July 2

“lf so be that ye heard him.” Ephesians 4:21

After I was saved, I used to feel dissatisfied with Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost. It did not, I thought, make things clear at all, for there is nothing in it about the plan of salvation. How strange that Peter did not even use the title “Savior”!

But nevertheless, what was the result? The people, we are told, were pricked in their heart and cried, “What shall we do?” Again, to Cornelius Peter only spoke about who Christ was; he gave no explanation of the meaning of his death. Yet even so, the Holy Spirit fell upon them all.

The great weakness of present preaching of the gospel is that we try to make people understand the plan of salvation, or we try to drive people to the Lord through fear of sin and its consequences. Wherein have we failed? I am sure that it is in this, that our hearers do not see him. They only see “sin” or “salvation,” whereas their need is to see the Lord Jesus and touch him.