"My
heart's desire"
Romans 10:1
Sometimes I hear men
preach who do not appear to have any real burden upon their hearts. Their doctrine is orthodox. They are well prepared. And they have unquestionable ability. But they do not seem to really care whether
people believe or do not believe, whether their hearers are saved or
damned. They just come before men and
lay out the facts. The apostle Paul was
not such a man! He had a message from
the heart of God, which he had experienced in his own heart. And he delivered his message to the hearts of
men, as one who could not endure the thought of men and women perishing without
Christ. Knowing the terror of the Lord,
he persuaded sinners to flee to Christ (II Cor.
He reveals his heart's
emotions in his epistle to the Romans.
"I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my
conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
For I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my
brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh" (9:1-3). Paul the apostle was moved to record those
words by the same Spirit who moved Moses the prophet to say to the Lord, If
thou wilt not forgive their sin, "blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book
which thou hast written" (Ex. 32:32).
Most of the commentators I have read try very hard to make these
passages say what they do not say. They
cannot understand orthodox men making such statements. I am confident that both Moses and Paul meant
exactly what they said! They loved the
people to whom they preached. Yes, they
spoke extravagantly. But love speaks
extravagantly! Love does not speak in
calculated terms, without feeling. Love,
when it is bursting to make itself known, will often speak beyond pure rationality. Of course, in more sober moments, no man
would give up Christ for another, or exchange his own soul's salvation for
another's. And any believer knows that
such a ransom could never be accepted by God.
But a genuine love for the souls of men and an earnest desire for their
salvation, for the glory of Christ, compelled these men of God to speak beyond
mere rationality. They spoke as dying
men to dying men! God make me such a
preacher. Men with aching hearts are
likely to hear men whose hearts ache for them.
Don Fortner