THE FIRST GOSPEL MEETING

                                                                                                                           By John Edwards

The Lord commissioned His apostles, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mk. 16:15). The gospel was preached for the first time on Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. Let’s notice some great things about this gospel meeting.

A Great Day. The first gospel meeting took place on "the day of Pentecost" (Acts 2:1). Pentecost was the annual festival at which the Jews presented to God the first fruits of the harvest. Pentecost always came on the first day of the week (Lev. 23:15-16). Hence, this meeting occurred upon the first day of the week.

A Great Promise Received. The Lord promised the Holy Spirit to the apostles (Jn. 14:26). The apostles received this promise on Pentecost as "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4). This served to guide the apostles "into all truth" (Jn. 16:13).

A Great City. The first gospel meeting took place in the city of Jerusalem (Acts 2:5). Hundreds of years before this meeting, Isaiah prophesied, "for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Is. 2:3). The Lord said, "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning in Jerusalem" (Lk. 24:47). A great deal of planning and preparation went into this meeting!

A Great Crowd. "Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5) were present at the first gospel meeting. Many languages of people were represented (Acts 2:9-11). These Jews had come from all over the world to observe the festival of Pentecost. Though they were devoutly religious people, they were still required to come under the command of the preaching in order to receive pardon. So must we!

A Great Sermon. Peter preached "Jesus of Nazareth" to this audience (Acts 2:22-36). He declared the life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and exaltation of Jesus Christ. The sermon was simple and to the point!

A Great Question Asked. The effect of the sermon was a deep and penetrating conviction that brought out of them the question: "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). We should have the attitude of what would God have me to do?

A Great Plan of Salvation Given. In Peter’s answer to the question asked, he gives the Lord’s great plan of salvation. "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38).

A Great Response. In this meeting, "about three thousand souls" responded to the sermon by being baptized (Acts 2:41) and were added to the church by the Lord (Acts 2:47).

What a great gospel meeting!

The Danger of Compromise

by David Weaks

You have always heard that compromise is a virtue. However, this is not always true. One cannot compromise with error.

God’s word is truth (John 17:17). We are not allowed to take away from nor add anything to the word of God (Rev. 22:18- 19). Any attempt to do so would create “another gospel which is not another;” it would be a perverted gospel (Gal. 1:6-7). To change the word of God on any point, or to preach another gospel is anathema to God (vs. 8-9). God does not change (Mal. 3:6; James 1:17), and we should never believe ourselves at liberty to compromise the truth, even once.

Yet, our age is one of compromise. Society has bowed the knee in compromise to every evil thing that humans can invent in the name of “acceptance” and “open mindedness.” We are lectured daily by a liberal world that “love” is the paramount good in life, and that love means you must embrace all that God calls sin. In fact, these people believe it is more important to tolerate people’s sins than to be loyal to God. This view of love is alien to the Bible.

The Bible defines love as showing respect for the word of God and keeping His commandments (John 14:15, 23). How can one say he loves God properly when he compromises God’s word in order to embrace what is unholy? The inconsistency of this position is staggering.

Within the church there is a greater compulsion to compromise than ever before. Gospel preaching must never compromise with error. Paul said that Christians are not supposed to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, we are supposed to expose them (Eph. 5:11). We are supposed to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim. 6:12). The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God, capable of pulling down strongholds and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:4-5). We Christians wield the sharp two-edged “sword of the spirit,” the word of God, which is so powerful it exposes everything it touches with precision (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12).

Unfortunately, aging warriors of the cross who fought the battle for truth in the past are dying out one by one. In their place are men who keep the tip of their sword aimed at the ground for fear of appearing too aggressive. Their grip on the sword of the Spirit is loose, and it is liable to be knocked from their hands by any actual spiritual warfare. Faithful preachers, elders, and brethren of the past kept the sword of the Spirit at the ready, in fighting position, and wielded it against every error that advanced against the truth. Now, the fear of being too militant and too rigid frightens many into silence.

The desire to “find common ground” with those in error has become the most important thing. Statements like: “You make a good point” and “I see where you’re coming from” have replaced: “Have you not read” and “Thus saith the Lord…” (Matt. 12:3, 5; 19:4; 23:31). Have we forgotten the fact that false doctrine destroys like cancer (2 Tim. 2:17)? The apostle Paul dealt sternly with false teachers so that they “might learn not to blaspheme” (1 Tim. 1:20). Jesus Christ, our Lord, challenged the teachers of error in His time. He called the scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites (Matt. 23). Jesus was so bold in His preaching that the hypocritical leaders of the Jews knew that He was talking about them (Matt. 21:45).

Many brethren say they are in favor of firm, resolute preaching on moral issues, but they blanch at making actual applications. They want preachers to preach against immodesty (1 Tim. 2:9-10; 1 Peter 3:2-4), but they don’t want preachers to single out specific clothing that is immodest, lest permissive parents and their daughters and sons be embarrassed. We are encouraged to preach against false teachers (2 Pet. 2:1ff; Jude), but folks get angry when we actually tie a man to his false doctrine. Yet, Paul exposed false teachers by name so brethren could avoid their error (1 Tim. 1:20; 2 Tim. 2:17).

Compromise is synonymous with capitulation and concession. We can do neither of these when it comes to the truth.