death for
our sins was pre-ordained by God and predicted in God’s Word. It
establishes the authority of God’s Word.
Buried confirms the reality of Christ’s death and also the finality of the
experience. Christ undergoes the power of death and He enters the realm of
the grave to break forth as Victor over both.
Rose again describes him as Victor and Conqueror of death. He now lives
to share His salvation blessings and to continue the rule of His kingdom.
Was seen describes the fact His appearances to many witnesses certified
His resurrection victory and provided fellowship with the living Savior. It
also speaks of ascension to the heavenly throne.
Grace of God refers to the source of our salvation and implies love for
sinners and forgiveness extended.[14]
There can be no doubt the main emphasis of Paul was upon the life,
death, resurrection and lordship of Christ, with the cross of Christ being the
pre-eminent message. All of these fundamental doctrines will be found in
the messages of the apostles, in one form or another and at different times.
The simple gospel seems to have a dozen doctrines in its message. As
one makes a survey of the preaching of John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter and
John the apostle, these elements emerge in their messages. Some believe
John’s preaching laid the foundation for all practical Christian theology.[15]
He preached the authority of God’s Word (John 1:17, 23; Mark 1:2; Matt.
3:3, Luke 3:3-7). He was clear about Christ’s pre-existence and incarnation
(John 1:15, 18, 27, 30, 34; John 3:31, 35). Christ brings the kingdom (John
1:17, 23; 3:28-31), and is the atoning Savior (John 1:29; 3:36). This also
implies the love of God (John 3:35). He spoke of the wrath of God (John
3:36; Matt. 3:12) as fire. The forerunner also pointed out the response of
man was his duty to repent (Matt. 3:2) in light of the sin of man (Luke 3:7-
19).
The gospel of Jesus Christ is more inclusive than John’s message. Our
Lord spoke of the authority of God’s Word (John 6: 39-47). He declared his
incarnation (Matt. 16:16 ff; Luke 2:52; 9:20; Mark 8:29; John 3:16; 8:47-
59). He presented the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15; Matt 4:17; Luke
6:20-21; John 3:1-16).
His message was a revelation of the love of God (John 3:16), but He
declared the facts of God’s wrath and hell (Luke 16:19 ff); Christ preached
His atoning death (John 3:14-21; Luke 18:31-33; Matt 16:15-18; Mark
10:31-34), and prophesied his resurrection (John 2:19-22; Luke 18:33;
Mark 8:31). He openly declared his future exaltation (John 14:1-6; 19-20;
26, 28, 15:26; 16:7-16, 28). He also spoke of his return to this earth and
future judgment (John 5:28-32; Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:62). He called for
repentance and faith on man’s part (Mark 1:15; Matt. 4:17; Luke 13:5; John
3:16-21) because of man’s sins (John 6:28-58).
A brief survey of Peter’s messages will reveal the same truths. Peter
spoke of the authority of the Scriptures (Acts 2:16-21; 3:21-22; 10:43; I
Peter 1:10-11). The incarnation is proclaimed (Acts 2:22-26; 3:13, 16;
10:38; I Peter 1:3). Peter preached the kingdom of God (Acts 2:26; 3:20;
10:37; I Peter 2:9-10). His emphasis was upon the atoning death of Christ
(Acts 2:22-23; 3:15; 10:39; I Peter 2:21-25) and His resurrection (Acts
2:24-36; 3:15; 10:40; I Peter 3:18-21). He told of God’s love (Acts 2:37-40;
3:26; 10:38; I Peter 1:3; 5:10) and God’s wrath (Acts 2:20; 3:19-21; 10:42;
II Peter 3:10). His gospel included the truth of Christ’s return and
judgments (Acts 2:20; 8:18-21; 10:43; I Peter 5:1-4; II Peter 3:4-15). Man’s
response is seen to be the duties of repentance and faith (Acts 2:38; 3:19,
26; 10:43; I Peter 1:5, 7, 8, 9) necessitated by man’s sin (Acts 2:36-40).
A quick scan of John’s gospel demonstrates John the apostle preached
these truths: the authority of Scripture (John 1:23; 2:17; 6:31, 45; 10:34;
12:13; 9:24, 26-29); the incarnation (John 1:14; 3:16; 8:24, 56-58; 10:33;
17:5, 24, 18:4-6); the kingdom of God (John 3:1-16); His atoning death
(John 1:29, 36; 3:14-16; 6:33, 51; 10:11; 15:12-27); His resurrection (John
3:8-23; 5:25-29); His exaltation (John 14:1-6, 18-20, 26, 28; 15:26; 16:7-
16); the wrath of God (John 2:13-17; 3:16-21) and the love of God (John
3:16; 5:20; 14:21; 15:10; 12-14; 16:27).
It is obvious the common salvation and the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints (Jude 3) was not nebulous but clearly and
consistently expounded. Today’s evangelist does not need to debate the so-
called kerygma, but to declare the gospel. Being certain of his message and
with clear examples of its presentation, he can magnify the truths of that
message by rational presentations to his intelligent listeners.
The goal to which the gospel message is directed is man’s conversion.
Conversion includes repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord
Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). The great privilege of being called to the gospel
ministry is the highest trust God can give any man.
In his conversion experience, the sinner’s repentance involves an
intellectual element in his change of view or change of mind. Once
sinfulness was not such a bad condition, but now it has become personal
guilt; God who did not really matter is now seen to be God who justly
demands righteousness; self was sufficient, but is now defiled and helpless.
A knowledge of sin and its consequences is included in repentance (Psalm
51:3, 7). Saving faith includes belief in the revelation of God, the Bible and
the gospel truths taught therein. Belief comes by hearing, and hearing by
the Word of God (Romans 10:17).
The knowledge involved in faith is belief in the facts of man’s sinfulness,
God’s gracious mercy and love, Christ’s redemptive work and the duties of
repentance and faith. The evangelist is to present the gospel for men to
know and to receive Christ. This is made clear in Romans 10:14.
How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and
how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and
how shall they hear without a preacher?

Demonstration
Having seen the design and direction of the gospel preacher in preaching to
the intellect, the sermons of evangelists demonstrate this truth in practice.
Of the many great evangelists in American history, only a few major men
will be used to demonstrate these practices. They are Jonathan Edwards of
the Great Awakening, Charles G. Finney of the early 1800’s, D. L. Moody
from the late 1800’s, Billy Sunday in the twentieth century and Billy
Graham, a contemporary evangelist. These were not the only outstanding
evangelists, but are considered the major evangelists. They are most
representative from the viewpoint of practice. All of them left many
sermons and illustrations of their preaching methods and appeals. Even
critical historians are aware of their importance.[16]
In the Great Awakening no preacher stood above Jonathan Edwards.
Edwards was pastor of the Northampton Church from 1727-1750. He was
not only a preacher and revivalist, but also a philosopher and theologian.[17]
He is considered one of the major evangelists in American history. In a
sermon, God Glorified in the Work of Redemption, Edwards presented the
beauty of his gospel messages logically expounded:
“Now those who are redeemed by Jesus do, in all these respects, very
directly and entirely depend on God for their all.... First, the redeemed
have all their good of God. God is the great author of it. He is the first
cause of it, and not only so, but he is the only proper cause. It is of
God that we have our Redeemer. It is God who has provided a Savior
for us. Jesus Christ is not only of God in his person, as he is the only
begotten son of God, but he is from God, as we are concerned in him,
and in his office of mediator. He is the gift of God to us: God chose
and anointed him, appointed him his work, and sent him into the
world. And as it is God who gives, so it is God who accepts the
Savior.”
It is of God that Christ becomes ours, that we are bought of him and
united to him. It is of God that we receive faith to close with him, that
we may have a saving interest in him. Ephesians 11:8: For by grace
ye are saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God. It is of God that we actually receive all benefits that Christ has
purchased. It is God who pardons and justifies, and delivers from
going down to hell; and into his favor the redeemed are received,
where they are justified. So it is God who delivers from the dominion
of sin, cleanses us from filthiness and changes us from our deformity.
It is of God that the redeemed receive all their true excellency,
wisdom and holiness: and in two ways, viz., as the Holy Ghost by
whom these things are immediately wrought is from God, proceeds
from him, and is sent by Him; and also as the Holy Ghost himself is
God, by whose operation and indwelling the knowledge of God and
 divine things, a holy disposition and all grace are conferred and
upheld. And though means are made use of in conferring grace to
men’s souls, yet it is of God that we have these means of grace, and it
is he that makes them effectual. It is of God that we have the Holy
Scriptures: they are his Word.”[18]
Charles G. Finney, lawyer turned evangelist, was famous for his logical
presentations of the gospel. The content of his revival messages are stated
in his Memories:
“The doctrines preached in promoting revivals, were those I preached
everywhere. The total, moral, voluntary depravity of unregenerate
man; the necessity of a radical change of heart, through the truth, by
the agency of the Holy Ghost; the divinity and humanity of our Lord
Jesus Christ; his vicarious atonement, equal to the wants of all
mankind; the gift, divinity and agency of the Holy Ghost; repentance,
faith, justification by faith, sanctification by faith; persistence in
holiness as a condition of salvation; indeed all the distinctive
doctrines of the gospel, were stated and set forth with as much
clearness and point, and power as were possible to me with the
circumstances.”[19]
Finney clearly describes the commitment of faith in his message titled,
Directions to Sinners:
“Faith does not consist in an intellectual conviction that Christ died
for you in particular, nor in a belief that you are a Christian, or that
you ever shall be, or that your sins are forgiven. But faith is that trust
or confidence in God, and in Christ, that commits the whole soul to
 him in all his relations to us. It is a voluntary trust in his person, his
veracity, his word.”
“This was the faith of Abraham. He had confidence in what God said,
which led him to act as if it were true. This is the way the apostle
illustrates it in the eleventh of Hebrews. Faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And he goes on to
illustrate it by various examples. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were made; that is, we believe this and act accordingly.
Take the case of Noah. Noah was warned of God that he was going to
drown the world, and he believed it, and acted accordingly; he
prepared an ark to save his family. And by doing so, he condemned
the world that would not believe; his action gave evidence that he was
sincere. Abraham, too, was called of God to leave his country, with
the promise that he should be the gainer by it, and he obeyed and
went out, without knowing where he should go. Read the whole
chapter and you will find many instances of the same kind. The whole
design of the chapter is to illustrate the nature of faith and show that it
invariably results in action.”[20]
With the rise of city life in America, there was also the rise of the
vocational evangelist. The greatest of all the evangelists was Dwight L.
Moody.[21] This man began as a shoe salesman in Chicago and entered a
preaching career that shook two continents for God. His preaching was very
plain and to the point as seen in the sermon, The Gateway into the
Kingdom:
“Christ made it very plain. He says, Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the Kingdom of God—much less inherit it. This doctrine
of the new birth is therefore the foundation of all our hopes for the
world to come. It is really the ABC of Christian religion. My
experience has been this—if a man is unsound on this doctrine in the
Bible, he will be unsound on almost every fundamental doctrine. A
true understanding of this subject will help a man to solve a thousand
difficulties he may meet within the Word of God. Things that before
seemed very dark and mysterious will become very plain.”
“Notice how the Scripture puts it: ‘Except a man be born again, ‘born
from above,’ ‘born of the Spirit.’ From amongst a number of passages
where we find this word except, I would name three. Except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish (Luke 13:3,5); Except ye be
converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter the
kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3); Except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in
no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven. They all really mean the
same thing.”
“I am thankful that our Lord spoke of the new birth to this ruler of the
Jews, this doctor of the law, rather than to the woman at the well of
Samaria, or to Matthew the publican or to Zacchaeus. If he had
reserved his teaching on this great matter for those three, or such as
these, people would have said, ‘Oh yes, these publicans and harlots
need to be converted; but I am an upright man; I do not need to be
converted.’ I suppose Nicodemus was one of the best specimens of
the people of Jerusalem: there was nothing on record against him.”
“I think it is scarcely necessary for me to prove that we need to be
born again before we are meet for heaven. I venture to say that there
is no candid man, but would say he is not fit for the Kingdom of God,
 until he is born of another spirit. The Bible teaches us that man by
nature is lost and guilty, and our experience confirms this. We know
also that the best and holiest man if he turn away from God, will very
soon fall in sin.”[22]
Billy Sunday, the converted baseball hero, became one of America’s
great success stories. His ministry reached two million people in
conversions. His language was picturesque and very appealing to the people
of his day. He appealed to the minds of men in his preaching, using
explanations of doctrines. In his message, Christ’s Atonement for our Sins,
he said about the blood of the atonement:
“When it is charged upon us that our Bible is a ‘bloody Bible,’ and
our gospel is a ‘bloody gospel’ and this world is a ‘bloody world,’ I
never apologized, and so help me, God, I never will. You take the
blood of Jesus Christ out of the plan of atonement, and that book we
call the Bible won’t be worth the paper it is printed on. You take the
blood out of your body and you are dead, a lifeless thing. It is the
blood that gives us life, and it is the blood of atonement that gives the
Christian religion life. Without that we have nothing to offer to the
world.”
“That’s why a lot of preachers are failures. They are preaching a lot of
tommyrot, poppycock nonsense. They think they have an
improvement over the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
“Whatever the blood touches it redeems and as long as the blood is on
the mercy seat the sinner may return.”
“Now the blood of Christ stands for redemption. We are not redeemed
with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but by the precious
 blood of Christ. You are not redeemed by your culture, your
philosophy, your education. We are redeemed by the blood of Christ.”
“Now, listen. Redemption is more than salvation. When Jesus died on
the cross he redeemed mankind; the price was paid for everybody, but
everybody won’t be saved. And the doctrine of universal salvation is
an infernal lie. It crawled out of the pit of hell. While everybody has
been redeemed, everybody won’t be saved; but redemption will avail
you nothing if you refuse and reject Jesus Christ.”[23]
Evangelist Billy Graham is a miracle in himself. No other evangelistic
ministry can be compared to his successful ministry. His preaching is
clearly aimed at the intellect of man as he determines to avoid all
emotionalisms and call for an act of an informed will. His messages are
always informative.
In his first book, Peace with God, Graham spoke about real repentance:
“Falsely produced emotionalism in some revival meetings has been a
stumbling block to many a sincere, searching soul. But the type of
repentance I’m talking about is true biblical repentance, which
involves three things: it involves the intellect, the emotion and the
will.”
“First, there must be a knowledge of sin. The Bible says, All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. When Isaiah was
convicted of his sins, he said, Woe is me...I am a man of unclean lips.
When Job was convinced he was a sinner, he said, I abhor myself,
When Peter was convicted of his sins, he said, I am a sinful man.
When Paul was convicted of his sins, he called himself, the chief of
sinners.”
 “It is the Holy Spirit that brings about this conviction. Actually,
repentance cannot take place until first there is a movement of the
Holy Spirit in the heart and mind...It is possible to be convicted of sin
and know you are a sinner and even shed tears over your sins, and yet
not repent.”
“Second, the emotions are involved in repentance, just as they are in
all genuine experiences. Paul said, There is a godly sorrow that
worketh toward repentance. Many people abhor all emotion, and
some critics are suspicious of any conversion that does not take place
in a refrigerator. There are many dangers in false emotionalism,
produced for its own effect, but this does not rule out true emotions
and depth of feeling.”
“Third, repentance involves the will. It is only when we come to the
will, that we find the heart of repentance. There must be that
determination to forsake sin—to change one’s feelings; to change
one’s will, disposition and purpose. Only the Spirit of God can give
the determination necessary for true repentance.”[24]
Each of these evangelists used the truth of the gospel, presented in all its
elements, as the means of reaching man intellectually and appealed for a
reasoned response. Instead of overlooking man’s mind, the message directly
appealed to it. Robertson has beautifully said, “The art of catching men for
Christ is the supreme test of the evangelistic preacher.”[25]
CHAPTER TWO
 PREACHING TO THE CONSCIENCE

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the
things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto
themselves: which show the works of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the
meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another (Romans 2:14-
15).

We are all creatures with consciences (II Corinthians 4:2; I Corinthians

10:29). Everyone! In every man there is recognized the faculty called the
conscience. It is mentioned in the writings of every civilization from
Egyptian culture to this twentieth century. Nevertheless, the conscience is
much neglected in the systematic theologies and sermons of our day.
It is also tragic that many preachers fail to understand the function of the
conscience in relationship to the gospel message and its call for response.
This innate and universal faculty gives each man the ability to distinguish
between right and wrong; it also urges him to resist doing wrong and to do
right. It is certainly a wonderful ally of the gospel preacher, if clearly
understood by him.
Some have found encouragement in preaching by comparing the
impenitent soul to a rebel city, to which, in the king’s name, they are laying
siege. All in sight is hostile—artillery, armed men, banners. But they are
aware the King has friends in the citadel; and they have an open channel of
communication. No matter how frowning the aspects of the wall, their
business is to supply the loyal subjects within the citadel with weapons and
food. Many a discouraged preacher would wax very bold, if he could but
see all that is going on in some hearts, back of those frowning and those
stolid countenances.[26]
What a difference it makes to know God is not only moving by his Spirit,
but conscience is preaching, too!
The poet wrote:

“My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,

And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for what I really am”
—Anon.

Definition
Modern psychologists seldom mention the conscience. Others deny it is
possible to define. The Bible shows us in a practical way what the
conscience does.[27] The word conscience is a compound word meaning “to
know together” or literally “knowledge with” (Greek). This inner
knowledge of oneself is a special knowledge dwelling in the person of man
that bears witness alone of itself.[28] Conscience passes on all man’s actions
by the feeling of approval or condemnation. The old Puritans called this the
judging part of the soul under God and spoke of the two lights that directed
it...the law and the Word. It is seen as a wonderful gift of God and the
guardian of morality, justice and decency in all history.
A good biblical understanding or definition of the conscience is given by
Roy B. Zuck:
 “But what does this inner knowledge or consciousness in the New
Testament pertain to? The usage of the conscience in the New
Testament suggests it pertains, broadly speaking, to one’s ethics or
morals; i.e., the conscience is a moral consciousness. Therefore,
based on ethnology and New Testament usage, the conscience can be
defined as the inner knowledge or awareness of, and sensitivity to,
some moral standard. That standard may differ with each individual,
but even so, the conscience is the faculty of man by which he has an
awareness of some standard of conduct.”[29]
One evangelist who preaches to the conscience with great success is, of
course, Billy Graham, who wrote: “Conscience has been described as the
light of the soul.... The Scriptures say, Man’s conscience is the lamp of the
eternal (Proverbs 20:27 MOF). In other words, conscience is God’s lamp
within man’s heart.”[30]
The Apostle John speaks of our heart condemning or commending us in I
John 3:19-21:
And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our
hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than
our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us
not, then have we confidence toward God.
The conscience is the “moral judge of the soul, not the law.”[31] Its court is
always in session in the soul of man.
The evangelistic preacher must be aware of the power of the conscience
and its standard. The only true standard for the conscience is the Word of
God as interpreted by the Holy Spirit. All other standards will lead
conscience astray. When the conscience judges a man according to God’s
Word, its verdict is absolutely infallible.
The old North Canadian Indian beautifully described the work of the
conscience when he said, “It is a little three-cornered thing inside of me.
When I do wrong, it turns around and hurts me very much. But if I keep on
doing wrong it will turn so much that the corners become worn off and it
does not hurt anymore.”[32] All men seem to experience the innate
knowledge of right versus wrong. They feel an accountability for evil acts.
There is a feeling of obligation of virtue.[33] This is normal for one made in
the image of God, since the human consciousness is religious. [34]The
painful feeling about an evil act clearly indicates one’s conscience as a
judge has pronounced him guilty.
A simple definition of conscience is it is a God-given power to know
good and evil which urges man toward good by approval, yet rebukes him
when he does wrong.[35] If every man possesses a conscience, God certainly
has a great design for this faculty.

Design
The design of the preacher of the gospel is to awaken and arouse the
conscience by divine truth. The conscience is quickened by the preacher
when he urges moral obligation or duty upon the sinner. The preacher must
also point out the ways of violating these duties. The guilt accompanying
such refusals must be felt. In reference to this, Charles G. Finney wrote:
“A minister should address the feelings enough to secure attention
and then deal with the conscience, and probe to the quick.” Appeals
to the feelings alone will never convert sinners. If a preacher deals too
much in these, he may get up an excitement and have wave after
 wave of feeling flow over the congregation, and people may be
carried away as with a flood and rest in false hopes. The only way to
secure sound conversions is to deal faithfully with the conscience. If
attention flags at any time, appeal to the feelings again, and arouse it
up, but do your work with conscience.”[36]
Clearly the power of the mind to which the system of divine truth adapts
itself is of the conscience.[37] Such truth must not be separated from a
continuous reliance upon the Holy Spirit working through his Word.
Conscience as a natural principle in men gives an apprehension of right and
wrong, suggests the relation between right and wrong and retribution. The
Spirit of God assists conscience to do this work to a further degree, than it
would do if they were left to themselves.[38] Though men have basically lost
the moral image of God since the original sin, they still have natural
conscience. The Holy Spirit ministers to the conscience by assisting it in its
work. The evangelist furnishes the truths of the law and the gospel to the
conscience.
The Holy Spirit and the faculty of conscience are distinct witnesses to be
understood and depended on by the evangelist. He understands the
conscience can accuse and excuse. However, the conscience can never
justify. The witness of the conscience against sin and the Spirit’s witness
about salvation are harmonized in the reconciliation of Christ’s atoning
death.[39]
The evangelist is to present divine truth to the conscience of his listener.
Understanding the design of the conscience of man, the evangelist now
possesses a sense of direction.

Direction
The direction is to arouse the conscience by the preaching of certain truths
as standards. These will be listed together and then dealt with individually.
Conscience receives and enforces the truth of these five facts: (1) Man’s
rebellion against the rightful rule of God; (2) Man’s violation of God’s
laws; (3) Man’s destination in God’s judgment on sinners; (4) Man’s
obligation of immediate response in repentance and faith; and (5) Man’s
rejection of God’s gracious salvation.
Firstly, few sinners understand the essence of their sin and the rebellion
involved in all sins. Everyone must be confronted by God’s right to rule his
universe and to the Lawgiver and Judge in his moral government.
James clearly deals with this aspect of truth and the conscience: Speak
not evil one of another brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother,
speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law; but if thou judge the law, thou
art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to
save and destroy: who art thou that judgest another? (James 4:11-12). He
declares God to be the one supreme Lawgiver and Judge. These rights
belong to God the Creator (Matt. 10:28). Conscience witnesses both to
God’s right to rule and man’s refusal to be ruled.
Man was placed in God’s garden upon God’s earth and in God’s universe.
He was happy to receive God’s authority over his life and never questioned
it until the false promise. Ye shall be as God was given by Satan (Gen. 3:5).
Man willingly received God’s many instructions (Gen. 2:16). The simple
command was positive of every tree of the Garden thou mayest freely eat. It
was also negative but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it: for in the day that thou shalt eat thereof, thou shalt surely die.
Adam does not object to God’s right to command him in diet, daily life or
duties. He never doubted God’s authority, love or word.
 Not even Satan dared to deny God’s right to rule. He could only plant
doubt about God’s Law and imply God was withholding good from man.
Satan never dared question God’s right to judge and kill, only whether or
not he would do it (Gen. 3:3).
Christ’s attitude toward the Law affirmed God’s right to rule. He taught
the existence of Adam and Eve in the Garden, the institution of marriage by
a command and the entrance of sin after their creation and marriage (Matt.
19:3-9). Christ declared the law of Moses is the Word of God (Matt. 5:17-
18). He died under its curse to satisfy the Law (Gal. 3:10-14) and thereby
he also saved the believer. All these actions show Christ recognized God is
the Lawgiver and should be obeyed.
Conscience condemns the sinner as a rebel against his position and duty.
Conscience must be supplied with this as a standard of judgment. God has
the right to demand perfect obedience to his revealed will. Every man,
without this conviction by the conscience, will cry as Pharaoh of old, Who
is the Lord, that I should obey his voice (Ex. 5:2).
Secondly, man also has violated the standard of his conscience, God’s
law. This implies a Lawgiver, God’s subjects who must obey, man; power to
enforce the command, God’s authority; duty to obey; and sanctions for
disobedience.[40] God’s moral law is man’s opportunity for moral obedience.
This law is plain in the statements of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:3-
17).
Our Lord did not destroy the Law, he summarized it when he declared:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with
all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou
hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. (Luke 10:27, 28). Jesus
said the Lawyer had spoken rightly concerning the law. When Jesus showed
him what the law required, he also showed him that he needed a better
righteousness. When we compare ourselves to God’s perfect law, we see
our failure and our need of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Thus the law
becomes a schoolmaster to lead us given in these principles of morality.[41]
The law increased the consciousness of sin (Rom. 3:20). God sent Christ,
who kept the law, and then died for those who have broken the law.
Obedience to the law of God is binding on all men and can never be
lowered. The law may be outlined in presentation as twofold: Love God
supremely and your neighbor completely. Sin is impiety toward God and
injury toward mankind.
The main purpose of the Law in a sinner’s life is to reveal sin in his life.
The Law shows him that he cannot save himself. Then, it can take him by
the hand and lead him to Christ, the Savior of sinners.[42]
Thirdly, man is aware of his destiny to appear before God’s judgment. In
Romans 1:2 we read, Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which
commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have
pleasure in them that do them. The Gentiles sin against the moral principles
of the law of God which is written in their hearts (Rom 2:14-15).
There is no such thing as a people without knowledge of the will of God.
They possess the law substantially, but not formally. The Jews possessed it
in a written form (Rom. 2:11-13). However, both Jew and Gentile possess a
knowledge of their accountability to the judgment of God.
Even in modern society the fear as well as guilt involved in wrongdoing
is felt by all men. When Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence of
God, they demonstrated this innate knowledge of certain judgment upon
sins.
 Therefore, the preacher must give the conscience ammunition for the
slaying of the sinner’s indifference to sins. The grand truth of God’s
judgment presented by God’s Word is sufficient. Paul’s presentation in
Romans 2 is excellent. He declares that God’s judgment is: (1) True (2:2);
(2) Just (2:6); (3) Impartial (2:11); and (4) Revealing (2:16).
John declares in Revelation 20:11-15 that lost men will be judged out of
the things written in the book, (verse 12). Christ’s words, He that rejecteth
me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I
spoke, the same shall judge him (John 12:48), surely include the Holy
Scriptures. They will be judged according to their work (v 12). God’s Word
will be the standard of judgment there. Somehow the irrefutable record of
man’s sin will be read and reckoned accomplished.
Accordingly, the evangelist should press home to the soul of men that
God’s law is holy and the commandment holy, just and good, (Romans
7:12). Everyone must do some serious thinking about judgment. It is
obvious God has a right to have moral laws with just penalties that should
be executed. A law with no penalty is not a law and a law with a penalty
never executed is a travesty upon law. God’s law cannot be relaxed and be
holy, just and good. The Scriptures say these violators of the law will be
punished justly and every transgression shall receive a just recompense of
reward (Heb. 2:2). It is plain from the Bible that all sin will be punished
(Dan. 12:2; Matt. 10:25; John 5:28; Rom. 5:12). Conscience witnesses to
this fact.
Fourthly, man is obligated to immediate repentance and faith. Over the
years preachers have called repentance and faith “sacred duties.” The
conscience witnesses to our moral duties. In Acts 17:30 Paul warns that
God requires every man to repent: And the times of this ignorance God
winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Man’s duty
of immediate repentance is clear. John wrote of the command of immediate
belief in I John 3:23, And this is his commandment, that we should believe
on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave the
commandment. The duty of immediate faith is obvious.
God’s command of repentance is based upon the fact that a full revelation
of himself has been completed in Christ, a finished work of atonement has
been accomplished and a future judgment of men will be conducted. Other
listed calls to repentance are Acts 2:38, Ye must repent, and as an
expression of it, let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Christ—that
you may have your sins forgiven (Williams Translation); Acts 3:19, Repent
ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. Again in
Acts 5:31 we read: Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince
and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. Acts
8:22 says, Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps
the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. There is also Acts 20:21,
Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God
and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist cried, Repent ye,
for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus declared, The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe the gospel (Mark
1:15). Furthermore, He said, I tell ye, nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish (Luke 13:3). It was said of all the apostles that, they went
out and preached that men should repent... (Mark 6:12).
With a better understanding of the dispensation of the grace of God,
modern day preachers refuse to practice the “Law preaching” of his
ministerial forefathers. Many do not minister God’s Word by stern
preaching or apply the righteous commands of God to the soul of the
listeners. A so-called “clear gospel sermon” is presented. They are so
occupied with presenting the truth of justification by faith alone that they
forget how very indifferent the people are to any message from God. If a
preacher insists upon man’s responsibility to obey and glorify God, he will
drive home to their hearts the fact of their sinfulness in their failure.[43]
Conscience will speak with the evangelist’s call to repentance!
The obligation to believe on Christ should be pressed on the hearts of
sinners. John the apostle tells us we are to believe on Jesus Christ and in
doing so, we do the work God requires. Jesus Christ said: This is the work
of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent (John 6:29). Faith is not
an act by which one earns, merits, or deserves salvation from God. Faith is
an act, but not a meritorious work. Faith or believing is just the hand that
receives the gift of God’s saving grace provided in the atonement of Jesus
Christ. In John’s gospel, Jesus is seen to be commanding the action of
belief. It is a duty to believe in Christ as one’s Savior. The old acrostic:
Forsaking All, I Trust Him. No text of the Holy Scripture tells quite as well
as Romans 4:5: To the man who does not work, but trusts God who justifies
the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. [44]
In preaching, the call for the response of faith is central. What must I do
to be saved?... Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved....
Throughout the New Testament faith is clearly seen as the commanded
commitment to Christ our Savior. It is the immediate duty called for in the
preaching of the gospel of Christ. The conscience commends the act of faith
and also condemns the refusals of a sinner who refuses to believe. The Holy
Spirit works through the gospel message to enable the sinner to believe
(John 6:63). The preacher of the gospel message must insist upon his
listener’s duty and privilege to receive Christ at once. Man is perishing
because of his sin and unbelief, and his sinful life is odious to the Holy God
of Heaven. Each unbelieving day he lives away from God, the wrath of God
increases against him. He is described as a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3), that is,
under and liable to the wrath of God. As the proclamation of the gospel stirs
the emotions and the mind, the will is moved to act.
This is why an evangelistic sermon is defined as one “delivered in the
power of the Holy Spirit arousing the very highest emotions, aspirations,
and desires—God Himself moves upon men.”[45] Evangelist Charles G.
Finney always called for an immediate response. He based this call upon
the present obligation to the duties of repentance and faith. He said:
“A prime object with the preacher must be to make present
obligations felt. I have talked, I suppose with many thousands of
anxious sinners. And I have found that they have never felt the
pressure of present obligations...until the sinner’s conscience is
reached on this subject, you preach to him in vain and until ministers
learn how to preach so as to make the right impression, the world
never can be converted. Oh, to what an alarming extent does the
impression now prevail among the impenitent that they are not
expected to repent now but must wait God’s time.”[46] God’s Word is
very plain about man’s response: Behold, now is the accepted time;
behold, now is the day of salvation (II Cor. 6:2).
Fifthly, the witness of the conscience is against the wrongness of man’s
rejection of God’s gracious salvation. He that believeth on him is not
condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already (John 3:18). It
seems that this is the meaning of Hebrews 10:26-29:
 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of
the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall
devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without
mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath counted the blood
of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and
hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace?
This is what is called the sin of final obduracy. Much incipient hardening
of the heart precedes the sin of final obduracy.[47] The sin against the Spirit
is not an isolated event, but also the outward manifestation of a heart so
ultimately set against the Lord Jesus Christ that no power can ever save it.
Sinners are in the self-hardening and self-depraving course as they
continually reject Christ. The terrible sin of unbelief is seen as sin against
the Godhead—Father, Son and Spirit. It is the sin of contempt toward the
Father through their contempt for the Son. We sometimes forget Christ and
the Father are one (John 10:30; 14:9; 15:23-24; 17:21-24). Any attitude or
action against the Son is against the Father who sent him (John 5:24). It is a
sin against the love of the Father; it is also a sin against the death of the
Son, which death is treated as a common death, being no sacrifice and
having no blessing in it. It is the sin of outrage against the Holy Spirit of
Grace (Mark 3:29). The sin which our Lord thus described was a deliberate
closing of one’s eyes to the light.[48]
The conscience bears witness to the truth that to continually reject Christ
or to ultimately, decisively refuse Christ is a wickedness that brings the
judgment of God. Unless men feel the sinfulness of their rejection, they will
remain indifferent. This is the ultimate sin. This rejection is placed first and
is deemed the sin of chief magnitude, as it is the principle one which men
are guilty. Throughout the New Testament, this is regarded as the sin pre-
eminently offensive to God, and which if unrepented of, will certainly lead
to perdition.[49] Both the Spirit and the conscience of the sinner will speak to
this awful sin in a man’s life.

Demonstration
At this point it would be well to observe some demonstrations of this
principle of preaching to the conscience in the sermons of different
evangelists, beginning with the ministry of our Lord Jesus. We find Jesus
dealing with men’s consciences by the use of convicting truth.
Although John 8:1-11 is not found in the earliest and so-called most
reliable manuscripts, most scholars agree it is most likely a true story in the
life of Jesus, but not part of the gospel John wrote. The verses in question
are recorded in the Berkley Translation in the following words:
But they, on hearing it, went away conscience-stricken one after
the other, beginning from the oldest to the least, until Jesus was
left alone with the woman as she stood there.
When the Pharisees and Scribes sought to find a reason to accuse Jesus,
they sought to put him in a place of deciding either against the law of
Moses or claiming power that belonged to the Romans. Jesus refused to
make a judicial decision in the case of the adulteress. He turned the tables
on them by saying, He who is sinless among you, let him be the first to
throw the stone upon her (v. 7). Jesus either used the very sin, the sin of
adultery, to convict their consciences, or sin in general. Jesus’ words struck
home to their consciences and, conscience doing its work, made the sinners
aware of greater sin and guilt. Self-accusation brought guilt that broke up
this meeting. Yet conscience kept the woman before Jesus, until she was
forgiven by his redeeming grace.
In the ministry of Peter we find the conviction of sin by the Spirit and the
witness of the conscience in the pentecostal event. In Acts 2:37 we read:
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto
Peter and to the rest of the apostles. Men and brethren, what shall we do?
The Spirit used Peter’s message to cut into their hearts. They were
compelled to look back to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and
recognize they were guilty and wrong. Peter’s preaching had been effective,
not only convincing his hearer’s minds but convicting their consciences.[50]
Paul’s ministry included many confrontations with strong and powerful
individuals. None could be more imposing than Felix, the governor in Acts
24:25: And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to
come, Felix trembled and answered. Go thy way for this time; when I have a
convenient season, I will call for thee.
Here we see Felix and his third wife, Drusilla, who had left her first
husband for Felix. Paul first preached the Christian faith and then showed
the ethical implications of the gospel. This message was pointed:
righteousness and self-control and the judgment to come. Fear gripped
Felix as his spirit was convicted by the Spirit of God through the witness of
his own conscience regarding his wrong. Felix was a man who ruled with a
mixture of cruelty, lust and severity, committing every sort of crime with
impunity. Convicted about his public character and private immorality, the
thought of accounting to God was overwhelming. Paul had reached beyond
the mind and sensibilities of this man to the very conscience and aroused a
witness to sin and guilt.
 Among the first of this nation’s famous evangelists is the scholar and
theologian, Jonathan Edwards. His famous sermon speaks of God’s wrath
on sin:
“They are already under the sentence of condemnation to hell. They
do not only deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the
law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God
has fixed between himself and mankind is gone out against them and
stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell. John
3:18, He that believeth not is condemned already. So that every
unconverted man properly belongs to hell, that is his place; from
thence he is, John 8:23, ye are from beneath. And thither he is bound.
It is the place that justice and God’s Word and the sentence of his
unchangeable law assign to him.”[51]
Edwards was a thorough-going Calvinist in his theology. He believed in
the majesty of the law of God. He followed the definition of sin as being
“any want of conformity unto, or transgression of the law of God.” The idea
of sin and the idea of law go together. The basic idea of sin for Edwards
was that which is contrary to God. God is the Lawgiver, man owes
obedience to God. It is one law over all men. Edwards preached the
absolute holiness of God and the absolute hopelessness of guilty man. He
assaulted the conscience of men by the demands of the holy, good and just
law of God. Men were stripped of any hope. Absolute hopelessness was his
estimate of man’s state. He preached sin was a bad state as well as a bad
action.
Men were shown their rebellion against the holy God of heaven. God’s
justice was confirmed in the conscience of men. They felt the threat of the
righteous judgment of God. Yet Edwards spoke of the law as the guide or
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ and his death upon the cross for our sins.
Another evangelist who has moved many to faith in Christ is Charles
Finney. An excerpt from his preaching regarding the violation of God’s law
is seen in the following quote:
“Sin is the most expensive thing in the universe. Nothing else can cost
so much. Pardoned or unpardoned, its cost is infinitely great.
Pardoned, the cost falls chiefly on the great atoning substitute;
unpardoned, it must fall on the head of the guilty sinner.... “Sin is the
violation of an infinitely important law—a law designed and adapted
to secure the highest good in the universe. Obedience to this law is
naturally essential to the good of creatures.... As sin is a violation of a
most important law, it cannot be treated lightly. No government can
afford to treat disobedience as a trifle, inasmuch as everything, the
entire welfare of the government and the governed, turns upon
obedience.... The law of God must not be dishonored by anything he
shall do. It has been dishonored by the disobedience of man.”[52]
Finney’s concept of wrath was simple. God has a just charge against men
who have broken his law. Sin is the violation of God’s Law. Finney directed
that charge to the conscience of guilty man. Men are under God’s moral
government and our sins are committed against God. Every man knows
God is not to blame for sin in the universe nor in each man’s life.
Finney declared the conscience of man always justifies God as holy. Yet
conscience does not always condemn the sinner while justifying God.
Conscience has always had one message...God is right and man is wrong!
Finney believed sinners should be rebuked for sinning. He approached the
sinner as a guilty rebel who needed a confrontation with truth and grace.
The conscience responds to the preaching of the Law of God and condemns
men. Christ is the one who became the curse of the law for men. He is our
Savior.
D. L. Moody’s famous sermon on Daniel 5:27 soon developed into a
book of sermons, Weighed and Wanting: Addresses on the Ten
Commandments. His preaching spoke about man’s condemnation by the
Law of God. In one sermon, There Is No Difference, he says:
“Now in the law it is written that a man that breaks the least of the
law is guilty of all. Some people say, ‘I have not broken the Ten
Commandments.’ They seem to think that the ten commandments are
ten different laws. But a man who breaks the least of the
commandments has broken all; and if you have broken one of the
commandments, you have broken the law of God. Some people think
that if they fail in one commandment, they are not so bad; but if a
man is guilty of breaking one he breaks all. And where do we find a
man who does not break more than one commandment? How many
people here in New York worship idols? Measure your heart by the
law of God, my friends, and you will find yourself guilty.”[53]
Known as the great apostle of the gospel of love, Moody was a strong
preacher of the law. Moody preached man was ruined by the fall, sinful by
nature and guilty in practice. In almost every crusade Moody preached his
sermon on the Ten Commandments and man’s condemnation by the Law of
God. He did preach judgment and hell, but not to the extent of Finney.
Moody’s sermon only contained frequent incidental references to hell, the
wrath of God and judgment to come. He was not caught up in the theology
of the goodness of man, which was the popular emphasis of his day.
 Moody stressed the acts of sinful men as the result of a sinful nature,
pressing home to sinners the sin of neglecting God’s Son and God’s
salvation. His preaching had a motif of corruption and condemnation. The
purpose of the law was to show man his sinfulness and to condemn man. It
stopped the mouth of man. This great evangelist pressed the law home to
the heart and conscience of souls.
As Moses was the symbol of the law, so Joshua was the symbol of
salvation. Moses brought the people to the Promised Land, but Joshua was
selected to take them over into it. And so it is with the law and the Savior. It
brings us to Christ who Himself is the Savior of sinners.
Another fiery evangelist who preached about the Ten Commandments in
his crusades was Billy Sunday. In his sermon, Safety First in America, he
used as a text Daniel 5:27, and pointed out man’s undone condition.
However, it is helpful to see how Billy Sunday approached the truth of the
rejection of Christ in the sermon, Knocking at the Heart’s Door:
“It is the love of God that enables you to sit here tonight instead of
being in your coffin. God isn’t dealing with us according to what we
deserve, or rewarding us according to our iniquities.”
“The Son of God bleeding on the cross was the last manifestation of
the eternal love of God to this world. It was the very last, and man
repudiated it in bitterness and blood when they spat on him, nailed
him to the cross and drove a spear into his side.”
“God said, ‘Well, if men will not reverence my love, manifest in the
flesh and blood of my only begotten Son; if they don’t have respect
for my love as I have shown it through Jesus, what can I do to save
them’.... He said, ‘If men refuse that, what can I do to keep them from
eternal damnation?’... You keep him out for one of two reasons.
 Either for the things that are in your life that he will cast out when he
comes in, or the things he will bring with him when he comes—the
things you do not have and never will have until he does come in.”[54]
Sunday included a sermon on the Ten Commandments in every one of his
crusades. His meetings always resulted in the formation of groups seeking
civil righteousness, in each city and town. These groups were usually
formed on the basis of what he had preached from the Law. Presenting God
as Lawgiver and righteous Judge, Sunday assaulted men by using the Law
to quicken their consciences.
Moreover, this fervent preacher presented to the conscience the failure to
accept the love of God seen in God’s providence and good gifts. The
conscience of man bears witness to this sin of all sins. God’s love
demonstrated once for all on Calvary is brought home to our hearts by the
continual conviction and call of the Holy Spirit.
No man in recent history has reached the pinnacle of evangelism of Billy
Graham. His crusades were filled with sermons God blesses with many
souls. His messages always urge immediate response:
“The great apostle Paul was saying, ‘God now commands all men
everywhere’—think of it now, we are all one blood—‘He commands
all Africans, all Europeans, all Asians, all New Yorkers, all
northerners, all southerners, all westerners, all easterners—God
commands all men everywhere to repent!”
“God does not say, ‘I suggest you repent.’ God doesn’t say, ‘I hope
you will repent.’ God doesn’t say, ‘I advise you to repent.’ God says,
‘I command you to repent.’”
 “And I want to ask you the question tonight; have you repented? God
demands it. That is a command of God. Nothing else counts in this
life or in the life to come unless you have obeyed that one command,
repent.... Then if you have sinned, you have something to repent of,
because repentance means that you confess to God that you have
sinned. I am willing to change my way of living. I am ready to turn
from my sin.”[55]
Graham emphasizes the need of immediate repentance and faith. These
are moral duties witnessed to by the conscience, in a most wonderful way.
All evangelists have stressed this need in their messages. The conscience
understands duty. Graham in contrast to Moody and Sunday combines the
message of judgment and love. Preaching the law, he usually stresses only
one sin in a sermon. In one campaign, he preached on the law for ten
evenings. However, he seems at his best when dealing with each sin
specifically. Recognizing the work of the conscience, he utilizes it to bring
concern for sins to the hearts of his listeners. He proclaims the universal
lostness of mankind and is strong in his presentation of the original sin and
its consequences. When preaching about the fall of man, he combines this
truth with the individual sinning of every man. One special aspect of
Graham’s preaching is that he speaks to the conscience of man regarding
the willful delay of receiving Christ.
As the others, Graham stresses the duty of repentance and faith, not just
as suggestions or privileges for man from God. They are the great
commands of an Almighty God. God commands instant repentance (Acts
17:30). God commands instant faith in Christ (I John 3:23). This
contemporary evangelist has these imperatives as the thrust of his message
to the conscience.
 The people to whom preachers speak are victims of a morally defiled
conscience (I Corinthians 8:7). Their sins are actions resulting from their
refusal to listen to the witness of their consciences against those sins. The
deeper they become involved in sins, the less reliable their consciences
become. When they lower their standards by each act of sin in their lives,
they soon possess an evil conscience (Hebrews 10:22), that renders false
judgments and does not prompt them to do right. All men need
regeneration.
Evangelists must declare God’s standard, His Word and God’s remedy for
an evil conscience—salvation through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, who
can by His blood purify a sinner’s conscience (Hebrews 9:14). Then the
peace of God enables us to draw near to Him (Hebrews 10:22). By the
blood of the new covenant, symbolically applied, believers’ hearts are
sprinkled from an evil conscience (Hebrews 10:20). The removal of an evil
conscience does away with the barrier between them and God.[56]
In our preaching, we must remember conscience is not an executive
faculty in man’s soul. Conscience cannot make any man do right or refuse
to do wrong. Conscience declares the judgment and produces certain
thoughts and feelings, but must leave the will of man to act in light of its
judgment.
The Holy Spirit must assist conscience to do its office work as the Spirit
also moves upon the mind, emotions and will of lost men. Nevertheless, we
are always able to trust our God who doeth all things well.
CHAPTER THREE
 PREACHING TO THE EMOTIONS

In the ministry of reconciliation, the preacher of the gospel is concerned

with the emotions of men. Many believe man is first and foremost an
emotional being. This belief has caused some preachers to major upon
emotional appeals. Feelings are placed on the same level as faith.
Evangelistic preaching has been caricatured as sob story sermons for the
simple minded. The reaction to such a false accusation has brought about
intellectual appeals that really do not spiritually scratch man where he
itches. If the gospel sets men free (John 8:32), then it must hold the answer
for every need in man’s heart. The evangelistic preacher will be concerned
about the nature of man’s emotional drives and how he may appeal to them
with a gospel message. It is to this end that he will seek a clear definition of
human emotions.

Definition
Emotion is a difficult word to define. Emotions are a basic part of man’s
nature. In preaching the gospel, we appeal to the emotions of man;
therefore, a better understanding of this part of the moral constitution of
man will result in more effective communication.
The defining of emotion begins with what is found in the Encyclopedia
Britannica. It is twofold:
 It is an experience characterized by a strong degree of feeling and
usually accompanied by marked motor expression.
It is a peculiar conscious state during which either pleasantness or
unpleasantness is predominant.
It is the sum total of experience during any period in which marked
bodily changes of feeling, surprise or upset takes place.
It is the dynamic expression of the instincts which may emanate from
either conscious or unconscious sources.”[57]
Can emotion be defined in a practical way? Emotion is the feeling
response a person makes to any situation. It is a personal feeling since it
says, “This things means such and such to you.” The operation of the mind
is discerning, as it selects and separates truth from error. An emotional
response is total, including the body as well as the spirit.
A person’s emotional state will be interpreted in four basic feelings: pain,
pleasure, excitement and depression. Every emotional sensation falls into
these distinct categories. A man usually is elevated in his spirit by the
pleasant and depressed by the unpleasant. Yet it is characteristic of a feeling
to be distinctly pleasant or unpleasant, exciting or depressing.[58]
Emotion is one of the three properties of the human soul. It is a moving
of the human soul to a state of excited feeling. This state of excitement may
express itself in the body and bodily expressions. Any child reading the
daily comics can see the emotional feelings of the cartoon characters, for
the artist can give the appearance of anger, joy, love, hate and fear to
animals or human faces. The advent of television made the techniques of
dramatic arts an everyday occurrence in soap operas and dramas. Actors are
trained to portray all the emotions of man.
 In general, it will be agreed the basic emotions or feelings of man are joy,
anger, grief, love, hate and fear. These strong feelings are universal.[59]
Some are more easily expressed by an individual than others, but all are
present in everyone. Based upon this explanation of emotion, the preacher
understands the design of his appeal.

Design
The design of the gospel preacher is to appeal to man’s basic emotions as
they relate to his spiritual needs. For instance, sorrow over sins and guilt are
basic emotions in the sinner’s heart. There is also hate (or enmity) toward
God and light. This is revealed by the attitude of rebellion and the acts of
ruthlessness. Fear is a real feeling for lost people as they face the facts of
death, judgment and hell. In hearing the good news of God’s unconditional
love for sinners and Christ’s atoning death on their behalf, lost men are
brought to the deep feeling of love toward God. When one recognizes the
possibilities of salvation such as forgiveness of sins, he is brought to the
feeling of joy. Let us proceed to examine the many ways of appealing to
emotions through gospel preaching.

Direction
We find much to consider in Jesus’ conversation and interaction with
Nicodemus (John 3:1-21). Jesus deals with the emotions of sorrow, anger,
love, hate, fear and joy in varied forms in this personal interview, beginning
with Nicodemus’ problem of despair.
Nicodemus was a very unhappy man who was disappointed with life. A
survey of his life reveals many things which will not bring happiness. He
had health but not happiness. He was wealthy, but wealth did not bring
peace of mind. His family life had not satisfied his need for fulfillment. His
religious experience was an empty cistern, and the power of his religious
authority was meaningless. Respect and position made life good but not
happy. Even education, knowledge and wisdom seemed as futile as his daily
decency and morality.
Jesus declared to him that happiness and fulfillment are found in the
entrance into the Kingdom of God by the new birth. Everybody seems to
chase rainbows of one sort or another, until they find Jesus Christ as Savior.
Here was a man who had everything mankind strives to achieve and yet
these things did not bring happiness. As we preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, people find Christ is able to meet every man’s emotional
needs. Among these sorrow and despair are very real to the sinner.
Then Jesus deals with the anger (enmity, Romans 8:7) of man’s rebellion
in sin. He that believeth not, speaks of the specific rebellion against God’s
love, grace and mercy. The biblical definition of sin is that it is lawlessness
(I John 3:4). It is more than selfishness. It is rebellion. In the record of the
fall of man or the original sin, man had been given a specific commandment
by God (Genesis 1:28, 2:15-17). He was to be fruitful, to multiply, to
replenish the earth, to subdue the earth, and have dominion over the living
creatures. He was commanded not to eat of the fruit of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil. All of this makes it clear that man was under
the rightful authority of his Creator in a moral universe with a moral
government. The law springs from God’s very nature and demands man’s
conformity in obedience. In Adam’s sin, the willful rebellion against God is
seen.
Theologians have debated the essence of sin for generations. Augustine
and Aquinas held it to be pride. Luther and Calvin defined sin’s essence as
unbelief. Strong and Shedd speak of selfishness. Probably all of these are
included in man’s sin. Also, if godliness is love of God, then sinfulness is
the love of self (Isaiah 53:6). John wrote simply, Everyone who sins breaks
the law (NIV).
The origin of man’s sin is found in the revolt against God in man’s heart.
The act of the will is a free act. Man was created good (Genesis 1:31), and
was inclined toward God. This did not mean he was confirmed in goodness
and virtue, for he was still capable of making a choice contrary to good.[60]
Therefore, man was on probation, under a test. The forbidden tree taught
Adam that God had the right to command him and he was expected to obey.
This one simple command was the best test of Adam’s spirit of obedience.
In Adam’s act of angry rebellion, it is obvious his heart was filled with
ingratitude, unbelief, selfishness. Why? Because Satan had raised doubts
about the goodness of God, suggesting God keeps the glory of the Godhead
to Himself, thus cheating man. Satan’s questions are a process of probing
Eve’s knowledge of God’s Word and whether or not she really believes
God’s Word. He must know this in order to launch an attack. She was not
there when He spoke it to Adam. Satan seeks to plant a doubt about the
very reality of God’s prohibition. When he cannot shake her faith in God’s
revelation, he seeks to cause her to doubt God’s goodness and integrity. Can
the word and the benevolence of God be trusted? Satan’s answer was,
“No!” Satan moved from a doubt-suggesting question to open denial of
God’s Word. Adam and Eve both believed Satan’s lie.[61]
Eve was both angry with God and ambitious for herself and Adam. Satan
had questioned the goodness of God, denied the severity of God, and
slandered the motive of God. Eve believed him and turned against God.
Satan’s re-interpretation of God’s Word presented the picture of a God who
was a devil, a liar, and a jealous being who sought to bring a curse not a
blessing.[62] Adam and Eve were to love, believe and obey God. On the false
information of Satan, she turns from God in anger. Adam shares in this
falsehood and turns in anger and rebellion from obedience.
This anger is seen in every generation since the fall. Man will not be
ruled by God. God commands all men to repent (Acts 17:30) and to believe
upon His Son (I John 3:23). Man is angry that he is under God’s rule, and
he rebels against that authority. Barnes referred to this when he wrote:
“Sinners have a particular opposition to going to Jesus Christ for eternal
life. They would prefer any other way, and it is commonly not until all other
means are tried that they are willing to submit to him.”[63]
The Psalmist wrote of anger in the heart of sinners in Psalm 2:1-3:
Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel
together, against the Lord, and against his anointed saying, ‘Let
us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.’
Paul the Apostle was saved from the anger of his heart against Christ. He
was conquered by the love, mercy, and grace of Christ Jesus. His theme was
Christ crucified, for he had come to know Christ’s love is shown and shared
experientially. The inward enmity of man toward God surfaced at Calvary.
When God showed His love at its best, man showed his hate at its worst. In
light of the acts of crucifixion, the hate of fallen man is demonstrated.[64]
In His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus spoke about the love of evil in
the heart of sinners. He said, Men love darkness rather than light, because
their deeds are evil (verse 19). Man’s love for sin and darkness is contrasted
with God’s love for sinful man (verse 16). Man by nature loves sin, but man
by his new nature will love Christ...He is precious (I Peter 2:7). Most
people would deny they love evil and even delight in it. Pink addressed
himself to this objection when he wrote:
“So, too, the Word refers to those who are lovers of pleasure more
than lovers of God (II Timothy 3:4). It is indeed striking to observe
how often this discordant note is struck in the Scriptures. It mentions
those who love vanity (Psalm 4:2); him that loveth violence (Psalm
11:5); thou lovest evil more than good (Psalm 52:3); he loved lies
(Psalm 109:17); scorners delight in their scorning (Proverbs 1:22);
they delight in their abominations (Isaiah 66:3); their abominations
were according as they loved (Hosea 9:10); who hated the good and
loved the evil (Micah 3:2); if any man love the world, the love of the
Father is not in him (I John 2:15). To love sin is far worse than to
commit it, for a man may be suddenly tripped up or commit through
frailty.”[65]
Since we are by nature sinners, we will by nature love our sinful selves
and our sinful ways. Only when men are made to see the sinfulness and
ugliness of their sins, will they repent. In the darkness of sin, men find that
which they value. These rotten deeds are hidden by the moral darkness.
They have no desire to have their deeds examined by the light or evaluated
by the truth. Therefore, they prefer to believe in a false standard of moral
measurement. Darkness covers the ugliness of their lives.[66]
A faithful evangelist of years past, Mordecai F. Ham wrote in his sermon,
Why Man will not come to Christ, the following words:
“The light is objectionable to the sinner because it arouses his
sleeping conscience and destroys the devil’s peace into which he has
been lulled and which furnished his own comfort in sin....
 “Men and women who love sin better than heaven, than wife, or
mother, and grieve them to death, or into nervous wrecks, rather than
give up sin, are beastly and day by day are getting farther and farther
away from God and heaven and nearer and nearer to hell.”[67]
Only one who is morally insane will tolerate sin in his life. Man must be
shown the ugliness of sin. Especially must he see the wickedness and
ugliness of the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ as Savior. Men fail to see the
true nature of their hate toward God and light unless they honestly face the
meaning of the death of Christ and the sin of rejecting him.[68]
An enlightened soul can never love such ugliness as sin in Christ’s
crucifixion. Years ago I preached to one thousand lepers who were patients
in a hospital in India. After preaching to these sick and dying people, I
started for my car. The wind blew across my trail a rag bandage which had
fallen from the body of a patient. It was bloody and putrid.
I sought to walk far around it to avoid it completely. Then I remembered
Isaiah 64:6, But we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. All our sins are ugly and filthy. Man must be made to see
the sinfulness of sin, and he will lose his love for sin and darkness.
Jesus spoke about the feeling of hate and connected the love of darkness
to the hatred of light. These terms, light and darkness, may confuse us.
Gaines Dobbins clarifies these terms as he writes:
“As we read the fourth gospel, we somehow sense the reality of a
vast, all-embracing struggle, the conflict between light and darkness,
between good and evil, between God and the devil. John does not
deal with the problem philosophically, although, there is profound
philosophy in his references and description and in the cosmic
significance of his words. To him Christ is light, and all opposed to
 him is darkness.... The worst blindness is not that of diseased eyes nor
of an ignorant mind. The most terrible blindness is that of spiritual
perversity, the deliberate closing of the eyes in the presence of the
light, the refusal to see when light is abundant.”[69]
The evangelist preaches to people who are by nature haters of the light
which exposes them as sinful people. They hate being reproved by the light.
It is a conviction by truth. Jesus spoke of the hatred of the world for him
(John 15:18); he spoke of the hatred of the Father by individuals (John
15:23-25). This hate was prophesied in Psalm 35:19, They hated me without
a cause. In the Psalm of David the one spoken of was Christ. Most people
would be highly incensed, if they were accused of hate toward God. Yet the
Scriptures and our Lord make that truth clear. The Bible speaks of men who
hate the Lord (II Chronicles 19:2), of them that hate thee (Psalm 139:21).
Christ’s rejection was prophesied in Psalm 69:4, They that hate me without
a cause are more than the hairs of my head.
Since hatred against Christ is due to blindness about the truth, when
Christ is presented as the Savior and received by men, hatred is gone and
love begins. Men must be confronted with the gospel of redeeming love in
Christ. The story of Tariri, the Peruvian Indian chief who was so consumed
with hate that he brutally killed missionaries who came to tell him of God’s
love, exemplifies this anger. Two little ladies named Anderson and Cox
came to his jungle kingdom in 1950 with the gospel of Christ’s love and
forgiveness. Tariri was the son and grandson of killers and headhunters. Yet
the love of God reached his heart, he received Christ as Lord and Savior,
and began winning his tribe to Christ.[70]
Equally amazing is the story of the conversion of the infidel, B. H.
Carroll, the son of a Baptist preacher, who turned to Christ after years of
rejecting the Bible and Christ’s divinity and death.[71] He was possessed
with deep rejection and intellectual problems that led him away from God;
in one moment of commitment his heart was flooded with faith and
assurance. Instantly he responded, was saved and began preaching the
gospel. There can be no doubt that only the Holy Spirit can open hearts like
these to the love and the light of God’s grace (Acts 16:14). It is only by the
Holy Spirit’s revelation of the beauty and glory of our Savior to the sinner,
that a hateful heart becomes a loving heart. This is part of the reconciliation
of salvation. Horne writes of this reconciliation:
“Reconciliation is a work of God in Christ whereby he removes the
ground of his holy alienation from the sinner and thus does not
impute their trespasses against them. The subjective change of the
sinner’s attitude toward God is a result of the objective work of
reconciliation accomplished by Christ.... Christians, as ambassadors
of Christ are to urge sinners to respond in faith to God’s work. Be ye
reconciled to God.”[72]
When one who harbors hate in his heart is touched by the power of the
gospel of grace and transformed, the great miracle of the new birth brings
full reconciliation to that soul.
Furthermore, Jesus also dealt with the emotion of fear when he warned of
the danger of perishing. In verses three and five he warned of the danger of
not entering the Kingdom of God. This is the same as being eternally lost.
In verses fifteen and sixteen he used the word perish to describe the fate of
an unbeliever. There can be no doubt Jesus intended these warnings to
create fear of being eternally separated from God in hell. In one place Jesus
said: Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but
rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell
(Matthew 10:28). Our Lord was a preacher who spoke of the fact of eternal
torment in hell (Matthew 18:8, 9). In Matthew 5:22 Jesus said, But
whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Again in
Matthew 13: 40-42, He speaks of the damnation of hell. Also in Matthew
25:41 Christ spoke about everlasting fire and in Matthew 25:46 about
everlasting punishment. His most descriptive passage about the horror of
hell is Mark 9:43-49.
If a man is to follow the example of Jesus the preacher, he will be a hell
fire preacher. The hell fire and damnation preacher is mocked as a foolish
man, but Jesus is his example.[73]
When any person tries to reason away the fact and fear of hell, he
becomes foolish in the effort. Evangelist R. A. Torrey plainly states why
this is so:
“Man never appears more foolish than when he tries to reason out
what an infinite God must do. All these arguments about hell by
reasoning as to what God must do, or must not do, are stupid. A child
of seven cannot reason infallibly as to what a wise and good man of
fifty will do, much less can a puny creature of the dust (such as you
and I are, such as the most learned philosophers and theologians are)
reason infallibly as to what an infinitely wise and infinitely holy God
must do. It is, however, far easier to believe in a literal hell, and an
everlasting hell, from the standpoint of pure reasoning today, than it
was three and a half centuries ago. Nevertheless, we cannot settle the
question as to whether there is a literal hell by reasoning even today
as to what such a being as God must do. There is only one way to
settle this question right, that is by going to the Bible and finding out
 what it says, and taking our stand firmly and unhesitatingly upon
that.”[74]
To these words of a great soul-winner and scholar could be added the
testimony of an evangelist with more than forty years ministry, Hyman
Appelman: “The true evangelist will simply follow the saying, ‘I believe
there is a hell because God says so by his Son in his book.’[75] Because hell
causes fear, the evangelist is accused of “scare tactics” when he preaches
this subject to men. In answer to that accusation, it can be said preaching to
frighten people is an unworthy motive. It is preached to make tender the
hearts of Christians and to create a concern for the lost people. Hell does
frighten some lost persons; however, it will also turn the preacher into a
prophet.[76]
If any would think our day of education and advancement in learning has
taken hell out of the Bible and true preaching, it would be well to remember
the words of the biblical scholar, A. T. Robertson:
“The Revised version has done a service in translating hades and
confirming the term, hell, to the translation of gehenna. But the
revisers have not taken hell out of the teaching of Jesus. It is
impossible to do so.... The eternal wrath of God is hell.... We need
new emphasis on the fact of hell, but let it be scriptural emphasis, not
merely theological emphasis.”[77]
Any man who would not preach the truth and fact of hell is not worthy of
his Lord Jesus Christ, for He was a preacher of truth and grace, yet spoke of
hell, He said it was right to fear an existence with its torment.
Finally, Jesus Christ appealed to the joy of eternal life in His conversation
with the Jewish ruler. When He spoke of the possibility of entering the
kingdom of God, He also spoke of having eternal life and everlasting life,
(verses 15-16). The experience of salvation also holds the hope of eternal
life in heaven. The joy of sins forgiven and the future joy of heaven give the
best life here and hereafter. The joy of possessing eternal life is the
enjoyment of a quality of life,...divine life. Eternal life means the very life
of God is imparted to those united to Him by faith.[78]
In contrast are those who reject the doctrine of heaven. At the Second
General Assembly of the World Council of Churches held in Illinois in
1954, one preacher stated, “Where heaven, hell, and purgatory are, I don’t
know. No one can say.”[79] It is obvious that when one rejects the testimony
of Christ and His Word, he is left in ignorance. Any preacher would benefit
from reading the remarkable volume, The Biblical Doctrine of Heaven, by
Wilbur M. Smith, who spoke of the belief in heaven in this way:
“There is no need of defending the doctrine of heaven to an
unbelieving world, which first of all needs faith in Jesus Christ. The
character of life in the future fades into fictional meaninglessness,
every man left to create his own idea of what the future holds, if the
belief in the church concerning heaven is abandoned. Wherever such
a forfeiting of the idea of heaven is urged, then some new and danger-
fraught principles of hermeneutics will have to be created by which
what the Bible says regarding heaven will be re-interpreted as
referring to something else or to nothing. If the idea of heaven is put
aside, then many words of our Lord Jesus will seem unjustified,
indeed mythological, such as Our Father, who art in heaven.”[80]
To such a strong statement about the reality of heaven is added the words
of the Greek scholar, Robertson. He speaks of the moment of dying and
passing to heaven into a life of purity: “All sin will be purged from our
hearts. We shall be pure, and only the pure will be there... But if this is to be
true, the kingdom of heaven must begin with us here on earth. Heaven must
first enter us, if we are to enter it.”[81]
The hope of heaven and the prospect of everlasting life provide a mighty
evangelistic appeal to mankind. Such an appeal is directed to the emotion of
joy. The hope of heaven brings man everlasting consolation which is a
source of perpetual, eternal joy.[82]
Jesus touched the very heart needs of Nicodemus in His answers and His
appeal. He made His appeal to the emotional drives of every man. These are
seen as despair, anger, love, hate, fear and joy. The gospel holds the cure to
these needs in man’s soul.
It is essential to understand the direction of this form of appeal, but it is
also helpful to see it demonstrated in the preaching of evangelists.

Demonstration
Sermons of great evangelists of the past and present demonstrate the
appeals to emotions in their evangelistic preaching. When the emotion of
sorrow or despair is considered, we find it used often by these preachers.
An example is found in the words of Billy Graham, who writes in a sermon,
Happiness through Mourning:
“Now before you can become strong, you must first realize you are
weak. Before you can become wise, you must first realize you are
foolish. Before you can receive power, you must first confess you are
weak.”
“You must lament your sins before you can rejoice in a Savior.
Mourning, in God’s sequence, always comes before exultation.
 Blessed are they that mourn their unworthiness, their helplessness,
and their inadequacy.... No man can be satisfied with his goodness
after he has beheld the holiness of God. But our mourning over our
unworthiness and sinfulness, should be of short duration, for God has
said, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own
sake, and will not remember thy sins....The happiest day of my life
was when I realized that my own ability, my own goodness, and my
own morality was insufficient in the sight of God and I publicly and
openly acknowledged my need of Christ. I am not exaggerating when
I say that my mourning turned to joy and my sighing into singing....
Just as pain precedes birth, mourning over sin comes before spiritual
birth. I do not mean to imply that in your experience there must be
loud, violent weeping over the sin in your life—your sorrow for sin
may come quietly, with little or no emotion. But there will be a
sincere sorrow for evils of your life and a disposition to turn to God
for help and salvation. The Bible says, For godly sorrow worketh
repentance.”[83]
Graham sees in the process of the conviction of sin in a man’s soul the
beginning of the new birth. When one has beheld the holiness of God, he is
crushed in his helplessness and sinfulness. This sorrow accompanies the
sorrowful consequences of sinful living. All sinners despair in their
helplessness and hopelessness. He demonstrates that we must know this
pain of mourning over our sins in order for God to work repentance in our
lives. Even after we are saved, there will be a continual sorrow over the sins
in our life. Sorrow and despair are real feelings in the life of the lost man.
Graham shows how the evangelist can appeal to that need by offering
Christ.
 On the other hand, Charles G. Finney appealed to the emotion of anger or
rebellion. Finney was a converted lawyer whose legal training led him to an
accusing style of preaching. He charged men with the sin of anger and
rebellion. His basic understanding of sin was that it was the willful breaking
of the Law of God. He majored on deeds done rather than sin being a state
of the soul. It is obvious from this quotation:
“The Bible gives a formal definition of sin. 1 John 3:4, Sin is the
transgression of the law. This definition is the only one that can
possibly be true.... The Bible everywhere makes the moral law the
only standard of right and wrong. This truth lies everywhere upon the
face of the Bible....The Bible always represents sin as something done
or committed, or willfully omitted, and never as a part or attribute of
soul or body, as consisting in the ‘deeds done in the body.’”[84]
Finney saw the sinner not as a helpless victim of circumstances, but as
one who was guilty of high treason against the Holy God of heaven. Men
have rebelled against the only standard of right and wrong. They are filled
with anger. This anger and rebellion must be forsaken in repentance. Only
the work of reconciliation can bring peace with God. Only through Christ
can this anger be removed and fellowship restored. Consequently, Finney
appealed for repentance and faith on man’s part.
In contrast to Finney’s stern appeal, D. L. Moody was the evangelist who
preached the love of God as he spoke strongly about man’s sin of rejection
of Christ. In his sermon, Excused, he spoke about men fighting against God
and the light of the Bible; he preached in this manner:
“Now do you think it is easy to go against your conscience? Because
that is what men do. They have stifled conscience to serve the God of
 this world and turned their back on the God of the Bible. Do you
think it is an easy thing to go against your own judgment? For if a
man will just stop and consult his judgment, his judgment will tell
him that the safest and wisest and best thing he can do is to believe on
the God of the Bible.... It is not an easy thing to trample a mother’s
prayer under your feet, to break a mother’s heart and send her down
to an untimely grave? That is easy, is it? Oh, many a man has done it.
You call it easy? Is it easy to go against the very best counsel and
advice you have from the best and most loved friends you have
got?.... It is hard for a man to contend with his Maker. It’s hard for a
man to fight against the God of the Bible. It is an unequal
controversy. It is an unequal battle, and God is going to have the
victory. It’s folly for a man to attempt to fight against the God of the
Bible.”[85]
Moody’s view of the greatest sin was rejecting the love of God in Christ
Jesus the Savior. He believed in the love of God for man. His message and
ministry revolved around this theme. Every appeal of this evangelist was
founded upon the call of love and the consequences of rejecting such love.
To Moody, a man literally had to fight his way into hell. He must fight off
the love of God the Father, God the Son and Spirit; he must fight the call of
the cross, the plea of the Spirit, the voice of the conscience and the prayers
of others. These all were manifestations of God’s love in a man’s life. In
contrast with this theme, he spoke of man’s rejection of this love as the
result of his love for evil. In Moody’s thinking it was the simple
consequence of rejection. Men either received the love of God or they
rejected it, preferring the love of sin. His appeal was for the sinner to
receive God’s love in salvation through Christ.
 No man ever appealed to the emotion of fear as did Jonathan Edwards in
his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Edwards seems
to hold the congregation over the very fire of hell. In his own words he
speaks of the fierceness of God’s wrath and appeals to man’s innate fear:
“It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often
read of the fury of God; as in Isaiah 59:18, According to their deeds,
accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries. So Isaiah 66:15, For
behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a
whirlwind to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of
fire. And in many other places. So, Revelation 19:15, we read of the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. These words
are exceedingly terrible. If it had said, ‘the wrath of God,’ the words
would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful: but it is the
fierceness of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful must that be. Who can utter
or conceive what such expressions carry in them? But it is also the
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God!”
“As though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty
power in what the fierceness of his wrath would inflict, as though
omnipotence should be as it were enraged, and exerted, as men are
wont to exert their strength in the fierceness of their wrath. Oh, then,
what will be the consequence?”[86]
Edwards was not what many people believe him to be. He was no fiery
fanatic holding men over hell’s fire. Edwards was a preacher with a nature
that was tender and appealing. He spoke in quiet tones, reading his sermons.
His appeal was to the reasonableness of the damnation of a soul on God’s
part. His vivid imagination enabled him to graphically picture the eternal
torments of the lost. Fear, naturally, gripped the heart of the guilty. Men
knew the justice of God demanded their destruction. They knew without
divine aid they would perish. Fear was a legitimate emotion in man and a
point of appeal for Edwards. He pled with men to flee from this impending
doom in repentance and faith. Hell was a reality to this evangelist and his
listeners. It was a reality stressed in the message of Jesus Christ and His
apostles. The present wrath of God was stressed. So urgent was the need
and so frightened the feeling, grown men held onto their wooden pews
fearing they would slide into hell. All of this was a background to the
majesty of the love of God.
Contrast Edwards’ words to those of Billy Sunday as he appealed to joy
in his sermon, Heaven. Sunday describes the joy of heaven as the home of
the believer in his distinctive and inimitable way:
“Oh, what a place heaven is! The Tuileries of the French, the Windsor
Castle of England, the Alhambra of the Spanish, the Schonbrunn of
the Austrians, the White House of the United States—these are all
dungeons compared with heaven. “There are mansions there for all
the redeemed—one for the martyrs with blood-red robes; one for you
ransomed from sin; one for me plucked like a brand from the fire.”
“Look and see—who are climbing the golden stairs, who are walking
the golden streets, who are looking out the windows? Some whom we
knew and loved here on earth. Yes, I know them.”
“My father and mother, blithe and young as they were on their
wedding day. Our son and our daughter, sweet as they were when
they cuddled down to sleep in our arms. My brother and sister,
merrier than when we romped and roamed the fields and plucked wild
flowers and listened to the whippoorwill as he sang his lonesome
 song away over in Sleepy Hollow on the old farm in Iowa where we
were born and reared.”
“Cough, gone—cancer, gone—lameness, gone—consumption, gone
—erysipelas, gone—blindness, gone—rheumatism, gone—asthma,
gone—tears, gone—groans, gone—sighs, gone—sleepless night,
gone.”

“I think it will take some of us a long time to get use to heaven.”[87]

Billy Sunday was a positive personality who enjoyed preaching a positive
appeal. Some people believe he did his best preaching on the topic of
heaven. His language was always picturesque. His audience appeal was
found in his personal involvement with his message. He was always
moving, taking off his coat, rolling up his sleeves and jerking off his collar.
He was the common man’s moral hero. Sunday appealed for men to accept
God’s best. Salvation was presented as God’s best for them. Eternal life and
a home in heaven were promised. Over two million souls were moved by
that appeal for joy and peace. Heaven was a real place to Billy Sunday. His
aim was to keep folks out of hell and to get folks into heaven. He appealed
to men for their repentance and belief in Christ by the call to life at its
best...the saved life.
In conclusion, a gospel preacher recognizes the appeal to the emotions or
feelings of men is a basic means of reaching the will and causing men to
respond. By appealing to these basic emotions, one is appealing to their
concern for their own best interests and pleading for their positive action.
People always listen to a man who understands their problems and offers
solution. Man’s greatest needs are met by the message of Jesus.
CHAPTER FOUR
 PREACHING TO THE WILL

The faculty of the will is the main target of all evangelistic preaching. For
that reason all appeals must be designed to call for a decision of the will.
Evangelistic preaching can be compared to the storming of a great citadel in
battle. The troops approach the citadel on the two roads of the emotions and
the intellect at the same time. It is the will which must be brought to
surrender by both attacks. In other words, the will is influenced to decide by
the argument of reason and the appeals to affections. Our Lord’s appeals
were to the will of men; they were sometimes rejected.... Ye will not come to
me that ye might have life (John 5:40). Whether the response is positive or
negative, the ultimate appeal is to the will of man.

Definition
The definition of the will may be simply stated as “the power of self-
determination.” Experience teaches us the soul wills and it wills because of
motives—never without motives. Motives persuade the soul to will, and the
soul can and does choose between motives. Motives may be defined as
things or thoughts that excite to action. Man’s final choice, however, is not
caused by motives, but may be traced back to his personality and power of
self-determination.
The present trend in psychology is away from the notion of will as a
faculty and toward the viewpoint that it is an expression of the total self or
personality. Normal life includes the capacity for making decisions, and one
is responsible for his choices. That choice which makes all others more
meaningful is commitment to Christ.[88]
Many theologians are determinists after the pattern of thought laid down
by Jonathan Edwards and the divine determinism of Calvinism. His
definition of will is stated: “The faculty of the will is that power, or
principle of the mind, by which it is capable of choosing: an act of the will
is the same as an act of choosing or choice.”[89]
Ralph Turnbull feels Edwards is misunderstood as a preacher. His study
of the mysterious work of God in the soul reveals that, whereas Edwards
was a staunch Calvinist on his knees, he was an Arminianist on his feet.[90]
It may be his determinism is over-emphasized by others.
Among many theologians who rejected Edwards’ determinism was A. H.
Strong, who took a moderate position about the will and determinism. His
emphasis was upon the fact that motives may be able to influence, but
cannot cause the will to act. His definition of the will is thus written:
“Will is the soul’s power to choose between motives and to direct its
subsequent activity according to the motive thus chosen.”[91]
W. T. Conner in his book, Revelation and God, recognized man is a free
being with the power of self-determination. Man can be influenced but not
forced. In that respect, he is like God, who is the only perfectly free being
in the universe. God is completely self-determined, doing all He wills to do.
Man’s freedom is limited but real. He has the power to form ideals and then
to direct his energies toward the attainment of those ideals.[92]
When we observe man, we are made to realize man is an earthly replica
of his Creator, endued with the self-determining power of will—that
capacity of the soul to choose and execute that choice. Even in his state of
sin, dead in trespasses and sin, man is treated as if he were alive, not
literally dead. So the Apostle Paul meant that man is spiritually dead, that
is, living in sin instead of to God and spiritual realities. Man must be
approached as a responsible being having the power to will and determine.
He is to be appealed to as a free moral agent.

Design
What is the design of the evangelist in his dealings with the will of man? He
must naturally appeal to it by motives. He must find the worthy motives and
use each to persuade his listeners to repent of their sins and believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ.
What are some worthy motives that can lead a lost person to repentance
and faith? Most of us recognize man decides more by his feelings than by
logic. Aristotle says, “Thus all the acts of men are necessarily done from
seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, desire.”[93]
Most people involved in behaviorism will agree anyone can be persuaded in
a matter by implanting a wish, driving at a hunger, touching an emotion,
stirring a habit, and using other psychological methods. Motivation will
center in man’s desires. There are certain basic desires common to all
human existence. Although Jonathan Edwards used the motive of self-
interest as his main appeal, there are other desires and drives which should
be understood by a gospel preacher.
These desires may be listed as: (1) The desire for self-preservation; (2)
The desire to reproduce; (3) The desire to strengthen or preserve one’s ego;
(4) The desire to maintain the status quo; (5) The desire for change; (6) The
desire to promote the common good. This list seems to be in the order of
their importance to the general public. Reduced to a word they might read:
self-preservation, reproduction, identity, comfort, change and altruism.
 Applying them to the moral nature of man with the purpose of finding a
motive in each one, we can list them as survival, self-completion, self-
esteem, security, self-transformation and self-sacrifice. The questions that
surface from generation to generation point to their reality and each is
satisfied in God’s salvation through Christ.
Survival deals with man’s desire to survive the experiences of life, death,
judgment and eternity. Job asked, If a man dies, will he live again? (Job
14:14 NIV). Christ gives meaning to life, hope in death, surety at the
judgment and a glorious existence throughout eternity.
Self-completion deals with man’s desire for companionship and union,
the true purpose of sexuality. The basic need for oneness with another is
foremost in mankind’s sexuality. The desire for a lasting commitment
exceeds that of romance and erotic satisfaction. From the Scriptures we
hear the words of Paul in Romans 7:4 (NIV): So, my brother, you also died
to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to
him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
The Christian’s relationship to Christ is likened to marriage.
Self-esteem speaks of man’s desire for true self-worth found only in the
truth of God’s personal love, Christ’s atoning death and the Spirit’s
indwelling presence. The Psalmist asked, What is man, that thou art
mindful of him? The atoning death of Christ answers man’s questions.
Christ gives self-fulfillment, self-respect, personal identity and acceptance.
Security relates to man’s desire for safety and surety in his acceptance by
God in Christ. The writer of Hebrews voiced the question, How shall we
escape if we neglect so great salvation? (Hebrews 2:3). As a sinner under
the consequences of sin, man can find peace with God and eternal security
in Christ here and hereafter.
 In the desire of self-transformation, we deal with man’s desire for
personal change. All men can say with Paul, Oh wretched man that I am!
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24). Man has
a divine opportunity to be a new man in God’s forgiving and transforming
grace.
Self-sacrifice is man’s desire to give to others and help others, his need to
love others. The prophet Micah said, And what does the Lord require of
you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
(Micah 6:8). In Christ a man can share a new love, set a noble example, and
point others to a new life.
At this point, it may be objected that these ideas or motives smack of the
science of behaviorism, not Christian thought. However, it is good to
remember our general subject here is the task of preaching to men and
seeking a positive response. Dr. H. L. Fowler, former professor of
psychology of the University of Western Australia, was convinced by the
New Testament that Jesus Christ was the greatest practicing psychologist
who ever lived.[94] The ethics of an evangelist require men never be treated
as psychic machines to be manipulated.
With these basic motives or human desires in view, the gospel preacher
directs his appeals toward each of them in man’s soul. Broadus insisted only
worthy motives be called upon and limited them to a basic three: holiness,
happiness and love. “A preacher,” he said, “must of course appeal to none
but worthy motives that are harmonious with Christian moral ideals.”[95]
The question may be raised, “Where did these universal desires
originate?” If the Christian viewpoint is given, they came from the creation
of man in the image of God. Man is finite and fallen, and yet there are
present in his soul feelings and desires and drives that stem from that
original personality.
It could be the desire for survival is a fallen but existing counterpart to
the attributes of God which we know as self-existence and omnipresence.
Self-completion, in its highest sense—man’s desire for oneness with another
and companionship—may be founded in God’s perfect love within the
Trinity and the unity of persons in the Trinity.
The hope for security may be based upon God’s attributes of
immutability and eternalness. Self-transformation, the desire for
improvement, could relate to God’s holiness. The drive for self-esteem
could be founded on God’s perfections of infinity and sovereignty. The
desire of self-sacrifice or man’s altruism is man’s effort to love and be
loved, and, obviously, could find its root in God’s goodness, love, mercy,
grace and faithfulness. All of these may simply affirm the truth that, “Man
was made for the gospel and the gospel was made for man.”[96]

Direction
How then does one appeal to these motives? How does the gospel apply?
How can we scratch man where he itches, so to speak? The answer is found
in the application of God’s provision for each desire as found in the gospel
message.
The first law of nature is said to be survival. Man’s desire to survive
includes survival in life, through death, at judgment, and in eternity. Jesus
promised real meaning for man’s life. I am come that they might have life
and that they might have it more abundantly, he said in John 10:10. The
message of the gospel is that God gives life filled with satisfaction, (I am
the bread of life; he who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who
believes in me shall never thirst, John 6:35); filled with purpose, (I am the
light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will
have the light of life, John 8:12); and with peace (Peace I leave with you;
my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you; Let not your
heart be troubled, John 14:27). The messages of forgiveness, justification,
acceptance, reconciliation and regeneration all touch this need and desire
for survival.
Death has been defeated for us by Christ and its fear has been removed in
his victory. I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die (John 11:25-26). At Christ’s return the dead will be
made alive. By Christ’s resurrection he has shown death has been
conquered. The believer in Christ, despite the impartation to him of spiritual
life, is subject to physical death, for this is the last enemy to be overcome (I
Corinthians 15:26). It will be banished at the return of Christ, when the
Christian dead shall be raised incorruptible (I Corinthians 15:52;
Philippians 3:20-26).[97] The victim, Christ Jesus, has become the Victor and
our victory is through His victory. Death cannot effect separation from
Christ (Romans 8:28). Man can survive even death!
The appeal to man’s need to survive the judgment of God can be based
upon God’s provision in propitiation. God’s wrath is real and Christ’s
propitiation is God’s answer for man’s need. Whom God hath set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God (Romans
3:25). This means Christ by his atoning death appeased God’s holy wrath
against sin. Divine wrath at sin is propitiated.
It is important to remember that in the Bible the thought of propitiation is
related to a most lofty concept of God, and therefore free from any and all
of the superstitious, crude or revolting features that commonly burden
pagan concepts. Propitiation is a gracious provision made by God, whereby
the effects of his righteous anger against sin may be averted and the sinner
may receive the blessings of his paternal love without infringement on his
holiness and moral government.[98]
The truth of propitiation is not that a loving Son persuaded an incensed
Father to love and forgiveness, but that the love of the Father is the very
source of the atoning death of the Son for sinners.[99] Man by faith in Christ
is justified before God and can survive the judgment of God. Blessed is the
man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man to whom Jehovah imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no
guile (Psalm 32:1, 2).
Survival throughout eternity is based upon saved man’s joy of eternal
life. And these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into
eternal life, (Matthew 25: 46). It is the privilege of the child of God to live
forever in communion with God. In my Father’s house are many mansions:
If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
(John 14:2). Because Jesus lives, man can live forever with him in glory
and survive through eternity.
Man’s desire for self-completion has been deeply misunderstood. In
dealing with this motive, we find the true purpose of sexuality found in
companionship. A man takes a wife for companionship (marriage), and they
reproduce children for companionship (family). Modern man’s view sees
only a biological reason for the primary purpose of sex.
Yet according to the Bible, the primary purpose of sex is companionship
or friendship. Eve was created because it is not good that man should be
alone and she was to be a helpmeet for Adam. Such companionship is the
most important element in marriage. Sex makes it possible and gives us the
greatest of all kinds of friendship.[100]
Man’s desire for oneness with another is a manifestation of the desire for
eternal commitment to someone eternal. The beautiful experience of
romance and erotic satisfaction are both outgrowths of this desire. Family
and marriage are earthly commitments that death and departures end. Man
needs someone to hold on to constantly, and that eternal person is Jesus
Christ. Paul the apostle describes Christ as our bridegroom and husband. In
Romans 7:1-4, he uses the analogy of marriage:
Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know the law), how
the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the
woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband
so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from
the law of her husband. So then if while her husband liveth, she be
married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her
husband be dead, she is free from the law; so that she is no
adulteress, although she be married to another man. Wherefore, my
brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ:
that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Paul speaks of the sinner as married to the law (the first husband). By
faith in Christ’s death, he dies to the law, and is therefore freed from the
first husband (the law) and is married to Christ. In the husband-wife
relationship, it is the death of one which renders the other free to marry
again. In the Christian life it is our own death (in Christ) which sets us free
to marry again. We who were bound to sin have now died to it. So now we
are free to be joined to Christ, with whom we not only died, but also rose
again, in order to “bear fruit to God.” It is a most remarkable illustration of
the marriage metaphor, to indicate the reality and intimacy of our union
with Jesus Christ.[101]
In salvation the regenerated soul is brought into a vital union with Christ,
a spiritual union. The life of Christ is the life of the believer and this union
of lives is indissoluble. I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand (John 10: 28). Other
Scriptures speak of this eternal union: Abide in me and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can
ye, except ye abide in me (John 15:4). In conversion man finds his eternal
companionship in Christ, his Savior and Lord. The gospel offers to man a
message of perfect love, the end of loneliness and eternal union with Christ.
The desire for self-esteem is a much clearer motive to which the gospel
appeals. Man seeks to be completely fulfilled in life and to extend self from
time into eternity.
His desire for identity and recognition and respect are all universal. Man
longs to live the best life possible and to know happiness in its ultimate
form. He desires to be his best self. Some consider this desire ego
fulfillment, the basic inner drive of man.[102] There is no question it is a very
important drive or motive of self-completion.
The gospel appeals to this desire in man’s soul by demonstrating the fact
of God’s love for man. The cross is the greatest demonstration of God’s
love toward man, the individual. He is of worth because Christ loved him
and gave himself for him; And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians
2:20). The fact that man is the object of God’s love is the foundational fact
of the truth of man’s worth. A man is somebody because God loves him!
God’s grace is His love reaching down to unworthy and lost man.
Real self-esteem is found in the knowledge of the personal love of a
gracious God. That love is the redeeming love which provided Christ to die
for man’s sins. But God commendeth his love to us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Paul could not get over these
truths. Man is seen, known and loved by God; and Christ, God’s Son, was
willing to die for his sins. Man’s guilt is dealt with by Christ’s sacrifice;
man’s alienation is the object of the work of Christ in reconciliation; man’s
bondage in sin and under Satan is met in Christ’s redemptive death. Man
can be set free from sin’s guilt through Christ’s sacrifice.
However man’s need be understood, that need is fully and abundantly
met in Christ. The New Testament writers are like men who ransack their
vocabulary to find words which bring out some fraction of the mighty thing
God has done for us.[103]
The message of the gospel is the message of a restored life, a regenerated
life. Jesus said, Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal
life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that
ye may have life (John 5:29-30). Total fulfillment of self begins with the life
given by Jesus Christ. God places into man the principle of new life. Man’s
quest for self-esteem is part of his search for happiness. Happiness is found
in holiness. Jesus called His disciples into a kingdom of happiness. In His
words called the Beatitudes, Jesus spoke of happiness each time He said,
“Blessed.” He made it clear that a saved man can be happy in this life
because of what he is in himself, his redeemed character.
Such joy is a Christian distinctive. The early disciples lived and moved in
the joy of the Holy Spirit. The gospel is never a joy-killer. Anything a
Christian is asked to give up is something he never should have had in the
first place. Christ never takes without returning something better. As the
ancient catechism says, “The chief end of man is to know the Lord and
enjoy Him forever.”[104]
The gospel preacher can also offer to man the only true security in time
and eternity. Man searches for safety and security, and God’s grace gives
him hope for his security through Christ. The gospel of grace is the message
of reconciliation. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not
imputing their trespasses unto them; (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Christ’s death
has satisfied God’s wrath and demands, and now God has been reconciled.
Man must turn to God and be reconciled to him.
The question follows then, Whose enmity is removed? God’s enmity
against man, or is it man’s enmity against God? The answer in our
judgment is BOTH, and primarily the former, that is, God’s enmity against
man. We should dispute the frequent allegation that God needs no
reconciliation, and the only enmity to be removed therefore is that of man
against God.[105]
All reconciliation between God and man has its ground in the sin-bearing
death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Man can know that he is for him and not
against him and he can be accepted by God in Christ. The message of the
gospel appeals to the desire for security and peace. Man is loved, and can
be forgiven, accepted, reconciled and preserved in Christ.
Paul, the apostle, said, For I know whom I have believed and am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day (II Timothy 1:12). David wrote, One thing have I desired
of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire in his
temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion; in the
secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me upon a rock
(Psalm 27:4, 5). The evangelistic preacher can offer peace and safety. In the
restless sea of human passions, Christ stands steadfast and calm, ready to
welcome all who will turn to Him and accept the blessings of safety and
peace.
The universal desire for change is seen in the motive of self-
transformation. In every man’s soul there is a desire to be good. The most
abandoned man sometimes wishes to be good and persuades himself that in
certain respects he is good. The great mass of mankind fully intends, after
indulging in sinful pleasure, to become thoroughly good, before they die.[106]
Man wants to become a new me with a new start in life. Christ offers to free
such a man from his old self.
The message of redemption appeals to this desire. Redemption is by the
blood of Christ. It is also a message of power. When a slave was redeemed
from the slave market, his price was paid by another, and he was taken out
of the slave status and set free. Jesus can set man free from the penalty and
the pollution and the power of sin in his life. The words of Chafer express
this beautifully:
“Redemption, then, may be considered in these two aspects: That
which has been already accomplished through the blood of the cross,
and that which may yet be done for one who believes, through the
immediate power of God. The ransom price has been paid for all: yet
for the one who believes there is a further work of redemption which
 is manifested in the transforming and sanctifying power of the
Spirit.”[107]
The evangelistic preacher can appeal to the desire of self-transformation
by the gospel that proclaims redemption by the blood of Christ and the
breaking of the bondage of sin.
Evangelist Billy Graham describes this truth as he says,
“Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other
is for goodness. Consciously or unconsciously, his inner being longs
for both.... God heard the first cry for help, that cry for forgiveness,
and answered it at Calvary. God sent his only Son into the world to
die for our sins, so we might be forgiven.... But God also heard the
second cry, that cry for goodness, and answered it at Pentecost.... To
the great gift of forgiveness God adds also the great gift of the Holy
Spirit. He is the source of power who meets our need to escape from
the miserable weakness that grips us. He gives us the power to be
truly good.”[108]
God’s grace is man’s hope of the new me. Paul said of his transformed
life, But by the grace of God I am what I am; (I Corinthians 15:10). The
evangelist can appeal to man with the message of liberation and life.
Deep in the soul of every man also lies the longing to love others. It may
be called altruism or by any other term, but it is the universal desire to help
and be a benefit to others. Koller points out an example of the appeal to
altruism from the Old Testament story of Moses and Hobab. He appealed to
Hobab to guide the people of Israel through the wilderness by saying, Come
thou with us, and we will do thee good. Hobab refused. But when Moses
pleaded for Hobab to come for the good that he could do, instead of the
good that he would receive, Hobab responded.[109]
This urge for self-sacrifice is the drive to love and be loved. Out of it
comes the desire to be of noble service, to set the best example, to be a
brother’s keeper, to be a stepping stone not a stumbling block, and to be part
of the solution, not part of the world’s problem. Every man wants to be
remembered by the good he did and the kindness he showed in life.
The gospel appeal to this motive is the truth that man can really love
others when he is transformed by the love of the redeeming Christ and his
salvation. Love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:12). John said
it this way, He who loves is born of God and knows God; for God is love (I
John 4:8). Only out of the love of God experienced by the saved sinner can
real love and gratitude rise toward others.
The desire for the common good is satisfied in true Christian love toward
others. Repenting of sins and receiving Christ as Savior is the best example
a man can give to his fellowmen in this life. He has fulfilled his highest
duty.
He exercises the most loving and lifting influence by his conversion. Man
gives his mate the best mate when he is saved. Man gives his child the best
father when he is saved. Man gives his neighbor the best neighbor when he
is saved. He finds in serving Christ the deepest satisfaction and most lasting
pleasure of all the causes upon earth. It is a noble thing to follow Christ. By
his example, he keeps his brother from perishing, if his brother heeds his
example.
Above all, a saved man is no longer part of the world’s problem. And we
know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness (I John
5:19). The saved man is a loving man and will contribute to others a
powerful, destiny-deciding influence through the life he lives and the
witness given thereby. The Christian idea of conversion basically means
turning around from the slavery of sin to the service of God.
At a Church and Society Conference held in Geneva, Dr. W. A. Visser ‘t
Hooft said that while Christians know change must take place, in social and
political structures, “There is a deeper revolution required, namely, that of a
man himself as he turns around from egocentricity to the service of
God.”[110]
The gospel of Christ offers to man a change that extends to others about
him. He will be able to love as God loves and give himself in true self-
sacrifice. Christ in a man makes him really concerned with the common
good. The Christian has a real contribution to make to the common good.
This appeal may not be of great importance to some, but there are others
who are dominated by the desire to give for the sake of others. Christ
enables man to make his best contribution. Paul said, For none of us liveth
to himself, and no man dieth to himself (Romans 14:7). Every man casts a
shadow and has an influence and sets an example. Being a Christian enables
a man to be his best and to give his best for the sake of all mankind.

Demonstration
We now concern ourselves again with the practical demonstration of this
particular principle of preaching. From selections of great sermons by
famous evangelists, we shall observe the way in which these men appealed
to the wills of their listeners.
Jonathan Edwards was a master of the principles of persuasion. His
greatest work, in the opinion of most American scholars, was not his
sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, but his thesis on The
Freedom of the Will. His basic appeal to the will by the motive of survival is
in the sermon about wrath:
“There are black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over
your heads, full of dreadful storm. The sovereign pleasure of God for
the present stays the rough wind; otherwise your destruction would
come like a whirlwind. The wrath of God is like great waters that are
damned up for the present. The bow of God’s wrath is bent; and
justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow; and it is
nothing but the mere pleasure of God that keeps the arrow.”
“Thus are all you that never passed under a great change of heart by
the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls, all that were
never born again and made new creatures (however you may have
reformed your life in many things, and may have religious affections,
and may keep a form of religion, and may be strict in it). The God
that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider over the
fire, is dreadfully provoked; his wrath toward you burns like fire. It is
nothing but his hand that keeps you from falling into the fire this
moment. 0 sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in; you hang
by a slender thread with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it,
ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder, and you have
nothing you have ever done to induce God to spare you one
moment.... Conclusion: This is the dismal case of every soul in the
congregation that has not been born again. Oh, that you would
consider it, whether you be young or old.”[111]
It is no wonder strong men held onto their seats because they feared
falling into hell on the spot. Over five hundred were converted during the
day of that sermon. His appeal to the desire of self-preservation moved
upon the wills of men. Peter also preached, Save yourselves from this
untoward generation (Acts 2:40).
Charles G. Finney understood clearly the appeal to motives. His training
as a lawyer gave him the ability to persuade men. His logic was
inescapable. He was a mighty man of prayer and power. Finney speaks of
God’s particular love as an appeal to the motive of self-esteem and
recognition when he preached:
“This love was particular because it was universal; and also universal
because it was particular. God loved each sinner in particular, and
therefore loved all. Because he loved all impartially, with no respect
of persons, therefore he loved each in particular.... Since this
atonement has been made, all men in the race have a right to it. It is
open to everyone who embraces it. Though Jesus still remains the
Father’s Son, yet by gracious right he belongs, in an important sense
to the race, to everyone; so that every sinner has an interest in his
blood, if he will come humbly forward and claim it. God sent his Son
to be the Savior of the world; of whomever would believe and accept
this great salvation.”
“God gives his Spirit to apply salvation to men. He comes to each
man’s door and knocks, to gain admittance if he can, and show each
sinner that he may now have salvation.”[112]
It was said of D. L. Moody that the characteristic feature of his preaching
was moral passion which embodied sympathy and love. Moody
demonstrated the appeal to the motive of self-transformation in his sermon,
The Prodigal Son, when he said:
 “When he came to himself, he said, ‘I will perish here. I will arise and
go to my Father. And that was the turning point in that young man’s
life. There is always hope for a man when he begins to think.... I wish
you would bear in mind that, if you are willing to own your sin, and
own that you have wandered from God, God is willing to receive you.
The very moment you are willing to come, that moment God is
willing and ready to receive you. He delights in forgiveness.”
“I do not care how vile you have been, if you are willing to come
back, God is willing and ready to receive you. The turning point was
when he came to himself, and said: How many hired servants of my
father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I
will arise and go to my father, and say unto him, Father, I have sinned
against heaven and before thee. I can imagine the angels hovering
over him as he said this; and an angel wings his way to heaven and
say, ‘Ring the bells of heaven!’ There is joy in heaven over one sinner
that repenteth. He rises like a man; his mind is made up. He has his
heart set upon one thing! ‘I am going home!’ It did not take long,
after he made up his mind to go; he had not many friends to go and
bid good-bye. They had all he had in that country, and now there was
no one there to love and pity him; there was no one there to care for
him. But he knew there was one solitary man that would love him, if
anyone would on earth; and that man was his father. There is a God in
heaven who will love you, and pity you, and have mercy on you, if
you will come to him.”[113]
Any man who longs to be changed for the good can feel the direct appeal
in such words as those. Moody preached the love of God as his foremost
theme.
 Evangelist Billy Sunday had a way of using every form of motivation in
a message so quickly that a person would hardly have thought upon one
until he was appealing with another. In one message, God’s Detective, he
appealed to the desire of self-esteem:
“I am happy. I am happy because my sins are forgiven. I am happy
because my sins are forgiven, in this world. Nobody knows they are
forgiven but a Christian, and nobody’s sins are forgiven but a
Christian’s.”
“Somebody says, ‘How may I know?’ Because we know that all who
believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be
justified by the law of Moses (Acts 13:29). Therefore, you needn’t
worry. You can just yield yourself to Jesus Christ and see why you
can. “If I knew that in this audience tonight there sat a man or woman
—if I knew that here tonight there was a poor profligate and outcast
—if I knew there was one who is soaked, saturated in sin, outcast
from home, whose friends have disowned him, I would say to you
that this proclamation is for you in spite of your mistakes, in spite of
your blunders. There is pardon, full, free, perfect and eternal, through
faith in Jesus Christ. God never spurned a sinner; there is room for all.
There isn’t room in this tabernacle for all in this city, but there is
room in heaven for all.”[114]
God has gifted Billy Graham with the ability to see and understand man’s
drives and desires and with the ability to preach to man by appealing to
these basic motives. All of his books of sermons are filled with
demonstrations of this fact.
 In one sermon, Who Am I?, Graham appeals to the desire of
companionship or self-completion:
“In the beginning, God and man were friends. They walked together
and talked together. They made great plans as to how this planet was
to be populated and developed. The earth was to show God’s glory to
the entire universe. It was to be the center of God’s activities in his
partnership with man.”
“It is quite evident that God desired the fellowship of a creature like
man. Thus man was created with a high and exalted purpose, a high
and exalted destiny. Man was to be God’s closest friend, his partner in
cultivation and development of the earth.”
“God did not create man a piece of machinery so that he could push a
button and man would obey him. Man was no robot. Man was a self.
He had dignity and he had ego. He could choose whether he wanted
God’s friendship and fellowship or not. God did not want this creature
to love Him because he was forced to do so. This would not be true
love. He wanted man’s love and fellowship because man chose to
love God....”
“This ‘I’ was made in the image of God for fellowship with God.
Without God it is miserable, empty, confused and frustrated. Without
God life has no meaning, but with God as its center there is life, an
inner strength and peace, a deep satisfaction, an unfading joy known
only to those who know Jesus Christ. With him, even troubles and
sufferings of life can become the means of inner joy that glories in
tribulations.”
 “’Apart from Jesus Christ we know not what our life is, nor our death,
not God, nor ourselves’ wrote Pascal. With Jesus Christ, we can
know.”[115]
We may conclude that persuasion is as much a part of the nature of
preaching as is proclamation of truth. “Preaching is the spoken
communication of a divine truth with a view to persuasion.”[116] It is also a
moral action. Persuasion that honestly and openly states all the facts in a
non-prejudicial way is fair and ethical, but persuasion that conceals or
misrepresents facts is manipulative.[117] It is the aim of evangelistic
preaching to press the claims of the living God upon sinful men so as to
persuade them to repent of sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts
20:20-21).
The greatest single force in persuasion is a Spirit-filled man of God, who
is able and informed, who is emotionally stable, who is loving and trusting
of his listeners and who is openly honest and authoritative in his preaching
of the cause of Christ.

Conclusion
Although much of today’s preaching is evangelistically weak, there are
nevertheless great possibilities for effectiveness in gospel preaching. If we
return to appealing to man’s moral elements of the intellect, conscience,
emotions and will, we will find it true that man was made for the gospel
message and the gospel message was designed for men. It is relevant to
man’s needs today.
When evangelistic preaching addresses the intellect of man, the appeal
comes from a clear, plain message of redemption. The sermon is preached
with a positive respect for the intelligence of the listener. The gospel
contains a plain message, but the power of the Holy Spirit makes it
effective. When the preacher studies and masters his message and its
meaning, his preaching will be easily understood and will become a greater
instrument in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Because much that is called
gospel preaching today is really empty of the truths of the good news, the
gospel preacher must study and work to give the most reasonable, simple
and clearly-illustrated presentation possible.
Not only must he be able to exegete the Scriptures, but he must be able to
explain the significance of such gospel terms as redemption, sacrifice,
substitution, expiation, propitiation, reconciliation, justification,
regeneration, repentance, and faith. He must be able to translate these terms
into simple concepts for the man on the street. Paul recognized his
responsibility as a gospel preacher. He was able to distinguish between
speech (how he spoke) and preaching (what he spoke, I Cor. 2:4). We must
never forget the dignity of simplicity. Paul’s rational appeals to the Jews
and Gentiles were filled with biblical content, yet clothed in the simple
terms of his day. Just as Paul had the Holy Spirit’s help to say the right
things in the right way, so also we can know the enabling of the Spirit in our
preaching, if not to the same degree.
The content of Paul’s message was the divine person and redemptive
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet the Bible speaks of his reasoning (Acts
18:4), persuading (Acts 18:4), and testifying (Acts 18:5). His messages
were simple, spiritual and logical arguments and appeals. All the preachers
of the New Testament highly respected the intelligence of their listeners and
reasonably presented Christ to them.
Further, the conscience of man is a great ally to the preacher of the gospel
message. In creating man a free moral agent, God placed within him the
faculty of conscience. When man fell in the garden, he was immediately
accused by his conscience. The Bible says, And they knew that they were
naked; (Gen. 3:7). The possession of conscience is universal and timeless.
This inner knowledge of oneself is a special knowledge that includes a
judgmental aspect. When we do right, our conscience approves, but when
we do wrong, it condemns. Man knows by his conscience he is wrong and
deserves to be judged.
With this knowledge, the direction an evangelist should take is to preach
the law and the gospel so as to awaken and arouse the conscience with
divine truth. When there is preaching of the moral obligations and gospel
duties of sinners, not only does the conscience bring judgment against the
sinner for breaking the moral law, but it also condemns the sinner for failure
to repent of his sins and receive Christ as his Savior. Duty must be
preached. Man must feel his obligation to satisfy the holiness of God, which
has been outraged by his sins. He must feel the burden of lostness and guilt.
He must hear the command to repent and believe. Conscience, along with
the Holy Spirit’s conviction, condemns the sin of unbelief and refusal to
obey the gospel.
In addition to this intellect and conscience, man has an emotional make-
up with basic drives and feelings. It is generally agreed anger, joy, love,
sorrow and fear are basic emotions out of which other feelings may grow.
The preacher must be aware of the emotional nature of man and address his
preaching to man by appeals to these emotions. Mankind is guilty of anger
or enmity toward God, and must be declared a rebel and called to
repentance of sinful self-will.
Sorrow and despair are real problems for man as he fails in every attempt
to be righteous. His life is filled with the frustration of moral failure. His
state of guilt causes pain and sorrow to his soul. Part of this guilt is brought
about by man’s love of sinning, his pleasure in sin. Not only does he know
the pollution of sin, depravity in sinning, but the pleasure of sinning is
natural to him.
As real as his love for sin, is his hate for God. Beyond guilt and sorrow
there is the presence of the fear of accountability to God in judgment and
the penalty and punishment of sin and guilt in eternity. Death, eternity,
judgment and hell all strike fear in his heart. Yet he ignores the love of a
redeeming God and Savior. He longs for peace and joy.
Only by the appeal of the gospel to the hope for forgiveness can man ever
know real joy. The preacher can offer joy in the forgiveness of sin and joy
in the presence of Christ throughout eternity in heaven. An effective gospel
preacher must address the emotions of men in his appeal.
Finally, we understand that all appeals to conscience, intellect and
emotions are ultimately to reach and move the will of man to act and
respond to the gospel. The will is that power of determination in the soul of
man. All motives are appeals to this will or power to choose. We may never
understand the sovereignty of God and the freedom of man and their
relationship to each other, but we can preach man’s responsibility to repent
and believe with the intent of moving his will.
Human nature is motivated by the basic desires of survival, sexuality,
self-esteem, security, self-transformation and self-sacrifice. With these basic
motivations in mind, the gospel preacher must direct his appeals toward
each desire in the soul of man. The full orbit of man’s needs can be met in
Christ and the gospel message is filled with answers for each of them.
Death has been defeated by Christ’s redemption. Man is able to know full
commitment to Christ in salvation, a true oneness. Self-esteem is realized in
regeneration by forgiven man. Security is found in the duration of salvation,
eternal life with Christ. Redemption through the blood of Christ gives true
transformation and release. True altruism and self-sacrifice can be
experienced by the changed life given by Christ. As the gospel preacher
presents these appeals, the will of lost man will be motivated and moved by
the Holy Spirit’s ministry in conjunction with God’s Word.
The great privilege of being called to the gospel ministry is the highest
trust God can give any man. Philip Brooks has defined real preaching as
“truth through personality.” When he delivered his lectures on preaching at
Yale in 1877, he established himself as one who stood for preaching
excellence. Later there was a statue erected of Brooks with a Bible in his
hand. Behind him stands Christ with an arm extended and his hand upon
Brooks’ shoulder. It is a beautiful picture of the gospel minister...standing in
Christ, standing for Christ, with Christ standing with him. Gospel preaching
is the greatest work on God’s earth and produces the greatest miracle in
time—new men in Christ. The Scripture describes the work in Acts 11:20-
21:
And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they
were come to Antioch, spoke unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord
Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: And a great number
believed and turned to the Lord.
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ben D. Rogers, D.Th.

For sixty years this writer has preached as a successful evangelist
preacher seeing thousands of souls persuaded to turn from sin and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He has a lifetime of confirmation of these truths
presented and calls upon all ministers to return to Peitheis persuasive
preaching of the Gospel.
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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, Jay E. Competent to Counsel. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House,
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Appelman, Hyman. Formula for Revival. Wheaton, Illinois: Sword of the
Lord Publishers, 1955. Hell. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House,
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 Preaching with Evangelistic Persuasion – Ben Rogers, Th.D.
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McCartney, Clarence E. Preaching Without Notes (Nashville: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1956),
p. 9.
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Excerpt taken from Paul, Apostle of the Soul Set Free, F. F. Bruce (pp. 88-930) Copyright 1978
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B. H. Carroll, My Infidelity and What Became of It, The Sword Book of Treasures (Wheaton: The
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[114]
Sunday, Billy, God’s Detective, The Best of Billy Sunday (Murfreesboro, Tennessee: The Sword
of the Lord Publishers, 1965), p. 210.
[115]
Graham, Billy, World Aflame (Garden City, New Jersey: Doubleday and Company, 1965), pp.
62-64.
[116]
Patterson, T. Harwood, The Making of the Sermon (Philadelphia: The American Baptist
Publication Society, 1898), p. 3.
[117]
Fant, Clyde E., Preaching for Today (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1975), p. 4.
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