The gospel matters most, evangelist Fish says

The gospel matters most, evangelist Fish says

Anything as great as the gospel must be shared,” Evangelist Roy Fish declared.

And that’s what he did at the 2010 State Evangelism Conference, held at Vaughn Forest Baptist Church, Montgomery.

Fish, distinguished professor of evangelism emeritus at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, did not use any props or tell any funny anecdotes like Ed Young Jr., who followed him in the Monday evening session.

Steadying himself with both hands holding onto the pulpit during most of his almost 45-minute sermon, Fish did not use many illustrations. He did not really need any. His sermon was evidence that the illustration that mattered most to him was the cross.

“It’s the cross that stands behind us that ought to create a burning in our hearts to tell others about Him,” Fish said.

Using Romans 1:14–15 as his text, Fish outlined five motivating factors for the apostle Paul’s burning desire to preach the gospel.

The first was his call from God. 

“Your conversion experience may not have been so dramatic as the apostle. (But) you, too, are a person under orders,” Fish said. “Friends, I’m talking about a divine mandate — holy orders, if you please.”

Using the example of a soldier, Fish said it would be better to be a soldier who disobeys his commander than to be a follower of Jesus Christ “who disobeys that call … to bear this exciting news about Him.”

Paul also had a burning desire to spread the gospel because of the crowd around him.

Fish asked what Paul owed all the people listed in Romans 1:14.

“His answer is this: I owe it to them to give to them that which they desperately need,” Fish said. “You cannot have the gospel without being in debt to others to share it.”

He also preached because of the crown that awaited him.

This crown is the people you won to the Lord, Fish said. Working from 1 Thessalonians 2:19, he said, “When Jesus comes again, he’s going to bring a crown to me and you are my crown.

“I want to ask you — are you going to have a crown of rejoicing? Are there folks on the other side who will welcome you and say, ‘I’m so glad you’re here’?” Fish asked.

Paul lived with eternity in mind, in particular the terror that awaits those who do not know Him, Fish said. Hell is the “catastrophe that exists below us,” he said. 

“Knowing the terror … I persuade men. Realizing that there are going to be people in that hellfire … we persuade men. Has anyone here grasped the awesome fact of that view of eternity?” Fish challenged the audience.

“Could there be anything more catastrophic than someone being in hell forever or for someone to die without Jesus Christ?” he asked. “Are you attempting to persuade anybody in view of the fact they are an eternity-bound soul?

“It’s the catastrophe that exists below me that causes this burning in my heart,” Fish said.

But if the calling, crowd, crown or judgment does not ignite a burning within your heart to take the gospel to others, then the cross — the fifth of Paul’s motivating factors — should, Fish said.

Fish reminded Alabama Baptists that the hands that once spread out over vast nothingness and created universes and the feet that walked across golden streets in heaven were pierced, the brow that was once adorned with a crown of glory wore a crown of thorns and the One who was once adored by angels was jeered by a crowd.

“Why Lord Jesus that cross?” he asked before revealing the answer: “It’s because I love them and I want them for myself. I die for them out of my own compassion and love.”

Love is like that, Fish said.

“Love wants to make itself known. It wants to communicate itself,” he said. “Lord Jesus, you loved so much.”

Fish posed a question based on the conference’s theme, “Across Alabama. Imagine What If … .” 

“What if you could honestly say as you leave this conference that ‘I have a burning in my heart to tell others about Jesus’?”