The gospel was proclaimed in Slough High Street on May 7th by Pastors John Sherwood and Peter Simpson.
When at one point Pastor Simpson offered a passing Muslim a tract , he replied, “No, I am a Muslim”. In other words, he made the assumption that a Muslim would naturally not be be interested in, or have any need to hear about, the Christian message. Disputing this assumption, Pastor Simpson said to the young man, “You have an open mind, don’t you?” At this he turned around and encouragingly decided to take a leaflet after all. May the Lord speak to him through it.
Another man told Pastor Simpson that he had been a Christian in the past, but had now allowed various events in his life to get in the way of his faith and his walk with God, one of the obstacles in particular being his work. So he no longer attended a church. The minister explained the importance of the fourth commandment to keep the sabbath day holy, and the great need to meet with the people of God to feed on His word, and for mutual encouragement.
Furthermore, those who avoid working on the Lord’s Day when there is no absolute necessity to do so, but who are engaged in normal commercial activity, will be honoured by God for observing his commandment, and the Lord may well choose to bless the work or the business of such a one who endeavours to honour God’s wise laws. The man was happy to talk, and thankfully received an evangelistic tract.
Pastor Sherwood entered into conversation with a young woman and her Roman Catholic boyfriend, explaining the true nature of the gospel. He then sought to give the girl a free copy of the Bible to help her in her search for truth, but very sadly, the boyfriend did not let her take it.
One of the texts on which Pastor Simpson preached was Acts :19, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). Sin creates a barrier between men and God, making communion with God impossible until the guilt and stain of sin are first removed. The call to repentance is a universal call to all people. Those who repent and come to the Saviour will experience “times of refreshing” coming into their lives. They will receive the Holy Spirit, who inwardly refreshes and renews the unclean and polluted heart of all unconverted people before the Lord Jesus Christ transforms them.
Pastor Simpson also referred in his preaching to 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” . Whenever the preacher saw Muslims passing, he tried to speak of the emptiness of religious duties such as fasting, going on a pilgrimage, or giving money to charity, as effective means of removing the guilt of sin. The performing of such tasks cannot cancel out a single sin in the sight of the holy God. Having carried out such duties, the sinner, no matter how religious, is still left with a polluted and an unrenewed heart, and bearing the guilt of sins which he has committed.
God has ordained that forgiveness can only be accomplished by means of the shedding of blood. The Lord Jesus Christ shed His precious blood as the sinner’s representative. Since no one possesses a basic goodness, and since no can make themselves good by religious duties and rituals, all need a Saviour, and all need to come to Him in repentance. The Lord Jesus desires to refresh sinful men and take away their burden of guilt, but they for their part must repent of all sin and acknowledge they have no personal goodness with which to commend themselves to God.
May many who heard these truths proclaimed in Slough abandon all thoughts of making themselves good enough to earn God’s favour, and may they come instead, devoid of any personal merit, to the only Saviour of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ.