Deeper Life #248

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

—John 12:32

GALLIO WAS AN ORDINARY PAGAN—UPRIGHT, sterling, and just—and when they brought Paul before him he did not care for any of these things the apostle was saying. Gallio did not care for the apostle Paul either. He said, in effect, “If it is a question of justice or injustice, I am here to decide it. But do not come here with your religious quarrels; I have nothing whatever to do with them.”

We shall have opponents who ignore us. When they do, we should examine the kind of Lord Jesus we are erecting for them to observe. If we are teaching before the kind of pagan I have described—a person upright, righteous, and just, but without a spark of religion—and if we are only teaching that Jesus Christ can save sinners, that is not the Jesus Christ that person needs. We have to preach every aspect of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, revealed in God’s Word.

We must not teach only one phase of Christ’s work. Have I a pet doctrine I am working? Then those healthy-minded folks will simply heap ridicule on me. But when I share the whole gospel of Christ, something else happens. The Spirit of God begins to work where I cannot touch.

We must offer Christ as our hearers need Him. We must present Jesus Christ to their need!

Prayer Thought: O Lord, help me to present Your truth in all its glory.

SUGGESTED READING: 1 Corinthians 1:17–31