Once people have turned up for a service, preachers have a responsibility to deliver a message which is worth their while hearing. Faced with an assembly of perishing souls on their way to eternity, what can preachers say that won’t just be a wasted opportunity and leave people no better than before? The leading Covenanting preacher John Welch of Irongray (c.1624–1681) was alive to the urgency of the preacher’s task. He caught the note of gravity weighing down Paul’s description of his labours. Labouring consciously under the eye of God, Paul tried to ‘persuade’ his hearers, not of trivial things or of mere moral imperatives or of his own importance, but of things that should really matter to them considering the judgment seat of Christ is ahead of him and them. In the following extract John Welch identifies twelve things which a preacher must aim to persuade his congregation of. If people remain unpersuaded, it shouldn’t be because their pastor never mentioned these things, or never indicated how essential they were.

I defy anyone who gets a sight of his need of Christ, and of the excellence that is in Him, and of the recompense of the reward that is laid up for those who love and serve Him, to be a sluggard about his duty, or continue in the neglect of duty.

Paul resolved that his work would be “to persuade men.” What is it that ministers are to persuade people of? The details are not set down in the text, for then it would have run to a great length, so Paul speaks only in general terms. But I find these twelve things mentioned in Scripture, that we as ministers have a commission to persuade you of.

Turn to God

We are to persuade people to be convinced of sin, and converted to Jesus Christ. We are to persuade the ungodly and profane to turn and live, warning them that if they will not turn, they must burn for ever. “Turn ye, and live! Why will ye die, O house of Israel?” That is one thing we are to persuade you of, that Christ is standing at the door and knocking, and He will take it badly if you refuse to open to Him.

It is a great thing to persuade you of the necessity of conversion, or the new birth, and that unless you are holy, you will never be happy. This is the work of both prophets and apostles. Jeremiah cries, “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings” (Jer. 3:22). Ezekiel says the same, “Turn ye, turn ye and live, for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezek. 33:11). Solomon makes this his work also. “Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets: Turn ye at my reproof” (Prov. 1:30, 23). Jesus Christ Himself makes this His work. “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” So did His apostles after Him.

We are to tell and persuade you to set about the work of faith and repentance (Isa. 1:2; Joel 2:12). We have to persuade you to turn to God, and to warn you of your danger if you don’t. This presupposes that every man and woman has their back to God. We come to you who are still strangers to God, and strangers to His Son Jesus Christ, and strangers to the Holy Spirit and the grace of repentance.

What considerations might persuade you?

1. Consider that if you will not turn, you will die without grace, faith, repentance, etc. Turn, and you will live, but if not, “ye shall surely die in your iniquities.”
2. Consider that if you turn to Him, we assure you in His name, all will be well with you. We tell you, He has a fatted calf for you, robes to put on you — He has all that can make you happy. Friends, you will have a life of it here, and eternal life hereafter.
3. Consider that Christ is in good earnest with you. You’ll wrong yourselves, if you don’t accept the offer. In fact, you will perish eternally.

Turn for real

The second thing we are to persuade people to do is to turn in reality. It is not any old sort of turning that will do. Not every kind of turning has the everlasting advantage. Therefore, the Lord commissions His servants to tell you to make the thing sure, so that you don’t deceive yourselves about your turning. You must turn, and turn with all your heart and soul. Set about a thorough repentance.

Embrace Jesus Christ

The third thing that preachers have to persuade folk to do is to embrace Jesus Christ as He is offered to them in the gospel. We are to persuade you to unite with Him, as He has offered Himself to you. This was the work of Isaiah the prophet, Paul the apostle, and indeed of Christ Himself. “I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.” That is, take Him for a king, prophet, and priest, as He is offered to you.

To persuade you to this, take the following considerations.

1. What will you do, if you don’t do this? Don’t you think the day will come when you will wish you had done it? The day will surely come when you will wish you had taken Him up on His offer, even at its worst.
2. The terms are easy — so easy that it’s only, “Come and drink.” “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye unto the waters; and he that hath no money, come, buy and eat, without money and without price.” Drink and drink fully. Can you want larger terms than these, “He that is athirst, let him come, and whosoever will, let him come, and take of the water of life freely”?
3. Nothing is so acceptable and well-pleasing to God as this. You’ll make many a sad heart by refusing Him, whereas if you receive Him, it will be well-pleasing to many. It will be the most acceptable thing you ever did, for you will please God, angels, and saints. You will only displease Satan and the wicked. Put these two in the balance. Do the one, and please God, angels and saints; do the other, and you only displease the devil and wicked men, and I don’t know if you owe them anything else.
4. Consider the disadvantages of refusing Christ, and the advantages of receiving Him. I can tell you, everyone will have their work cut out to get right at death, but some will have more to do than others. I’ll tell you who will have the least to do — those who have been most forward in giving a testimony for the cause of Jesus Christ. They have an open door in heaven to see Jesus.
5. Your sin and guilt are great, and so your punishment will also be great, and all the more so, because you have sinned against the remedy provided, and against mercy. Do you think those who have done so will be thought worthy? No, “of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy of, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing?” He that despised Moses’ law, you know, died without mercy; and will you escape? I would not be in the place of those refuse Christ for ten thousand worlds.

Get to know God

Fourthly, it is part of our duty as ministers to urge you to make your acquaintance with Jesus Christ. Eliphaz sent the message to Job, “Acquaint now thyself with God, and be at peace; thereby good shall come to thee” (Job 22:21). Acquaint yourselves with His mind in His Word, and receive the law from His mouth. Lay it up in your hearts, labour for wisdom, and with all your getting, get understanding. Ignorance and unbelief are the destruction of fools; therefore it is the minister’s work to press them to get acquainted with God. “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me” (Isa. 27:5).

If you knew the necessity of being acquainted with God, there would be no need to press or persuade you. When you must meet with Him after death, the business depends on you knowing Him now.

Give yourself up to God

The fifth thing is to persuade people to devote themselves wholly to God by a covenant relationship, without reservation. This is what Paul professes in verse 15. Those who live should not henceforth “live unto themselves, but unto him …”

The thing we are to persuade you of is to make a real resignation of yourselves, and all you have, to Him, so that He may have the command of you, your relations, and all you have, and even your life also, when he calls for them — so that you may say, “I am not my own; my children, my means, etc, and my very life, if He calls for it, are not my own.” Resign it all to God in a full, free and absolute way. You are engaged to do it by the tie of creation, because you are His creatures. But there is also the tie of redemption, or redeeming love, and this is the strongest tie of all.

Be a Christian

Paul persuaded Agrippa “almost” to be a Christian. The great thing we have to do is to persuade you not only almost, but altogether, to be a Christian

Obey all God’s commandments

The seventh thing we have a commission to persuade you of is obedience to all God’s commands. This sums up the whole duty which God requires of man. God requires universal obedience to His revealed will. “Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments” (Psa. 119:6).

Be faithful to Jesus

The eighth thing is to persuade you to be faithful to Jesus Christ — faithful to His Word, His covenant, His cause, interest, and despised truths.

Expect a cross to carry

Ninthly, be cheerful under the cross of Christ. The Word says, “Ye shall also reign with him.” That is a fair allowance for suffering.

Make God your delight

Tenthly, be persuaded not only to do duty under necessity, or by constraint, but make it your delight to serve God. His commands are so far from being grievous that they should be our delight. And yet, do not trust in duty.

Be holy in all your life

The eleventh thing to persuade you of is holiness “in all manner of life and conversation.” Be holy in your eating and drinking, your conversations, your buying and selling, and in the whole of your life.

Be clear about Christ’s cause

The last thing we are to persuade men and women to do is to be resolved about the cause of Christ and religion. Do not halt between two opinions. This was what Elijah persuaded the people of Israel of, when he said, “If the Lord be God, follow him, and if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). Ministers should press people to be positive and resolute about the cause of Christ. Christ Himself, when He saw a great multitude following, turned about and said, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” Christ wants folk to be resolute in what they are doing.

In this respect, ministers must tell them to beware of loving the world too much. They must, rather, hate it, and count it unprofitable. There is a good reason for this, because the world is an enemy to religion. Many times, it spoils communion with God and His coming to them, and is a source of many a falling out between Him and His people.

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