What Percentage of People Obey the Gospel?
by Ronald D. Gilbert
The day of Gospel meetings is not over! Don’t give up, brethren! Your preaching and teaching may be more effective “percentage-wise” than on the day of Pentecost.
“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41). What a glorious day in Acts 2 when the Lord’s church became a reality. It was no longer the church in promise, but it was now the church realized.
Have you ever considered how many people were present on that Pentecost day? This was one of the annual Jewish feasts that the Jews were required to attend each year. Josephus (noted Jewish historian) said over one million Jews were living around the Jerusalem area. Then consider that many Jews did not live in Jerusalem but all over the world. To say that one million Jews were present on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, I believe, would be a conservative number. If there were one million present, let’s consider who obeyed the Gospel that day (about 3,000) and who did not obey the Gospel that day (997,000)!
What was the percentage of those who obeyed? If one million were present: 10% is 100,000, 5% is 50,000, 1% is 10,000. Therefore, if one million were present and if half of one percent (0.005) had obeyed the Gospel, there would have been 5,000 baptisms that day. But, only about 3,000 obeyed; i.e., only 3/10 of 1% (0.003) obeyed the Gospel. That means that 997,000 rejected the Gospel and were not baptized.
I hear some brethren today say they wish they had lived back in the first century, when people were so receptive to the Gospel. To many, it seems to be an excuse to say, “no one is interested in the Gospel anymore.” They say we don’t have meetings today where 3,000 or even 300 obey the Gospel.
Unlike our meetings and preaching opportunities today, everyone on the day of Pentecost needed to obey the Gospel. Preachers, have you ever preached to a crowd of at least 100 people who were all lost and needed to obey the Gospel?
I don’t know about you, but I have preached and attended Gospel meetings where there were 100 present and 10 obeyed the Gospel. That is a significantly higher percentage than on the day of Pentecost. And, in that meeting where 100 were present, 80 or more of them were already Christians, so the most that could have been baptized would have been 20; and, if 10 of the 20 were baptized, that would be 50 percent of the lost at that meeting who obeyed the Gospel. If 50 percent of one million on the day of Pentecost had obeyed the Gospel, that would have been 500,000 baptisms on that day!
I recall working at a Bible camp in Fall Creek Falls, near Pikeville, TN, for over 25 years. We would have about 125-140 teens present for one week of classes and preaching. Some years, as many as 30-50 would obey the Gospel of Christ during the one-week stay at Bible camp. That’s 25-40 percent of those present, but again, many of them were already Christians before camp started, so it could have been 75 percent or higher of those not Christians who obeyed the Gospel.
On a mission trip to Africa a few years back, we conducted three Gospel meetings and preached to a combined audience of 3,500. There were 84 baptisms and 388 restorations. That is a total of 472 responses. From 3,500, 10% would have been 350 responses, so that means there were around 13% who responded. But again, how many were already Christians before the meetings began? If there were only 600 who needed to respond, then 78% responded. Think back to Pentecost, if one million were present, then only 3/10 of 1% (0.003) obeyed the Gospel that day.
Brethren, the Gospel of Christ still has the power to save (Romans 1:16). There is still much work to do at home and around the world. If we want to reach more people with the Gospel of Christ, we must preach to more people! Whether it be thousands, hundreds, ten, or even one at a time, we must continue to preach the Gospel. Let us not grow weary in well doing (Galatians 6:9). Only a percentage of those who hear the Gospel will obey it.
The day of Gospel meetings is not over! We are doing pretty good when we have 5 non-Christians at our meetings and we baptize one of them. That’s 20%! Can you imagine the kind of results we could have at Gospel meetings today if we could get 100 lost souls to attend?
Don’t give up brethren, your preaching and teaching may be more effective “percentage wise” than you think and you may be getting a higher percentage today than the apostles got on the Day of Pentecost.
