The Hearing of God's Word

'Do you see yonder wicket Gate?' Evangelist pointing Christian in Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress to the way of salvation

Letter from the Pastor (W.J. Seaton)

My Dear Friends,

In the year 1662, two thousand ministers of the Gospel, who were known as Puritans, entered their pulpits for what they believed to be the last time. They had not been able to bring themselves to worship in the way that the law of England then demanded, and for this, they were "ejected" on an August Sunday just over three hundred years ago. What were their thoughts as they faced their last day as ordained ministers of the Word?
Listen to their watchword…

I preach as never sure to preach again,
And as dying man to dying men.

Circumstances had forced them to realise very vividly one basic fact of the Christian ministry. A minister, or anyone, who stands before men and women to proclaim the message of God's Word, stands before them as a dying man. They must have questioned in their minds as that sad day drew near, "HOW LONG WILL I BE ABLE TO PREACH? But, here is another question, which especially applies to you unconverted people, who are prepared to listen to the preaching of the Gospel from week to week. HOW LONG WILL YOU HEAR? The preacher's voice will one day be silent, and the listener's ears will one day be unable to hear. But, here is the word of warning the listener's ears may be unable to hear long, long before the preacher's voice is silenced!

Listen to the word of one of the world's greatest preachers; his name was Amos - you will find his prophecy in the Old Testament. "Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the words of the Lord". Oh yes, the voice of Amos would one day be silenced; but the Lord would raise up another prophet, and another, and another. For it wasn't a famine of the PREACHING of the Word that the Lord was going to send, but a famine of the HEARING of the Word. The voice of the Gospel can ring out ever so clearly and yet fall upon hearts and minds and consciences that have been smitten by famine. They are hard and seared, and the life is gone. Is it any wonder that the Bible time and again warns about "being oft reproved"? "For, he, being often reproved and hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be cut off".

How long will I be able to preach? A question that must often come. But "How long will I be able to hear?" should be a question that is often upon a man or woman's lips.

"To the one we are the savour of death unto death;
and to the other the savour of life unto life".
(2nd Cor. 2 verse 16)

Yours sincerely
W.J. Seaton
(February 1967)

This Page Title – The Hearing of God's Word - The Pastor's Letter (W.J. Seaton)
The Wicket Gate Magazine "A Continuing Witness".
Internet Edition number 37 – placed on line July 2002
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