He that heareth you heareth Me, and he that despiseth you despiseth Me, and he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me. Luke 10:16
As we were making our way through the local mobile home park, distributing invitations to the Gospel meetings, we came to one house where the occupant gave us a scary greeting. When we knocked at the door, we could hear someone coming to answer our knock. But when the door opened, a large bearded man stood before us with a rifle in his hand. We stepped back, a little shocked. But he noticed our shocked looks and grinned and quickly assured us that he just happened to be cleaning the gun, and we were perfectly safe. He turned out to be very friendly, and accepted our invitation. That is one incident I would rather not repeat; the next guy with a gun might not be so friendly. Many of the preachers could tell us stories of unusual and not-so-friendly encounters they have had as they visited homes and passed out tracts and invitations. And the people who rejected them are very responsible to God Himself for doing so.
During his years living at the Kiwanis Nursing Home in Sussex, Doug MacLeod invited dozens of different people he encountered to Gospel meetings. Those invitations were extended to residents of the home as well as to many of the employees. In addition, Doug handed out dozens of Gospel tracts and as many as 150 Gospel calendars every year. With tears in his eyes, Doug would often express to me his feelings of inadequacy, feeling that it was his fault that he rarely received a positive response to his invitations or to his tracts. But as our text today makes clear, it was not Doug that those people were rejecting, it was the Lord Who he was seeking to represent. Doug’s invitations will hang like millstones about the necks of those people when they arrive for judgment at the Great White Throne. They will not be able to accuse Doug of not being faithful; they must take the blame for themselves for despising Doug’s efforts. And it’s the same for anything that we do in terms of spreading the Gospel. As long as we are faithful in making the effort, we have discharged our responsibility, and it’s up to the hearers as to how they respond.
People will tell us that if they were to encounter Jesus personally, they would gladly receive Him. But would they? People who actually came into contact with the Lord Jesus during His earthly ministry demanded that He be crucified. They despised and rejected Him. And they would do so today. They despised and rejected the One Who sent the Lord Jesus the first time. And they would do the same today. At least, most of them would. Those who heed the Gospel invitation today from those who represent the Lord Jesus are actually heeding the Lord Jesus.
It is a great privilege and a great responsibility to spread the Gospel. Because we are representing the Lord Jesus. – Jim MacIntosh