02.06. The Pastor dealing with Skepticism
VI. THE PASTOR DEALING WITH SKEPTICISM. The pastor, in dealing with skeptics, will make it his steadfast aim to win them to Christ. The way to melt hardened steel is to give draught to the furnace fires; the way for the pastor to draw unbelievers to.the truth is to have his own heart hot with love for souls. When the great Refiner of silver sits by the pastor’s heart till the Refiner can see his own face there, the skeptic also will see in the pastor’s heart the divine face, and be drawn by the power of redeeming love. The pastor then will first charge himself with fault for his own low tone of faith and life, and reproach himself that he has so held forth the Word of life, that there are any in the parish who doubt the truth of the glorious gospel of the blessed God. With God’s word in his hand, “ the powers of the world to come “ on his side, and the Almighty God over him, the honest skeptics will be few. Pastors have to blame themselves for much of the unbelief of the day, since their own doubts keep them away from the cross, and carry others farther than they themselves drift. When the life of God fills the souls of his people, doubt and unbelief find little place, and that will be less and less if the pastor put the power of piety against infidelity as the best cure.
1. The pastor will be patient with the doubters. Christ was with Thomas, and won him. Thomas had good stuff in him, such as eminent Christians are made of. When Christ went up to Jerusalem, knowing that he should meet his death, no words could be grander than Thomas’s: “ Let us go up too, that we may die with him.” But when his Lord was really dead, his faith received a great shock. He drew off by himself for a time, unbelieving. But Jesus was patient with him. He did not taunt him, nor storm at him. And when Thomas finally came to him at the meeting, Christ’s goodness won him. By patience, a true soul was rescued from the snare of doubt. This is our Lord’s own example for our use.
“ There is nothing so kingly as kindness There is nothing so royal as truth.”
2. The pastor will be Christ-like in dealing with unbelievers. That is more than to be patient. He will meet their darkness with that “true liorht which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” and not with his own human weapons. “ In Christ was life; and the life was the light of men.” The pastor being himself in the light, will “ bear witness to the light, that all men through him might believe.’ Unheeding the flings and jeers of skeptics, and blind to their hostility, the pastor’s fervent longing that they may know Christ and come to the true light, will melt the ice of their hearts, and the warmth of his love for them under their criticism will carry conviction to their minds. For the perversity of men the Lord bore the cross and conquered. The pastor’s own heart-break for their rescue from sin will prevail. Love is the strongest power in the world, for God is love. Railing accusations set the teeth of unbelievers on edge. It is Greek meeting Greek. When the pastor stoops to this, he is a loser. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Any purpose to triumph over unbelievers in contests of argument, to ridicule them, or to humiliate and make a show of them openly, only provokes opposition. Nothing is gain to the pastor but the gain of their souls to Qirist; and in this victory of grace both pastor and unbeliever are alike blessed. When God’s goodness leadeth to repentance, no one is conquered. Unbelievers can stand anything better than the steady flow of that love that suffereth long and is kind, that vaunteth not itself, is not provoked, that beareth all things and never faileth. It is not said that the time never comes when a mean and dishonest infidelity may not be soundly lashed by a whip of corda and shown up by a righteous indignation, but never with a carnal heart gratifying the flesh. It is always the new life of Christ in the soul, and not the old one of sin, that conquers the opposers. The “ old man’ in the Christian must keep out of the fight, however much he aches to get in. ’ Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.”
3. The pastor, in dealing with skepticism, will be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is by the Holy Spirit that every soul is renewed. The Bible is a dead book to a soul dead in sin; and a sermon without the spirit is a dry bough, though plucked from a cedar of Lebanon, and having in learning and manner all the excellency of Carmel. It is not social nor mental power that is to transform this world, but the power of the Spirit of God. God taught the prophets, “ It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit.” Christ taught the disciples, “ It is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” When Peter stood up to deliver the first discourse under Christianity, he preached not his own wisdom, nor the wisdom of this world, its learning, philosophy or science, “lest the cross of Christ should be of none effect.” He preached the gospel of the cross by the power of the spirit, and God opened the hearts of the hearers to receive it. ’ Peter did not load himself with human arguments for a conflict with unbelievers. He was not a ’*disputer of this world.” Ye must be bom again.” The heart must be renewed, and its disposition changed. God had taught him that, and promised the power. Peter depended upon the promise, and looked not in vain. The Spirit, as he spoke, was manifested, and men cried out for deliverance. This result came through their hearts as he preached, the Spirit convicting them of sin and moving them to seek immediate salvation. When Paul came to Corinth, it was “ not in the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” “ He had not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God” for his hope of success. He did not expect their ^ faith to stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” His words were according to “ the wisdom which the Holy Ghost teacheth,” and souls were thus born by the Spirit with which he was filled into the light and joy of the kingdom of God. Very truly may Paul say to those who are set to lead men out of doubt and unbelief, Be filled with the Spirit! “ The Spirit of Pentecost still lives. It is when the pastor is filled with the Spirit in preaching the Word, that blind eyes are opened, deaf ears unstopped, and unbelieving hearts are made to see and receive the redemption of Christ. The pastor will learn this secret of power with God, hardest of all truths to learn, and bring in many unbelievers. The sling of David brought in Goliath against all human expectjition. To be filled with the Spirit is the pastor’s sling. He can say, “ 1 have no words of human power and wisdom to go against so great a host, but I have the Spirit and promise of God, and herein is the biding of power.”
4. The pastor, in dealing with infidelity, will be mighty in the Scriptures. The Bible belongs to the weak things of this world and the things that are not, in human esteem, bringing to naught the things that are, the institutions and powers that so impress and dazzle the world. The Bible is ’’ wheat and not bread,” and, when cast into the soil of faith, grows, and no power can stop it. The little kernel gives no promise of the greatness of the harvest. The pastor will be a sower going forth to sow on the fields of life. The tares will perish, but the grain is not for death. The Bible is an arsenal for the pastor’s use; everything he needs is there shaped by divine wisdom.
It is a theological seminary. It is the library for the whole church of God. To know it in head and heart, by prayer and the teaching of the Spirit, is above all other knowledge. It is the rod put in the pastor’s hand, by which he is to lead darkened and doubting men through sea and wilderness to the final home. “The entrance of thy Word giveth light.” How many times, when dealing with unbelief, has an arrow from this quiver been effective?
5. The pastor will aim at great results. Pour in the light of the Gospel on the darkness of doubt. Establish the true in all wisdom as against the false. Cause men to see the right way over the wrong. Preach the truth as it is in Jesus, not as it is in sentiment or poetry, or the wisdom of this world. Set a system of truth before men, and show them what to believe. Every time you strike down an error, lift up a sound doctrine. Whenever men see the better, it will be easier to drop the worse. Doubt and unbelief are negative. Infidelity is not a principle, it is a mood. The other side of unbelief is faith. When doubt is gone, belief is come. The pulpit is for enlightenment as well as for conversion. Bring forth your strong arguments. Cause the people to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let there be instruction in righteousness. Our modern faith has breadth; give it depth and intensity. The army of Gideon increased in power when it was reduced in numbers. Fill not men’s hearts with all conceivable objections which they never thought of before, and then try to answer them. Give the truth bathed with holy fire. Preach no longer on little themes, but great ones. Build up Jerusalem with vast blocks of stone hewn out of the mountains of God. Be no longer babes with milk; produce strong meat. Under such a treatment there may be waves of skepticism and moods of doubt and unbelief, but they will be transient, and there will be, as in the flowing of the tides, steady gain till the saving knowledge of God floods the earth.