5th OF 9 REASONS WHY MEN DON'T SHARE THE GOSPEL

5th OF 9 REASONS WHY MEN DON'T SHARE THE GOSPEL

Seeing it is a duty that the King has laid upon every man according to his ability to exhort and reprove in the Great Commission work (Matt. 28:19-20), and with all possible diligence to labor after the salvation of all about him, judge then whether this work be reasonably performed. Where shall we find the man almost among us, that sets himself to it with all his might, and that has set his heart upon the souls of his fellow man, that they may be saved? Let us here, therefore, question what may be the causes of the gross neglect of this duty, that the hindrances being discovered may more easily be overcome.

Another common hindrance is a sinful bashfulness. When we should labor to make men ashamed of their sins, while we are our­selves ashamed of our duties. May not these sinners condemn us, when they will not blush to swear, or be drunk, or neglect the worship of God, and we will blush to tell them of it, and persuade them from it? Elisha looked on Hazael till he was ashamed; and we are ashamed to look on, or speak to the offender, 2 Kings 8:11; Jer. 6:15; 8:12; Luke 9:26. Sinners will rather boast of their sins, and impudently show them in the open streets, and shall not we be as bold in drawing them from it? Not that I ap­prove of boldness in any; for, as one said, I take him for a lost man that has lost his modesty. Nor would I have inferiors forget their distance in admonishing their superiors; but do it with all humility, and submission, and respect. But yet I would much less have them forget their duty to God and their friends, that they never so much their superiors: it is a thing that must be done. Bash­fulness is unseemly in cases of flat necessity. And, indeed, it is not a work to be ashamed of; to obey God in persuading men from their sins to come to Christ, and helping to save their souls, is not a business for a man to blush at; and yet, alas! What abundance of souls has been neglected through the prevailing of this sin! Yet many of us are heinously guilty in this point. Reader, is not this your own case? Has not your conscience told you of your duty many a time, and put you on to speak to poor sinners, lest they perish, and yet you have been ashamed to open your mouth to them, and so let them alone to sink or swim? Believe me, you will before long be ashamed of this shame. O read those words of Christ, and tremble: "He that is ashamed of me and of my words before this adulterous generation, of him will the Son of man be ashamed before his Father and the angels," Luke 9:26; Mark 8:38.