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  CALL TO COMPLETE COMMITMENT TO CHRIST
  by Victor Glenn
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Glenn's practical Christian exhortation addressing the necessity of wholehearted
spiritual dedication, with chapters examining the commitment of ears, eyes,
hands, and other faculties to hearing and obeying God's call in every area of
life.

  Chapters: 11

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 00. Call to Complete Commitment to Christ
    2. 01. Are Your Ears Committed To Hear God's Call?
    3. 02. Are Your Ears Committed To Hear The Heathen's Cry?
    4. 03. How Well Do You See?
    5. 04. Can You Be Moved With Compassion?
    6. 05. The Supreme Price For Your Redemption
    7. 06. Can We Make Christ's Sacrifice Meaningless?
    8. 07. How You Can Help Make Christ's Sacrifice Meaningful
    9. 08. Death Is The Price Paid For Spiritual Life
   10. 09. An Example Of Total Commitment
   11. 10. Our Task Requires Our Total Commitment

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  CHAPTER 1: 00. CALL TO COMPLETE COMMITMENT TO CHRIST
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CALL FOR COMPLETE COMMITMENT TO CHRIST By Victor Glenn This Book Was Produced By
Missionary Evangelistic Ministries Of The Evangelistic Faith Missions Bedford,
Indiana No Publication Date * * * * * * *

CONTENTS

Foreword 1. Are Your Ears Committed To Hear God’s Call? 2. Are Your Ears
Committed To Hear The Heathen’s Cry? 3. How Well Do You See? 4. Can You Be Moved
With Compassion? 5. The Supreme Price For Your Redemption 6. Can We Make
Christ’s Sacrifice Meaningless? 7. How You Can Help Make Christ’s Sacrifice
Meaningful 8. Death Is The Price Paid For Spiritual Life 9. An Example Of Total
Commitment 10. Our Task Requires Our Total Commitment * * * * * * *

FOREWORD

Just prior to Christ’s return to the throne of His father in heaven, He placed
the future of his work on earth in the hands of His disciples. These disciples,
in turn, handed down the work to each succeeding generation until today the
future of God’s work is left with you and me. We hold the future of missions in
our hands and its success or failure depends upon what we are willing to do to
see the message of the Gospel spread to the ends of the earth. If we fail to
share the message of Christ with a lost and perishing world it just will not be
shared with them at all. I wonder if you fully understand what this means in
terms of the feeding of orphans, the functioning of clinics, the establishing of
churches, and the general work of evangelism among the lost in other lands? Yes,
my friend, the future of missionary work is in your hands; what will you do to
see that its future is bright with hope for a lost and perishing world? Your
prayers and gifts for the missionary work is of vital importance if the great
commission of Christ is fulfilled in our times.

* * * * * * * Digital Edition 03-23-2018 By Holiness Data Ministry * * * * * * *


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  CHAPTER 2: 01. ARE YOUR EARS COMMITTED TO HEAR GOD'S CALL?
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1 -- ARE YOUR EARS COMMITTED TO HEAR GOD’S CALL?

I wonder if you have given consideration to the need for a total commitment of
your life to Christ? Have you thought much about the fact that the great
commission will go on unfulfilled except as you yield yourself to such a
complete commitment? Without it the lost heathen world will go on in their
darkness with their souls unreached and their needs unmet. Our entire being must
get involved in the work of world evangelism. Not only our hearts but our hands,
our feet, our ears, and every other human faculty. Think with me of the total
commitment that Christ gave to the task laid upon Him. The scriptures tell us
that He gave His back to the smiters and they wounded His hands and His feet.
Yes, Christ got totally involved in an effort to purchase man from the slavery
of sin. I wonder just how much this has meant to you as an individual! What have
you done to make Him known to others? Just how fully involved are you in the
work of winning a lost world to Christ? Does God have complete charge of your
human faculties -- your eyes, your voice, your hands, your ears? The question
that comes to my mind just now is this, "Just what do you hear?" Do you hear
things that remind you of your obligation to Jesus Christ? Do you hear things
that help and bless and things that are of major importance in the promoting of
the glorious Gospel of Christ? We need to hear God’s voice if a heathen world is
ever to hear God’s message.

Certainly there are many voices. There is the voice of selfishness that beckons
us to take care of our own interests to the exclusion of all other interests;
there is the voice of worldliness that invites us to seek the joys and pleasures
that it provides; there is the voice of carelessness and indifference. O! My
friend, are you listening to these voices? Are you lending your ears to the
voice that suggests that you make your own plans, and that you leave God out of
them? I do not feel that I can overstress the need of proper hearing, for if you
do not hear and heed God’s voice, the heathen will never hear that voice.

I believe there are many needs unmet and unfulfilled on the fields simply
because we as individuals have failed to hear the voice of God speaking to us.
We are not distressed over the situation simply because our ears that should be
hearing the distress signals are not hearing them. We must become distressed; we
must get involved in some capacity, in some way. I believe every true child of
God will have a part in the fulfilling of the great commission of Christ. I
believe also that our love for Christ will be measured by our obedience to His
command.

I wonder if you have been too preoccupied with your own plans that you have not
listened nor heard the voice of God? I would ask you to do no more than to be
honest with yourself in this regard. How many would hear the Gospel if it were
left up to you? How many would be brought under the influence of the message of
salvation as a result of your sacrifice, your prayers, your concern? Are you
satisfied to go on uncommitted and unconcerned?

I am not speaking to you about some small incidental situation. I’m speaking to
you concerning the life or death of precious perishing souls. Multitudes are
waiting to hear while you are ignoring the signals of distress. O! How I pray
that God will help me to challenge your soul with this serious truth. Certainly
it would not be my intention to overlook the tremendous sacrifices made by some
of God’s children for I am well aware of the involvement that individuals have
entered into in regard to the work of world evangelism. Yet there is so much
more that needs to be done. Yes, some have gone, but more need to go; some have
given, but more must be given; some have prayed, but there must be more earnest
prayer.

Certainly our efforts will not be overlooked by the one who placed this
tremendous responsibility upon our shoulders. If you will give your total being
into His hands, I’m sure He will grant to each individual a full reward. The
rewards may not come in the usual way that individuals look for rewards, but
they will come in trophies of grace to lay at the Master’s feet.

I think of a young lady in the land of Ethiopia by the name of Jeanette. This
young girl was taught by her grandfather. She had been trained to be rough and
tough and unafraid, tier home had been broken up and her young heart torn apart
by the tragic experience. She sought satisfaction by attending the Coptic
church, but her heart need remained unmet. During her time of searching for
something to satisfy, she was invited to one of our services and there she
yielded her life to Jesus Christ. Her life took on new meaning and she began
taking the message of salvation to the various villages. On Friday a group of
women would come for prayer and she would witness to them of God’s great plan of
salvation, and many of them were saved. The next time they met two more were
converted and tracts were asked for. Yes, this young lady was able to hear of
Christ because some of you heard the voice of God and did something about it.

I think also of a man from Guatemala by the name of Felix. He was not acquainted
with the Gospel, but the missionaries took the message to his village. The
missionaries held services and he would come and listen outside the building,
but would not go inside. Sometime later he was converted and became a faithful
child of God. In order to meet the needs of his family, he did farming and had a
team of oxen and a couple of mules and other farm animals. During a time when
the one mule was left out to pasture, it was stolen and Felix went in search of
his lost possession. As he journeyed, he was met by a drunken individual who
pulled a gun and leveled it right at Felix. Felix bowed his head in prayer as he
sat in the saddle and told the Lord that he wanted His will. The drunken
individual lowered his gun and went on his way and Felix was unharmed. He was
not able to find his lost mule and some people told him to go to a spiritualist
medium and she would know how to find it for him. This Felix refused to do. He
resolved to trust the Lord for his animal and the brethren prayed with him for
its safe return. One day Felix came with rejoicing telling them that the animal
had been found and that the Lord, not the devil, had helped him to find it.
Today, two of this man’s daughters are wives of preachers and the message of
salvation is going forth. Here again are some of the results of someone hearing
the voice of God. We need a complete commitment of our ears to hear if others,
like Felix, are going to have an opportunity to hear.

If you will give your ears to hear the voice of God, I’m sure that voice will
have something to say to you in regard to the work of reaching lost souls with
the Gospel of Christ. There is so much that yet remains to be done. I trust that
you will listen to God’s voice and act upon what that voice tells you to do in
helping us reach a lost and perishing world with the Gospel.

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  CHAPTER 3: 02. ARE YOUR EARS COMMITTED TO HEAR THE HEATHEN'S CRY?
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2 -- ARE YOUR EARS COMMITTED TO HEAR THE HEATHEN’S CRY?

It is not only necessary that our ears hear the voice of God, but they must also
hear the cry of a lost heathen world. Certainly we must be tuned to hear the
voice oi God and then act upon what that voice has to say to us, but we must
also be tuned to hear the voice that calls out of the darkness and despair of
heathen night. The scriptures tell us that he that hath ears, let him hear and
in Romans 10:1-21, we are told of the tremendous importance of hearing. In
Romans 10:14, it says, "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? And how shall they preach, except they be
sent?" Surely this scripture makes it very clear that our hearing is
tremendously important.

Jesus Christ heard the call of the father and came forth to give His life a
ransom for many. He did not try to escape the cross. Surely He could have
escaped it. He could have called ten thousand angels to destroy this world and
set Him free, but He chose rather to die for you and me. He chose to die that we
might have the blessings of salvation. Yes, there was a price that Christ had to
pay and there is a price that you and I must pay also. Are we willing to pay the
price as Christ was willing? Are we tuned to hear the voice that calls us to
such kind of sacrifice? I somehow feel that if the church had obeyed that voice,
the world would have been evangelized by this present hour. We would be in an
entirely different situation than we are in. Yet though others have not heard,
we must hear and we must heed what the voice suggests to us. How are you hearing
just now as you read these lines? Can you hear as well as the earlier disciples
heard who suffered all kinds of persecution for the cause of Christ? They
rendered more than lip service. They went forth in spite of dungeon, fire, and
sword. They moved forward regardless of the obstacles placed in their way by the
enemy. In these pages I am not only asking that you hear the voice of God but
that you hear the voice of multiplied millions who have never yet heard the name
of Jesus one single time. What do you suppose you would hear if you heard the
voice of a lost heathen world? Would it be a voice calling for pleasure or for
worldly gain? Would it be a voice calling on us to bring them our culture or our
environment? No, my friend, the voice of the lost is a voice that calls for
something altogether different. I’m sure if you hear the voice of a perishing
world, you will hear the pitiful cry of despair. The cry of the heathen is often
a cry of hunger. It may be a beggar trying to gain a morsel of bread or it may
be a child at the orphanage gate pleading for a place to call home. I think of
an incident in the life of one of our missionaries. Miss Boyer was traveling in
the jeep when she saw a woman on her hands and knees crawling along the ground.
The woman seemed to be feeling the ground in search of something or other. Miss
Boyer stopped the jeep and approached the woman only to discover that she was
blind. The woman told the missionary that she had been feeling along the ground
for grain that might have fallen from the sacks of the people who gathered it.
She was so hungry that she would feel for grain until she would find a little
handful to keep her from starvation. Yes, theirs is a tremendous cry of hunger.

Perhaps it is not this cry that you will hear. Perhaps it will be the cry of
pain from someone entering our clinic with some physical suffering. It may be
someone who has dragged themselves across the miles to the clinic in hopes of
finding some relief for their pitiful situation.

Perhaps this would not be the cry that your ears would hear at all. Maybe your
ears would be shattered by the cry of those who mourn the passing of loved ones.
You would hear the wail of the mourners as they cry out in despair without a
hope of seeing those loved ones again. O! What a sad and pitiful wail that often
ascends from the hearts of those who have just experienced the departure of
loved ones. I wonder if your ears are tuned to hear any of these despairing
cries today? I’m sure if you will listen, you will hear the weepings and
wailings of a lost world.

Surely their cry must be answered with positive action on our part. Yet I
believe there is an even more serious cry that is more important than all of
those that I have mentioned. I am well aware of the fact that hunger, pain,
want, and death are cries that are extremely important, yet there is a spiritual
hunger that goes beyond all of these. The pain of sin unforgiven and the living
death of a life outside of Christ is far more serious than any physical
suffering could ever be. I wonder if you can hear the awful wail of the lost as
they plunge into a Christless eternity? What must the cry be like of those who
sink into hell’s darkness forever without a ray of hope and without the
knowledge that we might have shared with them? Certainly there could be no cry
more heart-rending than the wail of a lost soul perishing in the darkness
forever. When you think of the fact that we have what they need, it leaves us
without excuse. Their need refutes every argument we might have for our lethargy
in regard to getting the Gospel message out to them. Certainly there is not a
reason we can offer that will stand the test of the white light of God’s
judgment. Even while I am writing to you, there are those passing into eternal
night. O! How long can we go on unheeding the voice of God and the voice of lost
multitudes?

I think of a village in Guatemala. It took two or three years before we were
able to answer the call to come to them with the Gospel message. They even built
a road so that our missionaries could get through to the area, but it still took
a couple of years to get there. Their call for the Gospel was responded to by
our missionaries, but being short-handed, it took quite a long time. It was not
because of any indifference on the part of the missionaries that the long delay
was necessary. It was lack of laborers that deferred our going to them with the
Gospel. We were told that one man literally leaned against the jeep when the
first missionaries arrived and wept openly for the joy that flooded his heart.
The missionaries had arrived at last and he was overjoyed at their coming.

I would remind you that there are many calls that we could fill if we had the
means to fill them. There are pleas that come in regard to churches that need to
be built. We must build in Cairo, Egypt, and this is an order of the government.
Calls come to us from the other fields as well. There are needs in Korea,
Eritrea, Guatemala, and other areas as well. Yes, the call comes ringing across
the restless waves for us to send the light. I repeat again the fact that we
must hear the voice of God and the voice of a lost perishing world if our
obligations are to be realized. When you think of the fact that you would not
have the Gospel if someone had not heard, I would not have it and multiplied
thousands of our own people would not have it! I wonder if I can get you to
realize this tremendous fact? Are you hearing and are you heeding as you read
the message that you now have in your hands? Give your ears in total, complete
commitment to Christ that He might fill them with His message, and that you. in
turn, might share that message with a lost and perishing world: I’m sure if you
will do this, the work that needs to be done will get done and a giant step will
have been taken toward the salvation of the lost in other lands.

After you have given your ears to hear, it is important that you take a similar
step by giving your eyes in complete commitment so that you might see the
whitened harvest fields. One of the problems that I have faced with my eyesight
is nearsightedness. I must wear thick lenses so that my vision might be
unimpaired and so that I can see clearly. I mention this to mention the fact
that I do not want to be nearsighted when it comes to seeing the tragic needs of
a lost world. I do not want to be physically handicapped when it comes to
catching a clear vision of a world without the Saviour. I would ask you just how
well do you see? Is the message that I am sharing with you getting through to
your heart? I trust that you will not only see words on paper, but that you will
catch a glimpse of a world for whom Christ died and a world that is still
awaiting the feet of those who will bring the glad tidings to them. Yes, my
friend, how well do you see?

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  CHAPTER 4: 03. HOW WELL DO YOU SEE?
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3 -- HOW WELL DO YOU SEE? In an earlier message, I asked you some questions
concerning your ears and just how well they hear the voice of God and the voice
of a lost and perishing world. Not only do our ears need to be totally committed
to Christ, but our eyes also need this total commitment. Just how well do you
see?

I am not speaking to you concerning your natural vision for I am well aware of
the fact that natural vision varies in each individual. My question is given to
you in regard to your spiritual vision. How well do you see the whitened harvest
field that Jesus spoke about? Certainly we need to see the fields. Jesus said to
His disciples, "Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh the
harvest? behold, I say unto you, lift your eyes and look on the fields: for they
are white already to harvest."

I believe Jesus is making it as clear as it can be made that we must see the
need of the harvest. It is absolutely essential that our eyes are open and
looking upon the ripening grain. If our eyes are open to this tremendous need,
we will discover that we have a vision that alerts us. It awakens us and leaves
us with no excuse for further delay. What right has any individual to quiet his
conscience in this regard when multitudes are perishing without the light of the
Gospel? Perishing multitudes need to be harvested now. I trust that God will
help us not to push this need aside into some small corner of the church
program. Certainly any deferment of God’s plan is inexcusable.

Again I notice that this is a personal look. Each one of us have eyes that must
see the need. There are so many that have a limited and narrow vision. Until
your vision is world-wide in its scope, it is less than God intends it to be.
Will you not lift up your eyes until you see clearly the fact that a perishing
heathen world is entitled to have the same message of redemption that has been
given to you and me. I believe we need to have our attention drawn away from the
things around us. I do not say that we need to lose sight of our local
responsibilities. No, not at all. But along with that local vision, you need a
world-wide vision that takes in the needs of the lost everywhere. Look beyond
your own doorstep; look beyond your own little circle. Look and see the
staggering needs of men and women who are without opportunity to hear what you
have heard. They have no way to receive what you have received. I have prayed in
preparing these pages that God would anoint my heart and my efforts that your
heart might be challenged to put forth more effort for His cause and kingdom. I
want God to attract your attention and get your eyes fixed on the harvest that
must be gathered in before the sun sets on this generation.

Notice that the lifting up of the eyes revealed the field. All the disciples had
to do was look and the field was right before their eyes. There it was ripe and
ready and waiting for reapers to gather it in. The laborers are needed when the
fields are ready to be reaped. This is why we need your help on the mission
field today. Our fields are white unto harvest, but the laborers are not too
large in number. O! That God will grant that the vision of this will grip your
heart. The storm clouds are gathering; can you see them? The clock on the wall
is telling us that time is running out. Can you see that clock?

Again I would suggest that a real look at the need will be a costly look. There
will be a price to pay if you see the need. The apostle Paul saw it and the
price paid is catalogued for us in 2 Corinthians 11:1-33, where he tells us of
the five beatings received from his adversaries; the three times that he was
beaten with rods; the time he was stoned and the several times he had suffered
shipwreck. He further says, "A night and a day I have been in the deep; In
journeyings often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine
own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in
the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In
weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and in thirst, in
fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things which are without,
that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches."

Certainly Paul paid a tremendous price when he made a total commitment of
himself to Jesus Christ. I’m sure history would reveal the fact that many of
God’s children paid a tremendous price to follow the Master and fulfill the
great commission that He had left them. Yet with all that they have paid in the
past, there is yet a price to pay today. I do not know just what that price
might mean for you as an individual, but I do know it will involve your total
being; it will involve all that there is of you m your time, your talents, your
abilities, your material possessions; yes, it will involve everything. And yet
when you have paid the full price of full surrender, you will discover that you
have paid a price far less than that paid by Jesus Christ. No matter how much we
may give, He has given more; no matter how much we have sacrificed, His
sacrifice was greater. You and I may give our hands to the task of reaching
others, but He gave His to the Roman spikes; we may give our heads to the task
of thinking up ways in which to promote His interests, but He gave His head to
be crowned in mockery with common thorns such as first sprung up in Adam’s Eden.
Yes, you can give, but remember He gave more; you can go, but remember that He
went a little farther.

We just cannot outgive God. Certainly He will be no man’s debtor. O! The debt of
gratitude that is yet unpaid by those who have been the recipients of His
matchless blessings. I ask you, are you satisfied to allow your debt to go
unpaid? Are you satisfied to allow others to pay a tremendous price in giving
themselves in total commitment when you do less than your best? I am not
scolding; I am not accusing; I am only trying to challenge your hearts with the
tremendous unfinished task that must be faced if we are to ever hear the "well
done" of the Master. I wonder if the "well done" might be "undone" if we do not
hasten and get on with the vital business of reaching the lost with the glorious
Gospel of Christ? O! That God will help each individual to pay whatever price is
necessary in fulfilling their obligation to the Master.

I would suggest to you that all is not cost and price in this work of reaching
the lost. I’m glad that I can share with you the fact that this is also a
rewarding work. You can lift up your eyes and see souls enjoying the bliss of
heaven who might have been lost in Hell. The same God who fills your heart with
concern and compassion will show you the fruits of that concern and compassion.
I believe there are missionaries gone on to glory who are now enjoying the
fellowship of those they had helped to win in the whitened harvest fields. I
believe my parents are rejoicing on the banks of the river over souls they met
along the Nile River in Egypt. They did not realize many earthly rewards down
here, yet I believe they are realizing the rich heavenly rewards up there. I
feel that if you could somehow see the rich rewards it would help you to join
more earnestly in the battle. Certainly you would be asking more earnestly than
ever before, "Lord, what would you have me to do?"

Child of God, are you lifting up your eyes today? Are you looking toward the
fields that are white unto harvest? The song writer encourages us to do this
when he writes, "Lord, give me a vision, Oh, help me to see, The needs all
around me; Souls dying for thee, Oh, make me a blessing, As onward I go. By
telling the story; that others may know. Lord, give me a vision, Of fields that
are white, Souls that we must gather; E’er cometh the night, Dark shadows are
gathering, And some will be lost. Some neighbor or brother; How awful the cost.
Lord give me a vision, Lest empty I stand, There at the great judgment; No
sheaves in my hand, No labour of Love, To offer my King. With nothing but leaves
then; The Master to bring. Lord, give me a vision, Oh, help me to see, Some
neighbor today Lord, And bring him to thee, That on that glad morning, Some soul
there may say. ’Twas your prayers that saved me; you showed me the way." Yes,
Ross Minkler challenges our hearts with these words that suggest we get our eyes
open and look upon the fields. I challenge you to look. I’m sure if you will
look, you will never be the same again. If you will look, you will see their
need and you will desire to do something about it. Dare we hug our blessings to
our bosoms? Can we keep God’s blessings without sharing them with others? I ask
you to look with me and join with me in sharing the Gospel of Christ with a
perishing world.

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  CHAPTER 5: 04. CAN YOU BE MOVED WITH COMPASSION?
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4 -- CAN YOU BE MOVED WITH COMPASSION?

I have been trying to impress upon your consciousness the need for a total
commitment of your whole being to Christ for the express purpose of making Him
known to a lost and perishing world. I have pointed out the fact that your ears
must hear the voice of God and must also hear the cry of a world yet unreached
with the saving message of the Gospel. I have also pointed out the need for
lifting up your eyes and looking upon the fields that are white unto harvest. In
this chapter, I would point out that not only do you need to hear and see, but
you also must get emotionally involved in reaching others with the Gospel. Our
ears must hear, our eyes must see, and our emotions must get stirred to action.
If we see the need and hear the desperate cry, but fail to act upon what we see
and hear, it will accomplish absolutely nothing. Our efforts to convince you of
the need of your involvement count for naught if you fail to take the necessary
action. Your vision must be sufficiently clarified until it imparts something to
your soul concerning the personal part you have to play in the fulfillment of
God’s plan and purpose.

I could point you to no greater example in this regard than the example of our
Lord during His earthly ministry. The scriptures tell us that the very feelings
of Jesus were involved in the needs of humanity. In Matthew, chapter 9:36, we
read, "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them,
because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd."
At this time Israel was slave to Rome and in tremendous bondage and Jesus looked
with compassion upon their situation. This word "compassion" has tremendous
meaning. It is not speaking of a casual glance nor a casual interest. It is
speaking of an interest that continues to be interested. It means to "suffer
with or to have feeling for" someone or something. Jesus is saying that He
suffers with the multitude who are scattered as sheep; He has deep feeling for a
people who are held in bondage by a foreign power. You will notice that the
disciples seem to lack this depth of compassion for the:~ would send the
multitudes away in their fainting, half-starved condition. But the one who was
moved with compassion just could not cast them aside that easily. The heart of
Christ was too deeply wrought upon to make any such snap decision. Instead of
sending them away, He instructs His disciples to see that they are given
something to eat lest they faint in the way. What Christ is saying is this, "If
you really care, share; if you are truly interested in doing the work that I
have called you to do, get started right here and now." Here was a great
opportunity for service and the disciples were seemingly uninterested in it. O!
I feel that if Christ were present today in our generation, His words to us
would differ very little from those uttered to His disciples so many generations
ago. Jesus would look with compassion upon a lost heathen world held in fetters
far more severe than those of the Romans; He would look with sympathetic concern
upon a people held in sin’s slavery, and He would charge you and me with the
responsibility of seeing to it that their spiritual hunger is satisfied. How
easy it is to say, "Send them away." How easy it is to place the responsibility
upon the shoulders of someone else. The responsibility is yours and mine. We
cannot shrug our shoulders and thereby escape the obligations that our own union
with Christ places upon us. O! How we need to see this world through the eyes of
the Saviour! How we need to look as He looked and feel as He felt! Certainly
your emotions will be stirred when you see as He sees. Not only in this
instance, but in many others, Jesus reveals His compassionate concern for lost
humanity. Look at Him as He enters into the garden and goes a little farther
than the other disciples had gone. See Him as the tremendous burden of concern
presses Him to the earth in an agony of prayer for others. Now look at the area
occupied by the disciples and see them sleeping through the hours of His awful
agony. Could they not watch with Him one hour? Could we say that their hearts
were sufficiently stirred to action? Yet, I would not ask you to fault the
disciples for their indifference until you have made full examination of your
own. How well do you sleep through the agonizing realization that a world is
lost in the darkness of sin? I wonder sometimes if we do not sleep all too well
while a world wanders on without the light of the Gospel of Christ! Look at
Christ as He moves from Gethsemane to the judgment hall and on to the Mount
called Calvary. Watch Him suffer all the pains of death and hell in your behalf
and mine. O! The depth of compassion revealed to us in the life and death of
Jesus Christ. He had compassion, and it is this compassion that He seeks to
impart to His followers. Do you have compassion on others? Is your heart moved
to action as a result of Christ’s concern?

I suppose next to the compassion of Christ there would be no greater example
than that given to us in the life of the apostle Paul. It was Paul who made such
an impassioned plea for his own brethren who were outside the ark of safety.
Paul tells us that he is willing to be accursed for his kinsmen; he tells us
that he is willing to be lost in their behalf. Yes, He is willing to go to Hell
if need be, if it will result in their salvation. What total commitment this is!
A willingness to forfeit his own place in Heaven to take another’s place in
Hell. When I search my own heart, I do not know that I could speak as the
apostle has spoken; I do not know that I would have that depth of compassion
that I would be willing to spend an eternity in Hell for the salvation of
others. Certainly there is a depth of compassion suggested here that defies
every means we might employ to measure it. It represents a compassion that
cannot be measured.

Certainly Paul occupies a position in this regard that would seldom be sought or
envied by others. I am not asking you to join Paul in his total
self-abandonment; I am not asking that you commit yourself to be lost that
others might be saved. Certainly it would not be my intention to make such a
demand upon any individual. My concern is not that you be willing to die for
others, although that might be involved in it; but what I am asking is that
which Jesus asked, and that is that you live for others. Jesus calls upon us to
get involved by doing all that we can possibly do to reach them with the Gospel.
He calls for a selfless service and an unselfish effort to share this Gospel
message with the entire world. You will recall the fact that Christ fed the five
thousand with just a boy’s lunch. What a miracle was wrought in that feeding! I
ask you, can He not do the same today if we will but do our part in supplying
Him with the temporal necessities? I can assure you that the Lord has performed
miracles in stretching your missionary dollar; He has reached out much farther
than you or I could have reached, and I am convinced that He will continue to do
so ff we will make the funds available.

I wonder just what you would think of the feeding of the five thousand if Christ
had only fed the first couple of rows, and then after feeding them would go back
over those rows again and again taking no interest in the many rows behind them?
I’m sure we would see the injustice of such a situation immediately; yet are we
not doing much the same here at home today? Have we not fed the first few rows
over and over again with the Father’s bread while the back rows occupied by a
lost heathen world is left with needs unmet. How shall we account for such
injustice when we stand before the bar of infinite justice? O! How we need a
sense of compassion today.

I would invite you to go with me to a hut on the mission field. Witness with me
an old man about to change worlds without the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Is it
not to our shame and discredit that such an individual should be perishing
without the light of the Gospel? Go with me also to another scene perhaps even
more tragic than this one. Look with me as the heathen perform their burial
ceremony in which a live baby is buried with the dead mother. What a picture of
unutterable tragedy! Such a thing would seem unthinkable to the average
civilized mind, yet such a thing has happened in lands unenlightened by the
glorious Gospel of Christ. I do not suggest that we can change the entire
situation, but I do suggest that we can try. We may not be able to win all men
to Christ, but surely we can be effective in winning some of them. There is so
much to do and so few to help get it done. The needs are staggering, yet we dare
not fail in doing all that we can to meet them. Will you not listen to the voice
of God and the cry of a perishing world? Will you not lift up your eyes to a
harvest dead ripe unto harvest? And will you not ask God to grant you the
compassionate concern that will help us to do something about their lost
condition? Our efforts can only be effective as you join with us in making
Christ known.


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  CHAPTER 6: 05. THE SUPREME PRICE FOR YOUR REDEMPTION
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5 -- THE SUPREME PRICE FOR YOUR REDEMPTION

Anything worthwhile usually has a price associated with it. It costs something
if it is worth something. The price paid is usually indicative of its value to
the one paying the price. The cost involved usually suggests to us something of
the purchaser’s expectations of the thing paid for. Certainly no greater cost
has ever gone into anything such as was involved in your redemption and mine.
God paid in coin that no stamping plant could manufacture; He paid the cost in a
way that sinks all other costs into insignificance. God gave the very treasure
of heaven to purchase a lost and perishing world.

I believe this is suggested to us in that great golden text of the Bible where
it says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Doubtless this verse is about as familiar to the average individual as any text
in the Bible, yet I wonder if we haven’t repeated it all too often without
taking time to give full consideration to it. In fact, there is so much to be
found in this text that I have been reluctant to even begin trying to fathom its
depths. I feel my own limitations as I try to write to you concerning it. O! The
depth of the riches of God’s grace that is revealed to us in this tremendous
text.

How much is involved in that word "so"? God "so" loved. I wonder if that little
word "so" does not have a measureless meaning; I wonder if it does not express
something that our language is too poverty-stricken to interpret? I would
suggest to you that the word involves all that has been revealed concerning the
selfless sacrifice of Christ in behalf of a world on its way to perdition. All
the grief and the groanings of Gethsemane along with all the agonies of the
cross are wrapped up in that one lone expression. Beside this I believe that all
the wretchedness of man and all the darkness of heathenism is wrapped up in that
little word "so."

God’s love moved Him to do something about it; His love moved Him to give. And
when He gave, He gave the very best that he had to give. I do not feel we would
be overstating the case to say that God bankrupted heaven to provide a plan of
salvation for lost and perishing souls. He took from heaven its fairest jewel
and placed it in the mire of humanity; He took the richest treasure heaven could
afford and robed it in garments of flesh and blood.

I notice here that the expressed love of God was not for any select few nor for
a certain segment of society; He did not send forth His son to any predetermined
country or people. The love expressed by God is a Universal love. It extends
beyond the broad borders of our Atlantic or Pacific shores; it reaches deep into
the heart of heathendom; it extends to all men everywhere. There is no race nor
color excluded from the provisions of Calvary.

I am conscious of the fact that we think of Christ as paying one single price
for our redemption, and I’m sure this is a proper concept of His sufferings, yet
I believe there is a sense in which He paid a price over and over again while in
the days of His flesh. He paid a price in regard to His own people. He came unto
His own and His own received Him not. He was an outcast in His own world. The
world His hands had created was hostile to His presence in it. Think of the
price paid in His rejection by His own disciples; think of how He was wounded in
the house of His friends. Yes, the price is paid over and over again in many
different ways. Time would fail us to tell of the mental sufferings, the
emotional upheaval, the nervous strain, the temporal poverty, and the compound
physical sufferings -- all of this and more also. Perhaps the climax of it all
is the feeling of rejection as He hangs between heaven and earth crying out the
sinner’s prayer, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me." O! How it ought to
shock us into a wide-awake condition; how it ought to break our hearts until we
would never be the same again. The thing that ought to shock us most is the fact
that the price He was paying was the price you and I deserved to pay; Jesus
Christ was taking our place by paying a debt that you and I actually owed. My
friend, let this truth grip your heart with a fresh consciousness of the debt of
gratitude you owe to God for taking your place on the cross. We need to think of
His Gethsemane as our Gethsemane; His cruel trial and mockery as ours; His
crucifixion as our crucifixion. It was you and I who deserved to be spit upon,
mocked, and rejected. O! The tremendous price that God has paid in giving
heaven’s brightest treasure to purchase earth’s most degraded member of human
society.

I wonder if you can envision with me the awful traumatic experience that was
Christ’s as He passed from one human crisis to another in His effort to purchase
our redemption. Think of the fact that the one who made the world had no place
to lay His head in that world. His own lips tell us that the foxes have holes
and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath no place to lay His
head. What tragedy; what a pathetic situation! Think of Him as He presses His
way into the garden feeling the awful pressure of man’s guilt and sin. Think of
Him as He sweats as it were great drops of blood on your behalf and mine. Now go
with me to the judgment hall and witness the cruel mockings and the ugly
lacerations laid open by the scourge of cords. With open and bleeding wounds on
His back, there is a cross placed upon it to heighten the suffering that was
even then practically unbearable. With the weight of man’s sins upon His heart
and the weight of the cross upon His back, He fell beneath the tremendous load
until another had to be found to bear the cross up Calvary’s rugged brow. Can
you think of all this pain and suffering inflicted without one act of kindness
being shown to the one suffering it? Can you imagine what agony must have been
involved in the compounding of that suffering by driving spikes into His hands
and feet? The thought of such sufferings seems totally intolerable to the human
mind. We just naturally recoil from such barbarous cruelty regardless of the
seriousness of the crime committed. Yet in this case it was no crime of His own.
It was my crime and yours; it was my sin and your sin that caused heaven to pay
so tremendous a price for redemption. O! How I pray that God shall use this
truth to stir your heart afresh as you give consideration to the cost of your
own redemption. The song writer tried to put his feelings into words when he
stated, "From Calvary a cry was heard, A bitter and heart-rending cry; My
Saviour’s every mournful word, Bespeaks thy soul’s deep agony. A horror of great
darkness fell, On thee, thou spotless, holy one! And all the swarming hosts of
hell, conspired to tempt God’s only son. The scourge, the thorns, the deep
disgrace, These thou couldst bear, nor once repine; But when Jehovah veiled His
face, unutterable pangs were thine. Let the dumb world its silence break; Let
pealing anthems rend the sky; Awake, my sluggish soul, awake! He died, that we
might never die. Lord, on thy cross I fix mine eye: If e’er I lose its strong
control, O let that dying, piercing cry, Melt and reclaim my wandering soul."
Another tried to put feelings into words when he said, "’Tis finished! The
Messiah dies, Cut off for sins, but not His own; Accomplished is the sacrifice,
The great redeeming work is done. ’Tis finished! All the debt is paid; Justice
divine is satisfied; The grand and full atonement made; Christ for a guilty
world hath died. Death, hell, and sin are now subdued; all grace is now to
sinners given; And, Lo, I plead the atoning blood, And in thy right I claim my
heaven."

O! Can you not see in this the greatness of the price paid? Can you not see in
some measure what it cost God to make redemption possible? I suppose if I could
hear your answer just now, you would be agreeing with me stating that you do see
God’s cost, and you do see the tremendous price paid by Jesus Christ. Doubtless,
you would be glad to tell me that you have accepted that price paid and have
come into the knowledge of sins forgiven. You are a child of God; you are a
Christian. Certainly that would be a wonderful testimony, yet I wonder if we are
sharing this tremendous message with others as we ought to share it? Are you
entering fully into the cost that yet needs to be paid by God’s children in
advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Certainly God is not asking us to be
crucified on a cross, but He is calling upon us to take up our cross. And I
believe that cross is the obligation of telling others of the good news of
redemption. God wants the price He paid to grip us until there will be a price
we are willing to pay. Jesus paid the price of bringing salvation into the
world, and we must pay the price of spreading it to the ends of the earth. Are
you joining with us in this tremendous effort?

* * * * * * *


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  CHAPTER 7: 06. CAN WE MAKE CHRIST'S SACRIFICE MEANINGLESS?
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6 -- CAN WE MAKE CHRIST’S SACRIFICE MEANINGLESS?

I have mentioned to you the tremendous price that Christ and God have paid for
our redemption. It took heaven’s treasure to reach to the deepest depth of man’s
spiritual need. The question I have for you now is this: "Can that tremendous
price be rendered meaningless by our failure to share it with others?" I’m sure
this is a thought-provoking question, and it ought to shock us to our very
depths for I believe that the entire price paid for our salvation is meaningless
if we fail to tell the world about it. Of what value would the discovery of a
cure for cancer be if it were never applied to the sad and painful condition of
those who suffer from cancer? Suppose Madam Curie had spent her long hours and
tedious labor in discovering radium only to find that no one was interested in
propagating her discovery? Of what importance would the discovery of the New
World have been if Columbus had never returned to the Old World to declare his
discovery? I believe that all of God’s efforts to reach a perishing world would
be without rhyme or reason if all of that cost were buried in the tomb outside
Jerusalem. This message of Christ’s sacrifice must be told if it is to
accomplish the purpose that God intends it to accomplish.

I believe this is the reason that Christ stressed this to His disciples; this is
why He insisted that they go and teach all nations. He knew that His efforts
depended upon the cooperation of those to whom the message was given. Why go
through the agonies of the cross? Why bleed and die if those for whom He was to
die are never told of His death? There are countless thousands that are yet
waiting to hear of the Saviour’s great sacrifice paid upon Calvary. Even though
we have had the Gospel for around twenty centuries we have somehow failed to
proclaim its provisions to the ends of the earth as we should have.

Yes, Christ wanted the news of His death to be made known. He did not give them
some local assignment; He did not tell them to go just to their own locality and
tell their loved ones that the sacrificial lamb had been slain as an atonement
for sin. Jesus Christ gave the most wide-sweeping and world-encore passing
commission ever given to men. He wanted the price paid to be known in the
remotest regions of the earth. Wherever man made his habitation, there the
Gospel was to go. His commission and command was to begin in Jerusalem and from
there they were to spread out into the regions of Judea and from there into
Samaria and then they were to fan out into the entire world, even to the
uttermost parts of the earth. No organization could have given a more
world-encompassing assignment than this one given to Christ’s followers. The
world has developed and invented many gods, but none of their gods can meet the
desperate needs of their hearts. We alone have the God the world needs to know
about. We also have the knowledge of the God who meets the challenge of sin and
the challenge of corrupt, fallen nature. In the early days of Egypt, they had
many gods; they worshipped a number of different creatures such as bugs or
animals; the Ammonites had Molech and the Romans had Venus and others, yet there
is no hope offered in such worship. All these religions can do is deepen their
darkness and multiply the grief they are already suffering. I think of people in
Egypt going out to the tombs of the dead to weep and wail, trying to make
contact with the departed. O! The despair that fills their sorrowing cry!
Somehow they felt that they could find peace through their contact with the
world of departed spirits. When you look at the heathen, you get an object
lesson of the devil’s religion. One of the strongest impressions that the
missionary receives is that of the look of woe and despair upon the faces of the
unevangelized. You can watch them on their march from the cradle to the grave
and witness their tragic condition as they go there without hope and without
God. All of their false religions seem to bear some similar characteristics.
They all promote the same kind of idolatry regardless of what name might be
attached to it. In India, you have the caste system that holds the people in the
chains of poverty and ignorance; you have Buddhism which tells them to comfort
their hearts by ignoring their misery. Then again, there is Mohammedanism which
is little more than a concentration of lust and lies offering nothing whatsoever
to break the fetters of sin. There is not a god among the multiplied millions of
heathen gods that can have an ounce of compassion upon them; all of their gods
are totally destitute of providing the slightest ray of hope for the multitudes
of their followers. I repeat again for emphasis, "We have the God that they need
to know about."

Someone may ask, Brother Glenn, can they not be saved without our taking the
Gospel to them? Is there not some means that could be employed to meet their
tragic condition? Well, I would suggest to you that we might as well say that
darkness is better than light; we might as well turn off the light in our own
country, close our Bibles and cease singing our glorious Gospel songs. No, my
friend, there is no way that they can be saved if we fail to take to them the
Gospel. They must have the light taken to them in the same measure that it was
taken to us. The same truth that was necessary to transform your life is needed
to transform theirs.

I wonder just how we would feel if it were a question of the need of our own
children! Would we question whether or not they need the Gospel taken to them?
Would we be willing to allow them to stumble on in their darkness without a
church service, a prayer meeting, or a Sunday School session? We somehow feel
the tremendous importance of having our own churches, our own revivals, our own
camp meetings, yet we wonder if the heathen can get along without the same
glorious truth being shared with them. Certainly any thought of their being
saved without the Gospel ought to be abandoned, and we ought to get on with the
task of reaching them for Christ.

Think of the wonderful change the Gospel makes in the life of the individual.
The same change that comes into a life in our country comes in the life of those
saved in other countries. They experience the same relief of conscience and the
same joy of salvation. Yes, and in some cases, they pass through strong
persecutions. I think of one young man who had been beaten, poisoned, and cast
out because he had turned his life over to Jesus Christ. This young man held
steady and remained true through it all refusing to back down or turn back to a
false, heathen religion that could do nothing for the need of his immortal soul.
Each time that we are privileged to witness the transformation of a heathen
individual to Christ, we are reminded of the fact that His sacrifice and the
price He paid is not without meaning or purpose. Each soul converted gives fresh
meaning to all the sufferings, agonies, and sacrifices of Jesus Christ. Thank
God, we need not allow His sacrifice to pass into a condition of meaningless
effort. We can share this glorious Gospel with the world He asked us to share it
with.

Surely they should have at least one opportunity to hear what you and I have
heard so often. Can we deny them the privilege of knowing of God’s great plan of
salvation? Can we withhold anything from the Lord that He might ask us to
surrender to Him? If you are a child of God today, there is nothing you possess
that you can rightfully withhold if the Master asks you to surrender it to His
service. I suppose if God or Christ had withheld something we might be able to
do the same; if Jesus hadn’t given a one hundred-percent commitment to the task
of paying the penalty for our transgressions, we might use that as an excuse to
do a little less than our best, but such is not the case. God and Christ have
done all that can be done and now it is up to you and all Christendom to do the
part that is yours to do.

I ask you, can we afford to allow them to go on in their darkness? Can we quiet
our conscience while they remain bound in the fetters and chains of heathen
superstition? We dare not allow this to take place; we must shoulder our
responsibility in this regard. I pray that God will challenge your heart in
regard to your part in making Christ known to a lost and perishing world. Will
you not ask God what He would have you to do, and I’m sure if you ask Him this,
He will tell you something that you can do. I have prayed that God would speak
to your heart as you read this message and I believe that He has spoken and
awaits your response to His voice. Souls perish while you remain in a condition
of indecision. Join us right now in a covenant of concern for a world that so
desperately needs the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus paid the full
price for our redemption; let us pay the full price in seeing that others have
the story of redemption given to them.

* * * * * * *


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  CHAPTER 8: 07. HOW YOU CAN HELP MAKE CHRIST'S SACRIFICE MEANINGFUL
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7 -- HOW YOU CAN HELP MAKE CHRIST’S SACRIFICE MEANINGFUL

I have mentioned the fact that we have the God that the world needs to know
about. They have many gods that have no power to meet their needs, and they lack
the knowledge of the one who can meet their needs. We not only have the God they
need to know about, but we also have the Gospel they need to hear. The false
gods of heathendom have their message, but it is nothing like the message of the
glorious Gospel of Christ. Our Gospel is good news; our message is one of hope
and happiness. The heathen gods have no such message. Yes, we have the Gospel
that they need to hear, and we have the love that they need to see. They are
desperately in need of a demonstration of the kind of love and compassion that
flows from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary. O! How we need to share
with them the light of the Gospel that they too might enjoy the blessings that
you and I enjoy.

I have mentioned to you in a previous chapter that we can render the price paid
for our redemption meaningless by failing to share it with others. Now I am
turning to the positive side and suggesting to you the fact that we can help to
make the sacrifice of Christ meaningful to a lost and perishing world.

I think of the American advertisers who advertise their products from one end of
the world to the other. In some instances, their products are mentioned over the
air waves and in other instances they are written upon the rocks along the
highways or byways. Doubtless their motive is to spread the knowledge of their
product just as far and as wide as they are capable of spreading it. They want
the world to know that their particular product is in existence; they want
everyone to try the product for themselves and thus become acquainted with its
merits. Now all of this is done with the profit motive in mind. Companies want
to use their product to make a sizable profit for themselves, yet God has no
such intention in mind. God is not mercenary in any measure; His concern is not
for the accumulation of dollars and cents, but of precious souls that will one
day be laid as trophies at Jesus’ pierced feet. God is not writing His message
or advertising His product by using rocks along the highway; God is writing His
message upon the fleshly tables of our hearts.

Certainly He could have written it among the stars to be illuminated at night,
but instead He has chosen to use us. He has decreed that the glorious message of
redemption shall spread from pole to pole through lips of converted clay. How
well are we performing the task left to us? Can we say our efforts make Christ’s
sacrifice meaningful? O! Could I emphasize once again that we have the Gospel
they need to hear, and we have the love they need to see. There is no way for
them to come to the knowledge of God except as we make Christ known. We know
what they need to know; we have experienced what they must experience; and we
have the means available to us to get this knowledge to them. If we follow the
example of the Master, we will exhibit a love for the unlovable. Think of how
unlovable you were, or how unlovable I was. Yet, Jesus Christ had compassion
upon us and met the cry of our needy hearts.

I believe we are to love them simply because they are so dear to Jesus Christ.
He died for them as well as for us. I think of a tramp who came to a door of a
home and was met with something less than a royal welcome. In fact, he was
unwanted and undesired by those who occupied the house. If they had had their
way, they would have sent him away immediately, but something happened to change
their minds considerably. The tramp handed them a note regarding their departed
loved one. On that note, it stated that the parents were to love the tramp for
the sake of their departed son. It was made known that the tramp had given
needed assistance to their dying boy as he departed this life. Immediately their
attitude changed, and the tramp was given a royal welcome. They made available
to him just about anything he desired all because he had shown kindness to their
dying son. There is a poem about that tramp, and a part of it goes something
like this, "Then for a moment from my view the stranger turned from his
disguise, By the tokens in his hands I knew, It was my Saviour stood before my
eyes; He spoke and my poor name He named, ’of me thou hast not been ashamed,’
These deeds shall thy memorial be, fear not, thou did’st it unto me." Yes, the
one representing the tramp is Jesus Christ and He indeed has assisted many a
traveler as He has passed the line of worlds and entered into eternity. This one
who has helped so many others deserves our help as He tries to reach a lost and
perishing world with His saving message.

It was Christ who said those thought-provoking words, "For I was an hungered,
and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a
stranger, and ye took me not in: naked and ye clothed me not: sick and in
prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they say when? When saw we thee an
hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did
not minister unto thee? Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto
you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to
me." Yes, Jesus looks at every lost and needy individual as though it were
Himself. Our care for others is considered as care for Jesus Christ. If He were
here, He would have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and met the needs of
individuals, and now He turns the task over to us. We must do today as He would
do if He were actually walking with us in human form. We do it because Jesus
Christ wants us to do it. Wherever there is a human need, there is an
opportunity to share in the concern of Jesus Christ.

Someone may ask the question, "Brother Glenn, where are the needs you speak
about? Where are the people hungry, naked and destitute? Most all that I see are
pretty well cared for." Well, I could take you immediately to areas of our world
where they do not fare as well as individuals do in our own country. I could
take you to areas where the needs are staggering. You would witness just about
every situation, in one form or another, that Jesus made mention of in His
statements that I have just quoted. In some areas, there is very little for a
young girl to be happy about; there are areas where womanhood is degraded and
considered to be practically worthless. In other areas, clothing is in short
supply and in still others there is the shortage of the needed food supplies.
Doubtless, the greatest lack is the lack of the life-giving message of
salvation. This in itself :represents the most pressing need of men everywhere.
I think of a man who had been seen crawling along the ground in search of
something. When he was approached and asked just what he was in search of, he
stated that he was looking for the door to peace. How tragic that he was
searching for peace where it could not be found. You just do not find it that
way.

Jesus said, I am the door. Yes, Jesus Christ is the door, and it is up to you
and me to open that door to a lost and perishing world. Passing through that
door is like passing through a door that leads from the cold, chilly blast of
winter to a warm, comfortable room inside the house. The individual who passes
through such a door is ushered:from a place of cold and barrenness to a position
of warmth and comfort, and so it is with the door represented by Jesus Christ.
The lost are outside that door perishing without hope and without God, and the
door will remain closed except you and I open it. I wonder just what you will do
about it? Will you accept the challenge and help open the door or must we leave
a lost heathen world to perish without the light? How can we do it and keep our
conscience from smiting us? We just cannot allow ourselves the slightest measure
of failure in this regard. We must get this message to the lost; we must spread
the tidings of Good News to as many as possible while still we have time and
opportunity.

Yes, we can make the sacrifice of Christ meaningful to others by explaining its
meaning to them. Thousands do not even know that there is a Saviour named Jesus;
multiplied thousands are yet unreached and unevangelized because of the slowness
of the Christian response to the tremendous need. I confess to you today that
the needs we face just now are staggering; we need your support now more
desperately than ever before, If I knew a more effective way to bring the needs
before you, I certainly would seek to implement that way, but I know of no
other. If you will not respond to this appeal, I have no other way of getting
your response and the many needs will just have to go unmet. I trust that such
will not be the case; I trust that God will move upon your heart and that you
will respond by praying and then writing telling us just what you will do to
help us reach those who perish without the Gospel of Christ.

* * * * * * *


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  CHAPTER 9: 08. DEATH IS THE PRICE PAID FOR SPIRITUAL LIFE
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8 -- DEATH IS THE PRICE PAID FOR SPIRITUAL LIFE

Someone has well stated that "Christ alone can save the world, but Christ cannot
save the world alone." The salvation of the lost requires both the divine and
the human element. There is something that only God can do, and there is
something that only man can do. The divine and the human elements must work
together if the work of reaching the lost is to be accomplished.

One of the outstanding examples of the divine and human working together is seen
in the crucifixion required of both Christ and Christ’s followers. Just prior to
His own crucifixion, Jesus made a very important statement to those who crowded
about Him. Jerusalem was filled with visitors who had come primarily for the
keeping of the passover, but also to see the man named Lazarus who had been
raised from the dead. Among the many travelers were Greeks who had requested
that they might see Jesus. Doubtless, their request voices the desire of many
yet today who have the same desire to see Jesus. Christ’s reply on this occasion
seems a little strange at first for He speaks about wheat and the harvest that
is produced by its planting. In John 12:24, Jesus says to them, "Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." What did wheat have to do
with the question of dying and bearing fruit? I believe Jesus was conveying to
them that an uncrucified Christ could mean nothing to men everywhere or
anywhere. They must not see Jesus only in the form of fallen humanity, but in
the light of the death to be accomplished on Calvary. The life of Christ would
become most meaningful after His death by crucifixion. Jesus Christ must die,
and they would see His redemptive work only through that death. In one sense,
Jesus is saying that His own life would bear no lasting fruit until it passed
through the agonies of the crucifixion. Yes, there had to be a crucifixion in
Christ’s case, and there must be a crucifixion in our case if we are to become
fruitful in reaching a lost world with the Gospel. This is a part of our problem
today: We do not bear much fruit simply because we are unwilling to die. I
believe the purpose Christ had in mind when He stated that we should take up our
cross was our dying upon that cross; it was His way of telling us that we are to
die to all our own desires, our own plans and ambitions.

Jesus uses wheat which is the staff of life as His way of illustrating His
meaning. I think of how one kernel was planted and when it was fully developed,
it came up with several distinct stocks. These stocks were planted again and
after two years, the harvest revealed over thirty-two thousand grains of wheat.
The wheat had become abundant in its fruitfulness because of passing through the
process of death. It has been stated that the wheat does not really die, but in
what seems to be death, it begins to live on a different level. Certainly this
is true also in the lives of those who die out to their own plans and ambitions.
We begin to live a new life on a far different level than we lived the old. In
the process of the wheat being planted, there are a number of changes that take
place and some of these changes are typical of what takes place in the heart and
life of the child of God. Some of these things are duplicated in the lives of
those who die to themselves or who are crucified with Christ. The text that I
have quoted applies equally to Christ’s crucifixion and our crucifixion. We must
die if our lives are to become fruitful and useful in the work of His kingdom.

Someone may say, "Brother Glenn, I would like to be more effective for Christ."
Well, my answer to you would be, "Have you been to the cross, is your life
crucified with Christ?" I believe we could paraphrase Christ’s words without
doing any violence to the scriptures. We could read it this way and make it more
personal, "Except an individual is willing to die to his own desires and
ambitions, he remains unfruitful, but if he is willing to die to them all, he
bringeth forth much fruit."

I would like to notice with you some similarities between the death of the wheat
and the crucifixion of the individual. First of all, the hard grain must go
through a softening process as it enters into its death. Certainly this would be
a qualification of those who would be useful in the service of Jesus Christ. We
must be softened. Our lives must be tender and our eyes filled with compassion.
There are few with dry eyes who ever bear much fruit. O! How we need a
tenderness of spirit; how we need God to fill our hearts with His presence until
we will be softened, and tendered, and broken. I have gone through experiences
in my own life that have brought about this process of brokenness. Things have
happened that have helped me to see more clearly the tremendous need of a lost
and perishing world. The needs have so possessed my soul until I have gone out
many times when I should have remained in bed. I have gone out to fulfill
commitments that I would have had good reason to cancel; I have traveled to the
mission fields and other areas when I was in no condition to travel. Someone may
ask just why did you do it, Brother Glenn? Well, I can give you no answer except
that the need of others was so heavily impressed upon my consciousness. God’s
softening process was at work in my own heart and life. O! We need to be
softened and broken if we are to spend our strength for the salvation of others.

Again I would point out that the dying wheat must be enlarged in its death. It
is enlarged in death beyond what it was in life. We are narrow by nature and God
calls upon us to reach out beyond our narrowness. In Isaiah 54:2, we are called
upon to, "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains
of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes."
Isaiah 54:3 tells us, "For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the
left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make desolate cities to be
inhabited." We are to reach out beyond our limited vision and go beyond the four
walls of our immediate area. We are to build a canopy that will embrace the
entire world population; we are to erect a tent large enough to include all of a
lost and perishing world. This thought leads us directly into the next
characteristic of the seed. It must burst open and break forth out of its
limitations. It must mingle with the earth in order to produce its finished
product. We must be more than a spiritual sponge soaking up truth and keeping it
to ourselves. We must burst forth and mingle our message with the world about
us; we must give out and we must break out of the boundaries we have placed
about ourselves. The final process of the seed is its own death. It dies and we
die also. We have several graves on the mission fields of those who actually
paid the price of physical death. Yet from those deaths much fruit has come
forth. A missionary in India desired to burn out for the Lord and within three
years he had done just that. He burned out in three short years, yet the light
of that flame still burns today.

Years ago one of my brothers died on the mission field and people passing the
funeral site heard my parents singing as they buried my brother. One man walked
several miles to ask my father how he could sing when he was burying his own
offspring. This inquiry gave my father opportunity to tell the person about the
Christ who could comfort the heart in times of tremendous sorrow. Yes, they died
that the Gospel might be carried to those in other lands; they gave themselves
just as fully as it was possible to give in order that the light might shine in
the darkness of heathen night.

I wonder just how complete our dedication is? I wonder if you have made such
total commitment of yourself to the cause of reaching the lost with the Gospel?
My prayer is that God will help each individual to see that the price of
self-crucifixion must be paid if their lives are to be effective in reaching
others. I believe it is only as we die to ourselves and our personal ambitions
that we will be the fruitful vessels that Jesus died for us that we might be.

Even as I write to you today, the needs on the mission fields are staggering and
cannot be met in our present situation. There are tremendous needs that can only
be met as your own heart is challenged to help do something about them. I
believe there is no need that cannot be met if God can get through to our hearts
concerning our responsibility. We can advance the work, and we can expand our
efforts as others join us in spreading the Gospel of Christ. Will you stand with
us in these tremendous efforts? Will you join us in prayer that the redemptive
work of Jesus Christ might be made known to the multitudes yet living in the
darkness of heathen night?

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  CHAPTER 10: 09. AN EXAMPLE OF TOTAL COMMITMENT
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9 -- AN EXAMPLE OF TOTAL COMMITMENT Of what value is a well-prepared plan if
there is no one to put that plan into action? History reveals to us that several
of our present-day accomplishments were actually on the drawing board
generations ago, but there was little interest taken in them at the time. The
plan was the first step in tremendous developments, but there was no one to
implement that plan. Certainly what is true on the level of human accomplishment
is true also in the realm of spiritual accomplishment. God has given to us a
plan for the regeneration of the world; He has set in motion the forces that are
sufficient to meet the heart need of every individual, yet His plan falls short
of success if we fail to put it into effect. When you look at the plan from
God’s standpoint, you recognize the fact that God has done all that a holy God
could possibly do to make provision for humanity both in this world and the
world to come. There can be no question at all concerning the completeness of
the price paid for our redemption upon Calvary; the question is not whether God
has done His best, but have we done our best? Why are there more lost souls in
the world today than at the time of the crucifixion? Why have we been able to
accomplish so little in relation to the tremendous need of this lost world? Can
we point an accusing finger at God? Or must we look at our own failure in this
regard? Certainly there would be no way to justify any finger pointing when it
comes to the provision that God has made for us. If there is any spiritual
delinquency to report, it is a delinquency on our part; we have failed to do all
that we might have done for His cause and kingdom. Surely if we will do what we
can, there will be no more required of us.

I think of the example given to us in Mark 14:1-72 where we read about the woman
with the box of precious ointment. We have here a very outstanding example of
sacrificial devotion ±o Jesus Christ. She came to anoint Jesus for His burial
and the gift that she brought to Him was an expression of the deepest concern of
her heart. She gave and the fragrance of her gift reaches down to our present
generation. It is a memorial to her and a challenge to us. We must enter into
the kind of devotion that costs us something. We dare not become negligent or
careless in this regard. Certainly there is no price too great for any
individual to pay in making Christ known to a lost and perishing world.

There are several things about this woman’s devotion that I feel hold tremendous
significance for each of God’s children. First of all, I notice that she was
greatly affected by the life of Christ. Jesus had a great impact upon her life.
Certainly people do not go around pouring out costly ointment on individuals
unless they have some concept of the value of that person. She so valued the
life of Christ that her richest possession was not too good to be poured out in
His behalf. It would appear that she cared not at all for the cost that she was
putting into her devotion. It was so insignificant compared to the things Christ
had accomplished in her life. I’m sure what is true of this individual is true
of every individual who comes in contact with Christ. My friend, when you meet
the Master, you are willing to do anything that is necessary to be done; there
is no price too high but you are willing to pay it. Any service that He might
enjoin upon your life is done with a sense of gratitude for all that He has done
for you. This woman felt Jesus was entitled to her deepest devotion. How
unworthy she must have felt as she knelt before Him pouring out the costly
ointment upon Him. Yet how worthy she must have felt Him to be. Even though an
atmosphere of criticism prevailed about her, she did not allow it to dampen her
desire for the outpouring of her deepest devotion. While she was worshipping
Christ as though nothing else in life mattered, they were finding fault with her
sacrifice as if everything else in life mattered. How blind they were to true
values. How destitute they were of the rich blessings that result from doing
something for Jesus Christ. Somehow they failed to realize the importance of
Christ and the importance of our devotion to Him. What a tribute is paid to this
woman. In the simplest terms possible, Jesus expresses His gratitude. It took no
more than one sentence to epitomize the far-reaching effect of this act of
devotion, and it stands out in bold relief as a challenge to you and me yet
today. In those brief words, "She did what she could," Jesus gives expression to
the feelings of the great heart of God in regard to our own devotion. I believe
as God measures your life and mine, He seeks to find this same quality of
service: He is interested in finding that we have done what we were able to do.
Certainly He could ask no more, and we should expect Him to accept no less. He
who has given to us His best, has every right to expect that we will render our
best in behalf of His kingdom.

Again I notice that this woman was putting forth an effort to preserve the body
of Christ. This was the purpose of the outpouring of the ointment. Jesus
mentions the fact that it was done in preparation for His burial. Certainly we
have here an outstanding type of Christian responsibility. Just as this woman
had done what she could in preserving the physical body of Christ, so we are to
do what we can to preserve the spiritual body of Christ which is the church. The
church is the body of Christ, and we must pour out our very lives to preserve
it. This individual had reached the extremity of her ability and Jesus crowned
it with the divine approval by stating that it was all that she could possibly
get done. O! How welcome those words will be to each child of God who has
striven to do the Master’s bidding! Certainly I would ask for no greater tribute
from the lips of Christ than for Him to say that I have done all that it was
possible for me to do. I wonder if this could be said of us?

I believe we see in this expression of Christ the natural demands of the
Christian conscience. Surely our conscience would demand that we do our best.
Anything less than your best is less than you ought to be doing . . . .

Again I would notice that by preserving the body of Christ, she was, in effect,
preserving herself. By pouring out her own life, she was preserving it. It is
only as we give to others that we derive benefits. As we help to preserve the
work of missions, we are helping to preserve our own best interests. God will be
no man’s debtor and all that we do in His behalf will be abundantly repaid.
There is not a tear you shed, nor a gift you give, that ever escapes the notice
of God. He sees your interest and concern and rewards every effort we put forth.
This woman who had shared with Him her alabaster box was privileged to share in
His glory. O! The needs of the work are so pressing and the things needing to be
done so many. Are you doing what you can? Will you not pray with us that others
will read these lines and join with us by doing what they can to help get
Christ’s message to a lost and perishing world?

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  CHAPTER 11: 10. OUR TASK REQUIRES OUR TOTAL COMMITMENT
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10 -- OUR TASK REQUIRES OUR TOTAL COMMITMENT

There is no way that the task of world evangelism can be accomplished without a
total commitment on our part to it. A half-hearted concern just will not find
place in the work that is so important to the advance of the kingdom of God. The
reason why the Gospel reached through to your own heart was because of the total
commitment of individuals to its propagation, and if its vital message is to
reach beyond you, it is needful that you be totally committed to its progress.
As you look back across the years, you must conclude that Christ has not died in
vain for countless thousands of individuals have been saved through His shed
blood, but is that shed blood in vain as far as future generations are
concerned? Can Christ see the lost of future generations without having the use
of human eyes to see them with? Can He reach out to them without some human arm
to use as an instrument to His purpose? If the Gospel of Christ is to be
effective in the lives of those you come in contact with, you are the one who
must make it effective. Thank God for the countless numbers who have been
redeemed in days past and gone. Certainly we rejoice in the knowledge that
Christ’s sacrifice has not been without meaning or merit, yet what about those
living in our present day who have never heard the message one single time? Can
we ignore their need or turn our backs on their desperate condition? We need the
same total, all-out, commitment in our generation that the apostle Paul had in
his generation. In 2 Corinthians 5:14, Paul states the burden and concern of his
heart when he says, "For the love of Christ constraineth us." Here he is giving
expression to the motives behind his own efforts. The great force that motivates
the apostle is the love expressed through, and exampled in, Jesus Christ. There
are many motives that prod men into action. There is the humanitarian interest
or the desire to live in some foreign country, yet these do not produce the
complete commitment that the work of the Lord requires. It has been wrong
motives that have been responsible for drop-outs when the pathway gets a little
rugged or steep. Our work calls for individuals who are willing to drop out of
society as they have known it and to go out into a world altogether different
than the one they have been accustomed to.

Another translation of this word "constraineth" is "overmastered." Paul is
saying that the love of Christ has overmastered me. I am overcome with love and
by love. The song writer tried to express this thought when he stated, "He drew
me and I followed on, Charmed to confess the voice divine." Another stated,
"Since I fixed mine eyes on Jesus, I lost sight of all beside; So enchained my
spirit’s vision, looking at the crucified."

I think of the illustration of a slave girl being purchased by a kind master at
the slave market. It was the slave master’s intention to buy the girl and then
set her at liberty. After making the transaction, he offered her her freedom,
but she refused to accept it. According to the story the slave girl said that
she would remain his slave girl forever. It was his desire to give her her
freedom that caused her to desire to become his slave forever. It was money that
purchased her freedom, but it was love that obtained her service.

Certainly it is a love service such as this that Christ is looking for from each
of His children. We are His servants, and we will never be able to pay the debt
of love that we owe, especially in the light of what it cost Him to purchase us.
That slave girl was purchased with silver and gold, but you and I were bought
with a price far above it. Peter emphasizes the fact that we were bought with
the precious blood of Christ. Surely if a slave girl would be moved to surrender
her life in a total commitment to serve a human master, how much more should we
surrender ours to serve the Master divine? The word translated "constrain" can
also be thought of in the sense of "restrain." The love of Christ restraineth
me. It restrains me from self-seeking and selfish interests. One individual put
it this way, "Lord, keep me employed; keep me filled with a holy zeal for the
souls of men." In other words, "Restrain me from anything less than a total
commitment to the advancement of the kingdom." Again I notice that this word can
be thought of in the light of the word "compress" -- or putting all talents to
one cause. We are to be totally yoked to Christ and willing to render whatever
service He might call upon us to render. Surely there is no greater service that
we could commit our lives to do. Think of the value of one soul. Think of the
value of your own soul! By helping to save others, we also help to save
ourselves.

After Paul mentioned the motive of his own heart, he moves on to tell us some of
the demands that Christ’s constraining love makes upon each individual. In 2
Corinthians 5:17, we are told that we must begin a new life if we are to render
the kind of service that the Gospel requires. There must be a new life, a new
creation, and a new purpose. It is not for us to pray, "Lord use me," but "Lord,
make me usable." We must be made usable before we can be used of God.

It is this new life and new creation that will give us right motives in
propagating the message of redemption. What motive underlies our praying, our
giving, our fasting? Is all this done to be seen of men as in the case of the
Pharisees? Paul mentions wrong motives as making the difference between a life
of service that will not stand the test of fire and the service that will stand
such a test. In 1 Corinthians 3:1-23, he tells us we can build upon the
foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. Every man’s works
will be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be
revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s works of what sort it is.
The fire will burn up the wood, hay, and stubble, but the gold, silver, and
precious stones will endure. Only right motives will determine the outcome of
our work. I wonder, will we stand before God empty-handed because our works were
perishable or will we witness the fruits of our labors in immortal souls won for
the Master? It is not enough that we look at the needy and say be ye warmed and
fed; it is not enough that we pity the poor heathen because they are in such
unfortunate circumstances. Our pity without appropriate action amounts to wood,
hay, and stubble. The only pity they seem to be able to understand is the kind
that does something to relieve their wretched condition. James says, "If a
brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto
them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; not withstanding ye give them
not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?" God
expects that our expressions of sympathy be translated into positive action. We
must do something about the situation.

C. T. Stud gave up a fortune to take the Gospel to a lost, perishing world and
did it willingly. The love of Christ constrained him to do so. It was this
individual who is credited with having said, "Some want to live within the sound
of the chapel bell, but I want to live within a yard of Hell." In other words,
he was saying he wanted to be as near the gates of Hell as possible snatching
precious souls as brands from the eternal burnings. O! That God would get such
commitment from an army of individuals today! I believe the world could be
reached with this Gospel message if such total, full surrender could be achieved
among God’s children.

I wonder if God has gotten through to your heart as you read these lines? Do you
not feel that there is a greater part for you to play in the Lord’s work than
you are presently realizing? Is there more that you could do if you would? Can
God depend upon you to do all that you possibly can for the furtherance of His
Gospel? The needs of the work are tremendous at this time. The possibilities of
expanding the work are staggering. Can we pass up our opportunities, and can we
pass by our responsibilities in this regard? I ask no more of you than that you
pray and make a total commitment to the Lord of all that you are and all that
you possess. Certainly it would not be my intention to ask that you do as the
apostle did for that would be asking more than you would be able to perform.
Yet, it is only reasonable that each individual be asked to make a total
commitment of himself to the service of the Lord. This is the only way that we
are going to get the job accomplished. Anything less than our all is going to
prove to be too little, too late.

* * * * * * * THE END


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/glenn-victor-call-to-complete-commitment-to-christ/
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