Have you been inoculated against sin?

 By Patricia Newman

Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.

Acts 17:30-31

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Mark 16:16

Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,
“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,”
and
“A stone of stumbling
And a rock of offense.”
They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

1 Peter 2:7-8

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

Romans 1:16

And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

Matthew 10:22

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Romans 10:14

 

At the start of our witness in Uxbridge on Friday, 23rd April, I heard Pastor John Sherwood speak these engaging words to passers-by as he heartily distributed tracts:

 

"Have you been inoculated against sin?

Come to the Saviour, make no delay."

 

Pastor Peter Simpson was at this time on the small step-ladder podium preaching. Pastor John soon followed. Within an hour, Pastor John was arrested by the police, pulled-down from the podium, his hands forced behind him, and marched off to spend some 21 hours in a police cell. What was Pastor Sherwood's crime?  Calling all sinners to repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21).

 

The sight of his arrest was truly distressing for all of us who were present, almost unreal. How can this happen in Britain with its long, blessed history of public declaration of the gospel?

Both Pastor John and Pastor Peter are courageous, faithful ministers who have made the call to witness to unbelievers a top priority in their ministry. They have not settled solely for the more comfortable duty of teaching in their churches. This is by no means to deny the importance and high calling of pastoral ministry. But despite hostility, revilings, sometimes even threats of violence, they continue to take the word of God out to the world regularly in open-air preaching. Obedience to Christ is too compelling, and the burden for the plight of lost is too great, to do otherwise. Faith without works is dead. This is living faith.

Every Christian is exhorted to be ready always to give a reason for the hope within. It is our great privilege, for as Christians, ours is a commission from on high, from the very Creator of the world – the King of kings and the Lord of lords – to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). It is especially the duty of pastors and ministers to preach this gospel in their churches and in public.

 

On the day of his arrest, Pastor John was simply doing his duty as a true minister of Christ. He was proclaiming the gospel and speaking of the great need for all sinners to repent and trust in Christ because there is forgiveness in Christ. The Bible teaches that there is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10). All have sinned and fall short of the standard of an infinitely holy God (Romans 3:23). People need to hear this truth.

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Romans 10:14

 

As the entirety of God's word is truth (Psalm 119:160), so a faithful minister must preach the whole counsel of God. The reason given for the arrest of Pastor John was that his preaching caused "alarm and distress" to a number of people from the LGBT community. From Genesis 1, Pastor John had explained the truth that God created two genders, male and female, and  instituted the family accordingly with the blessing that they should be fruitful and multiply. This, they claimed, was hate speech. Furthermore, Pastor Peter was told by one policeman to "avoid any homophobic statements". Portions of Scripture unacceptable to such people would have to be avoided to comply with the advice of the police. Sadly, much of the compromising and apostate "church" does just that. O that the words of the apostle Paul might be true of all those who are associated with the name of Christ:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

Romans 1:16

The message of the gospel is offensive to unbelievers. In their inherent and deadly pride, many refuse to accept the truth that they are sinners. But the gospel is in truth a gospel of love, and not hate. There is no higher act of love that a man can do for his fellow man than to warn of coming judgment and lead sinners to Christ – the only Saviour. It is love that compels true Christians in evangelism, and it was certainly love that was driving the pastor to address the issue of sin. The pastor preached against all manner of sins including homosexuality, adultery and fornication. As the recipients of God's forgiveness, Christians seek, in obedience to the Great Commission, to lead others to the same Saviour.

Those who are wise shall shine

Like the brightness of the firmament,

And those who turn many to righteousness

Like the stars forever and ever.

Daniel 12:3

Every day many people die unforgiven and unreconciled to the One Who paid so dearly for their souls. Before any minister can preach the gospel (good news), he must surely preach the bad news, which is that, in their unbelieving state, the wrath of a holy God remains upon unbelievers.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18

The world, sadly, despises the word of God. Any who dares to challenge secular wisdom by proclaiming the true and everlasting gospel is deemed offensive. God, the Creator of the world, indeed made them male and female and indeed told them to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:27-28). But this truth was considered so offensive as to warrant the arrest of a minister in Britain. How can this be? The nation is in a spiritual mess because we have turned away from God and His word. Men clearly love darkness rather than the light.

Your own wickedness will correct you,
And your apostasies will punish you;
Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter
For you to abandon the Lord your God,
And the fear of Me is not in you,” declares the Lord God of armies.

Jeremiah 2:19

I grieve for the nation and I particularly grieve that we are raising a generation of children and young people who are systematically denied the precious truths of God's word. Instead, they are fed lies on many issues including gender, marriage and the origin of the universe. The result is confusion, fear, hopelessness and despair. When we fail to anchor our children on the infinite wisdom and truths of God's word, we do them a gross and terrible injustice and the consequences are dire.

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Matthew 18:6

The leaders of this fallen world continue to conspire against the Lord's Anointed, Jesus Christ (Psalm 2). The results of this rebellion are all around us. In place of faith in the Almighty Creator of the universe, we have instead faith in science and faith in the state. There is salvation in neither science nor the state. Salvation is in Christ alone.

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Acts 4:12

Christ died for all, and all must come to Christ in order to be saved. The hymn to which Pastor John referred continues as follows:

Come to the Saviour, make no delay;

Here in His Word He's shown us the way;

Here in our midst He's standing today,

Tenderly saying, "Come!"

Joyful, joyful will the meeting be,

When from sin our hearts are pure and free;

And we shall gather, Saviour, with Thee,

In our eternal home.

To call sinners to the Saviour is to share the glorious life-changing gospel of love and mercy in Christ. It is not hate. It is totally unacceptable and disgraceful for a minister to be treated like a common offender for preaching the truths of God's word. To preach in public the truth that homosexuality is sin in the eyes of God the Creator of heaven and earth can never warrant the arrest of any minister. 

 

Pastor John preached that in Christ there is forgiveness for all sinners through repentance. It is a terrible indictment of modern Britain that a minister of God with a deep concern for the lost and who poses absolutely no threat to anyone should be so ill-treated by police officers for allegedly or potentially breaching Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 by his preaching. May the Lord God have mercy upon Britain should it continue this course, which is nothing short of denial of freedom of speech and persecution of Christians. 

 

The word of God cannot be silenced. The true ministers of God will continue to preach the whole counsel of God and will not, and cannot, preach a different and man-pleasing message. O the arrogance of sinful men! The truth shall prevail. Our glorious Lord Jesus is building His Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church of Jesus Christ.

 

"Have you been inoculated against sin?

Come to the Saviour, make no delay."

 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39