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 Many
years ago, — it seems like a former dispensation by today’s
standards; a very young preacher baptized twenty — one people
in the cold, clear waters of a Kentucky creek. As he climbed the
narrow trail out of the hollow — wet, tired, but Oh, so happy
— a local “rowdy” fell in step with the boy and boasted,
“well, Preacher, you ain’t got me yet!”
As
I remember it — and this gets better every time I tell it —
I said, Mr. ____, what makes you think that I want you? I don’t
want you — it is the Lord that wants you — although I find
it difficult to understand why. But He wants you, and died to
save you. You just turn your face up to heaven and tell the Lord
—’Lord, you ain’t got me yet! !“
Whatever
I said (it was something like that) the heckler grew
silent, and soon we were parted. But the memory lingers, and has
become an illustration in many sermons.
The
invitation to salvation from sin is not a “church”
invitation; it is the invitation of the Lord. ”The Spirit and
the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. “(Rev.
22:17) But it is “Come —” to the Lord. Christ invites —
‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest.” (Mat. 11:28) He alone is “the author of
eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. (Heb. 5:9)
The
church does not save, it is the saved. People being people, some
will “compass sea and land to make one proselyte” — to
swell the church roll, for prestige, higher collections, or,
knowing no better, out of
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loyalty to “the party.” At the
worst, this may make the “convert” “twofold more the child
of hell than yourselves” (Matt. 23:15) and at the best, to be
charitable, it can do no more than make another “party”
member. It can never make a true Christian, for this
calls for freewill acceptance of the cost of discipleship, and
full dedication to Jesus Christ.
In
Antioch preachers preached “the Lord Jesus.” A great
number believed, and turned “unto the Lord.” Barnabas
exhorted them to cleave “unto the Lord.” And others
were added ”unto the Lord.” (Acts 11:20 -24) These
people were “the church” in Antioch, and I certainly have no
objection to so speak of them. (Vs. 26) But they were the church
“of Christ” (belonging to the Lord) because it was the Lord
who bought them, and called them. They came to the Lord in the
primary sense and to other brethren only in a secondary sense.
(2 Tim. 1:8 -12) We commit ourselves unto the care and keeping of
the Lord.
I
believe much of our preaching fails for want of proper emphasis.
Men need Christ, and Christ invites!! When men
truly come to Christ, they become a part of His church.
And
what happened to the rowdy who said, “You ain’t got me yet”?
Well, ten or twelve years later I was passing through Kentucky,
and stopped for worship in a certain country community. Can you
guess who was leading the singing? That’s right! The Lord
finally “got” him.
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