Pastor Peter Simpson was preaching the gospel in the centre of High Wycombe on May 18th, helped by various ladies from the congregation. The helpers were encouraged by the good number of evangelistic tracts handed out.
One man angrily came up to the preacher and said, No one is listening to you; therefore you might as well stop. The minister replied. Well, you have been listening, or else you would not be complaining. If just one person hears the message, is convicted of sin and comes to the Saviour, then the preaching has been utterly worthwhile.
In any case, of course, no one knows what is going on in people’s hearts. Furthermore, the Lord told the prophet Ezekiel, “Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious” (Ezekiel 2:7). Sadly, the man got angry and swore at the minister.
One passer-by from overseas came up to Mrs Outten and said that he had never heard such forthright preaching since he had been in this country. This encouraged those witnessing.
Pastor Simpson at one stage quoted Jeremiah 5:22 : “Fear ye not me? saith the LORD; will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree”. He emphasised how the whole universe is under God’s control. Stop worrying about climate change, because the Trinitarian God controls the climate. All people are God’s creatures, and so are answerable to Him who gives to all their daily breath. It is the ascended Christ who feeds us each day, and it is He who stops the oceans from flooding the continents. It is He who is holding the universe together (Colossians 1:17).
As Pastor Simpson was preaching, a Muslim came by and said that He believed in Allah and followed Mohammed. He was giving the impression that he thought Christianity and Islam to be essentially the same. Pastor Simpson politely asked him, ‘Although you be in Allah, Sir, are your sins forgiven?’, and he tried very briefly in the time available to explain that for anyone to be reconciled to God, there must first be an atonement, a satisfaction of God’s justice. There must be one who is without sin who is able to represent sinful men before the holy God. All sinners, therefore, need a Mediator, and “there is … one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
A woman came up to Mrs Pilkington and told her off for handing out an evangelistic leaflet to someone who was obviously a Muslim, saying, You have not tight to try and force your beliefs on those of other faiths. This comment was out of place, because people only accept leaflets voluntarily. Mrs Pilkington replied that the Lord Jesus Christ gave His life for Muslims and also for the woman who was making the complaint, and indeed for all people. The gospel message must be proclaimed to all the earth, and to people of other religions, for, as the apostle Peter said of our Lord, “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
May those of other faiths, and those of no faith, who heard this message in High Wycombe come to realise the need to trust in the crucified Saviour, Jesus Christ, for there is no other way that they might be forgiven and receive the gift of everlasting life.