Rescue the perishing

During those years, the fire of the gospel was indeed burning among us. However, we did not reach the stage of going out and compelling people. In Luke 14:23 the Lord Jesus told us that to go out and bring people in, we even need to go to the roads and hedges and compel people. According to the original Greek, to compel people means to force people. The Lord said, "Go out into the roads and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled." Our burden is to teach you how to compel others. The Lord Jesus spoke of our need to compel others.

In verse 23 the Lord said that we should compel people to come in. Then in verse 26 He said, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate." These two matters spoken of in Luke 14 are quite harsh. First, we have to go out and compel people to believe in the Lord. Second, after they believe, they have to "hate." Seemingly, this is against what Christianity teaches about being kind, loving, and broad, but this is indeed the Lord's word. Not only do we have to hate our parents and our wife, we also have to hate our self. The teaching of the Lord Jesus' is quite particular. Hymns #664 in Chinese says, "Rise up quickly and preach the gospel!" But the Lord's word goes even further; He wants us to rise up quickly and compel people. The secret to preaching the gospel is to have a zealous heart, to be crazy. A person who is crazy does not care for himself. Forty years ago I was crazy whenever I preached the gospel. However, I was not crazy to the extent of compelling others. For this reason, I feel that I am still indebted to the gospel.

Our main impression concerning the Gospel of Luke is that it is a sweet gospel. It tells us that the Lord Jesus is a good shepherd who is full of compassion. In His tender love He looks for us, He embraces and bears us, and He brings us back to His flock (15:1-7). This Gospel also tells us that the Lord is a good Samaritan. We are wounded and on the verge of death, but He binds our wounds and pours oil and wine on them (10:25-35). However, we never saw the matter that the Lord Jesus wants us to go and compel others, nor did we see that the Lord wants us to hate.

In Adam we were sentenced by God to die, to perish in the lake of fire forever (Heb. 9:27; John 3:16b; Rev. 21:8). This is man's destiny. This is why we need to give up the world and spend our time to preach the gospel to rescue fallen man from the lake of fire. Fanny Crosby, a sister who lived in the last century, wrote many hymns. One of these hymns (Hymns, #921) is concerning rescuing the perishing sinners. The first stanza and chorus of this hymn say:

Rescue the perishing,
Care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o'er the erring one,
Lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save.
Rescue the perishing,
Care for the dying;
Jesus is merciful,
Jesus will save.

We should be inspired by this matter. All the people on this earth are busy doing many things, but eventually they will perish. We need to have a heart to rescue the perishing, to care for the dying.

Hymns, #921 was written by Fanny Crosby, an American sister who was blind.