MORE FROM JOHN STOTT. "Evangelistic preaching has too often consisted of a prolonged appeal for decision when the congregation have been given no substance upon which the decision is to be made.

But the gospel is not fundamentally an invitation to
men to do anything. It is a declaration of what God has
done in Christ on the cross for their salvation.

The invitation cannot properly be given before the declaration
has been made. Men must grasp the truth before they are
asked to respond to it.

--From "The Preacher's Portrait" (London: Tyndale Press,
1961), p. 48.