By John Gaskin

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)–Tom Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church
in Cape Coral, Fla., advocated a time of honest March 12 at
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

“Despite our accomplishments, statistics and resources of which
we [evangelicals] boast, we have had very little impact upon our
culture,” Ascol said. “The church has lost its voice.”

Ascol presented statistics revealing there is no discernable
difference between the morality of evangelicals and those who
make no profession of religion. “We have sold a nation cheap
grace for so long that grace no longer matters in a person’s
life,” he told a chapel audience at the Kansas City, Mo.,
seminary.

According to 2 Timothy 3 and 4, Ascol said, the solution is
preaching. “Preaching is God’s ordained means for accomplishing
God’s ordained purposes throughout the world. Whatever else may
be done, this always must be done.”

The Apostle Paul’s instructions to Timothy could only mean
expository preaching, Ascol said. “The absence of true expository
preaching,” he said, “betrays a lack of conviction in the Bible’s
authority and sufficiency, no matter how loudly a man may profess
his allegiance to the Word.”

According to the text, Ascol said Timothy faced desperate times
in Ephesus, both outside and inside the church, including a
resistance to truth. Today, Ascol said, is also such a “grievous
season.” Paul’s solution, Ascol said, was not a new plan or some
new strategy, but rather, to order one’s life and ministry by the
Word of God.

“Paul was committed to the authority of the Word of God and he
placed his confidence in it,” Ascol said.

Because it is the task of the preacher to show what is in the
Bible, Ascol encouraged Midwestern students to study and
discipline themselves to become effective, faithful expositors.
“Pastors must make it their primary duty and churches must insist
upon it.”

To be an expositor, Ascol said, means becoming a theologian.
“Sound doctrine belongs to the church. We must measure all
thoughts and conclusions by the standards of the Bible.”

If the church is again to have an influence on our culture, Ascot
asserted, “Then we need men who can say, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’”

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