The Text
The Gospel for an Hour of Crisis
I believe that there is one gospel, but that it has a different thrust in times of great crisis and chaos. When the Apostle John was writing the book of Revelation, he could already say: “Little children, you have heard that antichrist shall come, and there are already many little antichrists.” We are in a war. The spirit of this age is anti-Christ. And I believe those who by their perversion of the gospel are building a great religious world are preparing that world to welcome with open arms the one of whom our Lord spoke: “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive” (John 5:43).
Most of our preaching and witness has been trying to help Satan make a garden of Eden here on this world and bypass the cross of Christ. There are ministers transformed into ministers of righteousness, trying to get everybody to be good, bypassing the cross of Christ. The church was never called to shoot at every jackrabbit in the cotton patch. We have come to a day when we must come to the defence of the gospel for this hour. For there is but one thing between the eternities that God Almighty says has power in it to save — and that is the gospel.
The Everlasting Gospel in the Age of Antichrist
In Revelation 14, set in the midst of an earth under the sway of antichrist, God sends the everlasting gospel from heaven. And what is its message? Three things: Fear God. Give glory to Him. For the hour of His judgment is come. Worship Him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters.
Fear God, not antichrist. Give glory to the Creator — not to the one who will set himself up as God. Worship Him alone. This is the everlasting gospel in its thrust for such an hour. It is not a comfortable message. It cuts against everything that the spirit of this age produces and demands. In the atmosphere of this hour, the gospel with its barbed wire is not good news to people who want their feet planted in this world.
Power was given to this man or system of antichrist over all kindreds and tongues and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb shall worship him. Men have got to do one of two things. They must either come under the authority of the living God — or they must bring God down to where they can be happy in their sins and still have a God. This generation has done the latter. And what men need is not a little improvement. They need God to kill the god they now worship.
The Demand of the Gospel in This Hour
What will the gospel demand of people in an hour like this? Just three things.
First: Men and women must come under the authority of King Jesus. My Lord will not be content with lip service. A man is not saved till he is awfully glad that Christ is in utter authority on the throne — in absolute authority over his life. The spirit of antichrist is going to mark his people. Satan is going to have authority. And my Lord Jesus Christ will settle for nothing less than total conviction that He is sovereign. You can’t tell me that my Lord will be satisfied with less authority over his subjects than Satan is going to have through his man over everybody who has their roots in this earth.
Second: Men must come out from the spirit of this age. A man cannot have the spirit of this age and Christ at the same time. He cannot with his lips praise the Lord and with his life put his face down in the spirit of this hour at the same time. There has never been a time when a man could make this decision without facing how much it will cost him. My Lord told people what it costs. It will affect your business, your job, your home life, your physical condition, your mind, your emotions. Some ties will be severed. Some households will be torn apart. But there has never been a time when a man could have God in Christ without being utterly divorced from the spirit of his age.
Third: Men must sign their lives away. The gospel brings its own demand, its own command, its own call. Not a morning-step commitment — that is not going to be worth a dime in the days that are coming. The gospel comes with a demand that men and women lovingly, willingly, worship Him on the throne. Sign your life away. That is all it costs. You cannot kill a man who is already dead. You cannot rob a man of his property who has signed it all away. Those people are going to be under the blood, safe and secure.
The Jewish Woman Who Signed Her Life Away
Some years ago I was in a meeting in a southern state where the service was broadcast over the radio. I said one night: “Somebody is listening to me preach right now. That somebody ought to turn the radio off, put his hat and coat on, get in his car, and drive over here and look me up — and if you come, I’ll tell you how to be saved.”
There was a Jewish woman listening, the wife of one of the leading bankers in that city. Precious women in our church had been bringing her night after night to the meetings, and they told me every day how the battle was going. That day it had come to a crisis. Her mother and father told her: “If you embrace the religion of Jesus, you will no longer be our daughter.” Her husband told her: “If you embrace the religion of Jesus, you will no longer be my wife, and you will not see the children again.” They meant it.
And in spite of that, that little Jewish woman drove through the pouring rain and was there. I preached that night, and we stood and began to sing. I saw her take her glasses off and wipe her eyes. And then, with a great sob, she came running. She put her arms around me, her head on my shoulder, and sobbed. And when the sobs had gone, she said: “Preacher, I surrender to Jesus.”
When we stood to welcome her, I said to the congregation: “This little woman comes tonight to surrender to Jesus Christ. She knows it is going to cost her her mother and father. It is going to cost her her children. It is going to cost her her husband. It is going to cost her her home. But she comes to Jesus to surrender.”
Two days later they had a funeral in that city — a symbolic funeral. An expensive casket brought to the Jewish synagogue. They buried her in their graveyard. She never saw her children, her mother and father, or her husband again — except when she met him as he got the divorce. When I went to see her, years later, she was the happiest person I have ever known. Just joy. Just joy. She found Him precious. All it cost was everything. But bless God, He is worth it.