1. “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation”; “Go therefore and disciple all the nations” (Mark 16:15; Matt. 28:19; see also Rom. 10:14-15).
The call to preach the gospel and save people comes from four directions. The first call comes from above, from the heavens. It is according to the Lord’s command, which He spoke immediately before His ascension. Although the Lord’s call was given while He was on earth, His command comes to us today from the heavens. With regard to geography, He wants us to go into all the earth. With regard to race, He wants us to disciple all the nations. From the day of His ascension, His call from above has never ceased. Throughout the ages, there have always been those who heard and answered His call. They have gone to every place under the sun to preach the gospel. According to His sovereign authority, the Lord effects changes among humanity that reflect the actions initiated by His calling. For example, the discovery of the new world by Columbus produced an east-west connection by sea that enabled many to answer His call to go to all the countries in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific islands, following the Reformation brought in by Martin Luther. As a consequence, God’s gospel of grace has been preached to every race. The Lord will continue to sound His call, calling some to bring the gospel to those living in every corner of the earth. May some among us hear and answer His call and go and disciple those who do not know the Lord.
1. “He said, Then I ask you, Father, to send him to the house of my father—for I have five brothers—so that he may solemnly testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment” (Luke 16:27-28).
These verses record the cry of the rich man who was suffering in the flames of Hades. His cry indicates that there must be many in Hades who have a desire that their relatives on earth would hear the gospel and be saved in order to escape the suffering of perdition. They are in Hades, and they are crying out concerning the need for their living relatives to hear the gospel. This is the second direction from which a call for the gospel comes. We should be moved by these pitiful cries and go to the living who still have a chance to repent to preach the gospel that can save them from eternal perdition.
1. “If I preach the gospel, I have no boast, for necessity is laid upon me; for woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. If I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a stewardship” (1 Cor. 9:16-17).
It is a marvelous fact that once we are saved, we spontaneously feel that we should preach the gospel. If we do not preach the gospel, we feel that we have let people down, that we owe them something, and that our heart is empty and without peace. Whenever we preach the gospel, our heart is joyful, satisfied, and peaceful. Furthermore, the more we preach, the happier, more released, and more comfortable we are because the Lord has entrusted us with the stewardship, or responsibility, to preach the gospel. When we receive His salvation, we also receive His commission and spontaneously feel a spiritual responsibility. This stewardship is in our innermost heart, and through the moving of the Holy Spirit, it becomes a burden, a pressing voice, that compels us to preach the gospel. If we do not preach the gospel, we feel like saying, “Woe to me.” Unbelievers think that Christians are zealous to preach the gospel, but actually this is a necessity laid upon us because we have an urgent, inward sense of responsibility. This sense of responsibility comes from within. It is the third direction from which a call for the gospel comes. This inward call is an irresistible call.
1. “A certain man...was standing and entreating him and saying, Come...and help us” (Acts 16:9).
Paul, who was zealous for the gospel and active in preaching throughout the Mediterranean area, saw a vision and heard a call for him to come to Macedonia. This is the fourth direction from which a call for the gospel comes. It comes from people, and it speaks of the desperate need of those around us. Today these kinds of Macedonian calls are numerous and pressing. Regrettably, we often ignore them or do not even hear them, because we do not have a strong desire to reach others with the gospel, and our sense is quite dull. We should ask the Lord to operate and increase our desire so that our inward sense can be sharpened, and we would feel the desperate need of people for the gospel. Then we would hear their pitiful cries and answer their thirsty needs by going to help them with the gospel.