From the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster we present Let the Bible Speak. It's good to have you join us today as we spend time around the Word of God, preaching Christ in all His fullness to men and women in all their need. This is a charming sound, harmonious to the ear, and with the echo shall resound, and all the earth shall hear. Say, by grace alone, this is all my plea, Jesus died for sinful men, and Jesus died for me. Grace first inscribed my name in God's eternal book, was grace that gave me to the Lamb who all my sorrows took. Grace taught my heart to pray and made my eyes afloat. His grace has kept me to this day, and will not let me go. Saved by grace alone, this is all my plea. Jesus died for sinful men, and Jesus died for me. Who let Thy grace inspire My soul with strength divine? May all my parts to Thee aspire And all my days be Thine! Saved by grace alone This is all my plea Jesus died for sinful men, and Jesus died for me. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound! Jesus died for me. It's always a joy to study the Word of God together, and it is a privilege for me to turn to the Word of God shortly. We want to welcome you on behalf of Let the Bible Speak to this time together. We trust that we know the blessing of God upon His Word today. Let's bow together in prayer. Almighty God and gracious Father, in the all-precious name of the Savior, we come before the throne of heavenly grace. a place where we're always welcomed, where we are invited to come to. And we come to commit ourselves to the Lord this day, particularly in the Word. We always counted a privilege to look into the Scriptures and to study the Word together. We pray that this time will be profitable, that the Lord will speak to our hearts, especially upon a subject that is very near to our hearts today. As we think of soul winning, as we think of our great responsibility of reaching out to the lost and the perishing world, Father, we pray that you will help us to redouble our efforts and give us a burden, give us a vision today for the lost souls of man. We ask this in Jesus' precious and worthy name. Amen. We're turning in the Word of God today to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Let's read the Word of God together as we read from verse 16. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 16. For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is led upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me, what is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain them o'er. And unto the Jew I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without law, as without law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you, Know ye not that they which run in a race run all? But one receiveth the prize, so run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep it under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast away." Ending our reading at the end of the chapter, we trust as always the blessing of God will be upon his word. We're going to join together in the singing of a beautiful hymn, throw out the lifeline across the dark wave. There is a brother whom someone should save. Somebody's brother, oh, who then will dare to throw out the lifeline, his peril to share? There is a brotherhood some want to see. Somebody's brother who will end the day. Faithful I will not be. No one will I find. No one will I find. Someone is drifting away. No one will I find. No one will I find. O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? I'll go. Glory, glory, glory to the newborn King. And through all my life, I'll see them truly. Through all my life, through all my life. There is a text that is burning in my heart, the words of the great apostle here in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 22, where he says, I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. None can deny the immensity of the burden felt by the great apostle for the souls of perishing sinners. Paul had a heartthrob for lost souls. My heart's desire and prayer unto God for Israel is that they might be saved. He could hear the tramp, tramp, tramp of the souls of men going out into a lost eternity. See the great multitude that he preaches to and weeps over. Hear the apostle uplift Christ and Him crucified as the only remedy for sin. Listen to Him warn about sin and hell. Watch Him as He weeps over His congregations and pleaded with them that they might turn from their sin. Observe Him stand before the high and the mighty as He reasoned with them and sought to persuade them to become Christians. Listen to the solemn statement that he made when he wrote to the church at Rome in Romans chapter 9 and verses 2 and 3. I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. So no one can deny the fact that here we have a man who carried a deep burden for the unconverted in his heart. A man that was weighed down by a heavy weight as he pondered the lost condition of the multitudes around him. His heart was filled with love, concern, and zeal for immortal souls. I only wish that I possessed a tenth of His compassion and concern. I mourn over the fact that the church of Jesus Christ, largely today, is unmoved. The other things have taken over. When was the last time that you felt for a soul on the road to hell? When was the last time that you were inwardly moved for that individual? When was the last time that you went to them, and you pleaded with them, and you begged them to turn to Christ? When was the last time that you wept for them? They will remain lost until the church of Jesus Christ awakens. We need to be stirred. We need to be revived. We need to be convicted. And I'm not talking about merely acknowledging a certain amount of facts in your head. That's part of it. We need to know the great truths of the Word of God. I'm not speaking about becoming just a little bit guilty or being concerned because you've attended a conference meeting or even through this message that I bring to you today. I'm speaking about possessing the heart concern of the great apostle, indeed the compassion of Christ, for He was moved in His heart when He saw the multitudes of His day. May God burden my heart and yours. How can we go on the way we do while the world around us runs to hell? Now, the church is sleeping while the world is perishing. One day, the great Napoleon ran his index finger around a great country. He was speaking to his generals. And he said, there lies a sleeping giant. Let it sleep. Because if that country ever wakens and harnesses its manpower to its mineral power, it will shape the world. The country that he was outlining was none other than China. See the devil standing there? He's not running his finger around a map. He's running his finger around the church of Jesus Christ. And he says, there is the church of Christ asleep. Let it sleep. Because if it ever rediscovers the power of the Holy Ghost and rediscovers the power of the resurrection of Christ, it will shake the world. Well, I just want to shake a little part of the world where God has placed me, and I trust that you feel the same way. But we need a burden. We need a vision in our hearts. And I want to use the words of Paul here to drive this concern home to your heart and mine. I want you to notice the mission that Paul engaged in, and it's summarized in two words, save some. Now, Paul could not save everyone, nor can we, but he could save some. And this refers to our responsibility, the work that God has committed to you and I to reach out and bring others to Christ. Only God can save in the strictest sense of the word. Salvation is off the Lord from the beginning to the end. He shall save His people from their sins, but we are ambassadors. We're signposts to the cross. We are instruments in the divine hand. We are mouthpieces for God. God uses men in His hand. And so it is in this sense that we are said to save others. We are the means of reaching them. God's mission becomes our mission. I sat in a home a number of years ago, and I said to the young lady that was there, do you know why I'm here in your home? She said to me, you know why you're here, but I want you to tell me. She looked at me, and she said, you want to see me saved. And that's right. And that's the kind of burden that we need to have. The Bible says others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire in Jude verse 24. James said, he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. And Paul here, in our text, he says, to save some. This is our duty. And there's many of our great hymns express this also. The old general, in his hymn, he spoke about his passion for souls when he wrote those words, to live a dying world to save. Another hymn says, throw out the lifeline and save them today. That hymn has been sung already. It was Charles Wesley, in one of my favorite hymns, who said, I want an even strong desire. I want a calmly fervent zeal to save poor souls out of the fire, to snatch them from the verge of hell. Do you live? to save some. Do you live a dying world to save? Are you rescuing men? Are you reaching them with the gospel? Are you winning them to Christ? Do you weep over the erring one? Do you lift up the fallen? Do you tell them of Jesus, the mighty, to save? I want you to notice, secondly, the method that Paul employed. And he uses the words here, by all means. Now, the indispensable method of reaching the lost to Jesus Christ is preaching. We know that. You can study Romans chapter 10, verse 13 to 17. Paul outlines it there. How shall they hear without a preacher? He shows how God raises up men. He sends them forth because faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. On another occasion, when he wrote to the Corinthian church, he said, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. However, There is the all-means in evangelism. We don't believe in gimmicks. We don't believe in stunts. We don't believe in cheapening the gospel, but there is the all-means. And I believe that is identifying ourselves where we can with the sinner. What did Paul mean in this passage? What did he have in mind when he wrote, I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some? To the Jew he became a Jew, to the Gentile he became a Gentile, to the weak he became as weak. He knew how to adopt his approach and his method. It was always the same message, the message of the gospel. He said in verse 16, woe is me if I preach not the gospel. But he knew how to reach men and women and approach men of different backgrounds. The one approach would not do for all. He went to where the people were in order to reach them. He went into the synagogues, presented Christ there. He went down to the marketplaces, preached Christ there. He was found at a riverside on at least one occasion. He went into homes. He stood on Mars Hill and proclaimed the gospel. He was found in Roman courts preaching to the high and the mighty, and in his own house in Rome during his final years there Paul preached the gospel to all that he could. We must be prepared to identify ourselves with sinners, to go to them, to befriend them, to help them practically if we can, to do anything legitimate to bring them to Christ, to be made all things to all men, does not mean that we do silly things to win them to Christ. You don't take drugs to win the drug addict. You don't consume alcohol to win the drunkard to Christ. You don't become a gambler. to win the gambler to the Savior. You don't jump around the dance floor to win those who are at the dances and the discos. That makes nonsense of the Scripture, nonsense of the changed life. But we ought to be prepared to do anything within reason to win the lost. Now, it might mean identifying ourselves with a person's culture. The great missionary Hudson Taylor did that when he dressed in Chinese clothes to win the Chinese to Christ. It might mean identifying ourselves with a person's occupation, or maybe their pastime, or their various needs. Has God given you a phone? You can ring them, you can text them. Have you access to email facilities or even Facebook in these days? Instead of using that facility to promote yourself, why not promote Christ? I can remember hearing Paul Hsu from Singapore came to speak in our church one time. Paul had a church there, but 170 people. That's how it was year after year. He met in a building that seated 250 people, but he had a great burden to win the lost. For all those years, he thought to himself, this is my work. Then he suddenly realized, this is not my work, this is God's work. And so he confessed his sin to God, and he confessed his sin to the people. And he said, all this time I thought this was my work, but it's not. Brethren and sisters, this is God's work. We're handing the work over to the Lord. He then started various ministries. I think there was something like 25 or 30 ministries that he started. A lady had a sewing ministry. She gathered in her neighbors, taught them the art of dressmaking, but gave them the gospel, won them to Christ. A skateboard instructor, he gathered the young people of his area around him. He taught them how to skateboard, gave them the gospel, won them to Christ. different ministries of this kind. He believed that God had given to every individual gifts and talents to be employed in the service of God. And I believe that that is so also. How do we reach the multitudes? How do we reach the unchurched? How do we reach the hundreds of people in our towns that are not being reached? Because the fact is, we're not reaching them with the gospel. Well, we don't do silly things, as I've said. but we do legitimate things to win them to Christ. And then I want you to notice, thirdly, the message that Paul emphasized. Now, we know that Paul only had one message. He never deviated from it one bit. Christ and Him crucified. In all that we do, the message never changes. It's always the same. We can never depart from the one God-given message that has been ordained from all eternity. And that's Jesus Christ and the fact that He went to the cross for our sins. We can never alter that message. We can never compromise it. We can never water it down. It's only by the cross that men can be saved. People can only know their sins forgiven through Christ crucified. Oh yes, we must befriend them. We must show them love. We must be practical in what we do. We must identify with them, get down to their level, We must show an interest in them. That's called winning. But the message must always be dominant, and that's the message of the cross. What are you doing to bring others to Christ? What will you do from this day onward? What changes will you make? What ministry will you become involved in? What sacrifices are you prepared to make? What promises will you make before God? What souls will you win to Christ? Only God knows what will happen if we all take the work of evangelism seriously and we unite together to overthrow the strongholds of Satan. Only God knows what will happen if the sleeping giant awakens and the church of Jesus Christ catches fire. Oh, I'm appealing to you today. to work for Christ, and to go out there and win souls for the Savior. One hundred and fifty thousand people will die today. What are you doing to bring even one of them to a saving faith in Christ? Let us pray. Our gracious God and Father in heaven, we thank Thee for the example of the great apostle, the burden that he had, the vision that he displayed, the souls that he won to Christ, how that he was made all things unto all men that he might save some. Lord, help us to step into this ministry and to go out there and win the lost of Christ and bring them to Jesus, the mighty to save. Hear this, our prayer, for the Savior's sake. Amen. Thank you for spending some time with us today around the Word of God. For further information visit our website at ltbs.tv. We look forward to joining with you next time as we seek to let the Bible speak once again.