Many Christians give up on evangelism because they don’t see any fruit or results from their labor. We should not let a lack of results discourage our evangelism.
We can get discouraged by an apparent lack of results. I was just talking to a couple brothers last night. We’re going to go down to New York later today. And I know there’s a group of brethren down there. They’ve been going at it. Trying to plant a church for four years. Perhaps, there isn’t much seen of fruit. Let me tell you something. When our church started, we went 16 months – no additions to the church. In fact, we had subtractions from the church. You know what happened when William Carey went over to India? He preached and he preached. And he set forth the truth. And he began to acquire languages. And he set up some indigo (is that the right word?) – he was trying to produce income so that the churches back in England didn’t have to support him. And he sought to be self-supporting. And he was getting the Gospel out. And you know it was seven years before he had one convert. If you’ve ever read the biography, one man. I’ve been at that location there (incomplete thought) in Calcutta. I’ve been there at the place on the river where he baptized that guy. Seven years. Seven years. (incomplete thought) I preached right in front of that baptismal where Adoniram Judson was baptized. I think William Marshman baptized him there. Adoniram Judson. Six to seven years of laboring in Burma. He left Calcutta. He went over to Burma. Providential events – he landed there. Years. You’re in New England. It can feel like it’s burnt over here. The Gospel was preached. But you remember this, there wasn’t just a first Great Awakening. There was a second Great Awakening. There were revivals in the 1850’s. What am I saying here? There’s a cycle. Just because the Gospel flourished here once and now it may not be, does not mean that it may not again. And even if it doesn’t again, you can look around the world and you can find local places where God moves. And you remember this, that when they walked in there to Samaria, and all those Samaritans were coming out, Jesus turned to His disciples and said, “Look, you’re reaping a harvest right here where others labored.” It may be that in our day, we labor. It may be in our day, we lay out the Gospel seed. And it may be that in our lifetime, we don’t see it bring forth a harvest. But it may in the next generation. We may take part. There are those that sow. There are those that reap. Look, it’s a big picture. It’s a big package. But I can tell you this, that after 16 months, we began to see people added. And we began to see people converted. In fact, when Charles Leiter came down, I remember him saying speaking to people in our church, he said most of the people had been saved in the last three years. The Lord began bringing us a bunch. I’m not saying it was all necessarily an outworking of our evangelism. It was just that God was saving. I’ll tell you quite honestly, Paul Washer’s shocking youth message seemed to save so many people across this United States of ours and around the world, that churches were springing up in different places and continue to through the Internet ministry. And you can say, “I’m not a Paul Washer.” Well, no, neither am I, but that’s okay. Neither was the demoniac. Well, I don’t know. Maybe he was. But brethren, I know this. Jesus said I’ve got these sheep here, but I’ve got other sheep. And I need to bring them too. And you can be sure of this, God has an elect people. They’re going to get saved. And I’ll tell you how they get saved. They get saved through the preaching of the Gospel. Jesus said He’s bringing them in. He’s going to gather them.
